The Sandman: Overture Deluxe Edition

Another fantastic story by the great Neil Gaiman. If you're a fan of the series or his story telling then this will not disappoint. The art alone is justification enough to buy this work. Can't recommend it enough.

A great "time out" w/loads of foreshadowing. Hard to keep track of all the sub-sub-sub levels of story at times, but that's what second and third readings are for. To someone like me, that's not a chore, but a chance to gain even more enjoyment.

The best of the Series, uses narrative framing to layer story within story, the art, the Inn
And the mysterious funeral procession, a higher aesthetic level, better than the previous volumes,
Foreshadows some tragedy coming soon.

I absolutely love everything ever written by Neil Gaiman. However I purchased this in Kindle format, which was a bit of a waste. It is hard to read in this format also you cannot really appreciate the beauty of the artwork. I would strongly advise anyone buying this book to get the hardcover, so they can treasure it. Gaiman is a genius, this is the only work by him that gave me buyers remorse. My criticism is purely for the Kindle format.

I love the Sandman series, and read it back in 2000. This is more of the Sandman story, and I must admit, it isn't my favorite, and has its own flavor. Although it has the threads of the original, it doesn't have exactly the same feel. That being said, that did not make it enjoyable.

You seriously need a review of this book?
People, it's Sandman.
It's by Neil Gaiman.
What more needs to be said?
He's an AWESOME writer.
The artist is SPECTACULAR.
GET THIS BOOK!

You're welcome.

Neil Gaiman's Sandman has been one of my favorite stories for a long time (and Neil Gaiman one of my favorite writers), so I was excited to hear he was going to tell another tale about Dream, the Endless, and the rest of the crew. Sandman Overture is supposed to function as a sort of prequel or origin for Dream (the Sandman of the title). However, its more than that; its another piece in the long story, and not the typical origin.

In the book, Dream is made aware of the fact that an aspect of him has died. He also finds out that the end of everything is near. Overture follows his quest to avert that catastrophe, which was going to occur due to a mistake he made in his past. Along the way, the reader meets up with some old favorite characters, including many of the Dream's siblings, the Endless. We also meet his parents. Woven throughout Overture are threads connecting it to the greater story told in the original Sandman series, leading right up to the event that starts that series. In fact, a reread of the series might be a good idea to see just how the events of Overture link up with the original series.

I don't rightly know how to judge any Sandman story; they are the highest example of what comic books can be. The art, by J.H. Williams, is beautiful and atmospheric. Gaiman tells another wonderful story, which, like the previous Sandman books, seems to be about so much more than what it appears to be. One of the things I enjoy so much about these books is being to think about them after finishing, discovering the depth they contain.

In addition to the story, the deluxe edition of Sandman Overture also contains many nice extra features. There are interviews with the various members of the creative team, highlighting their thoughts and the creative process that went in to the book. These provide a cool glimpse behind the curtain.

Overall, I highly recommend Neil Gaiman's Sandman Overture. The entire series is fantastic, and this latest story is actually a good place for new readers to begin. Reading it is well worth your time.j

I received a preview copy of this book from DC Comics and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Disappointing, a story is sorely lacking, particularly to a newcomer without historical context. Sadly, this is all too common in many of Neil Gaiman's short works post the Sandman.

The context for what little story there is, comes from the history of the Sandman. So without that entire history in mind, events and references to events are flat and bereft of the meaningfulness that always characterized the Sandman stories. There just isn't much new here in terms of a story, although it was fun to reminisce and get some of the backstory for a handful of characters.

The artwork on the other hand is spectacular. This is an absolutely lovely book and I much enjoyed lingering over the pages and admiring the details.

If you are a Sandman admirer (as I am), then the book is certainly worth the $16 it costs on the store. But don't expect to be wowed.

As usual, fabulous graphics, a really good looking book. Handling: Unwieldy, required constant rotation of tablet, and a magnifying glass to read the text on some pages that would not enlarge with a double tap.

This was actually my first Sandman story I have ever read.. I have just briefly heard about him and knew nothing of his universe or supporting characters. That being said, I was AMAZED at this book! The story was a bit hard to follow in the beginning, but it eventually I started piecing the puzzle together and was blown away at how unique this story was! It has a very dreamy, trip, drug-like feel to the whole book! The artwork is simply beautiful and so brilliantly creative! There is apparently a lot of awesome cameos from previous stories. Since this is my first Sandman story, it all went over my head.. I can't wait to go and read the fist volume now! Now I am officially a Sandman fan!

I may be a simple fellow, even a philistine. But when I look at a panel in a graphic novel I like to know what I'm looking at. Much (not all) of this book featured abstract art in a chaos of swirling shapes and bright colors designed to induce migraines and confuse understanding. Rave about the "great artwork" if you must, you artsy fartsy crowd; I detest it.

Coincidentally, the final Sandman collection came out at the same time that I finished up rereading the whole (remastered) series as an adult. It was absolutely serendipitous that I was able to just finish up the books the week that Overture came out – and have a wonderful wife to pick up a copy for me as a gift.

