If you haven’t read this book, and are, perhaps, standing in a bookstore or a comic shop, wondering if it’s worth your time, what I can say to convince you? Should I wax rhapsodic? Get lyrical and grandiose? Reference some of the story’s funnier jokes so I seem more clever than I really am?

If you’ve already read this book, you know nothing I can say is as good as what waits for you ahead. You know it is beautiful and deep and wry and wondrous. If you’ve already read Sandman, what can I tell you that you don’t already know deep in the secret corners of your heart? You know this story is lovely and brilliant and sweet and strange. I’ll admit, I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to do here. **(What follows is an excerpt from the intro)**

But rather than just my usual messy gush about how I love some story, I got permission from the publisher to re-print part of my introduction I wrote. To celebrate, I thought I'd write a review here. It's been half a year since I got the invitation, and months since I actually finished writing the introduction, but I still can't believe it. I’d highly recommend it for readers in general.I wrote the introduction to the 30th anniversary edition of The Sandman. “Sandman” is an excellent series, and the volume where it all began is no exception. “The Sound of Her Wings” introduces us to Death (the kinder, more charismatic, and more articulate Gaiman-version of the Grim Reaper) and shows us interaction between Dream and Death as Dream learns a crucial lesson from his sister. This imaginative and compelling opening volume is at its best with “24 Hours” (as well as “Passengers,” the issue that precedes “24 Hours” and sets up its story.) In “24 Hours,” escaped villain, John Dee, torments the occupants of a smalltown diner by manipulating their reality (a capability he achieved when he came into possession of Dream’s “ruby.”) It’s a story that’s both horrifying and thought-provoking as Dee forces the diners to shed the masks of polite society and get to know the uncensored versions of each other.Īnother favorite is the concluding issue, “The Sound of Her Wings,” which is really more of an epilogue, given the story has been brought to a successful and satisfying conclusion with the penultimate issue. his bag of sand, helmet, and ruby-like jewel.) That last sentence makes it sound like a far-out fantasy, but it’s really a relatable and human set of stories. In this, the first, eight-issue volume of Sandman, we’re introduced to Morpheus / Dream – the king of dreams & nightmares and one of the seven Endless – when he’s captured by an amateur occultist who was trying to kidnap Death The story told in “Preludes and Nocturnes” is one of Dream’s captivity, escape, and the subsequent missions to reacquire three magic artifacts that were stolen from him when he was captured (i.e.

The sandman vol 1 preludes & nocturnes