Sandman #1

Issue Details

Synopsis

Jed Walker is having a terrible dream. A lone man is lost in the surf, several yards from the shore of Dolphin Island. In his hand he clutches a hideous doll. Battered by the unmerciful ocean waves, the man sinks beneath the surface of the sea. From the Dream Dome, the Sandman has been monitoring Walker's dream, and commands the boy to awaken. Walker bolts out of bed. Believing his dream to be true, he races outside, into the storm, in hopes of rescuing the man before he drowns. Walker's grandfather, Ezra Paulson, follows. Soon enough the pair encounter the drowning man and pull him from the sea. Despite their best efforts, the man dies, on shore, passing the horrid doll onto Walker. Before he dies, the man calls the doll a "Werblink". Though Paulson despises the abominable figurine, the lonely Walker looks on the Werblink as a friend. Soon, the two are inseparable.. One night, Walker dreams that the Werblink is pursuing his grandfather. Alerted to Walker's nightmare, in the Dream Dome, the Sandman enters Walker's dream, rescuing the boy from a fall into a deep chasm. Upon awakening, Walker relays the nightmare to his grandfather. Comforted by his grandfather, Walker falls back asleep. Paulson removes the Werbling from Walker's pillow, and in a fit of fear-born rage, smashes the doll to pieces, in his workshop. Carrying the shattered figure out into the night, Paulson buries the Werbling, to hide his insane act from his grandson.Visiting a veteran's hospital, on the outskirts of Tokyo, Doctor Kaufman, an American, marvels at the advances Japanese doctors have made in brain surgery. The chief surgeon, Doctor Masugi, says they owe it all to General Electric. The squadron head of a kamikaze unit in World War II, General Electric was all but killed in an attack on Allied forces. Japanese surgeons replaced the majority of General Electric's head with the most advanced electronic technology of the day. In the intervening 30 years, regular upgrades were made, giving General...