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A coworker of mine has suggested that I read Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Does anybody know where I should start?
Last edited by Rob Kamphausen; 2004-07-16 2:40 PM.
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Just a guess bur TPB number 1....Preludes & Nocturnes..
It's always best to start at the beginning...
All kidding aside..you should read the available TPBs of Sandman Mystery Theater as well..both are equally good in my mind...
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Um what's Sandman all about?
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All the D's and more...death, dream, destruction, delirium, despair, devastation, etc........and Matthew the Raven....all set in the land of the Dreaming.
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from an Amazon.com review: Quote:
You can't begin to learn about the depth and intense storylines graphic novels conjure up without first paying homage to this, the granddaddy of them all. "The Sandman" series, reinvented and reinterpreted by author Neil Gaiman, took an existing mediocre superhero and transformed him into an otherworldly god. The success of the series is undeniable, and it has the unique additional factor of being equally interested to both men and women. A rarity in comics, I assure you. I had never really read any Sandman before, so I decided to begin at the very beginning. With "Preludes and Nocturnes", you meet the hero of this series naked in a glass container. My kind of show!
With his siblings Death, Destiny, Despair, Desire and others, Dream is one of the Endless that rule at the edges of humanity. In a makeshift ceremony, a cult attempting to capture Death herself find that they have instead captured Morpheus/ the King of Dreams/ the Sandman/ etc. After 75 years, Dream finds a way to escape his captivity, only to find that things have gone horribly wrong in his absence. Three of his tools in which he kept much of his magic have gone missing. Worse still, his very kingdom has disintegrated. To restore it, Dream much locate his items and defeat a villain that wants to use Dream's power to destroy humanity itself.
Oh it's definitely a disturbing tale. No question. There are elements in this story that will haunt you long after you put the book down. Oddly, Dream's visit to Hell is probably one of the tamer tales. Still, it's well written. There's nothing like a good quest tale to keep the reader wanting more. The final chapter in this series introduces the reader to Death, Dream's somewhat punk rock sister. Funny fact: Death's a big fan of Mary Poppins. Who knew? Drawing in elements of everything from Alice in Wonderland to 1950s and 60s pop songs that discuss dreams, dreaming, and the sandman (of which I think there may have been roughly 4 billion) as well as Shakespeare, ancient Celtic myth, and even the original Cain and Abel story, Gaiman goes wild. Remarkably, he does all of this and yet never looses his grip on the tale he's telling. Things are never so wild that they get completely out of hand.
everyone seems to recommend Death: The High Cost of Living before reading this book. I've never read it, but maybe I should go buy it. My own personal opinion? Sandman is one of the greatest comic stories ever told, blowing away Watchmen.
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Y.know 1602 or whatever wasn't great literature but it was entertaining and the art was great.
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Ewwwwww, The kubert boys. Blechhh. Their dad drew pretty pictures though.
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I started with Fables and Reflections, the short story collection. Afterwards I got most of the trades, starting with Preludes. I still don't have Game of You or Kindly Ones, although I've read most of the latter.
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If you do start with Preludes and Nocturnes one thing that you should take into account is that it took a few issues for The Sandman to find its form. The series didn't really hit its stride until the stand alone story The Sound of Her Wings.
What I'm trying to say is don't be put off if Preludes and Nocturnes doesn't live up to your expectations, because The Sandman gets a lot better as it goes on.
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I've read the first five trades. Good, high-quality reading. Volume V A Tale of You unnerved me a bit, but it was still a good story, taking off of what I thought was just a throw-away character from the second-trade. I look forward to reading the last five trades and any others that I can get my hands on.
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Like most fiction should. It should hold your interest at first and then get steadily better. Which Sandman does.
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I AM AUTHORITY ON ALL SANDMAN
The best advice to start? Buy the first two trades simultaneously: Vol 1: Preludes and Nocturnes, and Vol 2: The Doll's House.
Start with Volume 1. If you don't like it, I don't blame you. Try to stick with it. But if you absolutely cannot stand it, just put it down for a few days.
When you come back, start on Vol 2. It will be different for you. And you will get into it. Then you can go back to Vol. 1 and "get it."
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Preludes and Nocturnes even had the JLI in it. Its not that great.
bw7 is right on The Sound Of Her Wings. Death's appearance made the series what it is.
I'd start with Seasons of the Mist, but I think you could actually start anywhere (although The Kindly Ones and The Wake must come last).
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Quote:
Dave said:
Preludes and Nocturnes even had the JLI in it. Its not that great.
I actually liked Preludes and Nocturnes. While the book hadn't yet achieved the magnitude that it would, I still think it was a great start. Plus 24 Hours is one of the most horrifying pieces of fiction I've ever read...
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I started reading the self contained short stories, and those are always the ones I lend to people to get them hooked. The "Dream Country" TPB consists of four short stories. I recommend you start with that one and see if you like it. There's other two short stories TPBs, but they're more related to the series mythology, so you should red them once you know more about it.
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Am i the only person who liked the 1st trade?
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I kinda like it, thought it's clearly not as good as the rest of the series. I agree with Chewy in that 24 Hours was brilliant, and I loved the visit to Hell (simply for the introduction of a Lucifer that looked like David Bowie in 1969), Mister Miracle's dream sequence, and the John Constantine team-up (thought that resembled an issue of Hellblazer more than Sandman).
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I liked the 1st trade a lot. It set the tone for the rest of the series. I thought the first story itself was beautifully done.
And I agree with Rue de Iron on the Kuberts.
MisterJLA is RACKing awesome.
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Quote:
wannabuyamonkey said:
Am i the only person who liked the 1st trade?
Quote:
I said, two posts earlier:
I actually liked Preludes and Nocturnes.
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Quote:
wannabuyamonkey said:
Am i the only person who liked the 1st trade?
Yes.
I like the first trade now, but I can't say I liked it when I first read it.
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Dad is a fan of Bowie, he should read "Lucifer: Nirvana". That thing has lucifer looking like Bowie again, and it's painted art.
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Thanks for all the responses. I really liked that summary. I think I will start out by getting the first two trades.
ps Thanks for the pic in my first post.
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I actually liked the first one a lot. I just know know some people don't.
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The first couple years of Sandman stories were great. After that it got a little strange and I didn't enjoy the series as much as I had before.
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Joey, you missed out then: the last one is the best of the lot, IMHO. It has one of the best lines in all of literature, beautifully complimented by the image of a tear falling and splashing. Quote:
And the angel Duma's tear, crystalline and clear, filled the vision of each of the onlookers.
Reflected in it, they saw mercy, and miracles, and the knowledge that every thing that is, has a purpose, and that the purpose, somehow, included every one of them... on a deep and personal level."
Even my wife, who hates comics, got the shivers reading it, with the tear splashing.
Quote:
Son of Mxy said:
Dad is a fan of Bowie, he should read "Lucifer: Nirvana". That thing has lucifer looking like Bowie again, and it's painted art.
More of an 80s "Modern Love" Bowie, don't you think?
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Yeah, I looked at it right now and it seems that he looks younger than he did on preludes. I also see some similarities with Tom Byron. 
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