by Kevin Gaussoin, Editor-in-Chief

Did you read Sandman? Did you read the recent Nightmare Country limited series? You may still need to catch up on a couple things before you read The Sandman Universe Nightmare Country The Glass House 3 this week. This series started a couple of short months ago and we’re already on Issue #3? Time to update you on Issues 1 and 2 real quick…

Official Synopsis of #1
The Corinthian has been turned loose on our realm once more, and this time he sets his sights on the very root of rapacious American capitalism-Silicon Valley. His relentless pursuit of the Smiling Man will carve a bloody path from the C-suite of Prophet Capital to the bowels of a demonic nightclub, and no one will be safe from his reach. Not Ken, living large in the Bay Area since parting ways with Barbie all those years ago. Not Max, a nervous hedge fund manager on the rise who’s never quite fit anywhere. Not anyone. Multiple Eisner Award-winning writer James Tynion IV reunites with superstar horror artist Lisandro Estherren to bring you the nightmare-fueled follow-up you’ve been craving, a tale that will plumb the bottomless depths of our yearning for more at the heart of the American dream.

Official Synopsis of #2: 
The Corinthian and Dream have a deal: the toothy-eyed nightmare can continue walking the waking world in search of answers about the Smiling Man, but he’s bound to the will of Madison Flynn-who refuses to let him hurt or kill anyone she finds undeserving. But as the Corinthian finds himself drawn into the labyrinthian demon club the King of Pain, he’s about to get a taste of just how tight his leash really is…

Okay listen, the official synopsis of #3 is surprisingly spoilery, so maybe I should hide it down at the bottom of this review? Nah, let’s hope you’ve read it already and give you our spoileriffic reaction to both the comic and the synopsis supplied via Diamond… 

Official Synopsis of #3:
Demon club the King of Pain offers the Corinthian a chance to indulge his most murderous tendencies, and the walking nightmare finds himself ravenous after years of guarded restraint. And though the first taste is free, what starts as a snack quickly escalates to a feast, and there will no doubt be hell to pay. Are the club’s offerings enough to keep the Corinthian satisfied? Or will blood spill across the streets of San Francisco just as the immortal witch Thessaly enters the fray, seeking to satiate a hunger of her own?

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Yeah, so a couple of months ago that went out to solicit preorders and I guess hopefully by the time we got around to reading the issue we’d already forgotten that—holy shiz, Thessaly’s back. Ruthless ancient witch? First appeared in the Sandman chapter “A Game of You”? Was way calmer than we readers were when Morpheus was killed back in the original Sandman series? Yeah, that’s the stunner on the last page. 

Like the previous The Sandman Universe Nightmare Country, The Glass House is written by James Tynion IV (Batman) and art by Lisandro Estherren (Redneck). Following up a masterpiece like Neil Gaiman’s iconic The Sandman demands a creative team that matches the quality, tone, mood, and voice, and Tynion and Estherren once again are killing it like The Corinthian.  Aspects of The Sandman (and really a ton of works by Gaiman) that I have always enjoyed have been the clever twists and reveals. Clearly Tynion is also a fan, as this series features these story components as well and does so beautifully.

Having read Redneck, I felt Estherren was a perfect pick to illustrate The Glass House, and I hope we’ll see more of him here and elsewhere that his style so ideally matches. His art coupled with Patricio Delpeche’s colors blend into nightmarishly perfect visuals for this clever and creepy story. 

Oh, and as uncommon as it may seem, in this series we need to address the letterer as well. Simon Bowland’s letters complement the original master: Todd Klein’s Sandman lettering, giving The Glass House the proper text voice as well. It matters and Is much appreciated.

As we approach the end of The Glass House, something else occurs to me: What’s next? They can’t be almost done can they? I feel like this chapter will necessarily lead to a third miniseries and I am for it. With certain other franchises (Picard) picking up and telling a big new story with the original cast 35 years later, can we expect Gaiman to come back again for another miniseries? Whether or not that happens, I’m on board with Tynion continuing to publish Sandman Universe stories until Lucien runs out of material. 

So at the end of The Sandman Universe Nightmare Country The Glass House 3 we have Thessaly joining the story. The Corinthian is leashed to Madison, but with this added wrinkle, how long will that last? Will Max be able to free his unholy holy sweetheart? What will we learn about The Smiling Man? What nightmares still await us until then?

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives The Sandman Universe Nightmare Country The Glass House 3 – 4.5/5 nightmares on leashes. 

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_{Somewhere in Lucien’s library there are a bunch of my works that I would love to read.}