It started with a Dream.
Following the launch of Locke & Key/The Sandman Universe: Hell & Gone #0 late last year, IDW Publishing and DC Comics' supernatural crossover kicks off proper with issue #1 next month. IDW has now released a preview of the issue, offering both Locke & Key and Sandman fans a new look at what they can expect from this meeting of worlds.
"Hell & Gone #1 follows a desperate Mary Locke, whose brother Jack may be 10 years dead but still sends letters home from Hell. Her quest to rescue him from The Pit will require her to outsmart Roderick Burgess (the most wicked man in England), puzzle her way through the House of Mystery, and risk the walking nightmare known as The Corinthian in a disintegrating Kingdom of Dreams!" an official synopsis reads.
"Without Sandman, I don't know if there ever would've been a Locke & Key," Locke & Key writer Joe Hill said of the DC/Vertigo series created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg. "Neil Gaiman's stories taught Gabriel and me how to tell ours. The Sandman series is to comics what J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings was to fantasy and maybe what Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was to rock and roll: it's the Alpha and Omega of dark fantasy in this format. Neil dreamt up all the best toys, and what a thrill it's been to play with them. Maybe the biggest surprise is how well, how naturally, these series lace together. It's like they've always been waiting for each other."
"An idea we started discussing with Joe as a joke became a Dream once and now the stars aligned to lend us the Key to open the gate to a story that means so much to us!" added Locke & Key artist Gabriel Rodríguez. "Both Joe and myself fell in love deeper than ever with comics thanks to a generation of genius creators guided by editor Karen Berger in DC's Vertigo line. They brought to the medium a breath of insane, mind-bending fresh air rarely seen before. Morpheus' saga is directly responsible for inspiring the foundation of Keyhouse, the crafting of the magic keys, and the family saga of Locke & Key. To have these universes weave together in a multi-dimensional, gut-wrenching and heartbreaking adventure is indeed a Dream UnLocked."
Written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodríguez with colors by Jay Fotos, Locke & Key/The Sandman Universe: Hell & Gone #1 goes on sale April 14 from IDW Publishing and DC Comics.