Plot
Merv Pumpkinhead is one of the most popular characters in THE DREAMING, serving (albeit kicking and screaming) as the caretaker of the Sandman's castle for centuries. In the VERTIGO Prestige Format one-shot THE SANDMAN PRESENTS: MERV PUMPKINHEAD ? AGENT OF DREAM, readers discover the shocking truth (at least the way Merv sees it): that Merv is much more important a figure than his humble janitorial profession might indicate. Merv believes that sweeping floors and cleaning toilets is just an elaborate cover to protect his true role as Merv Pumpkinhead, Super-spy Agent of Dream. Written by Bill Willingham (PROPOSITION PLAYER, THE DREAMING) with art by Mark Buckingham (DEATH: THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE, THE TITANS) and John Stokes (THE INVISIBLES) and a lavish painted cover by Kevin Nowlan ("Jack B. Quick" in TOMORROW STORIES), THE SANDMAN PRESENTS: MERV PUMPKINHEAD is a hilarious tale of Merv's secret double life. When powerful dreams go wrong, the Sandman takes care of them personally. But if lesser inhabitants of The Dreaming strike out on their own, then Merv is charged with reining them in. Our story switches back and forth between Merv's reality ? where he is a dashing super-spy decked out in a tuxedo and seducing beautiful but deadly enemy agents ? and real reality, where things are a little more mundane (though still dangerous). When Merv accepts a mission to apprehend an errant dream that has escaped from the Dream King's castle with a magical band of sand, he embarks on his most perilous adventure yet. But is the crimebuster's fascinating lifestyle of action and intrigue for real, or is it all in his big pumpkin head?