Broken Frontier

The comics adaptation of the Sandman: The Dream Hunters novella is in the good, and infinitely creative hands of P. Craig Russell.

The Sandman series was the ultimate modern fairy tale, with an entire pantheon of Gods bursting from the imagination of Neil Gaiman. Most of The Sandman took place within the current era, with a smattering of historical settings thrown in. The Dream Hunters is one of these fables set in the past, in this case feudal Japan.

The story begins with a wager between a fox and a badger over which of the two could drive a peaceful monk from his humble abode and plot of land. The monk proves a difficult adversary, and the fox ends up with more than she bargained for. While she tried to drive the monk away by pretending to be a woman in distress, she finds herself hopelessly in love with the monk. The Dream Hunters is typical of the charming, sometimes sweet, but fraught with danger tales with which Neil Gaiman has carved his literary niche.

Russell does a fine job of adapting Gaiman's prose without over-captioning the pages. Many adaptations suffer from this, and are little more than illustrated novels, whereas Russell uses the graphic medium to advance the story. His simple layouts and clean rendering give the story a very pleasant appearance, well suited to the subject matter.

Though his style is reminiscent of the European schools of comic art, the caricatures fit well in the Japanese setting. Though his demons and invading samurai are sufficiently scary, they retain a certain whimsy that makes the book a joy to read. The fox version of Morpheus is drawn in very simple cartoonish silhouette with haunting yellow eyes.

Thankfully, DC printed the book on a glossy stock, rather than the usual flat paper of standard Vertigo comics. Lovern Kindzierski handles the coloring duties, and brings the dreamy story to life in bright, exquisite tones. Sandman veteran letterer Todd Klein delivers a multitude of fonts, and clever delivery of captions complimenting the artwork and feel of the story.

Any new Sandman material, even an adaptation of previous work is welcome. P. Craig Russell and Neil Gaiman have collaborated on several projects, like the excellent Coraline adaptation, and Russell seems very comfortable with capturing the Gaiman tone. My comic vendor lamented that sales were below his expectations for this first issue. I imagine that is a temporary situation as the word spreads about the quality of this fine comic.