The Dreaming: Waking Hours

Despite the fact that this is 12 issues in length, technically consisting of two 5-part stories and a 2-part linking piece in the middle, this moved along so seamlessly, and without unnecessary waffle, that it felt much shorter. The main tie that holds the two parts together is the story of a nightmare who escapes from the Dreaming to seek out the person whose dreams he haunted, but there's much more to it than that. A sorceress, a fallen angel, and a Shakesperean scholar (whose presence allows the series to riff on the meta-themes of storytelling that were key to Sandman) join more familiar characters in a story that moves from the Dreaming to the waking world and the realm of Faerie. This is a beautiful piece of writing that successfully stands alongside Gaiman's original, which is no mean feat. Lovely art, too, the style changing as the characters move realms or we revisit flashbacks.