Dora is trying to find Dream, and his trail leads to the World’s End pub, where stories are the currency, as seen in the World’s End story arc of the original Sandman series. Writer Simon Spurrier has shown he’s not afraid to take on the characters and settings of Neil Gaiman and make them his own, and this issue is a good example. The setting is the same, but not the same: the World’s End pub is actually on fire, but none of the many creatures in the bar are paying attention to that, so wrapped up are they in an intertwined story being told by three masked entities. Each storyteller’s part is completely different from the others, even though they connect, and each story is in a different art and fictional style: primitive culture, film noir crime, and science fiction, all handled deftly by artist Bilquis Evely, colorist Mat Lopes and letterer Simon Bowland. Back in the pub itself, Dora finds a new friend and admirer who seems to be the only one aware of the fire. He asks her to help put it out, but that task seems hopelessly beyond them…until Dora has an idea.

Great issue, recommended.