R- "The Sandman" (v,x,b)
PG16- Stardust (some x,v)
Neil Gaiman is a masterful storyteller in many media- comics, prose, poetry, radio, TV and film. His stories, no matter how short and trivial some may seem, are complex creations, juxtaposing the cosmic and the personal, the magic and the mundane. Gaiman is very literate, making frequent allusions (some fairly obscure, some not) to almost anything from classic literature to pop lyrics. He is also fond of mythology, confidently blending elements of disparate myths into a self-consistent whole. A first reading of a Gaiman work is immensely entertaining, but you will want to reread it multiple times in order to suck out even more of the wonderfully rich juice than you did the last time.
Unlike the gods, the seven Endless- Destiny, Death, Dream, Desire, Despair, Delirium, and their absent brother- do not rely on worshipers for their power. Instead, these siblings are anthropomorphic personifications of facets of reality who will exist for as long as the universe does. "The Sandman" is a series of stories focusing on Dream (Morpheus), the lord of stories, hopes, and nightmares. Though technically set in the DC universe (at least initially), "The Sandman" soon transcends those limits, as Gaiman reshapes reality to suit his own stories.
The comic book's 76 issues (1989-1996) have been collected into 10 trade paperbacks published by DC Vertigo. Some volumes (such as the first one) are united by a long story arc, while others (such as Dream Country) are collections of single-issue tales. Eventually the stories all make for a coherent whole, though an issue's true significance may not always be apparent until a given character or theme returns later in the series. More than any other Gaiman work, "The Sandman" requires careful reading and rereading to keep track of recurring characters and plots. After all, it totals about 2000 pages of pictures and text. The ten volumes of "The Sandman" are as follows:
Preludes and Nocturnes (#1-8): Dream is captured by a mortal wizard. When he finally escapes over 70 years later, he must brave Hell and other dangers in order to regain his tools and rebuild his decayed kingdom. Gaiman begins to find his real voice in issue #8, when Dream has a long talk with his sister Death. From this point onward, Dream's relationship with his family becomes increasingly central to the series. [Note: This is probably one of the most graphically violent books in the series, so please don't be put off- it gets less gory later on. -Raven]
The Doll's House (#9-16): A vortex forms in the Dreaming, and Morpheus must determine how to deal with this threat to his kingdom--and to all of existence. The vortex is a mortal woman, Rose Walker, who serves as a point of connection for many other major characters in the series. Issue #13 interrupts this story arc to introduce Hob Gadling, a man who refuses to die, and who agrees to meet with Dream once a century. (Hob's story continues in later volumes.)
Dream Country (#17-20): A collection of short tales. One of these, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," is the only comic book ever to win the World Fantasy Award for best short story. [Another, "The Dream of a Thousand Cats", is my favorite from the entire series. -Raven]
Season of Mists (#21-28): A family meeting forces Dream to realize he has wronged a former lover, Nada. He sets out for Hell to set her free, but finds that the infernal status quo has changed, which leaves him with other problems.
A Game of You (#32-37): A battle over a dying land and its princess is fought in both the waking and dream worlds. [An excellent twist on traditional fantasy notions of good and evil. -Raven]
Fables and Reflections (#29-31, 38-40, 50, Sandman Special #1, Vertigo Preview #1): Another collection, including stories about Dream's son Orpheus, and encounters between Dream and several historical rulers.
Brief Lives (#41-49): More about Orpheus, and the mystery surrounding Destruction's whereabouts. [Also includes a stronger presence for Delirium, Dream's adorable younger sister, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Tori Amos. -Raven]
World's End (#51-56): A collection of tales, set into a frame story of travelers taking refuge at an inn. Because the inn is outside the normal world, the travelers are from many places, times and planes. Their tales are vastly different, but connect obliquely to existing storylines.
Events set into motion in earlier volumes reach a conclusion in The Kindly Ones (#57-69, Vertigo Jam #1) and The Wake (#70-75). The last story of the series, "The Tempest," concludes Gaiman's Shakespeare subplot.
This comic was planned as having a definite ending, though several titles exist which are related in various degrees to "The Sandman" (most of which I have not yet read). These include: "The Dreaming," a comic by other writers which focuses on the series' secondary characters; The Sandman Book of Dreams, a collection of stories edited by Gaiman, which does much the same thing; Death: The High Cost of Living and Death: The Time of Your Life, two mini-series by Gaiman featuring Dream's sister; and "Sandman Mystery Theatre," a comic by Matt Wagner, about a Golden Age costumed hero who shares one of Dream's titles.
Gaiman was persuaded to write a new story for the tenth anniversary of "The Sandman" (1999). The Dream Hunters is a retelling of a Japanese fairy tale involving a Buddhist monk, a fox-spirit and their quest in the dream-world. This book is not a comic; instead, it is a prose story, lavishly illustrated by Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano.
I picked up Stardust: Being a Romance Within the Realms of Faerie (illustrations by Charles Vess) to review it, and once again re-read it from cover to cover. That was the first time. This, my second attempt, finds me reluctantly pulling my head out of chapter 3. This novel is as addictive as the fairy world it describes, where one taste leads hapless mortals into a lifetime of enchantment. But I digress.
Dustan Thorn is an ordinary farming lad in the town of Wall, a quite ordinary English village named after an extraordinary wall on it's eastern edge. Once every nine years at May Day, the guard on that wall is removed, and those who live on both sides mingle for three days of the most outlandish market you could imagine. Bluebell cloth, bottled dreams, coats of night- and crystal flowers. When Dunstand buys one of these for his sweetheart and pays the enchanting stallkeeper with a kiss, he entangles himself in a story that began decades ago and won't end for at least eighteen more years...
Seventeen years later, Tristan Thorn, son of Dunstan Thorn, promises Miss Victoria Forester that he will go find a particular fallen star that has landed over the wall. If he does so, she will do whatever he asks. If not, he will leave her alone forever. So Tristan sets off for Faerie, accompanied as far as the wall by his father. Thus begins the real tale, that of Tristan, the Star, all the other people who want the star, and all the people that help or hinder the traveller's on their way....
Not only is the story itself well-written (with the delightful characters, fascinating settings, and intricate and fast-paced plots that one comes to expect of Gaiman), but the integration of the illustrations into the work is masterfully done, such that despite the differences between this book and the graphic novel style of Gaiman's "Sandman" series, fans of that work who enjoy high fantasy should find Stardust equally appealing.
Let me also say that Charles Vess is an absolutely delightful artist, and I don't think I have ever read another book as aptly illustrated as Stardust. Honestly, do yourself the favor of buying the illustrated version- it's a steal for the quality and quantity of the art inside.
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Last Updated: February 29, 2000
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