Overture seems to be both a final book, but a first book. It is the cyclical bond that leads from the end of the last and connects it to the beginning, and in that way it does an incredible job in bridging a gap that seems to bring together all of the various incarnations of Dream and attempt to create an origin story that additionally seeks to explain how the end of dream led to a new beginning.

Honestly, my favorite part about this book was easily the artwork. It is difficult to really put into words the beauty that exists within the covers, but J.H.Williams' mixed media work is an incredible interpretation of what I can only imagine were some incredibly complex visuals. The frames literally melt away throughout the text (which were an issue twice when I had trouble realizing that the reading order went straight across the binding, but I figured it out) to blend in with the universes and planes of reality and fable. Each leaky frame explodes and bubbles with color and brilliant visuals, and it tells a story that seems to bridge every aspect of the revelatory self-sacrifice in the face of a meaningless universe. It is simply brilliant, and when the narrative blows up into double page spreads, it sneaks up like a beautiful flower blooming further into magnificence.

The only part I didn't particularly care for was one small sub-plot with a little girl, but I understand its thematic importance and have no idea how it could have been done any better... It just seemed somewhat sentimental and manipulative of the audience when I hit it.

An amazing, beautiful, artistically explosive book that truly does great justice to the series. I was somewhat of a waning fan of Kindly Ones and Dream Hunters, but Overture seems to have buttoned up some dangling elements to the text in a gorgeous and compelling conclusion (er....beginning?) that I am extremely happy with.

Wow.

Wow, wow, wow, wow. This should have been terrible. It’s a prequel to one of the seminal graphic novel series of the modern era, written almost 20 years after the release of the last issue. The last stories Gaiman penned in this world (Endless Nights, in 2003) I found mediocre at best. This should have been a cash-grab with maybe a few redeeming qualities.

But it was brilliant. It was brilliant both in that it was smart and complicated, and that it was hard to look too closely, the light might hurt your eyes.

All of the Endless have wonderful moments here, and Desire particularly gets some intriguing and poignant time to shine. But the story is about Dream, his origins, the depth and breadth of his power at its height, and the complexity inherent in being the lord of ALL dreaming.

The art is gorgeous and perfectly matched to the tone here. Williams’ style is always detailed and lush, but I haven’t always enjoyed his work, because I don’t always think it’s suited to, say, Batman. But it’s perfect here.

If there’s any nitpick I have about this volume, it’s that I want to loop immediately back to the beginning of Sandman and re-read it with this story in mind. However, I cringe thinking about the clash in style and technique between how great this book is, and how rough around the edges and not-quite-found-its-tone-yet Preludes and Nocturnes is. (In my opinion, that book is hard to make it through unless enough people have convinced you: no, really, it gets much better and is never this gross again.)

The extra material in the deluxe collected volume is generous (50 pages!) and varied: not just a cover gallery, but interviews with the whole creative team, notes from Gaiman to the publisher, Williams’ sketches of the Endless from before this project even started, and more. There’s even an interesting piece about how the unique lettering was created for the whole Sandman series.

No question in my mind: if you loved Sandman, you’ll love this.

Ir would take too long to go over everything that makes this stand out as a comic. But, for a start, there's
-- Scripting: Somehow, Gaiman takes a story of inter-galactic span, anticipating the death of the universe itself, and brings it down to a human level. (Well, mortal level, or mostly mortal.) In fact the question of what it means to be human (or whatever) has many different answers.
-- Characters: Beautifully done, as always, especially the Beings that represent the grand abstractions - many of whom we'll meet again, in the volumes that follow this prequel.
-- Artwork: Extra wow. Any other work with so many different visual styles, all done like the artist's signature manner, would have had to be a collaboration of a dozen people. This? Nope - just JHWIII and the colorist.
-- Lettering: If you think that lettering is just, well, letters, you probably have good reason for that benighted view. This lettering advances the characters, pulls action along, and merges with the rest of the visual style so you can't imagine it gone. Oh, and it narrates the story, too, but you might forget that from time to time.
-- Production: If the physical medium isn't up to the demand, then don't bother. This feature dense, vivid color (when color is in order) on heavy, opaque paper. Printing has come a long way since I was a kid. Back then even the grandest art books had printing that looked primitive by comparison. This visual team knows the medium cold, and know how to make it give everything it has in supporting the art.

Ex post facto addenda to beloved works sometimes don't share the love. This is well worthy to stand by the other Sandman volumes as an equal partner.

-- wiredweird

Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series is one of the most spellbinding graphic-novel stories ever written -- a saga that spans time and space, myth and fantasy, dream and reality. At the center of it all is Morpheus, the darkly ethereal Lord of Dream.

And a new chapter is added to the saga in "The Sandman: Overture," a prequel to the main Sandman saga, which takes place juuuuuuusssst before Morpheus was sealed in a snowglobe for the better part of a century. However, that part of the story isn't the important part, especially since it only takes up a few pages. Rather, Gaiman creates a spellbinding epic that involves all of the known universe, and forces Morpheus to grapple with his past and his future.

