My Rating
“Dreamers of Dreams: Part 03 of 03 – Perchance to Sleep”
Albertus “Magnus” De Groot sends another silent command to the television screens hanging high above the sleep chamber. Every thought generated by his ancient mind travels along fiber-optic lines connected to a massive mainframe computer. His brain waves are translated through some unknown technology and reassembled into electronic instructions for his mechanical minions.
The latest order is simple.
Kill August Ferrill—the man newspapers across the country have christened the “Campus Cannibal.”
Albertus has spent centuries attempting to unlock the secrets of immortality, and fear remains the key. Through the nightmares infecting the minds of sleepers across the country, the ancient scientist has once again found a way to turn terror into something tangible. His bizarre combination of medieval mysticism and modern technology has transformed the sleeping mind into his latest laboratory.
Unfortunately for Albertus, there is one man who understands exactly what he is attempting to accomplish.
Baron Winters.
The two ancient adversaries have crossed paths before, and Baron Winters knows that Albertus cannot be allowed to complete his experiment. With countless lives hanging in the balance, the pieces of Winters’ latest game finally begin falling into place. Jack Gold and Vanessa Van Helsing weren’t brought together by accident. As usual, the mysterious Baron has been moving his agents across the board while everyone else struggles to understand the rules.
Vanessa may prove to be the most important piece of all. Her tremendous psi-energy could provide the Night Force with its best weapon against the creatures invading humanity’s dreams. But destroying something born inside the sleeping mind may prove considerably more difficult than killing an ordinary monster.
And then there is August Ferrill.
The Campus Cannibal has spent this entire nightmare refusing to become anyone’s victim. Albertus may believe he can control Ferrill through fear, but how do you frighten a monster who views every human being around him as nothing more than meat?
Can Baron Winters stop his old nemesis before the sleep ritual consumes the planet? Does Vanessa Van Helsing possess enough psi-energy to destroy the dream invaders for good? What exactly has Albertus Magnus discovered during his centuries of experimentation? And will the Campus Cannibal feast one final time?
Collect the series to find out!
Reviewer Notes
“Dreamers of Dreams” reaches its conclusion with “Perchance to Sleep,” and thankfully, Marv Wolfman manages to pull everything together. The first two chapters were a little confusing at times, especially with the story jumping between August Ferrill, Jack Gold, Vanessa Van Helsing, Baron Winters, the nightmare creatures, and Albertus Magnus. Issue #7 finally begins connecting those dots, and suddenly much of the weirdness from the previous two books makes sense.
I especially enjoyed the combination of science fiction and supernatural horror in this issue. Albertus Magnus uses computers, fiber optics, brain waves, and other technology alongside concepts involving dreams, fear, immortality, and psychic energy. That bizarre mixture feels much closer to what I want from Night Force. After all of the biblical mythology dominating some of the earlier issues, it is nice to see Wolfman getting weird again.
The artwork does become a little more blocky in places, which isn’t entirely to my taste, but the writing remains solid. More importantly, Wolfman reaches back into the history of Night Force and connects “Dreamers of Dreams” with events and characters from the original series. I always appreciate that type of continuity. It rewards readers who have been around since the earlier run without making the entire story dependent upon nostalgia.
Overall, “Dreamers of Dreams” started out somewhat confusing but finishes much stronger than it began. Cannibals, psychic powers, nightmare creatures, ancient enemies, mad science, and Baron Winters manipulating events from behind the curtain—now this feels like Night Force.