The Sandman is a series from 1989 originally written by Neil Gaiman and drawn by Sam Kieth. Later featuring the art of Mike Dringenberg, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli, Shawn McManus, and more, the original Sandman series centers on Dream of the Endless, an anthropomorphic representation of dreams who has traversed both the physical world and subconscious psyche of humanity since the dawn of time. Responsible for a realm known as The Dreaming, Dream has created numerous Nightmares and other creatures that populate humanity's dreams. Sandman: Nightmare Country introduces a new human character, Madison Flynn, whose repeated visions of The Corinthian, a horrifying being with mouths for eyes, could have lasting consequences on the separation between The Dreaming and waking life. At San Diego Comic-Con, we talked with writer James Tynion IV on how this new chapter in Sandman lore came about, and the nature of fear in his work and beyond.

Related: Sandman's Corinthian is Returning in New Comic From Batman Writer

Screen Rant: Would you mind just giving us an overview of this particular Sandman story?

James Tynion: So Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country is a story that puts the Corinthian up front and center. I think the Corinthian is one of the most terrifying images ever put in comics. And as a figure, he always stood out to me in the original Sandman series, particularly in what is probably my favorite issue of the entire original Sandman run, which is, I believe, issue 14, "The Collectors" by Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg. It is one of the most terrifying comics ever written. And it's all set in the middle of a convention of serial killers. And the Corinthian, unbeknownst to all of these killers, has basically been inspiring serial killers to pop up all over the country for years and years and years, and that's sort of his last stand. And I wanted to do a series that bottled up the horrific energy of that issue and the whole Doll's House arc, and tell a story that feels as vibrant and of the moment in 2022 as that issue felt right at the turn of the 90s. And I'm extraordinarily, extraordinarily proud of it, and we're just getting started.

Absolutely. I love the 2022-ness of it. It reminds me a lot of your Constantine: the Hellblazer series with Ming Doyle and Riley Rossmo, where it feels very much like a Constantine story, but it's very much 2015 New York. And I also love that New York is also playing a role in this story, with references to Pratt [Institute] and stuff like that. It's built into that world.

James Tynion IV: When I started writing it, I just moved up to Williamsburg, but I was living in Bed Stuy, which is walking distance from Pratt, and I know a lot of Pratt grads. This is a world I know very, very well. And it's something that I've been trying to do in a lot of my comics. Something is Killing the Children and Nice House on the Lake, I want to really capture the feeling of the modern day. And even when telling a story that's really fantastical, I want to ground the grounded elements and make them feel of-the-moment. Because, once again, I think that instinct in me comes from having read the original Sandman series growing up. The special thing about Sandman is as much the arcs that just focus on regular human characters who brush up against the extraordinary as the arcs that focus on these fantastic characters up front and center.

And with fear in general, it's such a specific, and yet universal feeling. Everyone has their own personal fears, and the specificities within our time period are reflected in that. And so something I was curious about was, how do you continue that same spirit of fear?

James Tynion IV: I think the best horror comes from cultural fears. And I think we are living in a moment of extraordinary fear. And it's a really, really terrifying moment to live through. And, you know, as a horror writer, it gives me a lot of opportunities to attack it from different angles, and really speak to the different core fears that I have about whether or not these bloated systems that we live in can withstand, and all that. But in Nightmare Country in particular, it's very much about what lives at the heart of America in particular. We talk a lot about the American Dream, and is Dream the real core feeling at the center of America, or is it something else? Is it something darker? As we reach the end of the first arc, I think it will become clear what I am putting in opposition to Dream. Honestly, it's a tremendous opportunity to tap into these really, really vibrant and terrifying characters and pit them against that question.

For sure. And I really feel like, kind of what you're getting at with Dream and being like, "Well, is he like the collective subconscious? Or is he something different?" It's kind of like this feeling of going down basement stairs with the lights off and then having expecting the floor to be there, and then the floor isn't there. So it's a feeling of, " Oh, is there something deeper?" And so I feel like that's the best that horror can really ask.

James Tynion IV: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a great way of putting it.

Thank you. I also wanted to know, how do you use fear in your work, with the Sandman mythos, but also with some of your other work as well?

