This is a wonderful comic adaptation illustrated by P. Craig Russell, released a decade after the original illustrated novella, which I read last year. Neil had fans and academics fooled (Russell and myself included)—everyone believed he had adapted an old Japanese fable to fit into his Sandman universe, while he had in fact entirely made it up. Knowing this, the story itself is even more brilliant and awe-inspiring in its faux authenticity. I bought it hook, line, and sinker, I really did. La richiesta di scrivere una storia di Sandman per il decennale lo ha spinto a riscrivere la storia giapponese che aveva scoperto in passato, illustrata da Amano. Just be careful about trusting that Gaiman guy. He’s a writer—an author, and if you study the origin of the latter word, you’ll know that it comes from the Latin auctorem, which translates as “magnificent liar.” I was not very familiar with this Japanese illustrator’s work, as I am a complete dilettante when it comes to video games and anime, until I got my hands on this book. But from what I can see in my copy of “Dream Hunter”, he is an incredible artist who truly captured the essence of this story. The artwork is fantastic and perfectly fits the story. It’s very reminiscent of old Japanese woodcut artwork.

Gaiman does a convincing job of writing in a faux-translation style. His prose in The Dream Hunters is more direct, less full of digressions and figurative wordplay. It reads like a story adapted from a British retelling of a Japanese folktale. Which is, of course, exactly the point. So I will forgive myself and everyone else who fell for the ruse, because the master storyteller did what he does: told a masterful story. And the way of telling is just as important as what is told. Most of all, I got to see Dream again! God I love that character so much. I would’ve read it for that alone. Meanwhile, in a house in Kyoto, a rich onmyōji is consumed by a nameless fear, and consults three women living at the edge of town. They give him instructions to alleviate this fear; the result is that the aforementioned monk will become trapped inside a dream, and his body will sleep continuously until it dies.The Sandman: The Dream Hunters is just my second approach to the Sandman universe and, even without knowing the main story of the comics, this has been a book that has captivated me from the beginning, largely thanks to the wonderful illustration work by Yoshitaka Amano, and that I liked it very much. Although technically a Sandman story, this can certainly be read without involving that lengthy series. It could be considered a story in that universe, and not an essential piece of it.

If you’re a Sandman fan, this is worth reading as a chance to get to see Dream again. And even if you’re not, it’s a great little fairytale and one I’d definitely recommend! For the 20th anniversary of Sandman, Neil Gaiman announced at Comic-Con 2007 that P. Craig Russell would illustrate a comic adaptation of the story. [2]You may be aware of who is Neil Gaiman, the renowed British writer that got fame precisely with The Sandman comic book series, but also he has written several prose novels like American Gods, Stardust, Coraline, The Graveyard Book and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, just to mention some of the most popular ones. But in the case of The Dream Hunters, my incorrect understanding about the origins of the story—spurred by that sneaky Neil Gaiman and his Afterword hijinx—led me to completely dismiss the book upon its original release. Until approaching the book anew with this reread, I had always thought of the Gaiman/Amano work as “lesser” Sandman because it was just a retelling of some old Japanese story. Barely even Sandman. Just something that was a related project. Like a silver ankh sold at a comic shop or something. Sandman: Cazadores de sueños es un relato corto ambientado en el Japón feudal, mitad mitología y folklore y mitad cuento onírico, donde Neil Gaiman expande el universo de Sandman (al parecer algunos personajes que aparecen en este relato están tomados directamente de la historia principal) hacia la cultura oriental. Cazadores de Sueños nos cuenta la historia de un monje budista que vive solo en un templo situado en la ladera de una montaña. Un buen día una zorra y un tejón deciden hacer una apuesta: aquel que consiga expulsar al monje del templo se quedaría ese lugar como hogar. Ambos emplean todos los recursos a su alcance para engañar al monje y hacer que este se vaya, apareciendo ante él como una joven princesa con falsas promesas o como un grupo de monstruos amenazantes. Pero el monje es mucho más astuto de lo que parece y ningún engaño funciona con él. A pesar de todo, el monje siente lástima por la zorra y la deja vivir en las cercanías del templo, y cuando ésta se entera de la amenaza mortal que acecha al monje debido a una profecía pronunciada por las Tres Brujas a un poderoso señor feudal conocido como el Onmyoji en la que advertían a este que no podría vivir a no ser que el monje encontrara la muerte, no duda en hacer lo posible por ayudarle, ya que se había enamorado de él. Y es aquí cuando entramos en el reino de Morfeo, ya que el plan del Onmyoji se servía de sueños para asesinar al monje. La storia era però destinata ad altro, a essere un racconto in prosa illustrato dal disegnatore giapponese, quindi non se ne fece di nulla. Appearance Is in the Eye of the Beholder: The kitsune sees Dream as a giant fox the color of the night sky. The monk sees a gaunt Japanese man wearing a robe made of tormented souls.