Writer Si Spurrier and artist Bilquis Evely discuss their run on the series.
See an exclusive preview of the mind-blowing art.
“And then you woke up.”
Credit: Yanick Paquette and Nathan Fairbairn for DC Comics
But that’s the thing about dreaming: Eventually, you’re bound to wake up.
One thing’s for sure: This dream is ending in style.
The latest of those is Wan, the first artificial intelligence to appear in the Dreaming.
Bilquis Evely and Mat Lopes for DC Comics
Sounds mind-crushingly awful, right?
The result is some of the most mind-blowing splash pages you’ll ever see.
The Dreaming#20 is available now from online comic sellers; check out those magical pages below.
Bilquis Evely and Mat Lopes for DC Comics
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:The Sandmanis a formative comic for a lot of people.
What was your relationship with it before working on the Sandman Universe?
So it had a huge effect on my life.
Bilquis Evely and Mat Lopes for DC Comics
It felt like coming home, you know?
BILQUIS EVELY: In my case, my relationship began somewhat unusually.
At this point, Im totally in love with Doras character design and personality.
How did you guys design her?
So introducing a new character and making that character kind of the central point of view made total sense.
In tonal and character terms, I thought about it long and hard.
It would’ve been very easy to do a sort of bad pastiche of Gaimanesque prose.
Whereas when I tried to do that, I find myself rolling my eyes.
Shes sort of slowly learning to be less brittle.
So all of that went into it.
We all enjoy speculating about the importance of a character who doesn’t know who they are.
That’s a really nice story.
That ticked all the boxes for me.
EVELY: Sometimes, a good character design comes out very quickly, just like a miracle.
Dora was like that.
Si is always brilliant in describing inventive visuals.
It was definitively the best start.
How did you keep building on these layouts and making them even cooler?
Si, how did you learn to take advantage of Bilquis' strengths over the course of the book?
EVELY: Oh, the montages, yes!
This is a collaboration with the whole creative team.
Starting with the insane descriptions and bold ideas from Simon’s mind.
All this insanity started with that Dora dance scene onSandman Universe Special.
That was the tip of the iceberg of a malleable concept that embraces the entire series.
I was very nervous and confused, honestly.
In the course of the series, those layouts got easier and easier.
Hard work, but also a delight.
SPURRIER: Bilquis is the cream of the cream.
But the challenges I set her, she just blew them away.
I mean in issue 20 there’s essentially a four-page spread thats a round-up of everything weve done.
By the point we got there, I had no worries.
She just handled it all with such grace and dignity and even her ugliest characters are beautiful.
Working with her is by far the greatest memory of this time to me.
EVELY: I’ll miss all this creative freedom and organic distortions.
After understanding the foundations that I mentioned before, it’s pure joy.
Maybe it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, And I’m proud of it as well.
