Neil Gaiman's Sandman by singate

OTHER SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

Neil Gaiman's Sandman

POSTED BY: SINGATE
UPDATED: Saturday, July 19, 2008 06:29
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Sunday, July 29, 2007 7:24 PM

My interest in this incredible series was rekindled by a recent thread. I had to do some digging but I finally found all of the Sandman material amidst my comic collection. What I own is not a complete collection by any means, which in part was the impetus for me to create this thread. Here's what I've got:

"Dream Country" trade paperback
"A Season of Mists" leatherbound hardcover
"Fables and Reflections" trade paperback
"Brief Lives" hardcover
Individual comics from "The Kindly Ones" and "The Wake"

Now that I've got the bug for this series again I am looking to buy a few of the TPBs that I don't own. The only one I will surely buy is "Doll's House",as far as the others go I would appreciate any input from fellow Browncoats who are fans of the series.

I would also like to hear some thoughts on the series in general. Over the past few days I searched the archives to no avail. I was very surprised that there weren't any threads devoted to this incredible series.

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We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.

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Monday, July 30, 2007 1:58 AM

SPACEANJL

I love Neil Gaiman's work. His writing is pretty powerful, too. I'd suggest 'Neverwhere' or 'American Gods' for the full length stuff, but the collections, 'Smoke and Mirrors' and 'Fragile Things' have some stuff that lurks in the mind. Particularly 'A study in emerald'.

If you can get all the 'Sandman' stuff, do. The different story threads that run throughout and link together are amazing. I've got the entirety of 'Doll's House' and 'The Wake', plus 'The High Cost of Living' (with Hellblazer cameo!) but I worked in bookselling and have read everything.

Incidentally, I am not your usual graphic novel demographic. I love the way NG takes so many archetypes and ideas from mythology and re-works them in a frsh and modern way. Kinda like that American guy who re-invented the vampire mythos...

I rate NG up with Joss and Terry Pratchett as some of the best dreamweavers we have out there.

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Monday, July 30, 2007 11:39 AM

BLUESUNCOMPANYMAN

A Gaiman thread!!!! Awsome.

I'm so glad that there are some people out there who know and understand Gaiman's work. I was first introduced to the sandman series in 1994. I then followed them all the way to the final conclusion in "the wake" published in the later 90's. I constantly espouse to friends that the two greatest stories I've ever had the fortune of reading/seeing are 1. "Exiles" (story 5 in The Wake and) 2. Objects in Space (which we all know well)

I own all the sandman collections
1. Preludes and Nocturnes
2. The Dolls House
3. Season of Mists
4. Dream Country
5. Fables and Reflections
6. A Game of You
7. Brief Lives
8. World's End
9. The Kindly Ones
10. The Wake

In addition to the Sandman comics, I recommend the first book of the Books of Magic collection, Neverwhere which is not only a graphic but also a written story as well as a briefly run TV series (I think is ran in the UK? Someone correct me if wrong). A final additional excellent read is Stardust, which is a thread I started last week since there is a major motion picture coming out on Aug 10 regarding it (Staring Clair Danes no less). Where Sandman is inconnected and abstractly cool, Stardust is a childrens tale with adult themes.

Returning to Sandman, one of the things I enjoyed most about the overall tale is how interconnected the smaller tales were. Elements will appear in earlier graphics that will set up themes much later and prove that the author had "Vision" in crafting his story. (example: Dream opens his chest in Season of Mists to place the bottled demon inside...but astride the bottle sits Prez's Pocketwatch which will not be written about until much later in World's End) The reason I like Joss so much is that he too has vision. Think about the psychic statements made by crew members in OIS and how they were intended to set up later plot points. This type of storytelling always impresses me and stands in stark contrast to the "shoot from the hip" stories we get from shows like Lost, where the writters are making it up as they go along.

Of all the sandman tales, my 3 favorites are
1. "Exiles" in The Wake
2. "Ramadan" in Fables and Reflections
3. "Golden Boy" in Worlds End

Speaking as a browncoat to other browncoats, if you haven't read Gaiman, you should. I sometimes think that the 1st book is a little iffy (Preludes and Nocturnes) but once you get past it things get lots better. I sell Preludes the same way I sell buffy season 1. The author hadn't yet found his voice. By the time you're reading Season's of Mist you'll understand the greatness of Gaiman.

Do not fear me. Our's is a peaceful race and we must live in harmony.

