'The Dreaming' #20 Preview: The final fate of Dream is revealed in this end to the Spurrier and Evely run
With their 20th issue, Simon Spurrier and Bilquis Evely's run on 'The Dreaming' comes to a close. DC's return to the Sandman Universe, first under its Vertigo imprint and then under DC's Black Label, gives us perhaps the clearest look at Daniel's tenure as the new Dream since the original 'Sandman' ended - and as far as Daniel's concerned, it's not been a great one.
Over the course of the series, it's been revealed that a group of science worshipers on Earth have been working behind the scenes to kill and replace Dream of the Endless, in order to replace humanity's dreams, imagination, and religious beliefs with more rigid, scientific beliefs devoid of emotion. First tricking Dream into becoming mortal, then conspiring to kill him, and then replacing him with an artificial intelligence program whose unwitting purpose is to infect the dreams of humanity with dry educations in scientific principles.
That AI - Wan, and his dark alter-ego the Black Moth - have nearly succeeded in doing just that. The plan is backfiring horribly, as without imagination people's lives have turned colorless and drab, draining them of the will to live. That doesn't deter the Black Moth, as its programming gives it a single-minded purpose, but the residents of the Dreaming have managed to stop it.
With the reveal that Dream split his power and, indeed, his very self, into objects that the Dreaming's residents could recover, they have taken back control of the Dreaming by becoming a collective Dream of the Endless themselves. How this resolves is what #20 will cover. According to the official synopsis, "The unbelievable finale of Simon Spurrier and Bilquis Evely’s Sandman Universe epic is here! The citizens of the Dreaming make their final play against the artificial intelligence that seeks to replace them with cold rationality…and the fate of Dream is revealed!"
Simon Spurrir and Bilquis Evely's run has been a wild, imaginative ride exploring the power of stories, the nature of dreams, and the importance of belief in a world that is slowly trying to erase myth from the public consciousness. It's given us new looks at familiar characters while establishing fascinating new ones, and has been a delightful successor to Neil Gaiman's legendary 'Sandman' series.
'The Dreaming' #20 will release April 28, wherever comics are sold.