The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
Book Review: The start of something extraordinary
Summary: 5 Stars
Here starts the story arc of The Sandman, one of the seven Endless who are manifestations of aspects of life. The story starts with Morpheus being mistakenly trapped by a Crowley-esque magician, who was angling to ensnare his big sister, Death and thus ensuring himself immortality. Unsure what to do with the silent Dream, he leaves him locked in a basement for over 70 years. Dream waits patiently; in the meantime his Realm is falling into ruin and dreamers all over the world suffer. When he escapes, Dream has to gather together his symbols of power, taken by the magician and stolen by his friends, in order to retake his Realm. His quest leads him into the path of the Kindly Ones, Justice League of America characters, Arkham Asylum and a brief trip to Hell. Meanwhile, Doctor Dee is playing very sick games indeed with some people trapped in a diner with him...The story concludes with the ever-miserable Dream brooding (for a change) while his perky sister Death tries to give him a dose of perspective. If I tried to cram all the references, foreshadowing and allusions that Gaiman crams into just one book, I would be here a looong time. Suffice to say, read it, read it again and then , after a bit of a ponder, read it again! I am always finding new things in the whole series. Gaiman is one of those rare comic book authors in that he rounds out his characters' psychologies. You may not like Dream much to begin with, but you will weep buckets come the Kindly Ones. Cannot recommend this highly enough to anyone with a heart, soul or brain...Book Review: Really a prequel, but a good one at it
Summary: 4 Stars
An occult sekt performs a ritual meant to trap Death itself but it goes horribly wrong and instead they wind up with Death's younger brother Dream as their prisoner. For over 70 years Dream remains captured. The sekt, who's leadership along the way is passed from father (who grows old) to son, try everything they can think of to make Dream give them unbelievable powers. Dream however never speaks a word to them, waiting for his chance to break free. He has time. When Dream finally frees himself he returns to his kingdom only to find it shattered in pieces, and he realizes what he's to do now. The start of the road back.This book can in my opinion best be seen as a prequel to the actual Sandman tale, that starts in "A Doll's House". It isn't really the actual story yet but more a way to get people used to the way of storytelling, some of the characters and what they are made of. What's being done mostly here is laying out some of the dots that are later to be connected. You get introduced to some (later on) vital characters, like Death, Dream, Lucifer, Cain and Abel, whose importance only will become clear later on in the Sandman tale. You learn a little about who Dream is, what his powers are and what they are based on, while he goes on his way to retrieve the items he needs to restore his powers, and later rebuild his kingdom. Items which swerved over existence ever since he was captured and stripped of them.
The book contains the first 8 issues of the series but is basically divided in three parts. The first part, that runs from #1-4, is about Dream being captured and about his time of imprisonment. It shows that the story is still being build-up and the art of Sam Keith in these issues is really trying itself out to see if it's suitable. It isn't really great but it's sufficient, something Keith himself later admitted. The second part, that runs from #5-7, is about Dream in his quest to retrieve the missing items. The story is much better already, more detailed and intertwined with things to come. Especially the part where we get to witness what can be done with Dreams powers when it falls in the wrong hands (really wrong !) is a great read (especially for horror- fans). The art which is taken over by Mike Dringenberg shows to be an improvement and the 'feeling' of the book is starting to build. The third part, #8, is the part where we first get to meet Dreams older sister Death and is really an intermission issue between "Preludes & Nocturnes" and "A Doll's House". Dream has done what he was supposed to and now he doesn't have a clue where to go from here. His sisters aid is needed to put him back on the right track. Good solid art by Dringenberg and a fluent read, but not really an important issue storywise.
I myself consider Sandman as one (if not THE) best comicstories so far and despite my maybe not overly enthousiastic sounding tone in this review, it IS a very nice read. Not as good as the later issues/TPB's but that says more about them than about this book. "Nocturnes & Preludes" is really a great, and probably even neccesary, introduction to the tale later to be unraveled. There are some things being explained here that shouldn't be missed for a maximum enjoyment of the tale that's coming. People who's main-interest is not superheroes but something more of a realistic/dramatic/horrorized Fantasy tale (think of things like Hellblazer and Saga of the Swamp Thing) will surely have a good time with this book, and even more with the following books after that.
Book Review: one out of the three essentials
Summary: 3 Stars
I came to Sandman through Endless Nights. The artwork in that is gobsmacking. A great graphic novel needs three things:
1 excellent writing
2 excellent drawing
3 excellent colouring
Like watchmen this is an exquisitely written, well-drawn but dreadfully coloured book. The grungy, poor-quality colours really, really let this down. it looks like a four-year old's colouring book. A library shelf daubed yellow? paint the individual books!
Neil gaiman's story is emergent and ends on a really satisfactory, literary note. Don't get me wrong - this is an essential book. You need to start here if you are going to follow Sandman on his weary journey, but I wish it could look like something of the Calibre of The dark Knight Returns, which, in fairness, was released in the eighties too.
Buy, but be aware.