On a faraway world, an aspect of Dream dies. This strange event troubles the Endless, and is enough to draw Morpheus away from his usual duties (such as preparing to unmake the Corinthian). He must consult with his many different aspects in a truly spellbinding scene -- we see Dreams intended for animals, giants, bizarre aliens, plants, a sphinx, clowns, robots, and even eldritch abominations. All are the same person, and yet they are different.

He learns that a star has gone mad, and its madness is spreading to other stars, corroding the universe. After some prompting, he decides to travel to the City of Stars and sort things out. He's also accompanied by the Dream of Cats (think the Death of Rats, but for "Sandman") and a little girl he found on the way, Hope Beautiful Lost Nebula. But when the maddened stars turn against him and his companions, Morpheus is thrown into an eternal darkness that even the Lord of Dream cannot escape without help. If he is to escape -- and to somehow prevent "The End of Everything" -- he must deal with the terrible mistakes of his own past.

Despite being a prequel to the Sandman series, "Sandman Overture" is mostly a story unto itself -- it has a few instances of continuity (Desire's schemes, the Corinthian's naughtiness), but overall it's mostly a self-contained tale. And of course, the final pages tie it into the beginning of the original series, since this is an immediate prequel. But for the most part, this story can -- and does -- stand on its own.

And it is a truly epic story, showing the full expanse of Dream's influence and his many "selves" who are all Dream, yet separate -- including future selves. This is something that concerns the whole universe: vast worlds are consumed, and the very fabric of reality unravels. And yet Gaiman still finds the time to further expand the world of the Endless, exploring more about where they came from and the consequences of their momentous decisions. His writing is typically poetic and luminous here ("In the reunion of Time and Night, the mad stars will become sane...").

Furthermore, the art is almost painfully exquisite and complex, with characters of luminous beauty (the elegantly Victorian Death, Alianora, present and future Dream), surreal surroundings (a building laid out like a head, with brain-attic, nerves and arteries running through the walls and a gaping mouth for a door) and hauntingly lovely ways of framing the narrative (some pages use the facets of Dream's ruby as panels; another uses the teeth in the Corinthians' eyes).

Even more strikingly, not all the artwork isn the same type -- delicate watercolor-like art stands in stark contrast to the strong-lined, psychedelic realm of blue trees and shifting realities. Doors open to upside-down castles, misty magics flow from Dream's fingertips, and ships float from the pages of Destiny's book. This is, no exaggeration, one of the loveliest graphic novels ever illustrated, and the artwork complements the plot to absolute perfection.

Morpheus is... well, Morpheus. Gaiman's antiheroic Dream is a creature of many contradictions -- his callous indifference is a scarred response from having cared too much in the past, and he is both arrogantly confident and haunted by his own mistakes. In short, he is an eternal and "endless" creature that is truly alien in mind and power, but he is not inhuman.

"The Sandman: Overture" is mostly prequel, part sequel, and all hauntingly lovely quest across all of time and space. A fitting new chapter in the glorious Sandman saga, graced with some of the loveliest graphic art I have ever seen.

Who is Sandman? What is Sandman? Does he exist only in dreams? Is he a Dream Lord? Is he a dream? Is Dream of the Endless only one of his many aspects? Is he a cat? Is he Morpheus? Neil Gaiman explores (without necessarily answering) those questions in The Sandman: Overture, a prequel to his original mind-bending series.

Sandman was once Dream, who was there at time’s beginning. Now Dream, who is still an aspect of Sandman, believes it is time for the universe to end. It was what the Law of Conservation of Reality demands. It is what the mad star wants.

An aspect of Sandman has been killed and he (or all of his remaining aspects collectively) want to know why. The answer requires a visit to the mad star and -- well, things don’t look so good for the universe.

On his journey to the stars, Sandman learns things from which we can all benefit. Like, don’t look under the bed. And, bad things happen when minds wander, particularly the minds of stars, or God.

Sandman also visits his father and mother and siblings. This is definitely a dysfunctional family. It’s easy to see why Sandman prefers the world of dreams. But then, who doesn’t?

Gaiman again delivers an intriguing and complex story. Fortunately, there is a sort of epilog to explain some of what happened. The volume should thrill old Sandman fans and make new fans of readers who are new to Gaiman’s legendary character. Gaiman’s prose is as sharp and lush as ever.

The art is gorgeously psychedelic. If the story is mind-bending, the art is its equal.

I love The Sandman comics, and was super excited a few years back when I found out that there would be a whole new story set before the main series. I enthusiastically purchased each issue as it came out, but my excitement wained as delay after delay pushed the entire 6 issue release out over the course of two years. I thought it was an interesting story, but it didn't resonate and strike the same chord with me that both the original series and The Sandman: Endless Nights graphic novel did. The issues mixed in with the other comics I bought over the same timeframe, and the whole thing just slipped from my mind.

Recently I bought the collected version so that it could sit nicely next to the other Sandman graphic novels on my bookshelf. (It visually irked me that I had graphic novel versions of the rest of the series, but not of Overture.) The book arrived about 2 weeks ago, and I thought, "I should give it another go at some point." I slipped it onto the shelf, and went on my merry way.

