The Dreaming: Waking Hours #9 Review

“I want to be a good wizard. Like Gandalf.”--Heather

Written by: G. Willow Wilson
Art by: Nick Robles and M.K. Perker (pgs 8-11)
Colors by: Matheus Lopes
Letters by: Simon Bowland
Cover by: Nick Robles
Edited by: Chris Conroy
Associate Editor Maggie Howell

HOLY SMOKES!!! Will you take a look at that gorgeous cover by Nick Robles to start off with. WOW!! It has a horrific romance to it. Ruin and the Minotaur in the throws of passion but what of those flowers and the art style that Robles went with. That muted variation of gray that makes it look like a statute of old. Then it almost looks as if everything else is on fire with a passionate fire. Well done, Mr. Robles, well done. 

Let’s pick up with the story. Heather and her compatriots, Ruin and Jophiel, are on a quest to help Heather make good on her promise to the former King of Faerie but they run into the Unseelie who are taking the cares away of Heather and Ruin while Jophiel is down for the count. This story continues on with what came before. This issue almost feels like a buddy cop with a twist. Jophiel teams up with Auberon, the former King of Faerie and they embark to find Ruin and Heather and ultimately leads to the...Well I’ll let you see that part for yourself. 

I have to ask this honestly. Is there anything that G. Willow Wilson cannot write? Wilson has done an amazing job in comics and in her prose novels. I mean come on! Wilson co-created Ms. Marvel for the House of Ideas, wrote a fabulous arc in Wonder Woman at D.C. and has Invisible Kingdom over at Dark Horse (if you haven’t read that..pick it up...so good). The Dreaming: Waking Hours is now different. Wilson has been doing a great job in telling this story so far and I’ve been hooked since the first issue. I’m really intrigued by meeting Nuala, the new Queen of Faerie and learning more about Dream’s issue with Ruin and Dream’s search for the amulet that Heather has (which there is a backstory there to the original Sandman stories by Neil Gaiman if you aren’t as familiar with this universe). I can’t wait for Wilson to give me more of this book. 

As excellent as the writing is the art by Robles and those few pages by Perker are absolutely phenomenal. Robles, for instance, is doing a fantastic job with the juxtaposition in Faerie between the beautiful aspects as shown to Heather and Ruin and the desiccated parts that was affected by war. I just have to say, Robles made Heather, Ruin and Jophiel an amazing trio. You get to see Jophiel’s true self in this issue and you will love it. 

Perker gets a few pages here in this story when Heather’s backstory is discussed and you can certainly see how Perker and Robles are working together but doing their own thing with their parts of the story. Robles’ pages are bright and colorful, even with the war torn regions of Faerie. Perker certainly has a muted look on his pages that when you see the book, you will know why. That bluish-gray overtone that the art is done in is just absolutely breathtaking and a hard pivot from the fiery reds and oranges that Robles give us on the other pages. 

If you haven’t been keeping up with this series I would highly suggest you catch up on it. There is a reason that The Dreaming: Waking Hours is part of the DC Black Label imprint and the art in this story takes full advantage. The first arc is available in trade but at least go back and pick up issues 7 and 8 to get you caught up to this part of the story. The first arc will introduce you to the characters but you do learn a lot about them in this arc. I really can’t say enough positive things about this book. This is one of my favorite stories from DC right now.