The Sandman Universe Special: Thessaly #1 Review: A Compelling Tale of Devils and Desire

The witch Thessaly is a powerful, compelling character introduced in the pages of The Sandman. The Sandman Universe Special: Thessaly #1 pairs her with Tommi, a woman who is her polar opposite. Tommi is a woman caught in the wake of the world around her, moving at whatever pace, in whatever direction her lover or boss might set for her. Thessaly is a woman who moves and expects the universe to move with her or get out of the way. "The universe moves, and you move with it," she tells Tommi late in the story. "When I move, I move the universe," she concludes, while the arcane energies summoned to support her assertion flow around her like a river upon which she floats.

Thessaly hasn't lived for centuries and gained this much power by chance. As revealed in the chronicle of her life told via text pages created by AndWorld Design, which change form from scrawled parchment to illuminated manuscripts, and finally a screenplay on a laptop screen to track her passage through the ages, it took many bargains to extend Thessaly's life for this long. Tommi is about to make her first.

Deals with devils are a topic of conversation from the issue's first page. Tommi, who works in the entertainment industry, and her lover, Mike, consider how attitudes towards the occult have changed over the years. Where the demonic were once clear villains, agents of evil, now we wave "teenage witch" shows where the "likable lead characters" are "worshipping Satan" and the protagonist is "literally signing away her soul to the devil." One is left to wonder on which axis those changes have turned. It's a seemingly hypothetical exercise that bores Tommi but becomes increasingly relevant as the story progresses and the subject takes on more practical applications in her life.

Tommi's willingness to consider such bargains are plain from those opening pages. As Tommi and Mike share a kiss, the world drops away, and artist Maria Llovet frames her lush, fleshy linework in a plain white background, making the kiss both singular and empty. It happens again shortly after, becoming one with the negative space of the page's gutter. Both contrast with the kiss Tommi shares with her boss, backlit by a warning shade of yellow.

As Tommi spends time with Thessaly, the witch's singular focus and force of will begins to appeal to her. Thessaly offers to share a taste of that lived experience with Tommi, but at what cost? The warnings are present in the subtly suggestive colors, with wafting Fuchsia vapors and lavender backgrounds as Thessaly teases Tommi's unspoken yearning out of her and turns to hot pink like an alert as she finally speaks the words. How does one learn to define and reach for what they want without becoming a slave to Desire? 

The first hint of an answer to that question reaches Thessaly through surprising means, and she is not pleased with its implications. Writer James Tynion IV knows what buttons to press, ones that strike at Thessaly's very perception of herself while sending chills down the spines of any longtime Sandman reader with what they may foreshadow, and casting Thessaly's role in The Sandman saga in a new light. She thought that pursuing what she wanted regardless of cost had made her strong and freed her of the forces that bound mere mortals. But what if walking that path put her in the thrall of another she had not expected? Well, Thessaly has (seemingly) already gotten away with being involved in one act of whatever is beyond deicide. What's to stop her from becoming a repeat offender?

And yet, for all that the issue suggests that Thessaly may have built the bars of her cage, it also implies that there's something valuable in the strength that Tommi gains from her encounter with Thessaly. She kisses Mike again, and the world doesn't fall away. Their surroundings remain real. She doesn't meekly submit to Mike's wishes but asserts her desires. It seems she got something worthwhile from her dalliance with the devil. 

Watching this slow-burn, character-focused story, punctuated with disturbing moments of horror, play out as engrossingly as one might expect coming from Tynion, a writer who has now won three consecutive Eisner Awards for writing, and Llovet's artistic style makes it all feel seductive – like the reader is being put under one of Thessaly's spells. The Sandman Universe Special: Thessaly #1 is an issue that holds up perfectly well by itself, yet by the end, the full consequences of Thessaly's transaction with Tommi remain uncertain, and that's a story readers will likely have a great desire to follow.

Published by DC Comics

On August 1, 2023

Written by James Tynion IV

Art by Maria Llovet

Colors by Maria Llovet

Letters by Simon Bowland

Cover by Reiko Murakami