Comic Title: Essential Vertigo:The Sandman #18
Publisher: DC
Imprint: Vertigo
Cover Date: January 1998
On Sale Date: November 5, 1997 Direct Market Date November 5, 1997
Source: Previews, Vol. 7 #9 (#105)

Direct Market Date November 5, 1997
Source: ComicList, Diamond : New Comic Book Releases List for Wednesday, November 5, 1997

Shipping Date November 5, 1997
Source: Comics Buyers Guide, #1251

Cover Price: $1.95
Page Count: 36
Editor: Jennifer Lee

Title: "A Dream of a Thousand Cats"
Pages: 24

Feature(s):
Sandman (Morpheus)

Writer: Neil Gaiman
Penciller: Kelley Jones
Inker: Malcolm Jones III
Letterer: Todd Klein
Colorist: Robbie Busch

Reprinted From:
Sandman #18 (1990)

Feature Character(s)

• Dream (last appearance in Sandman #17; next appearance in Sandman #21)

Villain(s)

• Paul and Marion (in flashback; murderers; former humans of the siamese cat; no further appearances)
• Don and his wife (humans of the white kitten; no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• A female siamese cat (no further appearances)
• A white kitten (no further appearances)
• A fat tom cat (in flashback; no further appearances)
• The kittens of the siamese (die in flashback; no further appearances)
• Several other cats (no further appearances)
• A dead crow (in a dream flashback; no further appearances)

Synopsis:
A young kitten climbs out an upstairs window and joins another cat on a journey to meet a female cat. Several other cats follow along as the group reaches a graveyard. When the assembled cats are ready, a female siamese cat perches above them and tells her story.

She was once in the company of humans. However, when she got pregnant and had a litter of kittens, the murderous humans took the kittens away and slaughtered them. It was then, that the cat realized just how subordinate cats were to their humans. As the siamese drifted off to sleep, she dreamed of more.

In her dream, she sought justice, revelation, and wisdom. A dead crow, one of the denizens of the dream world, claimed that only revelation was possible in a dream. The siamese was satisfied to find revelation and was directed to find the cat of dreams. The siamese traveled through the dream world, facing obstacles and distractions, but she was unswayed from her mission. Eventually, she met the cat of dreams.

The Dream Lord locked eyes with the siamese and in them the cat saw the truth. Many seasons ago, cats ruled the world. Cats were larger, and humans were smaller. Humans would groom, feed, and pet the cats, but mainly they served as sport. Cats freely hunted and ate humans.

However, one of the humans had a dream. In the dream, the human imagined a world where cats did not hunt humans. He imagined that humans were the dominant species. He believed that dreams shaped the world, so he shared the dream with other humans. Although nothing happened at first, over time more humans heard the dream and shared it. Then one night a small number of humans, perhaps a thousand, all dreamed the same dream. The next morning the dream became reality. Humans were now dominant and had always been.

The Dream Lord concluded his tale. The siamese understood the truth. If humans could use dreams to reshape reality, cats could do the same to restore paradise. The siamese woke from her meeting with the dream lord. She then escaped from her murderous captors and began traveling the world spreading the dream.

The siamese finishes her tale to the assembled audience in the graveyard. The cats begin to disperse. Some are skeptical about what they heard. Some, like the white kitten, choose to believe in the dream. The kitten returns home and goes to sleep. The kitten's humans observe the sleeping kitten and wonder what cats dream about.