Today, however, I decided to re-read it from start to finish in one sitting, and ho-ly crap. The prose. The nuanced layers. The characters. The sheer artistry involved in the undertaking is amazing. And then to add in the absolutely mind blowing and mind bending visuals supplied by J.H. Williams III...The Sandman: Overture is a truly breathtaking and singular achievement. How the hell did I miss that the first time around?

I have a theory. With the complex nature of the story, the delays between reading the individual issues must have dulled my enjoyment in the initial reading. I was annoyed at having to wait (because I'm an ungrateful fan), and, as I neglected to re-read prior issues, I had forgotten some of the intricacies that make the whole thing work. However, experiencing it all as one flowing, labyrinthine tale contained in graphic novel format is definitely the way to attack this story. Reading it from cover to cover and watching Gaiman and Williams deftly weave together universes and timelines into the surreal, dreamlike experience of Morpheus' ill fated journey was an unmitigated joy. This book is truly representative of two masters at the top of their respective crafts working harmoniously together to create a masterpiece. It is epic and personal. It is sprawling yet contained. It is music and color swirling in beautiful cacophony. It is the stuff that dreams are made of.

Full disclosure, even though this graphic novel is a prequel, reading it will have the most impact if you have read the entire Sandman series first due to the inclusion of characters and events that may seem out of place otherwise. For a long-time fan, seeing those inclusions deftly woven into the tapestry of the tale made me happy, and the fact that it turns the prequel into a quasi-sequel is amazing.

After finishing The Sandman: Overture, I am definitely excited re-read the whole series (for like the 10th time) starting with Preludes and Nocturnes. Time is a circle, and the nature of stories is that they are cyclical and cursed (blessed?) to repeat again and again. This is something that Gaiman makes perfectly clear, and I am excited to once again reunite with Morpheus - to go back to the beginning and the end in a circle that forever repeats like a snake eating its own tail.

Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series is one of the most spellbinding graphic-novel stories ever written -- a saga that spans time and space, myth and fantasy, dream and reality. At the center of it all is Morpheus, the darkly ethereal Lord of Dream.

And a new chapter is added to the saga in "The Sandman: Overture," a prequel to the main Sandman saga, which takes place juuuuuuusssst before Morpheus was sealed in a snowglobe for the better part of a century. However, that part of the story isn't the important part, especially since it only takes up a few pages. Rather, Gaiman creates a spellbinding epic that involves all of the known universe, and forces Morpheus to grapple with his past and his future.

On a faraway world, an aspect of Dream dies. This strange event troubles the Endless, and is enough to draw Morpheus away from his usual duties (such as preparing to unmake the Corinthian). He must consult with his many different aspects in a truly spellbinding scene -- we see Dreams intended for animals, giants, bizarre aliens, plants, a sphinx, clowns, robots, and even eldritch abominations. All are the same person, and yet they are different.

He learns that a star has gone mad, and its madness is spreading to other stars, corroding the universe. After some prompting, he decides to travel to the City of Stars and sort things out. He's also accompanied by the Dream of Cats (think the Death of Rats, but for "Sandman") and a little girl he found on the way, Hope Beautiful Lost Nebula. But when the maddened stars turn against him and his companions, Morpheus is thrown into an eternal darkness that even the Lord of Dream cannot escape without help. If he is to escape -- and to somehow prevent "The End of Everything" -- he must deal with the terrible mistakes of his own past.

Despite being a prequel to the Sandman series, "Sandman Overture" is mostly a story unto itself -- it has a few instances of continuity (Desire's schemes, the Corinthian's naughtiness), but overall it's mostly a self-contained tale. And of course, the final pages tie it into the beginning of the original series, since this is an immediate prequel. But for the most part, this story can -- and does -- stand on its own.

And it is a truly epic story, showing the full expanse of Dream's influence and his many "selves" who are all Dream, yet separate -- including future selves. This is something that concerns the whole universe: vast worlds are consumed, and the very fabric of reality unravels. And yet Gaiman still finds the time to further expand the world of the Endless, exploring more about where they came from and the consequences of their momentous decisions. His writing is typically poetic and luminous here ("In the reunion of Time and Night, the mad stars will become sane...").

Furthermore, the art is almost painfully exquisite and complex, with characters of luminous beauty (the elegantly Victorian Death, Alianora, present and future Dream), surreal surroundings (a building laid out like a head, with brain-attic, nerves and arteries running through the walls and a gaping mouth for a door) and hauntingly lovely ways of framing the narrative (some pages use the facets of Dream's ruby as panels; another uses the teeth in the Corinthians' eyes).

Even more strikingly, not all the artwork isn the same type -- delicate watercolor-like art stands in stark contrast to the strong-lined, psychedelic realm of blue trees and shifting realities. Doors open to upside-down castles, misty magics flow from Dream's fingertips, and ships float from the pages of Destiny's book. This is, no exaggeration, one of the loveliest graphic novels ever illustrated, and the artwork complements the plot to absolute perfection.

Morpheus is... well, Morpheus. Gaiman's antiheroic Dream is a creature of many contradictions -- his callous indifference is a scarred response from having cared too much in the past, and he is both arrogantly confident and haunted by his own mistakes. In short, he is an eternal and "endless" creature that is truly alien in mind and power, but he is not inhuman.

