26
Feb
2010
The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman
I didn’t know much about Neil Gaiman’s much acclaimed Sandman series before taking this out of the library, except that it is much acclaimed and other comic book characters make appearances, but since I know very little about comics, that wasn’t much help. Did that stop me from loving it? Hells to the Nos.
First let me say that Dream/Sandman/whatever totally made me weak in the knees and brought me back to my 17 year old self who kinda thought that Trent Reznor was God. Mr. Sandman, I am totally crushing on you.
Then let me say, that I got my religion geek on over Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel! In a graphic novel! Not totally out of context! And Cain keeps on killing poor ol’ lovable Abel over and over again.
And the female trinity! The maiden, mother, and crone, AKA the weird sisters, were so very WEIRD, as they should be, and kinda bitchy, too.
But not just those sorts of references. Thanks to movies and also the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (the first one and the new one) I do know something or other about superheroes and supervillains, and dug Scarecrow in the asylum and John Constatine (who I liked better here than in the movie) and references to the big green guy.
The story goes that some dudes were trying to trap Death but got her punk-ass brother Dream, instead. Trapped for something like 70 years, all sorts of havoc is wreaked in his absence, with people who won’t wake up and his kingdom being destroyed. When he finally breaks out, he has to go searching for these lost objects of his power, one of which is his crown that totally looks like a gas mask, btw, and fight people and descend into Hell and everything.
Dude, there is seriously something for everyone here.
Buy The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes on Amazon
If you like this book/author, you might like:
(my reviews in blue)
The Unwritten by Mike Carey and Peter Gross
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Saga of the Swamp Thing, Book 1 by Alan Moore and Steve R. Bissette
Lucifer Vol. 1: Devil in the Gateway by Mike Carey
Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham and Lan Medina
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud
Justice League of America, Vol. 1: The Tornado’s Path by Brad Meltzer and Ed Benes
Justice League of America: Team History by James Robinson
Hellblazer: Original Sins by Jamie Delano
Other works by Neil Gaiman:
The Dangerous Alphabet
The Facts In The Case Of The Departure Of Miss Finch
Black Orchid
InterWorld
M Is for Magic
Signal to Noise
The Last Temptation
Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions
Death: The High Cost of Living
Death: The Time of Your Life
Midnight Days
Harlequin Valentine
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders
Anansi Boys
Neverwhere: A Novel
Stardust
MirrorMask: The Illustrated Film Script of the Motion Picture
The Alchemy of MirrorMask
Don’t Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Angels and Visitations: A Miscellany
The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish
Odd & the Frost Giants
The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll’s House
The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country
The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists
The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You
The Sandman Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections
The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives
The Sandman Vol. 8: Worlds’ End
The Sandman Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones
The Sandman Vol. 10: The Wake
The Sandman: Endless Nights
A Walking Tour of the Shambles
The Books of Magic
Adventures in the Dream Trade
Creatures Of The Night
Violent Cases
Coraline
Coraline: The Graphic Novel
The Graveyard Book
Absolute Death
Marvel 1602 Premiere HC
The Wolves in the Walls
Mr. Punch
American Gods: A Novel
With P. Craig Russel
With Terry Pratchett:
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
yay! So glad you liked it. The Sandman is by far my favourite thing Neil Gaiman’s done, and considering he’s my favourite author, that’s saying a lot. And the series gets better and better
Even I heard of this … I think I should give it a try.
I didn’t like the Constantine movie at all, but I always love it when John Constantine shows up in Neil Gaiman’s work. Which I just realized is only in one issue of Sandman and then Gaiman’s Books of Magic. Glad you liked this! Sandman only gets better as it goes on.
I really loved the story too (and I’m a huge Gaiman fan). My one issue was the gruesome illustrations. I definitely understand why they need to be so graphic, but they were still disturbing.
I posted your page link as an update to my blog. Sorry I didn’t come across your page sooner. I think I’m gonna delve into the ‘Graveyard Book’ and maybe ‘Odd & The Frost Giants’ next. Every once in a while I like to read younger fare and get that kid feeling again.
I crush on Neil Gaiman something fierce, so it’s nice to see someone else jump on the bandwagon! And since I equate Gaiman with Dream (and heck yeah to the Trent Reznor reference) we are of two minds on sexiness. I am still not completely through the series yet, but so far I’m loving it.