The Sandman Review

I've finally finished reading The Sandman (book 1 to 11) by Neil Gaiman. Now I'm reading The Sandman Companion by Hy Bender. I guess The Sandman will be the only the comic that I have to/ am willing to read a guidebook to fully appreciate the story. Anwz I'll give a brief synopsis of what the Sandman is all about.

 

Basically, the Sandman is all about... the Sandman himself, and the people around him. Sandman, also known as Dream, Morpheus, King of Stories etc etc, is one of the 7 beings who are known as the Endless. He, together with Destiny, Death, Destruction, Despair, Desire and Delirium, was there before or soon after the Universe is created, and are older than the Gods themselves. (The real reason why he is created so early is because Neil wanted to put in all kinds of stories, ancient or modern, alien or human, into the series.) The 7 of them are siblings and needless to say, each have their own functions.

 

The story starts in 1916 with an English magician trying to imprison Death, but caught Dream instead. Dream was trapped until 1988, when he escaped and dealt out some punishments. Later he set out to recover his artifacts and reorganised his realm (which had fallen into disrepair) and hunted down some rogue dreams. (Book 1 - 2)

 

After Sandman got everything in order and a heart to heart chat with his elder sister, Death, he prepared to go to Hell to release his former lover, Nada, whom he had condemned ten thousand years ago, from her torment. However to do this, he gotta go through the ruler of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar, who hates him. Will he succeed? (Book 4)

 

300 years ago, Destruction left his realm, his responsibiltiy and his family to travel the world. No one has seen him since. Delirium, youngest in the family and missing her brother, begged Dream to help her find him. Dream patronisingly agreed. Nobody can seek Destruction and come out unscathed. What will happen? (Book 7)

 

Interposing between the main storyline are collections of loosely related short stories, stories about... the bargain between Dream and William Shakesphere; a world where cats once hunts humans like mice; the 1st and last emperor of the United State of America (Joshua Abraham Norton really existed!); an ancient king of Baghdad trying to preserve his city's glory in dream; the adventure of a faerie ambassador etc etc... I loved these short stories... (Book 3, 6, 8)

 

Book 9 The Kindly Ones is one thick book showing the full repercussions of the decisions Dream made in Book 4 and 7. It is the climax of the story. But I think it is abit too confusing.

 

Book 10 The Wake is the aftermath of the climax and the conclusion of the entire Sandman story.

 

Book 11 Endless Nights is the last book of the series, showcasing 7 short stories, 1 for each of the Endless... 2 of which I totally don't understand. But the rest is super nice.

 

 

The Sandman is one comic that is unique from all other comics. If you like interesting stories, this is a must read. Sometimes it may be a little draggy and boring and hard to understand, but mostly it is highly entertaining and it makes you think. You will get through those 'arghhh' parts in no time. Haha!

 

P.S.  I like Fables better. At least I don't have to read guidebook. (There is no guidebook on Fables also la.) =P 

 

 

P.P.S. By the way, I found this: The 7 little Endless!!! 

 

("They didn't even look remotely human. None of us did, back then." commented Cain to his brother Abel, who was telling a little baby a story about Dream and Death when they were young.)  

 

 

 From the left: Desire, Despair, Delirium, Dream, Matthew (the bird), Death, Destiny and Destruction.