Sandman

I put a hold for this volume at the library right after finishing the first, weeks ago… and then once I got it, it sort of sat on my shelf for a while. Until someone else requested it and I had to return it… so of course I ended up finishing this the day it was due, haha. Because it’s a fairly small comic volume that was not too bad. In the second volume of the famous Sandman series, Gaiman once again weaves a compelling story centered on the Lord of Dreams as he goes on an investigative journey to find some missing denizens from the Dreaming. While he was trapped away from the Dreaming, some of Dream’s staff are suspiciously absent from his realm. Alongside this narrative we meet Rose Walker, a young woman trying to find her long-lost brother and discovering a lot about herself on the way. Her path, of course, is destined to meet with the Sandman’s.



This edition focuses a lot on the different elements of storytelling; there is still a bit of mythmaking, especially with the prologue at the beginning—I found that fairly interesting to see Dream succumb to a tricky plan by Desire. Desire, a younger sibling of Dream, plays no small role in the events of this volume, though we only see them briefly. There is also a little B-plot revolving around the Corinthian and the clever ‘Cereal Convention’. (Other reviewers have expressed skepticism at the nature of the convention and its realism, but I figure in Sandman, given what we know about the Corinthian, it doesn’t seem that off.) As usual, Gaiman is a master at bringing all of these vastly different plot lines together by the end.

While some of the magical wow factor from the first volume was gone by the second, I still enjoyed it. One of my favorite chapters was the one where we see Sandman interacting with Hob Gadling, a man who eschews Death—and Death and Dream agree to let him live as long as he likes. This chapter was a great way to give some more context to the Sandman character and let the reader come to like and understand his persona further; I also really enjoyed the historical aspects, as we see the fashions and alliances change—and yet in some ways, the people clamor about the same sorts of injustices. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The art as usual was pretty great; I don’t have a major basis for comic art, or the individual artists for each volume (unfortunately). They are all talented beyond measure to me. The style and flow of the story works quite well for the Sandman series thus far, and I at least find it a welcome complement to Gaiman’s storytelling. As usual, the character designs are pretty clever and the art engenders a captivating atmosphere.

This was a solid second volume and I eagerly look forward to reading the next. I put a hold for the third one and perhaps this time I won’t procrastinate on reading once I get my hands on it…