"The Sandman: Overture" is mostly prequel, part sequel, and all hauntingly lovely quest across all of time and space. A fitting new chapter in the glorious Sandman saga, graced with some of the loveliest graphic art I have ever seen.

It's 1917 and Morpheus, the Sandman, is on a most desperate mission. A sentient star has gone insane and is threatening the very existence of the universe. Normally, to a member of the eternal Endless, a problem such as the end of a plane of existence is no big loss. But the cause of this crisis is purely Dream's fault and he must act quickly to correct the situation. Morpheus' mission will be perilous and take him to the very edge of Night and the through countless annuals of Time. But the Sandman will not be going at it alone, as he is joined by the feline concept of Dreams and a young girl named Hope.

The Sandman: Overture is both a sequel to the multi-award winning Vertigo series The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. But it's also a prequel to the direct events that occur just prior to the very first page of Sandman #1, January 1989. It's for this very reason that I think Neil Gaiman is the Lewis Carrol of the Modern Age.

Gaiman's works put your average concept of reality and spin it on its ear. Up is down, yet in reverse down might not always be up. Though it's all based to quote Obi-Wan Kenobi 'on a certain point of view,' every twist and turn in a Gaiman story have a rhyme behind its reasonings. Thankfully, Gaiman doesn't seem to be as obsessed mathematics like Carrol is. But then again, maybe he is and I just don't know it!

I love Gaiman! I may not understand every little concept he's trying to put into place with his works, but I never find myself at the end going 'what in the hell did I just read?' He's also one of the very few writers that I don't mind taking a break from to research the themes and symbolism of his works nor does it frustrate or bore me to read his stuff over and over. It's like re-watching an episode of the Simpsons, as you always find something new, even if you've seen it a hundred times prior. Thus, I'm going to violate my own personal reading rule and I'm going to give Gaiman's original The Sandman another read.

Obviously, this graphic novel is the perfect starting point. Featuring covers by Dave McKean, coloring by Dave Stewart, and lettering by Todd Klein, along with series creator and writer Gaiman, Overture isn't a reboot but a revival. The only difference is the inclusion of new (to the Sandman) artist JH Williams III (Batwoman) but to be honest, I couldn't tell. I felt like Williams had been the only Sandman artist with how seamless and timeless he made the art in the miniseries. OH, and be sure to read all of the 'direct's cut' material in the back of this edition. Every article is worth the read!

A true masterpiece that can only be improved through multiple readings.

The artwork in this graphic novel is truly wonderful however I found myself somewhat emotionally distant from the storyline. Gaiman's main characters are a blend of archetypal god and all too human typical English types. Their archetypal aspect makes it hard for you to connect with them as characters while their more human aspects are treated somewhat superficially. The story is basically about how the main character Dream (the Sandman) seeks to rectify a prior mistake of allowing a sentient star to continue to exist and therefore inadvertently bringing about the destruction of the universe. Perhaps Dream and his family of Desire, Destiny, Delirium and Destruction are just too abstract and powerful for me to feel like a care what happens to them. This is a shame and despite the seeming pretentions of this graphic novel, there is no tangible deep philosophical theme to it. Is the book aiming to show us that the world of dreams ultimately cannot be differentiated from this world we call reality? The story feels like an old style fairy tale for children - "Alice Through The Looking Glass" - accept the main character is not the bewildered Alice but a man (Dream) who is essentially part of that which creates the bewilderment.

Twenty-five years ago the world was introduced to one of the most important comic series ever created and it launched Neil Gaiman’s career. Gaiman put the series to bed some years ago, but now on the quarter-century anniversary he returns to tell a tale he’s had in his imagination since he began the series, as he says in his introduction. It is a story he has wanted to tell for a long time and now readers finally get the chance to enjoy it.

Fans who’ve read Sandman know of the Endless: Delirium, Desire, Despair, Destiny, Death . . . Dream. They know the events – eventual catastrophic ones – of the comic book series. But in The Sandman: Overture, readers get a prequel of sorts. At the beginning of the first Sandman volume, Preludes & Nocturnes, Morpheus is exhausted and has apparently been through a great ordeal and this is that story.

Dream travels to a place and time where he encounters the many manifestations of the sandman across the entire universe. Here a meeting will be conducted and decisions will be made. And then Dream will go on a journey with some unusual companions and meet some family members he didn’t expect to see anytime soon. Again, decisions and choices will need to be made that will affect the entire universe.

One might be hesitant about what to expect when a writer returns to the opus that made him so well known after a quarter century. Will it be a captivating original story or a quick thrown-together thing to milk an already successful series? Fortunately it is the former, and Gaiman shows he had a least one more important story to tell in the Sandman universe that has earned itself a spot next to the other volumes of this popular series.

Originally written on January 13, 2016 ©Alex C. Telander.

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Sandman: Overture 1:
Lovely, lovely pictures.
The Lady of Night is big and sparkly and beautiful. Also, not inclined to help Morpheus out.

