Mister Sandman, bring me a dream...

[Premier]

Well, I've only found one tiny little reference to it in the whole forum, but I figured it deserves its own thread.

So, who here knows The Sandman (Neil Gaiman's, that is), and what do people think about it? Personally, I have to say it's my favourite comic book series barring none. Gaiman has this amazing ability to take a lot of things from a wide range of other sources - mythology, popular culture, etc. - and incorporate them into a single coherent story.

And Death is cute. I'm a total fanboy.

[Jibar]

My friend thinks it's amazing. My other friend hates it.
so far, I've only been able to find people who hate it or love it. I've never read it, so I can't really comment.

[Gefangnis]

I enjoyed it quite a bit, myself.

[WampaX]

I've enjoyed it so far . . . That is to say, I've read through the first 3 books, but got sidetracked on other stuff. I'll pick it back up once the other stuff is finished.

Knowing even a smidgen of DC continuity helps the first book a good bit. The others have been well put together so far. I've enjoyed the "one off"s about as much as the main thread stories.

[Jack_Banzai]

The Sandman is a brilliant series but not my favorite, not by far. It is true that knowing some of DC's continuity is helpful. For instance, the character of Prez Rickard had his own comic book series in the 70s. Very few people realize that Frank Miller also nodded to Prez Rickard in The Dark Knight Strikes Again. I didn't think much of the series as a whole, but I was surprised to see a reference to Prez Rickard.

[Dhavaer]

I liked some of it much more than other parts; the collections of stories weren't as enjoyable as those that more directly advanced the main plot.

And yes, Death is a hottie.

[The Demented One]

Sandman is made of win and good. Even the non-plot, tangential stories are worth every penny.

Death may be cute, but Delirium is hilarious.

[The Prince of Cats]

I love Sandman but my 'hardcore geek' friends (one of whom used to work for Marvel, so it may be jealousy) remarked that Sandman is the greatest thing you have ever read until you read more comics.

They also said they hated Preacher, so I have less respect for them than I once did...

[AdInfinitum]

Funny. I just read the entire run and some of the additional books earlier this summer. I don't read many comics, but these were enjoyable. I also went poking around Wikipedia to find out some of the continuity things.

And Death is something. Of the three endless with near-omniscience (death, fate, delerium), she's the only one that managed to keep her soul and her sanity intact. It's an interesting character.

[Jack_Banzai]

I love Sandman but my 'hardcore geek' friends (one of whom used to work for Marvel, so it may be jealousy) remarked that Sandman is the greatest thing you have ever read until you read more comics.

They also said they hated Preacher, so I have less respect for them than I once did...

Preacher is one of those weird titles that you absolutely love until you read more comics, so I can see where your friend is coming from. I started out loving Garth Ennis' work, then the more of it I read, the more I realized that I was getting totally sick of it. I think the realization finally peaked when I read his MAX line Punisher comic.

When I first read Preacher, I was amazed. Now, several years later, I am amazed that I forked out for all of those TPBs.

[Premier]

And Death is something. Of the three endless with near-omniscience (death, fate, delerium), she's the only one that managed to keep her soul and her sanity intact. It's an interesting character.

DES-TI-NY. But anyway, I disagree with you. Destiny seems to be perfectly intact both in soul and mind. And I don't know about you, but I always had the impression that Delirium got her insight ("near-omniscience" as you call it) after, and because of becoming Delirium. She didn't have it as Delight, for all we know.

[AdInfinitum]

I think there was a line of Deaths somewhere in the middle that implied that each of the endless could somehow choose to have that knowledge. Perhaps that's what happened to Delight - She chose, and this was one of the side effects.

I can't agree with you on Destiny, though. It seems like he has no personality beyond his knowledge, as if the knowledge somehow supplanted whatever he was.

And given the changes in the character of Death from the Star Story compared to the modern day.... Perhaps that's why she changed.

[Caillach]

I really don't like the art work very much in these books, I kinnda find it...I dunno...Disturbing. Gaiman is a great author and his books rock, but I just can't get into Sandman.

[Premier]

I can't agree with you on Destiny, though. It seems like he has no personality beyond his knowledge, as if the knowledge somehow supplanted whatever he was.

Or maybe he's just like that naturally? Makes sense, considering that he's largely a passive observer of things. Also, IIRC it's mentioned somewhere that he's the most diligent in his duties of all the Endless, which explains why he never does anything "out of the line of duty" that would make for an interesting personality.

