The Sandman: The Wake by Neil Gaiman and various artists

 

(1995-6, 2012 – graphic novel, collects issues 70-75 of the comic book The Sandman. “Introduction” by Mikal Gilmore. Eleventh book in the thirteen-book Sandman graphic novel series.)

 

Overall review

Wake is a solid wrap-up to the original run of The Sandman comic books (additional books within the series are later-published prequels or side stories). For the most part, it’s short and sharp (with the exception of issue 75, “The Tempest,” which runs long). Great series.

As in previous Sandman graphic novels, the artists, letterers and colorists who bring Gaiman’s transcend-the-genre writing to vivid, distinctive representation.

 

Review, issue by issue

“The Wake: Chapter One” (#70): “Dreamers, guests, celebrants and mourners” gather in the necropolis Litharge “at stony crossroads in the shadow of the Quinsy Mountains” to acknowledge Morpheus’s death. Meanwhile, his successor─the new Dream of the Endless, previously known as Daneil Hall─holds court with a select few (Cain, etc.).

 

“The Wake: Chapter Two” (#71): More conversations between the new incarnation of the Dream of the Endless and his immediate staff are shown as are other guests─a few of them cape-and-cowl types and supernatural magicians.

 

“The Wake: Chapter Three” (#72): The Wake begins in earnest. Matthew the raven decides what the next phase of his life will be. Dream of the Endless prepares to meet his siblings.

 

“The Wake: Chapter Four” (#73): In modern times, Rob Gadling─actually Morpheus’s undying drinking buddy Hob Gadling─attends a Renaissance Faire with his girlfriend (Gwen). Gadling has a conversation with one of Morpheus’s siblings, who has a pertinent question for him.

 

“Exile” (#74): An older Asian man has a dream about a desert, a kitten, and Morpheus.

 

“The Tempest” (#75): 1610 AD. Will Shakespeare writes, has conversations with his daughter (Judith) and his wife, and is visited by Morpheus.

The Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman and various artists

 

(1993-5, 1996 – graphic novel, collects issues 57-69 of the comic book The Sandman. “Introduction” by Frank McConnell. Tenth book in the thirteen-book Sandman graphic novel series.)

From the back cover

“They have had many names: The Erinyes. The Eumenides. The Dirae. The Furies. Agents of vengeance, implacable and unstoppable., they do not rest until the crime they seek to punish is washed clean with blood. It is to them, The Kindly Ones, that Lyta Hall turns when her baby Daniel is taken from her, and it is the Dream of the Endless who becomes their target. But behind a mother’s grief and unyielding rage, there are darker forces at work, and what they set in motion will eventually demand a sacrifice greater than any the Dreaming has yet known.”

 

Overall review

Kindly is one of the most emotionally satisfying and intense storylines of the Sandman series, with recurring characters driving the sometimes-twisty events with their passions and their guilts─in the Dream King’s case, the murder of his son, Orpheus. Intertwined in the themes of guilt, grief, rage and forgiveness, there’s Gaiman’s usual skewering of sexism, homophobia, and other nasty human motives. Excellent read, one of the best Sandman offerings, this.

As in previous Sandman graphic novels, the artists, letterers and colorists who bring Gaiman’s transcend-the-genre writing to vivid, distinctive representation. Followed by The Sandman: The Wake.

 

Review, issue by issue

“The Kindly Ones: 1” (#57): Two-thirds of the triumvirate Furies (Stheno, Euryale) have tea. Hippolyta Hall, living with her baby (Daniel) and her friend (Carla), checks out a dodgy job. Matthew, Morpheus’s raven, queries those around the Dream Lord about the fates of the ravens who came after him.

 

“The Kindly Ones: 2” (#58): Hippolyta speaks with Stheno and Euryale. Clurican, the fairy Duke of the Yarrow and the Flay and brother of Nuala (Morpheus’s servant) visits the Dream King with a request.

