The Sandman Presents: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Dreams...But Were Afraid to Ask #1

In "What Causes Nightmares?", a quietly unsettling tale from *The Sandman Presents: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Dreams...But Were Afraid to Ask #1*, a mild-mannered dream director named Winkling takes a vacation, leaving his job in the hands of his vengeful replacement, Peter Starlight. When Starlight uses his power to unleash two weeks of escalating nightmares on Winkling’s client, the line between dream and madness begins to blur — all over a petty grudge from a craft services line three years prior.

In "What Causes Recurring Dreams?", Mervyn, a perpetually distracted messenger, sets out to deliver scripts to the Foggy Swamp Players—only to lose them en route. Desperate to avoid trouble, he spins a tale about needing to repeat last week’s performances until they “get it right,” setting off a surreal loop of theatrical repetition.

Nuala, shaken by her own outburst during her first directorial effort, seeks redemption in the dream realm. Lucien offers a quiet solution—gently guiding her client through fleeting, dreamlike images just before waking, so the memory of the mishap fades into the blur of a forgotten dream.