Dream country. (Sandman Comics in general)

Name: Bryn Pearson

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Product:	Sandman Comics in general
Date:	20/04/01 (28 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wonderful, funny and visually excellent

Disadvantages: I don't think there are any.

The Sandman graphic novels are unusual in that they are one of the few comic style series to attract a significant number of female readers. I am one of those female readers, and have been saving my pennies to by copies since my teens. I would like to take a moment or two to share my enthusiasm with you.

Gaiman is a fantastic writer and a great hero of mine. His wonderful, dark wit and his vast knowledge of mythology mixed with a fertil imagination, leads to some of the greates writing you could hope to find in a graphic novel. His characters are rounded, his plots strange and intruiging. It is also true that there aren't too many ludicrously endowed females in scanty costumes - a problem often plaguing graphic novels aimed at 14 year old lads. The stories have depth and are suitable for adults - in fact, most are entirely unsuitable for younger readers.

A littl detail then. The Sandman, Dream,or Morpheus as he is also known is one of Seven siblings, who are, Destiny (big hood and a book, doesn't say much) Death ( a lively goth girl called Didi) Dream (Moody and gloomy but irresistable) Desire (Genderless, always plotting something) Despare (Twin of desire, female.) Delerium ( Female, really strange and with a fondness for butterflies) Destruction (Who has gone off somewhere.)

Denizens of Dream's realm are frequently found in the midst of the action - Nuala the faerie, Merve Pumpkinhead, Caine, Able, Eve (yes, the one with the apple) and Matthew the crow to name but a few. Very much like the characters you will have seen wandering through your dreams at night. Eerily so in fact. Some of the stories revolve around these unlikely few, and there is an excellent spinoff about Mr Pumpkinhead.

There's also a huge mortal cast of characters who come up frequently. Including Shakespeare, a lesbian duo, a girl called Barbie (who does have a boyfrind called Ken at one point). The humans are at least as strange as the dream b
eings, living in quite gothic worlds - close to the reality you and I inhabit, but surprisingly different. Where else but in Gaiman fiction might you find a convention of Serial killers?

Also expect gods, demons, faeries and an assortment of other strange an peculiar things. Expect it to be terribly familir and utterly unperdictable at the same time. The more mythology you know, the more startling Gaiman is - chancing upon a Sumerian (I think) goddess dancing in a strip club, just by way of an example.

The graphic novels are a joy to read, and are more often than not exquisitly illustrated. I would recomend them to anyone who likes an intelligent erad. if you are into busty women in small costumes, people shooting each other and captions that saw "Wap" and "Thwock" and that sort of thing, just give up now, it will be easier on all of us.

An overview of the individual novels then.

Preludes and Nocturnes: Dream escapes from a room where he has been held prisonner for a long time. He reclaims his kingdom, and then goes to hell to battle with a demon for a powerful artifact. Surprisingly funny in places. Not as good as some of the later ones - Gaiman was finding his feet and trying to work out how much like a superhero thing this was going to be.

The Dolls House: About lost love, intruige and family ties. I really don't want to tell you any details because there's quite a strong plot in this and its better if you find out as you go along. This is a really good one.

Dream Country - effectivly short stories, conected by the theme of Dream. Some of them are better than others, but any Shakespeare fans should buy it just for the very interesting version of "A Midsummer night's dream." which is very funny, very clever, and includes lots of faeries.

Seasons of Mists - Hell is closed down, Dream is given the key and must chose a new occupant for the domain. There are plenty
of old gods who fancy this particular realm, and much chaos and hilarity ensues. There are some interesting points being made in this, and we get to see quite a lot about how Gaiman's reality works. The small girl with a balloon, the envoy of chaos, is my personal favourite.

A Game of You - a young woman with a dream country in her head is drawn into a struggle to save the land of her childhood fantasies from destruction. Drawn in to help her are a lesbian couple, a very powerful witch, and a cross dresser. It's a strnage tale, not much Dream in it, but a strong story line and quite compelling.

Brief Lives - Dream and Delerium set out to look for their missing brother. There's some good characters in this one and it's quite a strange plot. Delerium is a great character, so it's good to get a bit more of her.

Fables and Reflections - more excellent tales featuring werewolves and Orpheus, Morpheus' son. Much like a collection of short stories, it fills in some of the gaps in the bigger picture.

World's End - in the inn at the world's end, travellers meet and exchange strange tales.
Ostensibly a collection of short stories, but there is something very big going on in the background.

The Wake - I haven't bought or read this because know I'm going to find it depressing. Dream dies. There, I've said it. I shall go away and be really depressed now.

You might also want to read "The high cost of living" about Death, and there's a great one about Merve Pumpkinhead, but the title eludes me.

There was a colelction of short stories by various authors that came out a couple of eyars ago - now available in paperback from any decent bookshop, and well worth reading. Not everything in it is good, some pieces are far too obvious, but there are several gems.

Morpheus is undoubtedly my favourite character of all time, and I will admit to having had mor
e than a few strange dreams in which I have found myself talking to him, but that's another story.

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