I’ve always been at least a casual fan of Neil Gaiman’s original Sandman series, but then, who hasn’t? Dream’s intrigues with his family, the crazy art, the way it leaves you often thinking at the end of an arc, the little stories nestled away, just stellar stuff.

Sadly, the original coloring doesn’t live up to the discerning eye of today’s comic reader (at least, not mine); plus, it can be difficult to pickup an old issue for the sake of one-shot enjoyment without having to be intimately familiar with every ounce of backstory that has happened before.

This is part of what makes this comic adaptation of Gaiman’s novel “Sandman: the Dream Hunters” so wonderful. Starting as a simple Japanese fairy tale about a monk, a bold badger, and a wily fox, the tale time-releases mood and energy with fantastic lines, color, and page design by P. Craig Russell.

Gaiman is at his best in this type of story environment. Adopting the beginning of his story from what I’m pretty sure is an old Zen koan (I will have to dig into my hippie book box for references), he adroitly makes it his own without anyone the wiser. The mood he delivers is, per usual in his Dream story nuggets, storybook perfection. He truly captures the essence of a young quiet monk and his two mischievous tormentors while allowing them to be just vulnerable enough to relate to.

Russell melds the simple lines and stark colors of classic Japanese artwork with modern Western sensibilities. You can see the Russell’s chops in action on a page with a photo-referenced Japanese man (the monk) on the top panel, and a cartoony fox (the fox) worthy of a lighter Fables tale. His use of lines and color diversity is economic without being stale, thus allowing him to breathe more life into the storm scenes and dream sequences.

When Dream finally shows up in his usual style (that of a dream, OH GOD SPOILERS!), his dialogue jars the narrative style just enough for the reader to wake slightly from his Zen reverie, which is a new spin on these sorts of Dream-based stories. This could be a simple style evolution on behalf of Gaiman, a distinct narrative choice, a continuity-based choice (based on events at the end of the Sandman series), or some combination, or none of these. Regardless, it serves the story flow incredibly well, foreshadowing this issue’s events and setting us up for the next.

“Sandman: The Dream Hunters” is a fantastic mini-series for Sandman fans, people who have heard of Sandman, people who have heard of Neil Gaiman, or any reader who wants to stop riding the continuity express for thirty-four pages before getting back to continuing their boycott of Brand New Day.