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Monday, July 30, 2007 6:30 PM

SINGATE

Quote:
Originally posted by bluesuncompanyman:
A Gaiman thread!!!! Awsome.

Returning to Sandman, one of the things I enjoyed most about the overall tale is how interconnected the smaller tales were. Elements will appear in earlier graphics that will set up themes much later and prove that the author had "Vision" in crafting his story. (example: Dream opens his chest in Season of Mists to place the bottled demon inside...but astride the bottle sits Prez's Pocketwatch which will not be written about until much later in World's End) The reason I like Joss so much is that he too has vision. Think about the psychic statements made by crew members in OIS and how they were intended to set up later plot points. This type of storytelling always impresses me and stands in stark contrast to the "shoot from the hip" stories we get from shows like Lost, where the writters are making it up as they go along.

Speaking as a browncoat to other browncoats, if you haven't read Gaiman, you should. I sometimes think that the 1st book is a little iffy (Preludes and Nocturnes) but once you get past it things get lots better. I sell Preludes the same way I sell buffy season 1. The author hadn't yet found his voice. By the time you're reading Season's of Mist you'll understand the greatness of Gaiman.

Other than the points you cited the thing that impresses me most about the series is the way Gaiman is able to intertwine so many threads into a seamless tapestry.

First and foremost there are The Endless, perhaps the most original, well crafted group of characters in comicdom. Next he takes his own mythology and throws in characters from folklore throughout human history somehow managing to make it feel right. The amount of research he must have done on various mythologies had to be tremendous, unless Neil is a walking encyclopedia on human belief systems.

The ease with which the stories transition throughout different periods in history and from The Dreaming to the real world are two more high points of Gaiman's writing.

You are absolutely right about "A Season of Mists". This may be the best comic/graphic novel story arc I have ever read. The massive scope of the story contained in such a finite group of comics is nothing short of amazing. It was like a who's who of deities. Funny to see gods portrayed as so petty and selfish(particularly the Norse pantheon). The resolution of the story is so simple that it is brilliant.

During my most recent reading I made a connection between River and Delirium. Not exactly profound but it kind jumped right out at me. Both started happy and innocent then something happened to change them(obviously very different circumstances) now neither of them is quite right. It's so sweet how Delirium looks up to Dream but she's also afraid of him. I also enjoy her rantings with regards to her knowing things that none of the other Endless know. Her dressing down of Destiny and how there are things not in his book, secrets that only she is privy to, is one of my favorite moments in the series.

I better stop now otherwise I could go on about Sandman forever.

_________________________________________________

We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.

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Tuesday, July 31, 2007 7:30 AM

SPACEANJL

Death is by far my favourite of the Endless.

Oddly enough, I was actually matching the Endless to the crew in my mind a while back. Jayne and Destruction was hardly a stretch, after all.

'Neverwhere' was a Brit series, and a book well before it was a graphic novel. Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar have to be one of the best double acts ever. And the Marquis de Carabbas...(named after Cardinal Richelieu's cat, I believe)...camp, devious and entertaining well before Cap'n Jack Sparrow.

Other graphic series to enjoy - 'Preacher' (not for the squeamish, but the irish vampire is brilliant)

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Wednesday, August 1, 2007 2:54 AM

BLUESUNCOMPANYMAN

Quote:

During my most recent reading I made a connection between River and Delirium. Not exactly profound but it kind jumped right out at me. Both started happy and innocent then something happened to change them(obviously very different circumstances) now neither of them is quite right.

You know Singate, I think you and I would get along rather well.

I remember making the same connection between River and Del. In Jaynestown you might recall that River destroyed Book's bible. Later she returns, her lunicy at bay for a moment, and she says to him "I tore these out of your symbol and they turned into paper". I remember pausing the DVD the first time I saw that and espousing how that was exactly the kind of thing Del might say.

Do not fear me. Our's is a peaceful race and we must live in harmony.

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Wednesday, August 1, 2007 8:00 AM

LWAVES

Yeah!!!
Gaiman fans and browncoats too. Does it get any better.

Singate: Definitely get the rest of the Sandman series. Yes, there are stand out stories but it really needs the whole thing to be read in the order written to get the complete overall sense of greatness (and so it doesn't spoil the ending). Then even the weaker parts (for me anytime he linked with superheroes) make more sense.

