The Sandman - Series Review
The Sandman is a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published in the United States by the DC Comics imprint Vertigo. It chronicles the adventures of Dream of The Endless, who rules over the world of dreams, 75 issues from 1989 until 1996.
The Sandman was one of Vertigo's flagship titles, and is available as a series of eleven trade paperbacks. It has also been reprinted in a recolored four-volume Absolute hardcover edition with slipcase. Critically acclaimed.
The Sandman was the only comic to ever win the World Fantasy Award, and is one of the few comic books ever to be on the New York Times Bestseller List, along with Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. It was one of five comics to make Entertainment Weekly's "100 best reads from 1983 to 2008", ranking at 46. Norman Mailer described the series as "a comic book for intellectuals."
The Sandman was a fantasy comic book series penned by British author Neil Gaiman from 1989 to 1996. Having received numerous awards and critical acclaim over the course of its run, I decided to see what the fuss was all about.
The world of The Sandman is a unique one. There are seven deities called the Endless that embody and control various human concepts. These are Dream, Death, Desire, Despair, Delusion, Destruction and Destiny. Each of the Endless have their own realms and their own personalities. The titular Sandman is Dream, an almost emotionless character who controls dreams and imagination. In his realm, the Dreaming, there is a library that contains every story ever conceived, and there are a variety of inhabitants who were born from imagination, such as the Biblical characters Eve and Cain & Abel.
It’s hard to go into much detail on The Sandman’s story because the narrative is quite literally all over the place. Half the series exists as a vehicle to tell short stories, which are rarely fixed into any single place or point in time. In one issue, the story could take place in the contemporary America, the next issue might take place in Tudor England, and the next issue then might take place in a mythological realm like Hell or Asgard. There is no territory that Gaiman is not afraid to cover, and the sheer variety of content makes The Sandman completely unique in its design.
Gaiman is clearly a writer who is not afraid of research. His deep implementation of world cultures and history into his Sandman mythos makes for an engrossing read if you have any knowledge of the source material. Famous stories like A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Orpheus & Eurydice take on new meanings under Gaiman’s direction. In many cases, Gaiman creates his own imitation myths that mimic the style and structure of ancient stories. And of course one of the Endless features in every story, so there’s always something new to take away from Gaiman’s work.
Not all of The Sandman is short stories, mind you. There are several longer character stories that often delve more deeply into the Endless and the various characters they interact with. But for me, these stories actually reveal one of The Sandman’s significant flaws; the characters are mostly bland and unmemorable. In some contexts, this doesn’t really matter. Ancient myths were never about character, so Gaiman’s imitation myths don’t suffer too much. But for most of my reading, I’m constantly fighting between a deep appreciation for the concept matter and boredom with the actual dialogue and execution. Characters tend to have stilted reactions to their encounters with The Dreaming, and Gaiman’s constant use of the “I am what I am” position is a real annoyance. Whenever a character calls something about Gaiman’s mythos into question, other characters overtly dodge the question by presuming common sense, asking other questions or just giving answers so ambiguous that meaning cannot be understood. While this can be interesting on occasion (“occasion” being the key word here), I would have thought actual answers could be made far more entertaining had Gaiman made an effort to give them.
Thankfully, Gaiman did open one door to a handful of well-written character stories, in the form of Death. Dressed as a punk-goth girl, Death is the sympathetic ear and comforting arm to whomever she meets. As a “free spirit”, she’s outspoken in her love of life and a joy to see on the page. It is through Death that characters are able to express themselves completely, and overcome their personal frustrations, whatever they may be. As the best of these stories, I can happily recommend the mini-series, Death: The High Cost of Living.
Another problem with The Sandman is that while the symbolism makes for some interesting concept material, it can be very easy to get lost in Gaiman’s world. Considering that The Dreaming was made to exist without strict real-world rules, Gaiman could have made more effort to provide the reader with an understanding of what’s actually happening in the story. Because quite frankly, if I’m expending all my energy trying to make sense of the story, then I’m not emotionally responding to the story.
As for the artwork, despite a revolving cycle of artists, there’s only one word to describe it; dated. It does a decent job of conveying Gaiman’s story, but there’s absolutely nothing special about it considering the quality of work we get nowadays.
So in conclusion, The Sandman is an excellent conceptual read, and an expansive journey across time and space, fact and fiction. But the series is constantly held down by bad character design and obtuse symbolism. It’s certainly worth a read, though. The Sandman is never a wasted experience.
A Raien (James Hurvid) Review
