The Sandman: The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman and various artists

(pb; 1989, 1990: graphic novel, collects issues 8-16 of the comic book series The Sandman. Third book in the thirteen-book Sandman graphic novel series.) 

Overall review

Doll’s House continues to mine the rich vein of genre fiction-fused-with-literary gold of the second Sandman volume, Preludes and Nocturnes. This time out, it’s Gaiman, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Robbie Busch, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli, Steve Parkhouse and Dave Kean delivering the heady, less-melancholy-than-Preludes goods, with a storyline about missing entities, nightmare-led “Cereal Growers” and an unwitting, good-natured vortex.

Worth owning, this. Followed by The Sandman: Dream Country.

 

Review, issue by issue

Caveat: possible, vaguely stated spoilers for those who haven’t read Preludes and Nocturnes (Vol. 2).

“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. (This issue is also included in the previous Sandman graphic novel, Preludes and Nocturnes.)

 

“Tales in the Sand” (issue 9): During a male coming-of-age ritual, an elder tribesman tells a younger one about a long-ago queen (Nada) who becomes the lover of the Dream Lord, Kai’Ckul─also called Morpheus─and the tragic results of that forbidden love.

 

“The Doll’s House” (issue 10): Desire and Despair─younger siblings of Dream, Death and Destiny─speak about Nada and Morpheus. Elsewhere, Miranda Walker and her twenty-one-year-old daughter (Rose) arrive in England after a mysterious benefactor (Unity Kinkaid, an impregnated coma victim in Preludes and Nocturnes) pays for them to be flown over from the US. Lucien, in the Dreamworld, tells Dream (a.k.a. Morpheus) of four missing Major Arcana entities, among them the deeply unsettling Corinthian, a nightmare who births serial killers.

 

“Moving In” (issue 11): Rose Walker flies to Florida to find her missing twelve-year-old brother (Jed), whom she hasn’t seen in seven years. What she doesn’t know is he’s chained to a pipe in a wet, dark basement. Meanwhile, Matthew─a deceased mortal-turned-blackbird in Morpheus’s direct service─watches Rose for the Dream King: it seems Rose is a “vortex,” bound to trouble the dreams of those around her, and to draw the attentions of the four missing Major Arcana entities, particularly Glob, Brute, and Fiddler’s Green. The Corinthian continues his sleazy motel killings.

 

“Playing House” (issue 12): Hippolyta Hall, pregnant and sharing dream-space with her husband (Harold) and his strange associates, Glob and Brute, faces a harsh reality. Rose Walker and her quirky, middle-aged housemate (Gilbert) head to the state of Georgia to retrieve Jed, who’s escaped his abusive legal guardians (Clarice and her husband, Barnaby). Unfortunately for Jed, he’s just made the acquaintance of someone more sadistic.

 

“Men of Good Fortune” (issue 13): 1389, England. Morpheus befriends a man (Hob Gadling) whose pub opinion leads him to being granted eternal life─for as long as he wants it.

 

“Collectors” (issue 14): After their car breaks down, Rose Walker and Gilbert─who shows that he’s more than seems─find themselves holed up in a sleazy motel where a “Cereal Growers” (serial killers) convention is taking place. The unexpected guest of honor? The Corninthian, who may’ve brought Jed along with him.

 

“Into the Night” (issue 15): Rose Walker, still a vortex, returns to the Florida boarding house, further troubling the dreams of her housemates (Hal, “Spider Women” Chantal and Zelda, and Ken and Barbie─Gilbert disappeared after the dissolution of the Cereal Growers convention). Morpheus pulls Rose into the Dreamworld, saving her housemates. Gilbert and Matthew the blackbird talk.

“Lost Hearts” (issue 16): Morpheus reveals to Rose her anomalous nature and unintended effect as well as her fate. Gilbert, one of the missing entities, returns to Morpheus. In England, Unity Kinkaid dies of old age, altering what is to happen.

Six months pass. Rose writes in her journal, mentions her friend, Judy, who died a year prior─Judy was one of the diner customers shown in “24 Hours” (issue 6, collected in Preludes and Nocturnes). Morpheus visits Desire, confronts her/him/they about the impetuous godling’s previously secret act of treachery, connected to Unity Kinkaid’s coma pregnancy (in Preludes and Nocturnes).

Death: The Time of Your Life, by Neil Gaiman, Chris Bachalo, Mark Buckingham & Dave McKean

(pb; 1996: three-issue comic book mini-series. Sequel to Death: The High Cost of Living.)

Review:

Foxglove (whose girl-with-a-guitar concert Death attended in Death: The High Cost of Living) and her girlfriend, Hazel, are now financially well-off, thanks to Foxglove's record deal and pop star popularity - and they have a son (Alvie, a parting gift from Hazel's sperm donor ex). They should be on top of the world, but they're not.

Foxglove, on an international tour, is struggling to deal with fame issues; Hazel, at their L.A. house, is feeling distant from her lover - who has yet to "come out" about her relationship with Hazel. Not only that, Hazel misses New York state, where they hail from. Things are falling apart for them.

Enter Death - kind, no-nonsense, wise - who has come into their midsts for reasons not entirely clear to both of them. . .

Time is a melancholic masterpiece that not only builds on, but all-around deepens its mood palate of love, death, cleverness, loss, regret, and possibly redemption.

Like The High Cost of Living, Time is worth owning. It's also available in graphic novel form.

#

Death has appeared in other comics since Time. One of these comics - a single-shot issue - is Action Comics #894, published in December 2010. It is the fifth part of an ongoing storyline, "The Black Ring."The plot: Lex Luthor, hovering between life and death after an attack, is treated to a chastening visit by Death, who's doing her best to steer Luthor toward a peaceful resolution - a resolution he's fighting and manipulating every step of the way.

This segment of "The Black Ring" storyline is fun, but compared to the happenings, moods and characters of Time it feels like a trifle work, a crossover that brings together two interesting characters who don't quite mesh (and makes Luthor look doltish and disingenuous at key points).

Worth checking out, this - maybe owning for a dollar, if you're a Death completist, or a Lex Luthor fan.

Death: The High Cost of Living, by Neil Gaiman, Chris Bachalo, Mark Buckingham & Dave McKean

(1993, 1994: graphic novel, originally published in single/three-issue magazine form under the same title. Prequel to Death: The Time of Your Life. Introduction by Tori Amos.)


Review:

Neil Gaiman's whimsical, dark and mood-shifting tale is brought to Old School comic book art life by Chris Bachalo, Mark Buckingham and Dave McKean's illustrations.

High Cost is worth owning, especially for fans of The Sandman series, whence Death sprang.

Followed by Death: The Time of Your Life.