 

“The Kindly Ones: 3” (#59): Hob Gadling, mourning the death of his most recent wife─he is immortal, or close to it─is visited by Morpheus. Hippolyta gets news about her kidnapped son (Daniel) and forms a plan.

 

“The Kindly Ones: 4” (#60): Remiel, one of the angelic guardians of Hell, visits Lucifer. Hippolyta seeks out Stheno and Euryale in real-time to achieve revenge for her kidnapped son’s fate. Carla visits her and Hippolyta’s downstairs neighbor, Rose Walker. Morpheus resurrects the Corinthian, this version slightly more obedient than the last one.

 

“The Kindly Ones: 5” (#61): The two Furies (Stheno, Euryale) try to convince Hippolyta Hall to stay with them, become the new version of their long-dead sister (Medusa). Rose Walker visits her ex-neighbor, Zelda (minus her dead sister, Chantal). Morpheus charges Matthew the raven and the Corinthian with a task. Nuala returns to her family castle in Faerie. Detective Pinkerton, creepy cop, reveals his true identity to Carla.

 

“The Kindly Ones: 6” (#62): Rose Walker flies to England to visit the nursing home where her grandmother, Unity Kinkaid, died. Rose interviews doctors and patients within the institution and is told sometimes creepy stories and sweet tales about her once-comatose relative. Larissa, the terrifying, blood-spattered witch girl with Coke bottle glasses, locates Hippolyta Hall

 

“The Kindly Ones: 7” (#63): Larissa takes in Hippolyta Hall. Odin, a.k.a. “Grim, the Death-Blinder, the High One, the Gallows-God,” visits the Dream King, speaks of a grievance stemming from events in the last issue of The Sandman: Season of Mists. Destiny grants his younger sibling Delirium a wish. Morpehus visits Gilbert, a.k.a. Fiddler’s Green, who expresses concern about the Lord of Dreams. Hippolyta speaks anew with the two Furies about vengeance and its rules.

 

“The Kindly Ones: 8” (#64): Rose Walker meets Desire. Delirium visits Morpheus. Matthew the raven and The Corinthian locate Carla’s burnt corpse─The Corinthian says he knows who killed her. Stheno, Euryale and Rose visit Morpheus, much to the dismay of one of the Dream Lord’s gatekeepers (Gryphon). Rose Walker hooks up with a nice guy with relevant secrets.

 

“The Kindly Ones: 9” (#65): Rose Walker visits Fawney Rig, a manor was called Wych Manor─the waking-world site of Morpheus’s 70-year imprisonment. While there, Rose meets Desire, who claims to be related to her.

In Swartalfheim, the Corinthian and Matthew the raven confront Loki. The two Furies and Hipplyta kill another of Morpheus’s servants (Gilbert, a.k.a. Fiddler Green). Morpheus visits Larissa, the spooky woman with Coke bottle-top glasses. Matt the raven meets one of Noah’s seven raven (“Raven”). The Corinthian locates Hippolyta’s son, Daniel.

 

“The Kindly Ones: 10” (#66): The Corinthian rescues Daniel, and while do so meets Robin Goodfellow (a.k.a. Puck). Odin retrieves Loki. Abel is visited by the two Furies (a.k.a. the Dirae) and Hipplyta. In Faerie, where Puck has recently returned, wild social changes take place. Nuala makes big life-changing decisions. Mervyn confronts Hippolyta and the Furies. Rose Walker returns to America.

“The Kindly Ones: 11” (#67): The Corinthian and Daniel meet Cain and Goldie. Rose discovers that Zelda, her ex-neighbor, has passed. Cain, Goldie, The Corinthian and Daniel reach Morpheus’s castle, as does Morpheus and the Dirae.

 

“The Kindly Ones: 12” (#68): Morpheus talks with Matthew the Raven while preparing for war with the Furies. Rose and her ex-neighbor, Hal, attend Zelda’s funeral.

