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by **Punchy** » Tue Jul 16, 2013 7:40 pm

Zero requested it, and here it is! A thread to discuss Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and all it's various nooks and crannies and spin-off series.

I just finished 'The Wake' tonight, and found it a very good, touching ending, although I think maybe the order of the stories should have been switched. You have this amazing 3-part story which wraps things up... but then there's 3 more issues to go, and whilst they are all epilogues in their own way, they felt a bit tacked on, especially the Shakespeare one. But it doesn't matter really.

I put off reading Sandman for so long, but I'm so glad I finally got around to it, it's a wonderful story, and it's unique in the group of 'big acclaimed comics' in that it's not just one big epic, but an epic that's made up of a lot of beautiful smaller pieces.

I guess I'll have to read Endless Nights now.

And then The Dream Hunters

And then Death

And then Lucifer

And then when it comes out, Overture

And then

And then

OH yeah, and who did hire Loki and Puck? :-D

by **Arion** » Tue Jul 16, 2013 7:45 pm

For some reason it took me years to buy and read Sandman. I knew it was good, I knew Gaiman had done an extraordinary work, but for some reason I never got around to it until 2008, when I started buying the tpbs. And I loved them more than I could have anticipated.

by **The Old Doctor** » Tue Jul 16, 2013 7:48 pm

Do you consider Sandman Mystery Theater to be a spin-off?

by **Punchy** » Tue Jul 16, 2013 7:50 pm

Cat-Scratch wrote:Do you consider Sandman Mystery Theater to be a spin-off?

I suppose, Wesley Dodds appears a couple of times in Sandman, and I believe Morpheus appears there too.

by **Keb** » Tue Jul 16, 2013 8:15 pm

So if Liam told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?

by **MikeinLA** » Tue Jul 16, 2013 8:44 pm

Its been almost twenty years since I read the story, but I thought it was Thessaly that was the one who was behind Daniel's abduction, and that she manipulated the events that would lead to Dream's death out of spite. Morpheus made it all possible by killing his own son, which was taboo, but it was Thessaly who was the manifestation of the prophesy.

by **Zero** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 3:25 am

Keb wrote:So if Liam told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?

You all would.

Punchy, I was really worried that you'd read the JSA issues about Hector and Lyta returning, because while they do feature Dream it's actually Daniel (and Brute & Glob) appearing in those issues and that would be a pretty hefty spoiler.

In addition to Lucifer, Endless Nights and the Death minis, I'd recommend tracking down The Furies, an OGN about Lyta trying to get over Daniel's death by travelling to Greece. Lovely Jon Bolton art in that. I also liked a few of the Sandman Presents minis, including Ed Brubaker's Dead Boy Detectives (Charles and Edwin from Season of Mists) and a really depressing Bast one which I believe was the last to come out.

A few bits of the Dreaming are worth a read too, there's an arc with Matthew coming back to life as a man for a while, as well as some Thessaly and Corinthian stories I really enjoyed.

Have you read Alan Moore's Swamp Thing yet? You can see how heavily Sandman was influenced by it (especially the events of Doll's House which shares a couple of characters)

MikeinLA wrote:Its been almost twenty years since I read the story, but I thought it was Thessaly that was the one who was behind Daniel's abduction, and that she manipulated the events that would lead to Dream's death out of spite. Morpheus made it all possible by killing his own son, which was taboo, but it was Thessaly who was the manifestation of the prophesy.

I think Thessaly ended up regretting loosing Lyta on Dream, and likely didn't realise that Morpheus didn't plan on surviving it all. She's spent her whole life keeping her head down and staying alive and is likely too smart to make a deal with Loki and Puck.

by **nietoperz** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 3:32 am

MikeinLA wrote:Its been almost twenty years since I read the story, but I thought it was Thessaly that was the one who was behind Daniel's abduction, and that she manipulated the events that would lead to Dream's death out of spite. Morpheus made it all possible by killing his own son, which was taboo, but it was Thessaly who was the manifestation of the prophesy.

No. Thessaly helped Lyta for other reasons, mostly to do with sisterhood and female power.

by **nietoperz** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 3:34 am

Anyway, as I told Punchy elsewhere, my Masters thesis is about Sandman, and specifically Dream's seeming inability to adapt and the idea that he commits suicide in order to allow himself to change with the times.

by **Keb** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 7:37 am

Zero wrote:
You all would.

I'll slap the shit out you so bad your moms will call and be all like "You okay? I just got a sharp pain on the side of my face."

I think Thessaly is a survivor (like a Destiny's Child song) so she really just keeps Lyta for a bit to write off the bad debt for puking down the moon but I don't think she bargains with Loki and Puck.

by **Lord Simian** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 7:37 am

You thought The Tempest felt tacked on? I thought it was possibly my favorite single issue story in the series.

And you absolutely MUST read Lucifer. I think I might like it almost as much as Sandman!

by **Keb** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 7:45 am

Lord Simian wrote:You thought The Tempest felt tacked on? I thought it was possibly my favorite single issue story in the series.

And you absolutely MUST read Lucifer. I think I might like it almost as much as Sandman!

It's a good issue. It does feel weird being the final one but it makes sense.

by **Punchy** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 7:56 am

Lord Simian wrote:You thought The Tempest felt tacked on? I thought it was possibly my favorite single issue story in the series.

And you absolutely MUST read Lucifer. I think I might like it almost as much as Sandman!

Maybe it's just because The Tempest is one of the Shakespeare plays I know the least about.

I did like it, but I think that it should have come before 'The Wake' and not have been the last ever issue.

Charles Vess' art is amazing though.

by **Punchy** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 8:00 am

Just placed an order for Endless Nights and Dream Hunters.

I would have ordered the Death Deluxe Edition, but I think the one on Amazon is the German version. I think I'll have to check the comic shops.

by **Zero** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 8:11 am

Punchy wrote:Just placed an order for Endless Nights and Dream Hunters.

I would have ordered the Death Deluxe Edition, but I think the one on Amazon is the German version. I think I'll have to check the comic shops.

I got mine as part of a certain buy nine get the tenth GN free promotion...

As for The Tempest, it sums up Morpheus' motivations far better than anything else in the comic and calls back to the most celebrated issue of its run, so it feels pretty appropriate to me.