[Culwch]

Yet, in the Lucifer series where the Endless make guest appearances, there is a nice line of Destiny's spoken to Archangel Michael, who desperately wants to take a peek into Destiny's Book to know why is the Universe unravelling and how will the crisis end:

Michael speaks:
- I am the leader of the heavenly host. I could wrest the book from your dead fingers and read it myself.
Destiny answers:
- Yet you will do no such thing and accept my invitation for a walk in my garden instead, during which I will in a short while commit an involuntary indiscretion from which you will glean the answer you have come here for.

[Michael_Proteau]

Sandman was an incredible series that was truly groundbreaking at the time of its release. I started reading it with the eighth issue and read it until its finale, and there truly was nothing else like it on the stands at the time (as far as mainstream comics go that is, underground comics are a different story, but they didn't make the stands so much). The series laid the foundation that was to become Vertigo comics (of which it was the first flagship title). Yet Sandman too owed a great debt to Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing that open the door to more sophisticated story telling and themes.

That said, I seem to like the series less with each subsequent rereading, and the with the more of Neil's other material I read of a more recent pedigree. It is not that I do not enjoy the series still, just that it no longer fascinates me as it once did.

You can trace Neil's maturation as a writer, and almost vicariously see him honing that craft as the series progresses. Dialogue, pacing, thematic exploration, and overall story choices just get better as the series progresses. I still think my favorite story overall, was the 50th issue, a standalone tale inspired by Arabian Nights illustrated by the masterful P. Craig Russell. These would be closely followed by the two Shakespeare issues illustrated by Charles Vess (whos eindependent series Ballads and Sagas is a must read for fans of fantasy and myth), with A Midsummer's Night being a step above Tempest in my estimation.

If you enjoyed this book, you should check out Mike Carey's Lucifer series, as it follows a lot of the groundwork of the mythos and cosmology laid out by Gaiman, and also check out Bill Willingham's Fables from the Vertigo/DC imprint. This explores some of the themes of the role of stories in reality, but with a very different twist.

If you liked the sheer weirdness factor of some of the elements of Sandman, you may want to check out Grant Morrison's The Invisibles, but it takes a particular warped perception to fully grasp/embrace this series (similar but not the same as the one needed to truly grasp and embrace the Illuminatus Trilogy by R.A. Wilson).

-M

[Diakos]

Best comic series ever, would be better if he had tuned a bit down on the handwriting, since some of the texts were pretty much unreadable, but Lucifer is great too, im pretty much a sucker for any series that overlap (also why im such a big World of Darkness fan), also the visits from constantine really make it a great story.

[storybookknight]

British comic book writers are pretty good in general. Him and Alan Moore are both really darn talented.

I think I like Gaiman better as an author than as a comic book writer, though.

[Dhavaer]

I think Thessaly was my favourite character. The Thessaliad was brilliant.

[De_Carabas]

I'm a great fan of this series, as I am of almost all of Gaimans works (1602 was also pretty damn good in my opinion), but like Michael_Proteau, each time I read it it looses a little bit of it's shine. Usually I can only read/watch something once without an another audiance (typically so I can gauge their reactions) I guess it's the same thing here, it's just slower.

The fact that it's not all it used to be, (just around 850% of it's original increadability) doesn't stop me from emptying my wallet for a signed 10th aniversary Dream Figurine, or a complete collection of the Mini-Busts.

I think I'm a little bit of a memorabilia junky.

PS Merv all the way folks. Death may be great, and Delerium so fun/fractured, but for me Merv goes above and beyond.

[Malachi, the Lich King]

I started reading Sandman somewhere around issue forty. Overall I really liked the weaving together of different mythologies the best. I found a fair amount of the artwork didn't really lend much to the storytelling or worse yet, detracted from it. I'm a big one for consistency regarding the creative team so you can chalk that one up to a minor pet peeve.

[Dhavaer]

I really liked the art in some parts (the Midsummer Night's Dream in particular) and disliked it in others (worst offender would be The Furies, which isn't in Sandman, but is unrelentingly ugly nonetheless).

[The Demented One]

Though I initially disliked it, I think the art style of the Kindly Ones is my favorite of all.

[bosssmiley]

Michael speaks:
- I am the leader of the heavenly host. I could wrest the book from your dead fingers and read it myself.
Destiny answers:
- Yet you will do no such thing and accept my invitation for a walk in my garden instead, during which I will in a short while commit an involuntary indiscretion from which you will glean the answer you have come here for.

"Predestination or free-will?" A question that has precisely no meaning if seen from Destiny's perspective. ;)

Read "Death: the High Cost of Living" a month after my father died. Have a special place in my heart for that book.