 

“The Kindly Ones: 13” (#69): Everything comes to a head, the conflict between the Dream Lord and the Dirae resolving in a multi-realm-changing fashion─strange rebirths of sorts.

The Sandman: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman and various artists

 

(pb; 1990-1, 2010: graphic novel, collects issues 21-28 of the comic book The Sandman. “Introduction” by Harlan Ellison. Fifth book in the thirteen-book Sandman graphic novel series.)

 

From the back cover

“Ten thousand years ago, Morpheus the King of Dreams, condemned a woman who loved him to eternal damnation. In Season of Mists, the other members of his immortal family, the Endless, convince him that this was an injustice. To correct it, he must journey to Hell and rescue his banished love. But Lucifer, the Lord of Hell, has sworn to destroy Morpheus, and Lucifer’s plans are subtle.”

 

Overall review

Season has one of the best story arcs of the Sandman comic book. It presents daunting, delicate-balance situations for the Dream King, who must be sensitive, clever and take a discerning view of the long-term repercussions of what he does in these moments─while this is not the first time he’s dealt with razor’s-edge situations, these negotiations concern not only his survival, but his life-defining redemption for a long-ago sin.

Once again, the artists, letterers and colorists who bring Gaiman’s transcend-the-genre writing to vivid, distinctive representation are top-notch and genre-defining. Worth owning, this. Followed by The Sandman: A Game of You.

 

Review, issue by issue

Caveat: possible minor spoilers for those who have not read these Sandman comics.

“Season of Mists: A Prologue” (#21): The eldest of the Endless siblings, Destiny, calls a rare family meeting─all but one of the siblings show up. After Desire verbally needles the Dream King about his romantic relationships, particularly his long-banished mortal ex, Nada, it sets Morpheus on a dangerous course.

 

“Season of Mists: Chapter 1” (#22): The Dream King puts his affairs in order before setting out to Hell. He sends Cain to Lucifer to announce his forthcoming visit─it would be considered an act of war to do anything less. Hippolyta Hall (The Sandman: The Doll’s House, issue 12) and Hob Gadling (The Sandman: The Doll’s House, issue 13) appear in this issue.

 

“Season of Mists: Chapter 2” (#23): Morpheus, ready to battle the more-powerful Lucifer to free Nada, is stunned to discover a everything-changes turn of events within the nether territory’s vast boundaries.

 

“Season of Mists: Chapter 3” (#24): Odin, “the Gallows-God, the one-eyed king of Asgard,” Loki Wolf-Father, and Thor, along with many other gods and divine entities from various mythology-shrouded realms, make their way to Morpheus’s kingdom (the Dreaming) to claim the recently abandoned, incredibly vast real estate called Hell.

 

“Season of Mists: Chapter 4” (#25): December 1990. The dead, freed from Hell (whether they want to be or not), return to the realm of the living. At a boarding school (St. Hilarion’s), even the horrible, rotting attendance of their former students and teachers cannot upset the careful balance of the school’s temperament and schedule. This is a particularly black-humored issue in the series─I laughed a lot.

 

“Season of Mists: Chapter 5” (#26): The multi-species supranatural guests from different realms attend a dinner in the Dreaming, most of them trying to sway a troubled Morpheus to hand them Hell’s master’s key. Flirtations, drunkenness, threats, betrayals and interactions in between occur while Morpheus and Silver City angels, Duma (“angel of silence”) and Remiel (“set over those who rise”) watch.

 

“Season of Mists: Chapter 6” (#27): Morpheus, based on his interactions with his guests, gives up Hell’s key to its new owner(s). Drama ensues when one of the guests, Azrael, does not react well to the Dream King’s decision.

 

“Season of Mists: Epilogue” (#28): Hell’s new owner(s)─aware of the cosmic balance their mandated stewardship maintains, but perhaps blind to its two-fold nature─take their realm in hand while its denizens return. Morpheus, fleshed as Kai’ckul, speaks with his previously condemned ex (Nada) for the first time in ten thousand years. An issue regarding Loki Wolf-Father is also addressed by the Dream King. Nuala and her sibling, Cluracan─subjects of the fairy Titania─add further, if equally brief, drama to Morpheus’s day.

