Following a six-month hiatus, Nightmare Country returns with a new sub-title, The Glass House, and a new perspective as readers are introduced to Max, a San Francisco finance bro looking to climb the ladder toward ever more wealth. After the climactic events of Nightmare Country #5 featuring terrors from a variety of supernatural realms converging on Earth, it provides readers an opportunity to further explore this conspiracy-laden underworld in which America’s ruling class collaborate with nightmares, devils, and worse. Max provides a useful point of view as he delves beyond the mundane atrocities of VC firms into something even worse, offering just enough sympathy for readers to worry about his well being as he seeks someone besides his therapist to speak with. The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country – The Glass House #1 provides a welcome return to all of the elements that made its predecessor a horror highlight in 2022 while promising even grander nightmares ahead.
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Max’s story follows a familiar arc as an ambitious young capitalist seizes upon opportunities to advance their own status while being invited into evermore predatory climates, like Wall Street if Michael Douglas were literally Satan. It’s a descent in which readers already understand that each new door opened will reveal new horrors, but that doesn’t make the inevitable revelation of terrible pleasures any less satisfying.
That satisfaction is largely derived from artist Lisandro Estherren’s depictions of reality and unreality alike. Even in a nightclub lacking any supernatural elements, human beings are sufficiently exaggerated to reveal their nature in form as well as action. Sharp lines and aggressive gestures define Max’s boss, Ken, while those unable to escape his eye are shown as desperate and pleading, even as they concede to his will. It’s an intensely disturbing display of power surrounded by hooting onlookers and dancing masses all given a grotesque edge that suggests this grounded experience is still a nightmare.
When familiar figures do appear, they match the tone of this capitalist playground perfectly. Monsters who remained on the mortal plane at the end of Nightmare Country slowly resurface and reveal connections to the prior chapter – developing tension as Max slowly seals his fate. Writer James Tynion IV wisely opts for a less-is-more approach in reintroducing past characters as their presence carries unspoken weight that would only be drained by expository dialogue or captions. The mere glimpse of certain figures is enough to leave readers yearning to turn the next page.
The Glass House #1 primarily functions as staging – evoking memories of what came before while providing readers with a new cast of characters and a tantalizing new setting in the secret “The King of Pain” nightclub and its promise of delivering any and all desires. Yet that staging is so well crafted that readers will instantly remember why they waited for the return of this insidious series, especially with Esetherren helming artistic duties. What comes next in the capital of tech bros and a finance industry that innovates new forms of misery across the United States is very promising and Nightmare Country is prepared to dig into all the terrors this new setting might unleash.
Published by DC Comics
On April 11, 2023
Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Lisandro Estherren
Colors by Patricio Delpeche
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Reiko Murakami
