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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
With this, I finish off the Sandman series (minus Overture which just came out), a wild and amazing ride. Beautiful, chilling, funny, heartbreaking, intelligent, this series was an amazing way to start into the reading of graphic novels. Neil Gaiman is a genius. As are all the artists. A truly stunning piece of work from volume one all the way to the end.
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
A story for each of the endless. I really enjoyed much of it, they portrayed the essence of the characters well.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Loved all the guest artists in this one. I chose to power browse Despair’s section for self care reasons.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexism
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
it's a great comic book, i especially love the portraits of despair however gloomy they are. they shed the light on so many of the endless, beautiful read
dark
emotional
reflective
In this addition to the Sandman chronicle, each of the Endless gets their own short story. As with many Sandman stories, they're all somewhat dark and full of improbabilities that we take in stride. Death and Dream's stories were probably my favorites, Death because she is my favorite, and it felt the most like the stories I liked best from Sandman. The dark side isn't overwhelming, despite the way the teller of the tale ends his story, it explores a little loop in time and death, and Death is graceful as ever. Dream's because of the characters (stars and other universal aspects given human-esque forms and personalities) and because it filled in another little gap in Dream's history. Also Sol (our sun-star) is adorable in pre-life-filled-plant phase.
Desire's story is "loosely inspired by a historical anecdote mentioned by George MacDonald Fraser" and reads like a first-person account of a tale that would be told in the mead-hall, or at the Round Table, or sung by a Grecian bard. You know, the kind without an exactly happy ending, though certianly a heroine. There's always a price to pay for getting what you want, and (Desire's words) "getting what you want and being happy are two quite different things."
Despair's story is not so much a story. In fact, it is called "Fifteen Portraits of Despair" and that is exactly how it goes, with words and images. Delerium's story, while technically following a plot, is told via the delirious, pays little heed to sense or panel divisions, and leaves clues to lead the reader through to a resolution.
In some ways the knowledge of who Delerium was before (Delight) and the events of this story make it even harder to get through than the portraits of Despair. For me, the way I read it, anyway. It has a better ending, though, than some of the other stories. There's a rainbow.
Destruction's story follows Delerium's, though sheds little more light on the previous, and is entirely it's own story anyway. It's another, like Death's, in the vein of a traditional (if that can be said) Sandman mini episode. Mysterious things happen to regular people, their lives intersect with the Endless, and there is an ending, but it mostly leaves then ends loose. Not as good as Death's story, though, and I couldn't say why.
Destiny gets an episode, too, though since Destiny simply is, it is not really a story, more an eight-page portrait of the book that contains all stories, and the being who holds that book. Again, Gaiman's words from the introduction: "Destiny‰Ы_ it seemed to me when I had finished writing these stories, was a theme they ahd in common."
All these stories get towards the essence of the Endless they are describing, and in that way, these are all good stories. Personally, though, I found that I wasn't as interested in some of the stories, or (in the case of Despaire and Delerium) I was torn between reading all in one go to get through the story or taking pausing to get a break from it in the middle. Neil Gaiman (in combination with various talented artists) is always an exceptional story-maker, but in comparison to himself, I think this one was not as good as others.
Desire's story is "loosely inspired by a historical anecdote mentioned by George MacDonald Fraser" and reads like a first-person account of a tale that would be told in the mead-hall, or at the Round Table, or sung by a Grecian bard. You know, the kind without an exactly happy ending, though certianly a heroine. There's always a price to pay for getting what you want, and (Desire's words) "getting what you want and being happy are two quite different things."
Despair's story is not so much a story. In fact, it is called "Fifteen Portraits of Despair" and that is exactly how it goes, with words and images. Delerium's story, while technically following a plot, is told via the delirious, pays little heed to sense or panel divisions, and leaves clues to lead the reader through to a resolution.
In some ways the knowledge of who Delerium was before (Delight) and the events of this story make it even harder to get through than the portraits of Despair. For me, the way I read it, anyway. It has a better ending, though, than some of the other stories. There's a rainbow.
Destruction's story follows Delerium's, though sheds little more light on the previous, and is entirely it's own story anyway. It's another, like Death's, in the vein of a traditional (if that can be said) Sandman mini episode. Mysterious things happen to regular people, their lives intersect with the Endless, and there is an ending, but it mostly leaves then ends loose. Not as good as Death's story, though, and I couldn't say why.
Destiny gets an episode, too, though since Destiny simply is, it is not really a story, more an eight-page portrait of the book that contains all stories, and the being who holds that book. Again, Gaiman's words from the introduction: "Destiny‰Ы_ it seemed to me when I had finished writing these stories, was a theme they ahd in common."
All these stories get towards the essence of the Endless they are describing, and in that way, these are all good stories. Personally, though, I found that I wasn't as interested in some of the stories, or (in the case of Despaire and Delerium) I was torn between reading all in one go to get through the story or taking pausing to get a break from it in the middle. Neil Gaiman (in combination with various talented artists) is always an exceptional story-maker, but in comparison to himself, I think this one was not as good as others.
A nice extra collection for those not quite ready to let go of the Sandman and his family. The despair vignettes were particularly impactful.
And so, after months with Gaiman's magnum opus, i must finally move on to reading other things... So long morpheus.
And so, after months with Gaiman's magnum opus, i must finally move on to reading other things... So long morpheus.