The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman and various artists

 

(pb; 1988, 1989: graphic novel, collects issues 1-8 of the comic book series The Sandman. Second book in the thirteen-book Sandman graphic novel series.)

Overall review

The Sandman series is one of the comic book series that elevated illustrated, often spandex-dominated action and funny books to serious literature. Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg’s characters and writing fuse ancient and modern mythology, history, DC Comics characters (e.g., Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. the Scarecrow), human nature and its results. Sandman’s distinctive artwork─courtesy of Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg and Malcolm Jones III─is a perfect accompaniment to Gaiman and Dringenberg’s writing, mixing appropriate, beyond-the-words loopiness, gravitas, and humor with the haunting sense of melancholy and horror that hangs heavy over these opening storylines. The artwork is made more effective by the efforts of colorist Daniel Vozzo, letterer Todd Klein, and Dave McKean’s unique covers.

This series is considered one of the all-time best comic book series for good reason. Worth owning, this. Followed by The Sandman: The Doll’s House.

 

Review, issue by issue

“Sleep of the Just” (issue 1): June 16, 1916─Wych Cross, England. A cult, led by the arrogant Roderick Burgess, try to summon Death─they don’t get her, but what they get proves to be just as dangerous, their actions bringing strange maladies to the waking world.

 

“Imperfect Hosts” (issue 2): Morpheus, still weakened by his decades-long imprisonment by the Burgesses, is taken in by Abel and Cain in their House of Mystery, where he begins healing in earnest.

 

“Dream a Little Dream of Me” (issue 3): John Constantine, supernatural detective from Hellblazer, and Morpheus try to locate one of the oneiromancer’s many stolen items, namely Morpheus’s magical bag of sand─their investigation leads them to a nightmare-transformed house.

 

“A Hope in Hell” (issue 4): To retrieve his helmet, Morpheus heads to Dis, a city in Hell, where─surrounded by demonic enemies and opportunists─he engages in ritual combat for it.

 

“Passengers” (issue 5): Dr. Destiny, a murderous madman held in a dark basement in Arkham Asylum, escapes. Morpheus, with the help of the Martian Manhunter, locates “Dorilar, the Stone of Binding,” a supranatural power-infused ruby he once owned─later held by Destiny, who also seeks it.

 

“24 Hours” (issue 6): Dr. Destiny drives a diner’s customers into full-blown craziness even as worldwide depravity and nightmares run rampant.

 

“Sound and Fury” (issue 7): Morpheus and Dr. Destiny battle for Dorilar, which Destiny appears to have mastered─for the moment.

 

“The Sound of Her Wings” (issue 8): Death, a petite, Goth-pale woman, visits her fellow godling brother (Morpheus) who’s sitting in a Parisian park, feeding pigeons.

Kill Your Boyfriend, by Grant Morrison, Philip Bond, D'israeli & Daniel Vozzo

(pb; 1995, 1998: graphic novel - for mature audiences only)

From the back cover:

"Girl meets boy. Girl falls for boy. Boy takes girl on violent rampage through English suburb.

"Murder. Sex. Drugs. And anarchy follow."


Review:

This trigger-happy and adolescent-jubilant graphic novel is a fun murder and (non-explicit) sex spree-update of Bonnie and Clyde, an update that is unique and British (in a non-stuffy way) in its thrill kill/light-hearted joyride.

Between its distinctive, excellent artwork and its sharp, skewering dialogue and anti-heroes, Boyfriend is easily one of my all-time favorite graphic novels, with its fresh take on first love and violence. Its ending still, even after multiple readings, makes me chuckle at its theme-centric dark wit.

Worth owning, for readers who aren't put out by (seemingly) senseless violence, unique artwork and clever, often charming, writing.