Nerding it up in nerd town

Yes, this is part 2 of my graphic novel thingy, in which I talk about The Sandman.

Death. Destruction. Despair. Destiny. Delight. Delirium.

Dream.

Neil Gaiman was tapped to write a series of stories in this graphic format based on an old DC character, The Sandman. He came up with an epic tale of a far more powerful creature: Morpheus, Oneiros, Dream of the Endless. The Endless predate the fleeting gods and myths of humanity. They are family, with all of the love, support, and betrayal of any family, but their extremely long view of things make some of their actions seem strange.

This is a series of ten graphic novels, plus some non-canonical material. The set of ten tells an ultimately cohesive story, but seems quite fractured as you’re reading it. Each book has it’s own identity; partly due to the necessities of the book form, and partly because of the changing artists involved in the project. While a few of the books tell a relatively linear story from start to finish, others tell a series of seemingly unrelated stories. I found it to be frustrating early in the series (Dream Country), as Gaiman would introduce you to a group of characters who were having some sort of conflict, only to have it resolved by the deus ex machina appearance of the Sandman. As it turns out, most of those little stories are quite relevant to the final epic scene, which resolves over the course of the last 3 books.

The central conflict is an existential one for the main character, Dream. An Endless being is many things, but humble is not one of them. Dream is vain, petulant, haughty, and distant, but also compassionate, responsible, and loyal. You can tell a lot about a person by the company he keeps, and Dream is surrounded by many fantastic characters who provide a warmth to temper his cold demeanor. Over the course of the story, we see Dream at different points in human history, coming to grips with his relationship with humans. He depends upon us to help him travel and to build his kingdom, but he has the attitude of a benevolent despot. Over time, he develops relationships with some humans, and he begins to recognize that he is changing. This is a problem, since Dream is the ultimate idealist. He has set his own rules since the stars were born. He fights this change, and that’s when all the trouble starts…

The entire series is stunningly well done. As Peter Straub gushes in the liner notes of one of the volumes, “If this isn’t literature, I don’t know what is”. As for the artwork…the art is equal to the story. These are beautiful books, and I look forward to revisiting them often.

One final note: read these near a computer, because you’ll be needing to access Wikipedia to brush up on your Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Norse mythology, as well as your Shakespeare and Chaucer. And perhaps a little on the faerie folk.

Morpheus needs a hug