By: Neil Gaiman Publisher: Vertigo Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Vertigo Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 616 Publication Date: October 10, 2007 Release Date: October 31, 2007
Product Description: THE SANDMAN, written by New York Times best-selling authorNeil Gaiman, was the most acclaimed comic book title of the 1990s.A richblend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction,historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven, THE SANDMAN is also widely considered one of the most original and artistically ambitiousseries of themodern age. By the time it concluded in 1996, it had made significantcontributions to the artistic maturity of comic books and had become a popculture phenomenon in its own right.Now, DC Comics is proud to present this comics classic in an all-newAbsolute Edition format. The second of four beautifully designed slipcasedvolumes, THE ABSOLUTESANDMAN VOL. 2 collects twenty tales of THE SANDMAN and features completelynew coloring, approved by the author, as well as never-before-seen extramaterial.
Great story, great package They took some great stories and provided them a proper packaging. A great way to read and reread the series.
A MUST If you like sandman, just a little, so you MUST have this absolute, its needless to say that it is unworldly beautyful, the kind of item that any sandman fan have (they don't have the option: "not to have", if (s)he don't have, (s)he isn't a real fan). It's full with Extras more than 100 pages of mindblowing Sandman's extras. Really a Top "Must Have" I already have garanteed tne other 2.
Amazing I always love Mr Gaiman;'s work. Sandman is probably his opus given the size and the eclectic nature of the themes. The Endless as interpreted by a Master like Gaiman represent an amazing world that weaves the deepest recesses of the collective consciousness, mythology, history and keep it living enough to be interesting. Aesthetically, the books are great and the artwork is just as eclectic as the are the themes. I wish I was exposed to this stuff as a kid...
A Little Uneven, But Still Brilliant! This is the second collection of Sandman comics taking us up to issue #40 (of #75). There are a few single issue comics (all good), but for the most part this volume is comprised of two large story arcs. The first is Season of Mists, which I liked a lot and was 7 issues. It told a tale of Lucifer deciding to quit Hell and leave. He kicks everyone out and gives the key to Dream, who then is swamped by all the other gods/entities who now want the key to Hell. Here we also get to see all, except one, of the Endless for the first time, which was cool.
The second half of this volume was taken up by a story arc A Game of You, which were six issues in length. So this story dominated the second half of the volumes, as did Season of Mists with the first half of the volume. This arc actually is exactly what I would expect from The Sandman, it's about a girl's escape into her fantasy land she created as a little girl, which of course The Sandman created, because it was created out of dreams. So this was the first story that really was a believable scenario of Dream, if he existed. The only problem was it was created from childhood dolls on one hand, which were goofy, and on the other hand it was extremely violent. It was a weird mix that just didn't fit together that well. I think this was a story if read from text would have come out superb, but with the goofy graphics it just seemed weird, and didn't come off that well.
I still liked the second volume, even with the second half dragging a bit with A Game of You. And I'll say I liked the first volume in this series better. But this volume was still pretty darn interesting. Easily recommended!
Great start, less-so second half. This collection started off very strong, but weakend somewhat with the second story-arc. The first one, "Seasons Of Mist", was excellent, and deals with Lucifer abdicating Hell and handing the keys over the Dream. What follows is creatures and deities from (almost) every pantheon vying to claim it (inlcuding Gaiman's first work with the Norse Gods, which he handled very well in American Gods). His best stuff yet, and I'm now looking forward to finishing this series and picking up the Lucifer trades, as that is the series that, for all intents and purposes, follows-up Sandman. The second major story , "A Game Of You", just didn't seem very engaging to me. It follows a bit player from an earlier story and feels very much like Gaiman's take on popular fantasy like Oz and Narnia (though I kept getting a Labyrinth and Neverending Story vibe off of it, too). It's probabaly about two chapters too long (coming in at six) and is the only thing keeping me from giving it five stars. In between are several one-shots where Gaiman uses historical figures, both famous and little-known, to further flesh out the relationships among The Endless, and they are all pretty enjoyable.
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