Everyone has high praise for Gaiman’s The Sandman, and I am here to join them—this first volume of his infamous series is phenomenal. I picked it up from the library months ago (thanks, infinite renewals, and apparently the fact that no one else in my city is willing to read this masterpiece), but finally picked it up as a distraction from my previous book. Though I don’t typically read comics or graphic novels, I was easily hooked. Some time ago, I read Gaiman’s book Stardust; in my edition, there was an included essay by Gaiman at the end which discussed his ideas about mythology, storytelling, and mythmaking. All of these themes are relevant to The Sandman, of course—and a dozen other themes.

Ostensibly, the story follows an anthropomorphic Dream, the ruler of Dreamland, who is imprisoned and whose artefacts are stolen by a strange Order. Gaiman in the afterword himself describes the various issues contained in this first volume as his attempts to do different kinds of storytelling—Victorian Gothic horror, British 40s/50s story, superheros, etc. Each issue therefore brings a new element or ambience to the storytelling, and yet all these seemingly disparate parts wind together to craft an immensely clever story. I am a huge fan of learning about different mythologies, playing around with language, and exploring the more confusing and malleable elements of human consciousness. The Sandman delivers a kind of strange dream, a reverie but also a quest, a long and winding road of self-discovery… all of these things and more. I’m beginning to sound like a cringy advert at this point, so I’ll stop while I’m ahead.

The art and pacing of the story flows well in each issue; I found myself always wanting to keep reading after each issue was over. As these are preludes and nocturnes, and thus suitable for nighttime, I readily tested my half-baked promise to try to sleep early each night. Even if you’re not into comics or graphic novels, I suspect it is quite easy to get lost in the story—Gaiman is masterful at it, and the art lends itself to the story, rather than overpowering it. I am eager to read the additional volumes in this incredible series. I can verify that its reputation as one of the best graphic novels is well-deserved, and definitely recommend reading this even if it isn’t your usual medium. It’s extremely worth it for Gaiman’s imaginative storytelling and delightfully constructed anthropomorphic characters. (I found myself simultaneously pitying, loving, and fearing Dream—a perhaps questionable reaction to a character in any other circumstance, but for Dream, it makes sense.)

If you’re still reading this, stop here and go read this already, please. You won’t regret it. The 30th anniversary edition is beautifully done, crisp, and worth holding in your hands.