In Review: The Dreaming: Waking Hours (2020-) #1

Synopsis: One of Dream’s heaviest responsibilities is the creation of nightmares-the beings that haunt our sleep and turn our thoughts toward darkness. In the form of Ruin, the nightmare of catastrophic failure, Dream was certain he’d built his next masterpiece…but Ruin can’t help but live up to his name, sending every situation into a spiral of unexpected consequences.

The Story

This story focuses on Lindy who is an English Major who is writing a dissertation on William Shakespeare. Lindy also has a newborn child and because of a lack of sleep, she is lucidly dreaming about walking the rooms of Shakespeare’s home in Stratford. After she has a stressful meeting with her Tutor Lindy goes home and retreats to her dreams, but something goes wrong when she has an encounter with Ruin, which causes the two to switch places. Ruin awakes with Lindy’s baby in the material world while Lindy remains at Shakespeare’s home and meets the Bard himself.

Aware that he has messed up. Ruin rushes to Jophiel for help. Meanwhile, Dream is informed that one of his nightmares has got loose.

The Artwork

Nick Robles provides some wonderful artwork for this book. I particularly enjoyed the panels where Lindy was exploring Shakespeare’s home and walking up the winding staircase as she follows Shakespear’s cat. The sequence in which Ruin becomes a nightmare and scares Lindy is handled brilliantly.

Overall

A fantastic first issue to what looks like an interesting adventure into the esoterica of dreams. I particularly enjoyed how writer G. Willow Wilson began the issue by narrating the action in the third person. This gave the story a ‘Twilight Zone’ feel that I really enjoyed.

Overall. A really strong beginning to what will hopefully be a story that improves with every issue. I really enjoyed how Lindy’s meeting with Shakespeare was handled, but also enjoyed how Ruin was written. I can’t wait for more of this.