Neil Gaiman's Sandman books have been widely regarded as some of the best comic books in existence. Intrigued, I decided to check them out for myself. This series breaks the comic book mold and probably had a hand in shaping the concept of the graphic novel. The characters include the Endless: Dream (also known as Morpheus, King of the Dreaming), his older sister Death (cute, cheerful, pragmatic, and instantly likeable), Destiny, Despair, Desire, Destruction, and Delirium (who used to be Delight). The Endless are not gods--rather, the personification of ideas of the human race. Each of the Endless have their own realm. It's as much fun to see Dream learn about himself and grow as it is to watch the antics of his wonderfully dysfunctional family. However, a word of warning. The books are listed at my library as being a 'young adult' series, but they are actually for 'mature readers' (read: adult). While the overall storyline is intriguing, there's a good deal of nudity and graphic violence throughout these pages. Some of the stories within the Sandman collection are excellent, but several are nightmarish. Watch out for blood, violence, and sexual content in what is otherwise a stellar tale.
The Sandman books:
1. Preludes and Nocturnes
2. The Doll's House
3. Dream Country
4. Season of Mists
5. A Game of You
6. Fables and Reflections
7. Brief Lives
8. World's End
9. The Kindly Ones
10. The Wake
11. Endless Nights
Pictured above: Dream and Death, my two favorite characters from the series.11. Endless Nights
1 comment:
AWESOME! this series isn't really available in my local libraries (i've never seriously searched - and i hate waiting for holds to come in!) but it is widely regarded as a classic - more for the cool ideas of Gaiman than anything else. i'll have to go check it out!
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