The following contains major spoilers for The Sandman Universe: Dead Boy Detectives #1, available now from DC Comics.
Over the years, the Sandman Universe has produced some of the most memorable characters to ever grace the comic book page. From Morpheus himself to the monstrous Corinthian, this fantastical world has something to offer fans of every ilk. Of course, there might not be any character who is both as beloved and feared by fans as Thessaly. This ancient witch has brought the whole world to its knees in the past, and it looks like she is poised to do so all over again. Unfortunately, this time it is happening entirely on purpose, and that bodes only the worst for everyone.
While the eponymous heroes of The Sandman Universe: Dead Boy Detectives #1 (by Pornsak Pichetshote, Jeff Stokley, Miguel Muerto, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou) are busy unraveling their latest mystery, another is brewing in a makeshift prison not all that far from the rest of the issue's proceedings. Of course, Thessaly is completely unaware of what is happening to the outside world, as she has been made the unwitting prisoner of some unseen jailer. Thankfully for her, she is already well on her way to making her escape. What that entails at this point is still anyone's guess, but there is no question that it will spell disaster for anyone who is in her way.
The Sandman's Thessaly is About to Break Bad
First introduced in 1991's Sandman #32 (by Neil Gaiman and Shawn McManus), the witch known as Thessaly is the last survivor of the Greek region that serves as her namesake. Thousands of years ago, she violently defended the temple she grew up in from uproarious and ambivalent drunkards. Her cutthroat brand of justice has served her well over the years, while her willingness to barter with all manner of supernatural forces has afforded her a life that spans the ages. In the years since, Thessaly has cultivated various spells, hexes, and other occult knowledge from nearly every belief system on the planet, though what she has cultivated the most is absolute terror.
In her first appearance, Thessaly was living with, among others, Barbie and George, the former of whom was unwittingly harboring the murderous Cuckoo in her dreams, and the latter of whom the Cuckoo was using to carry out her will in the real world. When the Cuckoo tried to kill Thessaly, she turned the tables on her attacker, eventually traveling into the Dreaming to confront and kill the parasitic entity for herself. Unlike the entities who can traverse those bounds naturally, Thessaly was forced to use the moon itself as a means of doing so. Unsurprisingly, upsetting the literal cosmos led to massive storms on Earth, not to mention the death of one of Thessaly's old roommates. She may not have meant to harm anyone, but the fact that they were didn't dissuade her in the least, nor will the prospect of hurting others again stop her from whatever she has planned today.
Thessaly isn't a True Villain
Between her command of the moon, loving and leaving Morpheus himself, and becoming a literal witch for hire, Thessaly has run the gamut of what a single character is capable of being, although she has never really been a villain in the truest sense of the word. She has been single-minded, selfish, and even cruel, yet she has never gone out of her way to simply hurt other people. At least, that was the case until recently, but seeing her plotting away while adorned in chains, it is clear that Thessaly is very much on her way toward becoming her worst self yet.
On the other hand, Thessaly has always been a being of circumstance more than anything else. Throughout the centuries, nearly everything that Thessaly has done was either out of a sense of longing or an innate desire to survive. These abjectly human traits are certainly nothing to hold against her, just as her reactions to what others have put her through shouldn't be, either. Hopefully, when Thessaly does find her freedom, it will only come at the expense of her tormentors.