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: Graphic SF Reader
Summary: 5 Stars
Dream has been captured by a group of self-centred magicians, who had been trying to entrap his sister, Death. They create many safeguards to keep him imprisoned, but eventually make a mistake.
He sets out to recover the items of power needed to rule his realm after his seven decade absense. This takes him by way of John Constantine, via Hell, to Scott Free and John J'onzz, and lastly a confrontation with Doctor Destiny.
Then, at the end, he gets a bunch of abuse from his sister.
Book Review: A classic of highbrow surreal fantasy graphic fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
[Review written Apr 2004]
Series Review: The Sandman
What happens when you have an oh so rare confluence of supreme talents (each of whom are among the best in their respective fields) who team up to produce a graphical series ? You get a once-in-a-generation, cutting edge, high-water-mark masterpiece like this one.
Speaking as a former hardcore collector with over 5,000+ issues at home, this series is easily one of the very best graphic novels ever produced, period. No questions asked.
This fabulous comic series has been conveniently re-published by Vertigo as an 11-part Graphic Novel:
1: Preludes & Nocturnes
2: The Doll's House
3: Dream Country
4: Season of Mists
5: A Game of You
6: Fables & Reflections
7: Brief Lives
8: World's End
9: The Kindly Ones
10: The Wake
11: Endless Nights
What's it about ?
Basically it's a long series of 11 sweepingly surreal short stories, told a GN format, about "The Endless" ... a quasi-divine extended dysfunctional family of metaphorical beings who struggle with their overall role in the greater scheme of things (i.e., reality), with each other, and with the mortals whose lives they intersect. Their names are Dream, Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delight/Delirium and Destruction.
I'll close with an eloquent excerpt from the prelude of Book 4, by Harlan Ellison (himself one of the most acclaimed and award winning short story writer currently living):
Harlan Ellison gushed:
"Possibly the only dismaying aspect of excellence is that it makes living in a world of mediocrity an ongoing prospect of living hell ... how dreary and burdensome and filled with anomie are the remainder of one's waking hours trapped in the shackled lock-step of the merely ordinary, the barely acceptable, the just ok and not a stroke better ...
In any field of endeavor, an occasional talent will manifest itself and, through its bare existence, we perceive how mundane has been the effort [prior to that point] in that field or genre ... and recognize how much higher thereafter is the high water mark.
The point being: {Edit: the peerless excellence of} Neil Gaiman's work on The Sandman ..."
High recommendation marks from moi. A must read for anyone who enjoys high brow surreal fantasy.
Book Review: A Slow Start - But Great Finish
Summary: 3 Stars
The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes is the first volume of the graphic novel series of Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman. Preludes collects the first eight volumes written. These follow a quest by Dream, one of the immortal Endless, to recover his powers and his realm, The Dreaming, after escaping a lifetime imprisonment at the hands of an English occult society. Dream's journey brings him to many interesting locales and forces him to cross paths with other DC characters, such as Scarecrow and John Contantine.
Positive:
* Gaiman is skilled storyteller and each chapter works as a self-contained tale. He has the ability to quickly create characters we can empathize with and are interested in.
* Comic book lore, pop culture, and mythology are woven together beautifully to create a world that is pleasantly unique.
Negative:
* Gaiman himself admits in the afterword that during this first volume he is struggling to find his voice. Subsequently, the stories oscillate between occult mystery, dark fantasy, horror, psychological studies, and superhero action. The quality of the writing wavers quite a bit as well.
* While the individual chapters are engaging, the overall story arc is not. It is a clich? quest adventure in which Dream must overcame obstacles to recover three lost artifacts one by one.
For Fans Of: modern mythology, urban fantasy, and dark fantasy
Bottom Line: While flawed, this volume shows great promise especially towards the end of the book. The chapters "24 Hours" and "The Sound of Her Wings" would be considered great writing in any format. Gaiman has set the stage for better things to come in future entries with an engaging character, Dream, and an interesting world. Though not consistently great writing, Preludes is a worthwhile read.
Book Review: Good Start To A Series I Know I'll Love
Summary: 4 Stars
I somehow missed the boat on this series that began in 1988. It ran through 1997, and some believe it is the greatest comic series to have ever existed. I finally--FINALLY--decided I needed to check it out.
Gaiman himself has admitted in the past that Preludes and Nocturnes was a bit of a rough start to a series that would later garner much acclimation, and he was correct. Don't misunderstand though--I still thoroughly enjoyed it. If it is considered a rough start, then I'm greatly looking forward to the more "polished" volumes!
The character of Sandman has some sort of intangible appeal that I can't put my finger on. For those who don't know much about him, he is the God of Sleep, an entity who often takes the form of a tall, thin, nearly translucent-skinned man with black eyes and black, unruly hair. However, I absolutely understand what I like about his story potential. In the first volume alone, his story unfolds over decades, he visits Hell, he walks the Earth, he rules in his dream kingdom, and he even spends some time with his cheery, charismatic sister Death. The only thing about this first volume that struck me as almost too awkward was when Sandman interacted with the then-present incarnation of the Justice League. This was before the Vertigo imprint was born and Sandman was given his own universe to play in.
Sam Kieth was the original artist, but he left after only a few issues. Some people love his work, others don't. Personally, I enjoyed Mike Dringenberg's incarnation of Sandman much better. Also, keep in mind these stories were produced in the late eighties, so the coloring isn't quite up to today's technological standards.
However, it's obvious this is a very smart series and I can't wait to read the entire set. I only wish I hadn't waited so long to give it a chance.
~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant
Book Review: Competent start to a landmark series
Summary: 3 Stars
This was the beginning of one of the great comic series of recent decades, which became one of the best-selling graphic novel series as well. It's not Gaiman's best, not by a long shot, nor is the art even up to the quality of the script, but you can see what's coming down the road. The first few chapters detail the capture and imprisonment of the Sandman, the Dream Maker, the lord of the world of imagination, and one of the Endless -- a pantheon of Gaiman's own devising, but based on a variety of classical mythological threads. The artwork, though, can't help but remind you of the Crypt-Keeper in the old EC Comics. Which is interesting for us old-timers, but dated. What's most jarring, though, is the intersection of the Dreamer's quest to recover his possessions with characters from the Justice League comics. Later volumes in the series will snap that bond, fortunately.