Lord Time is miffed at him, too - ooh, we get to see a cameo of Daniel (the new Dream) fixing that up. Lord Time changes age every panel he's in, did the artist take some dice and decide how many years to age Time up or down?

There are many many aspects of Dream, and they have a meeting. One Dream is a cat, and he *yawn* may as well go along with Morpheus on this Quest. He's just that bored.

You would think that not-killing someone is the right thing to do, but it sure does make problems. Several chapters worth of problems.

Desire -still- hates Morpheus, but in this book something happens between them. amazing.

Death, Despair, and Delirium have cameos in the book. Delirium is not nearly as stupid as people think she is.

Destiny does not save the day. It is destined to be saved, he merely takes the correct steps.

Sandman, Vol. 8 - why does the store put 2 books under one link?

It's a trip to the Inn at the End of the World. People from all times and places are stranded, and to pass the time lets tell some stories.

Some stories are fun, some boring.
One odd thing - while there are several women in the storyline, some exist just to be hit over the head & pass out, some exist just to die, and none talk to each other. Some are innkeepers/bartenders, serving drinks to the men (and women) (and centaurs and fairies). An almost conversation: the woman from the car asks her male friend a question, and the female innkeeper speaks the answer to the man. So, almost a woman-to-woman conversation!

But the stories are fun and the artwork is beautiful.

Good news. I understood almost all of this, and that has made all of the difference.

POSSIBLE MILD SPOILERS. This book is a collection of all six of the original "Overture" comics. The Overture story has been described as a prequel, of sorts, to the larger and longer Sandman saga, (which appeared over twenty-five years ago and marked Gaiman's big time appearance on the literary stage). While "Sandman" deals with Morpheus, (the Dream King), and all of his siblings, (Desire, Destiny, Death and so on), this prequel features Morpheus almost exclusively, although there are cameos by most of the siblings and other Sandman characters, and a part of the book is given over to Morpheus trying to navigate the rift between his father, (Time), and mother, (Night). This Morpheus story is a stand alone tale, but it explains and enriches many aspects of the later/earlier Sandman saga.

Here's the really good part. I have read a lot of Sandman, not necessarily all of the books and not necessarily in order, and while I've been able to follow some of the story lines I've also completely lost the thread in some places. I still think the series is more fun than just about anything else, even though I know I'm sometimes only getting a fraction of it. BUT, Overture is completely accessible, even if, (or maybe especially if), you don't know the Sandman world. The start is a bit bumpy, of course, but the main arc becomes clear early on, and the subplots flow naturally from that main line. I've read a lot of graphic novels that turn heavily on pretentious and incomprehensible goobledegook, and perhaps the most admirable thing you can say about Gaiman is that he never hides behind such empty baloney. He tells stories first, and goes poetic/vague only when appropriate.

As a special plus, in addition to the strong narrative and the compelling supporting art, this tale has some fine little bits, scenes and throwaways, that give it both depth and a suprising sense of humor. (For example, Dream-Cat has a very appealing dry sense of humor that, from time to time, nicely deflates Dream's pomposity. It's very engaging to see that Gaiman is willing in this work to kid himself and take a joke, and of course that makes the whole effort more appealing.)

Apart from just the general reward of getting what's happening, being able to comprehend the outlines of the story frees the reader up to really appreciate and admire the art work. It just helps a lot when you know what the artist is trying to present, especially when the story and the art work fit together so well and so thoroughly complement and elevate each other. There are some set scenes and some panel series that are just jaw dropping, and there are many arresting shifts in style, coloring and draftsmanship that reflect the shifts in style, color and plot in the narrative itself. (One example: much turns on the star that has gone insane, and the artist does a brilliant job of presenting, in an abstract fashion, exactly what that looks like.) For those interested in such things there is a treasure trove of short articles, Q-and-A's and the like from the author and from Williams, Stewart (colors) and Klein (lettering), that set out in detail and in their very engaging own voices how many of the illustrating and coloring decisions were made.

So, I wanted very much to read this because it's Gaiman, it's Sandman/Morpheus, and it's gorgeous. I did not at all expect to admire and to enjoy it as much as I did; while I may be pretty much a Sandman novice, I put this toward the top of the to-read Sandman list.)

Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.

When I first heard that Gaiman was going to do a prequel (of sorts) my first thought is that it would probably just be a typical income generating half-assed short story type thing or at the very best a collection of random tales from the life of everyone's favourite endless: Dream.

Holy crap was I wrong.

Before I get into any of the tale first I have to say the artwork for Sandman Overture is phenomenal. Sandman looks cool, Destiny looks even cooler and everything else is as bonkers and crazy as it should be.

The plot was pretty good too, just by the way. I don't quite know how Gaiman does it, something about the Sandman universe is just so believable, despite being more twisty and bizarre than Dr Who including solutions that actually make no logical sense and really being little more than flash ways of saying 'timey wimey stuff.' It's something about the way Gaiman throws his world at you. Where others might overindulge in their world-building, Gaiman keeps it tight and relevant to the story, even though one might feel like you're being pulling randomly thorough the multiverse. My only real problem is I find myself yelling 'MORE' at the book and becoming desperate to know answers to questions like, why don't time and darkness get on anymore, what happened to Delirium and Destruction (OK I know those are suggested at in the original series but my memory fails me [or did they even explain that or again just hint])

Anyways Overture is amazing and while I suspect hard-core fans might find the tale a little more tokenistic than the original more 'original' series I was sucked into this comic and loved the whole ride.