James Tynion IV: I think that I can't write something unless it has a real personal component. And I think that Nice House on the Lake is a really good example, because the villain of that series is based on me. So the character Walter has a lot of my traits and a lot of my flaws. And so a lot of that book is about the tension that exists between living comfortably, and knowing that the world's ending all around us, and how to make peace with that. It is also very much me facing my fears of all of my worst instincts, and the ways in which, you know, even when I think I'm trying to be a good friend, sometimes I do the wrong thing, and I can overstep. And Walter oversteps in many ways, and I think he's me dialed up a few notches. In Nightmare Country, it's very much the same. All of my horror work right now is me trying to look at the things that make me the most uncomfortable about myself, about the country I live in, about the communities I'm part of, and really try to grapple with the uncomfortable questions that come out of that, and try to explore them in fiction. But yeah, it all comes from fear, and I think fear is just such a powerful emotion. And, you know, I'm someone who, as an anxious person, I get very afraid of many things.

For sure. I also feel like fear has this very honest quality to it. It's a shortcut to being very honest about a lot of feelings. And that's why I think in Nightmare Country, just in of seeing what characters are having nightmares about, it really reveals a whole other aspect about what's going on in their minds.

James Tynion IV: Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. What we are all most afraid of says the most . I think that, especially as a writer, it's an incredible tool just to be able to cut right to the quick cut right to the subconscious.

With all of this in mind, something I wanted to ask you was, does the Corinthian have anything he's afraid of? Because he is an object of fear for so many other people, but is it possible for him to have that same feeling as well?

James Tynion IV: That's a really interesting question. And it's one that we're going to be grappling with in the series, because the series puts the Corinthian in a very interesting place. Because at first glance, it almost might seem that he has concern for people and all of that, but he's really just faced with a question he doesn't understand the answer to. And the thing he fears more than anything, I would say, in the most base way is, he's someone who faced non-existence before, when he was destroyed the first time, and he doesn't want to not exist ever, ever again. But he still has this pull toward this darkness that may lead to his destruction, and he wants to understand that. And that's what he keeps grappling with, and we're going to really test the limits of that as we move forward.

And with this big character at play, can fans expect any other Sandman characters coming in?

James Tynion IV: Absolutely. And as the series moves forward, we're going to play with more of The Sandman mythology, but I wanted to ground it first and some of these new characters that we're introducing, so that as they are introduced to the whole mythos of the Sandman universe, we are also introduced to that. I think in issues, we're finally going to see Dream. And then I think in one of the most recent solicits, we revealed that Thessaly, one of my favorite characters from the original Sandman series, is going to be coming in in a special one-shot issue drawn by Maria Llovet, who is one of my favorite artists working right now. And I'm really, really excited to continue to explore all of this. And I also want to take the opportunity to shout out the main art team on the book. Lisandro [Estherren] is just doing such beautiful work with Patricio [Delpeche], they together have created such a dreamy quality to the core line of the series. And then we've managed to bring in such incredible artists to do these terrifying, we call them nightmare sequences, but as the series goes on, you'll see different ways how we use all of them. And Sandman has always been a series that brought in a lot of artistic voices, which is really appropriate, we explore Dream from so many different angles, and everyone's dreams look a little different. And I'm incredibly proud of the work that we've done together.

Going back to these new characters, you mentioned that you often pull from yourself, or your own life. What went into this specific cast of characters?

James Tynion IV: Over the course of the series, we're going to introduce a handful of human characters. The first one, Madison Flynn is an art school student, and is an art school student who specializes in kind of horror art, and is someone who spends all of her days thinking about nightmarish images. And as a horror writer who knows many horror artists, it's a specific type of person that I really wanted to bring to life in a comic. A lot of the audience of Sandman looks a lot like Flynn. And being able to speak to her fears, and put her up against the Corinthian, especially because she's the sort of person who, as much as she's terrified of the position she's in and will continue to be terrified by that position, when she sees the Corinthian for the first time, she's just fascinated by him. And she's not afraid of him. Like she's just in love with the image of him, the pure, iconic, nightmarish nature of him. That dynamic is going to be very interesting to explore moving forward.

The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country #4 is available now from DC Comics.