The Dreaming #5 Review and **SPOILERS**

Be the Dream You Want to See

Written By: Simon Spurrier 

Illustrated By: Bilquis Evely and Abigail Larson 

Colors By: Mat Lopes and Quinton Winter 

Letters By: Simon Bowland 

Cover By: Jae Lee & June Chung 

Edited By: Molly Mahan 

Associate Editor: Amedeo Turturro 

Assistant Editor: Maggie Howell 

Executive Editor: Mark Doyle 

Cover Price: $3.99 

On Sale Date: January 9, 2019

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Boy, things sure look to be coming to a head in this book, huh? Judge Gallows is in control of The Dreaming, Lucien and Dora are hanging out in Destruction’s abandoned dimension, and then there’s that cubist sculpture, the one that cured Abel’s stutter and turned Cain into a blubbering idiot. If something doesn’t change over right quick, it’s only gonna get more wacky! And between you, me and the wall––I hope it does! Let’s see what’s what in The Dreaming #5, which I have handily reviewed, right here!

Explain It!

Lucien the librarian and Dora the…feather-eared dimension-skipper are hiding out in Destruction’s former realm, which Lucien says is a simultaneous ending and beginning…hmmm, I wonder if that will be relevant to how this story arc concludes. Without Daniel Dream around, Lucien is positively going to pieces, a trait that Dora does not admire. But when she points out that emotionally unavailable people in allegorical glass houses shouldn’t cast aspersions or allegorically throw stones, Dora grabs a symbolic sword in Destruction’s realm that reveals bits of her memory—and how Dream, the original one with the black hair, did help her. But, being the son of a bitch he is, he hid it. 

In The Dreaming, things are in trouble. With no one keeping things in check, the entire realm has become a maelstrom of tectonic upheaval and ethereal mishegoss. Glob is yanking the Baku around, which is apparently not its intended function, while a contingent of rebels helmed by Eve threatens to breach the library and handle Judge Gallows once and for all. Mervyn tries to keep the peace, but to no avail: he exacerbated the situation, and now he’s got to own it. The Wyvern guarding the gate tells Gallows to expect visitors, but secretly tells Eve of a back door, in hopes that they catch him unaware. 

As for Dora, she recalls that her complete memory is intact, and held in the junk items she received each day, which she unknowingly cherished and kept in the branches of her tree house. All she needs to do is collect her broken teapots and one-eyed dollies, and she’ll be back to full power or something? Speaking of full power, while residents of the Dreaming have been dorking around, Judge Gallows pored through some magic books and learned how to tap into one-hundred and forty-four lucid dreamers, and thereby simulate the powers of Morpheus. I think. Whatever it is, it knocks the rebels for a loop. At that moment, Dora and Lucien are trying to get back to the Dreaming, so Dora can save the day, but Lucien is barred from entry. Dora is forced to leave him behind, and Lucien falls, very, very far down. And at the bottom of a very long fall, he dies. 

Daniel Dream shows up to say some parting words, but the effect of it really shows how Lucien was a pawn in this whole thing all along. One thing that must be seen, along with the other outstanding art in this issue (including a two-page spread that is really close to a hallucinogenic experience), is Judge Gallows hook-up to the lucid dreamers, which evokes the films The Matrix and Hellraiser and several other humans-as-batteries gross-outs that do a good job of giving the willies––and that is translated to the page very well here. I am definitely engrossed in this story, and this issue kept me pretty thrilled throughout, but I wonder if this is another one best appreciated by those familiar with the original material. I dunno, I’ll find out what Chris thinks when we record our segment for the podcast.

Bits and Pieces:

The story has ramped up to what looks to be a show-down next issue, with Dora finding her True Purpose and Judge Gallows being...well, creepy as usual. Also: we lose a character that is routinely mistaken for a different character. Guess who it is! It's probably the other one.

8/10

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