Morning announcements: “As I Go Along” is a new weekly feature in which I will review and discuss the best graphic novels and series that I haven’t yet had a chance to read. These are the titles your comic-reading friends have been trying to push into your hands for years, only now I’ll be doing the pushing (or telling you not to bother). Ill be starting with the first volume of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, entitled “Preludes and Nocturnes.” Since this is the first one, there will be only minor spoilers, future posts will assume familiarity with the previous collections.
“People think dreams aren’t real just because they aren’t made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes.”
Neil Gaiman is about as famous as a writer can get these days, and he’s won a veritable plethora of awards to boot. The story goes that in the late 80s, Karen Berger, who’s now the executive editor of Vertigo, read Gaiman’s work and offered him a job rebooting an old character, The Sandman. Gaiman’s version, who goes by many names, including Dream and Morpheus, is closer to that of mythology and fairy tales than his superhero predecessors. The character rules over all dreams and stories, essentially anything that isn’t “reality.” But he’s less a God and more an ageless anthropomorphic personification, the embodiment of the concept of dreams.
Everyone (by which I mean the Internet) keeps telling me that “Preludes and Nocturnes” is far from the strongest title in the series, both Gaiman and the editor say as much in the foreword. I’m only halfway through the second collection so I can’t speak to the veracity of that notion, but I enjoyed the hell out of “Preludes and Nocturnes,” so if that’s the case I’m beyond excited to see what’s to come.
The story begins in 1916, an occult group led by Roderick Burgess is attempting to capture Death to gain immortality. Burgess is a magician akin to Aleister Crowley, in fact in the DC Universe, Burgess is Crowley’s rival. Burgess’ plan goes awry and he captures Dream, Death’s little brother, instead. After being imprisoned for centuries, Dream escapes, seeks vengeance, and begins hunting down the tools that make him powerful.
What follows will be familiar to gamers, it’s basically a fetch quest which serves as an extended, but necessary, introduction to the expansive world(s) in which Dream operates. He needs to reclaim his pouch of sand, helm, and ruby, and his quest takes him everywhere from Arkham Asylum, Justice League Headquarters, Hell, and his own realm, called “the Dreaming” (what else?).
Highlights include the first issue, detailing Dream’s imprisonment, his trip to hell and participation in a certain “game,” and the last issue, which serves as a sort of epilogue and shows Dream following his older sister Death around for a day. You won’t believe what she’s like, but you’ll love it.
Most of the complaints, namely that Gaiman was trying too hard both to fit his tale into the horror genre and the more overarching DC Universe, are valid. Along the way we see characters like Martian Manhunter, the Scarecrow and John Constantine (the guy Keanu Reeves played). I didn’t mind that stuff, but I could see it getting tiresome. However I’m told such appearances become infrequent, so it will become less of an issue as the series goes on.
It seems the best is yet to come, but “Preludes and Nocturnes” is still a highly enjoyable read. It’s clear Gaiman had a vision from the start. From halfway through the second edition, “The Doll’s House,” it’s apparent that there is a nigh unbelievable amount of foreshadowing and intertwining story lines. As a result of this and Gaiman’s writing, which is chock full of references, you might find it helpful to keep this page bookmarked. It’s an annotation of each issue, explaining references, reminding you of characters you forgot were introduced, etc. But wait until you finish the issue before reading the annotations, as there are spoilers.
