If you’ve never read the Sandman before, do yourself the favour and become acquainted with Dream of the endless and his siblings (my favourite is easily Death, although I’m partially to Dream and destruction as well.....oh! And Delirium, can’t forget Delirium) So I've finally read vol.1 of the famous Sandman! I would say this book has had as much hype surrounding it as the Watchmen did and it was no let down.

Sandman Omnibus Vol. 1 - Hardcover - AbeBooks The Sandman Omnibus Vol. 1 - Hardcover - AbeBooks

With a protagonist such as The Lord of Dream there are really no places you can't go. We bounce around through time and worlds and meet the good, the bad, the badder, and the ugly. Some of the arcs were very engaging and dealt with interesting themes like the Shakespeare storyline and it's musings about how stories last longer than truth. Some of the others were just kind of okay, nothing more. I think I also just prefer linear stories that follow the same characters rather than this strange meandering short story format with some recurring characters. I had held off on reading this series for around a year or so, because I don't like to burn through all of the best reads all at once. It would be a fairly dispiriting endeavour if your reading followed a continual downward spiral until you were left with nothing but the dregs at the bottom of the barrel. That said, sometimes you just have to go for gold and creak out the big guns. So now that its all over, what do I really think about Sandman? Well, it was really good, but I don't think I hyper loved it as much as others. Here's why: When Sandman is on point, which it usually is, it is some amazing storytelling, and some truly memorable and magnificent comics. When its not, it really got on my tits far more than I would have liked. What is The Sandman Omnibus (Vol. 1) about? This extraordinary hardcover omnibus collects the first 37 issues (first five volumes) of the groundbreaking masterwork, as well as Sandman Special #1, and follows Morpheus, Lord of the Dreaming. After his 70-year imprisonment due to an occultist mistakenly capturing him instead of his older sister Death, he is now off to reacquaint himself with his otherworldly realm while hunting down ancient and lost relics possessing his power. His journey also leads him to discover that his universe of dreams and nightmares leaked into reality, forcing him to venture to the human plane to take matters into his own hands and make difficult decisions. As if matters could not get any worse, The Endless, formed of his immortal family, invite Dream to fix a wrong he once committed as he’s forced into an expedition to Hell where reigns the fallen angel Lucifer, with whom he has a shaky relationship. The intervention of Dream is, however, eternal and absolute, as the omnibus wraps up on a deadly tale that sends unlikely heroes into a mysterious dreamworld. There is simply no story in life where Morpheus does not play a quintessential role in its denouement.I liked Morpheus as a character. He's the powerful personification of dream, but also a lonely figure who is acutely aware of his responsibilities and who can be merciful and even loving to humans. I didn't really care about the other characters though, mostly because many only appeared very briefly. Also, sometimes it felt like Gaiman was trying too hard to fit as many gods, historical and literary figures into the stories as possible without giving them anything beyond basic characterisations and almost nothing to do. I adored these comics and it took me by surprise. Perhaps I should have foreseen it; perhaps I should have known that anything Gaiman touches turns to gold. Perhaps I should. But the delightful surprise of these comics were beyond comparison. They have kept me up at night, reading when I should have been sleeping, and Morpheus' silent footsteps has echoed in my dreams.

Sandman Omnibus Vol. 2 by Neil Gaiman (Hardcover, 2013) The Sandman Omnibus Vol. 2 by Neil Gaiman (Hardcover, 2013)

These were fill-in tales between arcs. The Dream of a Thousand Cats was light years ahead of the rest.The story we're given is as sophisticated and full of erudition as any book you're likely to find on your average fantasy fan's shelves. More so, in fact. But though it may quote Shakespeare and Marlowe and plunder the legends, sagas, and mythos of many cultures, it's mostly about entertaining you - and it does a great job of that too.

The Sandman Omnibus Vol. 1 - Penguin Random House

They said Neil Gaiman was a great writer, all I see is a bootlegged Shakespeare. Dialogue was absolutely brutal. That's really my greatest criticism with this series, and was enough to rob it of a whole point, taking it from a five to a four. That and some of the art wasn't always as good as I would have liked. You really get quiet an assortment here, and not all of it as good as others. So yes, of course you should read Sandman. Everyone should, whether you read comics or not. I went in with pretty high hopes. It mostly met them, sometimes fell well short. Still bloody great though. Just don't watch the Netflix show. I'm calling it early, its gonna be shite. 4.25/5Even so, I expected more of Gaiman's writing than this. He is one of the great literary and pop culture icons of our age, beloved by so many fans all over the world, but when I read The Sandman, I'm disappointed, and puzzled at the popularity. Throughout the series, Gaiman tries to create a faux-mythical tone, which means writing in a sort of highfalutin, high-speech manner, giving sacred import and emphasis to every panel. I find that kind of silly, but it could work (I love Tolkien, for example, and though his high-speech is sometimes over the top, the overall effect is just fine for me). What was more jarring for me, though, was the register switching between that ethereal, mythic voice, and the grungy 1990s slang. That didn't work for me at all, as I felt that I was constantly being drawn out of the Sandman world and into 1990s UK and USA.