By volume
2, I’d say The Sandman still isn’t
precisely cohesive, but things are coming together. Or rather, its worlds – past and present,
reality and dreaming, mortal and Endless – are starting to unfold, to stretch
toward the horizon in all directions.
It’s clear that Neil Gaiman is setting all sorts of wheels in motion,
and by the time I reached the end of the volume, I was definitely interested to
see where it was going to go next (a few spoilers.)
Dream is
still setting his kingdom to rights after his long capture. Several of his creations escaped his domain
during his absence, and a once-in-a-generation calamity has occurred. Though she doesn’t yet know it, a young
woman, Rose Walker, is a vortex – an unstoppable force that will unify minds
across the dreamscape before disintegrating the barriers between dream and
reality, ultimately destroying both. As
Dream prepares for the grim necessity of stopping the vortex, Rose is intruded
upon by his runaway dreams, who press in on her life and family for both good
and ill.
I’m
starting to see how the series intends to take its time. A number of chapters look like diversions but
feel like groundwork, establishing a story that sprawls out across centuries,
continents, and existences. There’s some
really neat stuff going on here. I love
how the “cereal convention” is executed, the opening legend is beautifully
rendered, and I enjoy the passage on Dream’s periodic visits to a man who
defies Death. To be honest, the main arc
with Rose and the vortex is a little less interesting to me. Not to say that it’s boring or badly-written
– I just really love the high-concept nature of these on-the-surface “detour
chapters.”
My other
main gripe would be that, after having met Death at the end of volume 1, I was
hoping for a lot more of her here. Unfortunately,
we get barely a glimpse of her. That
said, we do start to get a look at
others in the family of the Endless – namely Desire, Dream’s nonbinary sibling
with a lust for satisfaction and a strong sense of entitlement regarding
mortals. Desire only appears in a couple
of chapters, but I like its look, its presentation, and the obviously-charged
interactions it has with Dream, who feels much more beholden to serve humans, not treat them as his
playthings.
Other
members of the Endless are hinted at as well, and I’m particularly intrigued by
mentions of a lost brother (not Dream.) All the Endless mentioned so far have ‘D’
names – Dream, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destiny – and I’m curious
about just how much ground they’ll be able to cover keeping with that
theme. Like with the gradually-unfolding
plot, I can tell that we’re just starting to build everything Gaiman has
planned for the family, and I’m interested to see what he has in store.
Warnings
Sexual
content, violence, drinking/smoking/drugs, thematic elements, and disturbing
images.
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