Whilst the mythology was also a big part of me liking this series, I also really enjoyed that Morpheus (and the other family members) weren't always the focus of the story. They sometimes featured as background characters to the events going on. And there's a great supporting cast: Matthew, Merv, Kane and Abel, The Corinthian, Thessaly to name a few.

Death: Best character ever??? So completely twists your idea of what Death should be like.
Although I was a big fan of Del as well. Definitely a River connection there.

Outside of Sandman then Neverwhere is good (although the TV version is a bit cheap looking and dated now).
Marvel 1602 is a different take on famous superheroes.
Mirrormask is one of my favourites.
Smoke & Mirrors is a great collection.
Signal To Noise, Mr Punch and The Wolves In The Wall are great too. The last one is particularly good for kids.

Stardust is on it's way to the big screen of course.

"Me and Neil hanging out with the Dream King."

I had the privilege of meeting Neil at a book launch/Q&A (Smoke & Mirrors - my gf works for a publishing company). Very nice, very intelligent and very willing to hear criticism (albeit minor) from the guests. You can't say that about too many authors. He liked to hear other people's ideas and version of mythology as well.

"I don't believe in suicide, but if you'd like to try it might cheer me up."

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Friday, August 10, 2007 8:38 PM

SINGATE

Well I went ahead and purchased 4 harcover collections and the novel "Neverwhere".

"The Doll's House" was absolutely brilliant. Don't know why it took so long for me to buy this one.

I had previously read "A Game of You" and I gave my original copy away. I am much more interested in the dealings of the Endless vs. stories about regular people in The Dreaming. While I do appreciate the fairy tale quality of this one now it still isn't one of my favorites.

Having previously read "The Kindly Ones" there weren't any surprises for me. I did enjoy reading the entire story from the beginning as my individual comics picked up the story about a third of the way in. Incredible storytelling.

"The Wake" contains perhaps the best artwork in the series but the last two chapters could have been left out. For me the series ended when Dream walks in to meet the rest of his family.

I do agree that there are many outstanding charcters in the series outside of the Endless. My favorite is probably Lucien. Dream sums him up best when Mervyn asks what makes Lucien so special. To paraphrase, "when I was absent he did not abandon his duties, how many of you can say that?". Speaking of Mervyn he is hysterical. The prototypical working stiff, he always talks shit about Morpheus at the exact wrong time.

If I had to pick my favorite among the Endless I would probably opt for a wild card and choose Destruction. Rarely seen during the entire comic run, and then mostly in flashbacks, he is the only member of the family to ever abandon his position. He does get his moment in the spotlight during "Brief Lives" which is my second favorite of the collected stories. I actually found myself having mixed feelings with regards to Destruction's abandonment of his duties. On one hand I applaud his decision to do what is right for himself instead of going through the motions. The idea that the existence of the Endless is more or less meaningless to mortal existence is a sobering thought and is definitely something Dream is unwilling to accept. On the other hand I also understand Dream's point of view about tending to the reponsibilities of his office as it were. It must be a huge slap in the face to the rest of his family that Destruction would so carelessly set aside his duties. It's no wonder the others were unwilling to help Delirium in her quest. There is a heartbreaking moment when she is pleading for him to return so that everything can be better, like it used to be.

_________________________________________________

We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.

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Friday, August 10, 2007 10:09 PM

WYTCHCROFT

anyone interested in gaiman shuld check out '1602'

one of the greatest comics re-imaginings i've come come across - but i won't SPOIL.

also the film MirrorMask.

i would say more but have done so at length, in the past, on too many sites, tooo many times!

gaiman himself, despite his workload, is very approachable - try his blog site for contacts and extras. neil/gaiman.com.

since we're doing the literary shout outs - can i add:
comics - Tomb of Dracula
Books: Poppy Z Brite.

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Saturday, July 19, 2008 6:29 AM

MIIKE

if your a fan of sandman and neil gaiman you should really check out american gods this is a great story about ancient gods fighting our modern gods for the control of our adoration in a changing world .also neil gaimans fragile things is one of the best short story collections i have ever read very similar to early clive barker both are books as apposed to comics. i have all the sandman graphic novels which i find are the best comics probly ever written thouh i do think the art style is very inconsistent but again i find this one of the charms of the comic as it adds to a dreamlike quality to the work.at the moment im reading the walking dead sereies i have still got a few left to collect

im just going out,i may be some time

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