Review: HOUSE OF WHISPERS #2

HOUSE OF WHISPERS No. 2
DC COMICS – @DCComics @vertigo_comics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Nalo Hopkinson
ART: Dominike “DOMO” Stanton
COLORS: John Rauch
LETTERS: Deron Bennett
EDITOR: Molly Mahan
CURATOR: Neil Gaiman
COVER: Sean Andrew Murray
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (December 2018)

“Suggested for Mature Readers”

The Sandman created by Neil Gaiman and Sam Kieth

“The Power Divided”

House of Whispers is a new comic book series that is part of The Sandman Universe, published under DC Comics' Vertigo imprint.  The Sandman Universe is a line of comic books inspired by the dark fantasy comic books that Neil Gaiman wrote for DC, in particular The Sandman (1989-1996) and The Books of Magic (1990-1991).

House of Whispers is written by Nalo Hopkinson; drawn by Dominike “DOMO” Stanton; colored by John Rauch; and lettered by Deron Bennett.  The series focuses on a tragic goddess of love (among other things) who grants the wishes and counsels the souls of those who visit her in their dreams.

House of Whispers #2 (“The Power Divided”) finds the House of Dahomey (a houseboat) trapped in The Dreaming.  Its owner, the goddess Erzulie Fréda, is in a state, as being in The Dreaming has cut her off from her worshipers and thus, her power.  Now, she is about to send her houseboat careening towards the rift or crack through which her house passed into this place she shouldn't be.  She will need the help of her rascally nephew, Shakpana, a troublemaker not sure what trouble he caused.  Meanwhile, LaToya awakens from her coma, and then, tries to convince her partner, Maggie, that despite her awakening, she is dead....

Writer Nalo Hopkinson continues the assault on our senses that she began in House of Whispers #1 with a dazzling array of colorful sequences, sparkling story elements, and fabulous characters.  Reading this comic book is still like experiencing an African or African-American folk music festival full of fierce beats and infectious rhythms.  This issue, however, Hopkinson keeps bumping the turntable with a series of adversarial events for her characters that also keeps the story from being predictable.

Artist Dominike “DOMO” Stanton explodes it all into life with imaginative page designs and kinetic graphics.  Often it is the way DOMO places his characters and elements that really conveys the characters' distress over the chaos of their environments.  It becomes a beautiful wall of graphics that are living out loud once John Rauch adds his pulsating colors to the art.

Letterer Deron Bennett does a Steph Curry-like shimmy as he place the word balloons in just the right places, accompanying his collaborators with his own special moves.  All of it is under another fine-ass Sean Andrew Murray cover.  House of Whispers #2 does not play it safe.  It pushes forward as Nalo Hopkinson captains her houseboat into uncharted comic book waters.

9 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.


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Review: HOUSE OF WHISPERS #1

HOUSE OF WHISPERS No. 1
DC COMICS – @DCComics @vertigo_comics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Nalo Hopkinson
ART: Dominike “Domo” Stanton
COLORS: John Rauch
LETTERS: Deron Bennett
EDITOR: Molly Mahan
CURATOR: Neil Gaiman
COVER: Sean Andrew Murray
VARIANT COVER: Bill Sienkiewicz
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (November 2018)

“Suggested for Mature Readers”

The Sandman created by Neil Gaiman and Sam Kieth

“Broken Telephone”

The Sandman Universe is a new line of comic books inspired by the dark fantasy comic books that Neil Gaiman wrote for DC Comics, in particular The Sandman (1989-1996) and The Books of Magic (1990-1991).  Neil Gaiman acts as a curator of the line, which currently includes four titles, The Dreaming, Books of Magic, Lucifer, and the subject of this review, House of Whispers.

House of Whispers is written by Nalo Hopkinson; drawn by Dominike “Domo” Stanton; colored by John Rauch; and lettered by Deron Bennett.  The series focuses on a tragic goddess who grants the wishes and counsels the souls of those who visit her in their dreams.

House of Whispers #1 (“Broken Telephone”) opens just outside a houseboat known as the House of Dahomey.  Uncle Monday of the Brotherhood of Teeth has come to visit the owner the houseboat, the goddess Erzulie Fréda.  This is also where souls of Voodoo followers go when they sleep.  They travel to Erzulie's houseboat where they can beseech the flirtatious and tragic Erzulie to grant them their hearts’ desires or where they can ask her to counsel them on their futures and fortunes.

From her perch in the bayou, Erzulie sees four human girls open a mysterious and magical journal.  This little book is filled with whispers and rumors that, if they spread, could cause a pandemic unlike any the Earth has seen.  Erzulie must discover the whereabouts of and then stop the conniver behind this plot, Erzulie's nephew, Shakpana.

We have Neil Gaiman to thank for bringing writer Nalo Hopkinson into The Sandman Universe fold.  Left to its own devices, DC Comics would not have chosen Hopkinson.  In twenty-five years of publishing hundreds of comic books and graphic novels, only a handful have been written by African-Americans, black writers, or writers of African descent.

What Hopkinson offers in this first issue is a dazzling array of colorful sequences, sparkling story elements, and fabulous characters.  Reading this comic book is like experiencing an African or African-American folk music festival full of fierce beats and infectious rhythms.

