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oshrouder 's review for:
The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes
by Neil Gaiman
I'm going to use Goodreads to track this obsession with The Sandman.
This volume is almost perfect, and stands as one of the most beautiful, abrasive, and poignant openings to any comic series ever. The opening issues read like the building of a modern mythology, and I still find it hard to believe that this story was put together by a single person. Every issue brilliantly pulls from classical stories, and some more modern narratives, and each coalesces into a series that reads as entirely unique.
The only flaw I can see in this volume is the reliance of the early issues on establishing itself as a DC property, and namedropping things like the Justice League and Arkham Asylum. This largely disappears from the series even by the end of the volume, let alone the series, but there is a sense that Gaiman wants to position the story within a universe, rather than as its own thing.
Even so, watching this mythos build with such fervor and intelligence is jaw dropping to behold, and having the opening story conclude with the introduction of Death is genius. The world of the Endless immediately expands out of the telescope of the Dreaming, and this exploration of death and purpose quickly contextualises the behaviour of the Dream for every issue to come. Even as I read more, this issue stands as one of the strongest.
Unbelievable.
This volume is almost perfect, and stands as one of the most beautiful, abrasive, and poignant openings to any comic series ever. The opening issues read like the building of a modern mythology, and I still find it hard to believe that this story was put together by a single person. Every issue brilliantly pulls from classical stories, and some more modern narratives, and each coalesces into a series that reads as entirely unique.
The only flaw I can see in this volume is the reliance of the early issues on establishing itself as a DC property, and namedropping things like the Justice League and Arkham Asylum. This largely disappears from the series even by the end of the volume, let alone the series, but there is a sense that Gaiman wants to position the story within a universe, rather than as its own thing.
Even so, watching this mythos build with such fervor and intelligence is jaw dropping to behold, and having the opening story conclude with the introduction of Death is genius. The world of the Endless immediately expands out of the telescope of the Dreaming, and this exploration of death and purpose quickly contextualises the behaviour of the Dream for every issue to come. Even as I read more, this issue stands as one of the strongest.
Unbelievable.