The Sandman: Worlds’ End by Neil Gaiman and various artists

(pb; 1994, 2012: graphic novel, collects issues 51-6 of the comic book The Sandman. “Introduction” by Stephen King. Ninth book in the thirteen-book Sandman graphic novel series.)

 

Overall review:

Worlds’ End is a good, fun collection of characters (some of them previously seen in earlier Sandman stories) and variable tales they tell while they wait out a strange storm.

Again, the artists, letterers and colorists who bring Gaiman’s transcend-the-genre writing to vivid, distinctive representation. Worth owning, this. Followed by The Sandman: The Kindly Ones.

 

Review, issue by issue

“Worlds’ End: Sequences at the Inn” (#51): After a car crash in a winter storm, two motorists (Brant Tucker, Charlene Mooney) find themselves at a pub with strange-looking mythological storytellers. Each issue that follows revolves around a tale told by one of the inn guests.

 

“Cluracan’s Tale” (#52): The fairy, last seen in The Sandman: Season of Mists, speaks of what brought him here. In Cluracan’s narration, Queen Mab (of the fairy city Aurelia) sends him as envoy to a near-ruin human city to prevent a treacherous politician (Innocent XI, “Psychopomp of the Universal Aurelian Church”) from assuming more power and upsetting the balance between fairies and humans.

“Hob’s Leviathan” (#53): A young sailor (Jim) recounts his sailing adventures with Hob Gadling (The Sandman: Dream Country), rough men and wild-sized sea creatures.

 

“The Golden Boy” (#54): An older Asian man tells Brant a story about a fictional clock-fixing young man (Prez Rickard) who became a US President while being observed and possibly threatened by a creepy power broker of sorts (Boss Smiley).

 

“Cerements” (#55): A Necropolitan student of death rituals (Petrefax) tells a story about how he attended a ritual where others told curious stories about hangmen, a woman of mystical power (Mistress Veltis) as well as his own experiences within a necropolis while studying under his pale-pigment master (Kaproth), who’s also listening to Petrefax speak. Two family members of the Endless make an appearance in this issue.

 

“Worlds’ End” (#56):  The essence of the inn is revealed, as is the cause of the storm outside. Personal changes, pairings, and partings occur among some of guests.

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.