Artist Dominike “Domo” Stanton offers imaginative compositions that yield a style of graphical storytelling that is bursting with magic.  My eyes greedily took in every corner of the Domo's panels and observed every line for secrets.  John Rauch's colors enrich Domo's illustrations and even accentuate the eccentric to make this comic book truly a unique visual treat.

Deron Bennett's clever lettering pretends to be a rhythm section, but when I pay attention, I see Bennett's fonts giving Hopkinson and Domo's story that extra whatever it needs or even taking the lead in conveying the story.  Also, Sean Andrew Murray's gorgeous cover art makes this comic book hard to ignore on a store shelf.

I won't lie and say House of Whispers #1 is perfect.  Sometimes, it is so busy being different that the story gets lost in its House of Dahomey house party shenanigans.  Still, this may be the best of The Sandman Universe's debut quartet.

8 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: THE SANDMAN UNIVERSE #1

THE SANDMAN UNIVERSE No. 1
DC COMICS – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Neil Gaiman
WRITERS: Simon “Si” Spurrier, Kat Howard, Nalo Hopkinson, and Dan Watters
ART: Bilquis Evely, Tom Fowler, Dominike “Domo” Stanton, Max Fiumara and Sebastian Fiumara
COLORS: Mat Lopes
LETTERS: Simon Bowland
EDITOR: Molly Mahan
COVER: Jae Lee with June Chung
VARIANT COVERS: Dave McKean; Jill Thompson; Jim Lee with Alex Sinclair; Sam Keith; P. Craig Russell with Lovern Kindzierski; David Mack
48pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (October 2018)

“Suggested for Mature Readers”

The Sandman created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg

The Sandman is a DC Comics comic book series created by writer Neil Gaiman and artists Sam Keith and Mike Dringenberg.  Published by DC Comics from 1989 to 1996, The Sandman ran for 75 issues, and tells the story of “Dream” of “The Endless.”  Also named Morpheus (as well as other names), Dream rules over the world of dreams.

DC Comics announced earlier this year an expansion and quasi sequel to The Sandman, “The Sandman Universe.”  This will be a line of four comic books that will launch in September and October of 2018.  The release dates are timed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Sandman #1, which was covered dated January 1989, but released to comic book stores in October 1988.  It will also commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Vertigo imprint.

The Sandman Universe titles are a mixture of new and revived titles.  The first is The Dreaming (Sept. 5th), written by Simon “Si” Spurrier and drawn by Bilquis Evely.  The second is House of Whispers (Sept. 12), written by Nalo Hopkinson and drawn by Dominike “Domo” Stanton.  The third is Lucifer (October 17), written by Dan Watters and drawn by Max Fiumara and Sebastian Fiumara.  The fourth is Books of Magic (Oct. 24), written by Kat Howard and drawn by Tom Fowler.

These four titles are previewed in the stand-alone anthology comic book, The Sandman Universe #1.  Neil Gaiman provides the story for this single-issue comic book.  Simon Spurrier, Kat Howard, Nalo Hopkinson, and Dan Watters write the scripts for previews of the respective titles they are writing.  Bilquis Evely, Tom Fowler, Dominike “Domo” Stanton, and Max Fiumara and Sebastian Fiumara draw the art for the previews of the respective series they are drawing.  The Sandman Universe #1 is colored by Mat Lopes and lettered by Simon Bowland.

In The Sandman Universe #1, the denizens of The Dreaming discover that their master, the Lord of Dreams, is missing.  Now, Matthew the raven must traverse the realms and dreams of four characters:  Dora, Timothy Hunter, Erzulie (a voodoo deity), and Lucifer Morningstar (trapped in the body of an old man) to find Dream.  But does he want to be found?  What if he quit being Dream?

I enjoyed The Sandman Universe #1, but I would not call it an exceptional comic book.  It is a particularly well-produced preview comic book.  The best art, by far, in The Sandman Universe #1 is the work of Bilquis Evely, who is drawing The Dreaming, so I am putting this title on my reading list.

I want to try House of Whispers because I try to support Black writers of speculative and fantasy fiction, and the Jamaican-born, Canadian Hopkinson is a writer of color.  The House of Whispers preview in The Sandman Universe #1 is interesting and is the only truly unique offering in this comic book.  However, I must say that it did not quite connect with me the way I thought it would because of its various elements and ideas.

The Books of Magic preview did pique my interest; for obvious reasons, this is the closest thing to a Harry Potter comic book we likely will ever have.  I found the Lucifer preview to be a chore to read, taxing my patience for most of its six pages.

The Dreaming is both The Sandman Universe #1's framing sequence and the subject of a preview, which is good.  As I just wrote, Bilquis Evely's art is beautiful, and Evely's talent really shows on the killer last page she produces for this story.  As a preview of a line of comic books, The Sandman Universe #1 is as effective as it can be, but most of the effort is really up to the creative teams of the individual titles in the line.  I recommend this to readers interested in “The Sandman Universe” titles, but I doubt longtime fans of The Sandman comic book series will get much out of it.

7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You'


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for September 12, 2018

DC COMICS

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