This is the only book in the Sandman series that actually follows one line of events from beginning to end. Sure, inbetween there are a lot of stories told, but that's PART of the plot. It was interesting, although I wasn't sure how it was linked to anything that was happening in the Dreamworld or with the Dream Lord or the series in general.

There were some good stories told, and other stories...well...they just made me shrug. We are almost at the end of the line here, so it makes me wonder why Gaiman chose to stray from the main storyline and write about a random group of people who are all stranded at the inn at the end of the world, who sit around telling each other stories.

I'm sure things will become more clear in the next couple of installments. For now, I'm enjoying the book for what it is.

The book begins with death of a version of Dream in some other universe. But this event marks the beginning of something greater and other members of the Endless including Death and Destiny realize something significant is going to happen. And in time Dream is pulled away from his own duties and is summoned to a gathering of different incarnations of Dream. And this incident that has summoned all the different versions of Dream from across the multiverse that may mean the end of all of existence itself.

First off, it was almost creepy to get the feeling of reading the very first Sandman again as I went through the first issue of this series. sure the art is different and the story involved new characters and all that fun stuff. But once we had Dream walking through the pages, it felt like exactly the same Dream we encountered in the first issue. And I mean this as a total compliment - it was a new story with an old friend that was giving me all of the feels at the same time.

And the decision to go with J.H. Williams III as the primary artist was another great decision. I had already loved his work on Batwoman and it was an experience in itself to see what he'd do with a world like that of The Sandman. The way that he handles panels in such a creative manner lent itself really well to Gaiman's narrative with key moments when his creative panel approach also became part of the narrative itself.

The story as a whole feels like something so much greater than itself. We get to meet the Father and Mother figures that yielded The Endless. We got to travel to fascinating new worlds and meet different characters. And of course we still got to see a lot of familiar characters from the original Sandman run. There was something for everyone.

Thankfully, this is still a story that can stand on its own. While it is still a prequel (and in some ways a sequel) to the original Sandman, it's not absolutely essential that you read the original comics or any of the many, many spin-offs. The experience is a lot better of course if you have done some prior reading and if you have a better feel for some of the characters. But Gaiman knew what he was doing when he put this together. It truly does feel like a celebration of all that had come before.

I'm sorry, I'm overly gushing in this review and I'm probably not being all that clear from an objective perspective as to why this is a good book to pick up. Then again, maybe this highly emotional response to the book should in itself act as a testament to how good the book is? Or something along those lines?

The Sandman: Overture is a wonderful reading experience and one that reminds us why the original series was so life-changing for so many people. Plus it's a visually beautiful book that is a unique artistic experience as well.

[NOTE: I received a copy of this book through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.]

Seldom have I regretted having only a PDF copy instead of a paper one—I can usually shake off the regret and unease easily enough. My bank account will NOT love me in weeks to come, all the more since I am now also sorely tempted to get the Sandman omnibus.

I discovered the Sandman comics when I was 18 or so. I used to get French translations from a second-hand books store whenever I had the money (same with the Death comics), and even though I never owned many of them, and ended up selling them later because I 1) had to move, 2) wanted to get them in English instead, I also never stopped wanting to go back time and again to this world.

“Overture” doesn’t disappoint. Gathering the six issues of the eponymous story, it’s a festival of different styles, whether in drawing, colouring, layout or lettering, working all together to create that peculiar yet delightful atmosphere of being in a dream, thrown into ever-changing landscapes where reason always comes with madness, or is it the other way round? Paradoxical staircases. Panels rotating until they come full-circle. Characters in full colour on one page, then switch to pastels or whites on the next, to accomodate a change in the narrative… or—again—is it the other way round?

And however, if you pay closer attention, you realise that it all makes so much sense, and isn’t merely a blend of nonsensical scenes “meant to look like a dream”. Colours, images and forms echo each other, reminding you of something from the previous chapter, or foreshadowing a chapter yet to come. It is truly fascinating. Also, my neck hurts now, because not being able to turn a book around in my hands, I turned my head downwards to look at my screen. I kid you not.

Noteworthy as well is how the book echoes other Sandman stories, in another of those going-full-circle structures I mentioned aboves. Chronologically-speaking, “Overture” comes before “Preludes & Nocturnes”, and can be read independently; but knowing what happened in the Sandman-verse in general, even roughly, will definitely help enjoy this comics even more, as the latter references quite a few characters, events and scenes (I’m positive I missed more than one, too). Remember the crazy ole lady. Remember the Dream of a Thousand Cats. Remember that final word of ‘Hope’. Ever wondered how Dream came to be so weak that he could be imprisoned, in the very first comics? Right. And so many others.

I need this book in physical form. Plain and simple.

