Paperback, 111 pages
English language
Published Oct. 4, 1995 by DC Comics.
The Sandman is a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics / Vertigo. This book is the fifth in the series, titled "Brief lives"
A wonderful collection of short stories that are only loosely connected to the overall narrative, but give a lot of depth to it.
Returning to previously introduced characters, this stories revolves around the dream world of Barbie, into which all people who live in her house are thrown. Maybe not one of the strongest, but still a really good volume (with really great LGBTQ presentation for its time).
In the Season of Mists, the Dream Lord deals with the succession of hell after Lucifer has quit his job. A great volume that introduces many concepts and ideas, and is also quite important if you ever consider reading the Lucifer spin-off...
The second volume dives deeper into the dreamscape, as we get to know more of the consequences of Morpheus' capture, while this volume also prepares the later ones...
For some reason or other it took me a long time to finish this one. Still the stories told were wonderful. There were just so many other books getting in the way ;)
So sad, even Dream is crying. I love Delirium in this one. She changes a lot throughout the story. Her driving skills however leave something to be desired. Why is Desire so mean?
I enjoyed this one quite a lot. The key to hell, that was a bit of a surprise :)
I've currently finished reading #29-"Thermidor", #30-"August" and #31-"Three Septembers and a January".
This is my favourite Sandman collection so far. The interplay of actual events and Dream's "helping hand" is thrilling in a hair-on-your-nape-stands-up way. I especially loved "Three Septembers..." based on Emperor Norton - the only Emperor of the United States. I'm looking forward to read the rest of the issues in this collection (#38, #39, #40, #50 and the Song of Orpheus), but as I'm reading the issues in order, it might be a while before I get to them.
========Update========
I finished the book, and I'll stick to my statement that it's my favourite Sandman collection so far. I feel that Gaiman brings back some of the magic that we've lost under the onslaught of science. He infuses real historical events with his magical dream-king in a delicious scoop of "what-if-it-really-happened-like-this?"
I think the best part of the entire Sandman series is the depth and complexity of the characters. This volume collects the adventures of Princess Barbie in dreamland, after her breakup with Ken at the end of "A Doll's House" series.
A fantastic collection of random stories of the entire family of the Endless. It was interesting to see Dream refer to Desire as his favorite sibling in the beginning of Dream's story.
Overall, an excellent follow-up to the best comic book run I have ever read.
A wonderful collection of stories that give a lot more depth to the Endless...
See my blog post on it:
http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2005/04/booknote-sandman-endless-nights-2003.html
