The Sandman: The Doll's House

Publication history

The Doll's House was the first Sandman paperback collection. The first edition printed in 1990 collected issues #8-16. Its success led to the printing of Preludes and Nocturnes, which collected issues #1-8. Later editions of The Doll's House would omit issue #8.

The collection was later reissued in hardcover in 1995. The collected edition features a foreword by Gaiman's friend Clive Barker.

Plot

As part of a manhood ritual, an old man in the desert tells a younger man an ancient story, detailing the tragic love between Dream and Queen Nada. Fearing the consequences of loving an immortal, Nada spurns Dream. In anger, Dream sends Nada to Hell, where she remains to the present day.

Meanwhile, Dream's androgynous sibling Desire calls upon their twin, Despair, to inform her there is a new dream vortex. The two of them allude to a scheme against Dream.

Dream reviews a census of his realm, and discovers four of his creations are missing. On Earth, Rose Walker and her mother Miranda meet Unity Kinkaid, a victim of the sleeping sickness that occurred while Dream was imprisoned. While Miranda stays in England with Unity, Rose goes in search of her younger brother, Jed. As she tries to track his whereabouts, Rose takes residence in a boarding house full of peculiar characters, including Chantal and Zelda, who always wear bridal garb and own a collection of stuffed spiders; Ken and Barbie, an extremely yuppie-ish couple; the eccentric Gilbert, a self-described "amateur knight errant"; and the landlord Hal, who performs at nightclubs in drag. At night, Rose dreams of her brother, whose new caretakers keep him locked in their basement while they enjoy the monetary benefits they receive for caring for him. Meanwhile, Brute and Glob, two creatures created by Dream, have taken residence in Jed's mind. Jed is freed when Dream collects Brute and Glob, but is himself captured by the Corinthian, an escaped nightmare. Dream speaks with Hob Gadling, whom Dream granted immortality in 1389. The two share a drink in the same tavern every hundred years.

In search of Jed, Rose and Gilbert stop at a hotel, where the Corinthian is attending a convention of serial killers. Gilbert recognizes the Corinthian, and tells Rose that if she is in danger she should call upon Dream, under his by-name of "Morpheus". When one of the serial killers attacks her, Rose summons him; whereupon Dream destroys the Corinthian and punishes the convention by revealing the pettiness of their crimes. Gilbert finds Jed and has him sent to a hospital; while Dream informs Rose she is a 'dream vortex', capable of uniting the imaginations of everyone she meets, and the world will be destroyed if he does not kill her. Gilbert, now identified as the fourth missing creation, offers his life in Rose's place; but is refused. Before Dream can kill Rose, Unity assumes the vortex in her stead, and seems to naturally die in the waking world, thus destroying the vortex; whereupon Dream frees Rose, who re-unites thereafter with Jed and Miranda. After months of thought, Dream confronts Desire, who admits to impregnating Unity in the hope that Dream would kill Rose, and thus occasion his own destruction. Dream then warns Desire against plotting thus, and departs.

Issues collected

¹ After positive sales of "the Doll's House," DC went back and published "Preludes & Nocturnes" as a bound collection, and this book was published the same month as "Dream Country." Newer editions of "the Doll's House" start with issue 9.