"There are those who are asleep, there are those who are awake, and there are those who are caught in The Dreaming."
The Dreaming is the title for what was originally a regular anthology publication in which different artists and writers told stories about characters and locales originally made popular and fascinating by Neil Gaiman's work on the Sandman series. This graphic novel or comic book publication is produced by Vertigo Comics, a subsidiary of DC Comics Incorporated. The comic book title The Dreaming has recieved mixed reviews and only moderate success, because it fails to capture the splendor and uniqueness of the title from which it spawned. An attempt was made to recapture the greatness of Gaiman's work. Peter Hogan and Caitlin R. Kiernan have taken reins on the title and tried to create a more cohesive plot structure. Unfortunately they didn't quite pull it off, and although the title Sandman Presents is still being churned out, The Dreaming publication will not. The Dreaming is more than a mere marketable monthly thing to be bought and sold however. It is a place. It is that place you see in your mind before you wake up and as you go to sleep. It's like watching a sunset with your eyes closed. You know it's there. It's where your eyes drift under your lids. It is real. It is tangible. It exists as easily and love generosity and devotion exist. The Dreaming offers both joy and pain and a hundred million other things too.
For The Dreaming is the place where exist your dreams which consequently can offer you delight or destruction, despire or despair. Precognitive dreams have even been known to glimpse potential destiny. It is even said if you experience death in your dreams, you will not wake up again. They are not to be worshipped. Indeed, they serve us. The hold with which The Endless has us is also our hold over them. The Dreaming cannot be controlled, though it can be manipulated. It cannot be truly governed although Morpheus the King of Dreams is believed to preside over it. In order to properly tell the tales weaved of dreamstuff from The Dreaming one has to learn and accept the truth about it. That it is a place. That it is an entity of its own. We all can tap into it. We must accept these things as givens, or else become blind to it.
Or DC can just continue to write crap and I'll continue not to buy it. Works for me. =)