Though I've been collecting comics for quite some time, I have to admit that I was a little late picking up on Neil Gaiman's Sandman series from DC Comics. It is a sad truth that most of us can't buy everything, and that was even true some 20 years ago, when everything was so much cheaper.
I had heard in passing about Sandman, but visions of the (then) recent Simon and Kirby creation leapt to mind, and I decided to pass.
At the time, I was getting all my comics by mail from Westfield Comics, a service I recommend highly. In one shipment, about 19 years ago, I received something shocking - a free comic! As I recall, DC was trying to promote the Sandman book and gave away copies of issue #8 to Westfield customers.
It featured the first appearance of Sandman's sister, Death, and I was hooked. I avidly followed the book for the next 10 years (or however long it ran), and was very sad when the final issue arrived.
About 10 years ago Gaiman wrote a prose story about Sandman (whose proper name is Dream), with illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano - and now that same story has been re-imagined as a mini-series, with art provided by the incredibly talented P. Craig Russell.
It's great to see this character return, and a delight to see Russell's delicate, beautiful art bringing the story to life.
The story centers around a fable. A fox and a badger decide to try to drive a young monk away from his temple, so they make a wager about which one of them can accomplish the task. But even as they try to oust the holy man, the tale takes an unexpected and heartfelt turn.
This is just a pure delight to read, and the comic lives up to the warm memory of the original title. Gaiman and Russell haven't lost a step (of course, Gaiman wrote this 10 years ago, so perhaps he's cheating a bit). We can only wish the Sandman could show up more often than once a decade.
At any rate, don't make the same mistake I did when the title first began. Pick up The Sandman: The Dream Hunters while you can.
Grade: A-
4 comments:
Between this and your review of the Hellboy one-shot, I'm going to have to actually dish some money on buying these. And I was hoping to stick to the main "Secret Invasion" titles. Bah.
Hey, just trying to help out. But like I always say, ya can't buy everything! (Unless you're Bill Gates.)
Why the minus on the A, Chuck? I really enjoyed this, and I don't know if I have ever read but one or two of Gaiman's Sandman comics.
Pete
Pete, Good question. Giving grades is kind of a gut reaction kinda thing, and I think I edged it down from a better grade because it's only the first part of the story. Once all four issues are out, it may deserve an upgrade to a better score (or perhaps it'll deserve getting reduced to a lower grade - now that would be a shock). Maybe I'm jaded because I've read all Gaiman's comics - they're almost all excellent, so perhaps the bar was set too high (by me).
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