The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country Vol. 2 – The Glass House
James Tynion IV, writer; Lisandro Estherren, Patricio Delpeche & Maria Llovet, artists; Patricio Delpeche & Maria Llovet, colorists
DC Black Label, 2024

The second installment is set in Silicon Valley, where a tech bro who runs Prophet Capital wants to make a movie about Madison Flynn’s (from the first volume) death. The Dream Lord has turned her into a cat, despite her hatred of cats in life (she was violently allergic), and put her in charge of the Corinthian. A talking cat is always good for a shock, which is a fun part of this story. There is also a club named The King of Pain, which is clearly an outpost of Hell, to all but the clueless humans.

Max from the tech company returns to the club to be with Kells, a dead escort full of bullet holes (who was Madison’s friend in life, and was forced to kill her). The club tries to tempt the Corinthian into returning to his old predatory ways. Lucien the librarian even visits to remind him of the rules. Max and Madison come to a meeting with Thessaly the witch, who has assumed the form of the writer Jamie Tyler. As part of the background we see the muse Calliope, and her relationship with the original Dream of the Endless.

Lucien provides an exit for Max, Madison and Thessaly, which puts them into the Dreaming (complete with Mervyn Pumpkinhead and Matthew the raven). But it is revealed that the Endless Desire is behind some of what is happening, and once the situation becomes clear enough for Dream to see the rules, he finally intercedes. Now that everyone else is safe in the Dreaming, Thessaly goes after the answer to who is behind everything, and why she was involved.  She is interrupted by the Smiling Man and the pair of nightmares named Mr. Ecstasy and Mr. Agony. They offer the mysterious being who has been calling himself an angel the power he has been seeking, but only if he does their employer’s bidding.

Quite a few questions are answered, but the ending is also clearly a cliffhanger for a third story arc. I gather there were plans for one, but have not found any announcements confirming that it will be happening. If not, this is still a reasonably satisfying ending. Beautiful art as always, and the collection includes a large number of alternate covers for the series. I should add that the compilation includes The Sandman Universe Special: Thessaly, which I have not seen mentioned in the descriptions.