As a side note: it also contains a few add-ons in the shape of interviews and Q & As about drawing and lettering, among other things. Those are worth reading just as well, as they cast light on the artists’ choices.

THE ART in this volume is STUNNING. Seriously, at times I found myself sitting and staring at the pages, just admiring it all.

I agree with Neil's foreword that this story was better served as a conclusion rather than an introduction. I feel like had I started my journey with Sandman here, I would've been very confused. I probably would have stuck with it because the story and art are incredible and I would've been curious, but it also would have taken more effort to get through. The story loops and whorls around and in on itself in the best way; if I didn't already have a foundation and understand of the series and Dream as a character, I would've been a bit lost.

This is an amazing volume and a wonderful series. I would highly recommend it!

Sandman Overture is the prequel to Sandman, and takes place just before Preludes & Nocturnes. The story involves a potentially universe ending event which draws all aspects of Morpheus to go on a quest to save the universe. Along the way, we meet just a few members of the Endless, but also reveals the origins of the Endless.

The plot is somewhat straightforward, with the side-trips and occasional encounters thrown in for fans of the main Sandman narrative, but you can tell the distractions for what they are: distractions from the major plot.

What I don't like about the book is that the earlier work had established Morpheus as being much less human in the past than the events in the main narrative, and this book tries to walk that back, and not altogether too convincingly for me. While the story is OK, I wouldn't consider this a "must-read" the way the rest of the Sandman series is. I'm glad I checked it out of the library instead of paying for it.

Very much like Canturbury Tales, Sandman Volume 8 is a collection that uses a frame story of a car accident to being the main characters of the story to World's End to listen to a variety of differing stories.

It is one of the more disparate and non-linear books in the series, but it is incredibly beautiful. The small stories contained within all seem to point to our fallibility and ignorance to the mysteries of the universe – or namely, the role that Sandman (dreams) and Death have in immortality, and how the opportunity to live and learn is as dynamic as the Protean sea. It is beautifully illustrated, and the various ways in which the artists worked together in this issue was staggeringly beautiful.

It is clear that this book is the one that is leading into the finale. Death, and the interminable existence of our lives today and our lives as time continues are interesting quantum sort of themes that this particular chapter in Sandman appears to explore – that death and dreams are not entirely set in stone and that our energies are perpetual. This is clear in the manner in which the artists and Gaiman play with time, the manner in which the artwork and geography change from frame to frame, and how our lives commingle among the drunk and the sober, the real and the unreal, and the living and the dead. One of the best volumes in the series – and it is strange considering it is a little bit all over the place. On further inspection one may notice that it is not, however. It is all connected.

I am sincerely looking forward into the conclusion, epilogue, and two post-series books that are in my immediate reading pile.

Imagine if the "Canterbury Tales" were told not by ordinary people on a pilgrimage, but magical beings in an otherworldly inn. That is the framing device for Neil Gaiman's eighth collection of Sandman comics, "World's End." Morpheus and the Endless have only small parts to play in this story, but it's enough to link together the assorted short stories -- and through it all, Gaiman conjures a sense of wonder and fear.

On a snowy night, a strange beast causes a car crash. Brant manages to carry his coworker Charlene to a nearby inn known as the World's End. It's probably a good thing that Brant seems slightly concussed, because inside are things he probably doesn't think are real -- gods, centaurs, faeries and other weird things that have also taken shelter.

To pass the time, they tell stories -- stories of slumbering cities; the Cluracan's clash with a vile psychopomp in a dying city; a cabin-boy glimpsing the strange mysteries of the sea; Prez Rickard, the greatest president in history; of the necropolis of Letharge; and of the mysteries that dwell inside and outside the inn...

One of Neil Gaiman's greatest skills is to make you see the terrifying, wondrous possibilities of fantasy -- of many worlds like apples on a tree, vast godlike entities walking through a starry sky, and forces so alien and powerful that it makes the spirit quake. Despite the Chauceresque setup of "World's End," these possibilities swim just under the surface.

So you don't see EVERYTHING in the World's End. It's all mirrors and smoke, shadows and flames -- and when you catch a glimpse, you KNOW that there's more to it. But you'll never be the same again.

But even if you take the stories on their own, they're pretty entertaining tales -- some are set in our world, while others are in weird places like the necropolis. There's a lot of weird macabre humor (the drunken Cluracan manages to be both scary AND funny) interspersed with the stories, and the human characters get intertwined with the World's End themselves by the volume's finale.

Morpheus only pops up a few times (mostly to rescue the main characters and pop back out), so a lot of the emphasis is on the people gathered at the inn. Some are frightening, some are comforting, some are weird, and some... are just drunk. The most disappointing part of this collection is the fact that you know there are more stories there, still not told. (Come on, how about that inkeeper?!)

"The Sandman Volume 8: World's End" is a brief stopover before the Sandman series' grand finale, reminding us of the beautiful, terrible world it inhabits.

When I first started reading it, this collection of short stories seemed to be a somewhat random installment in the Sandman series. The stories were excellent, though. Stranded at the World's End Inn - a tavern for travelers caught in various "reality" storm - each stranded wayfarer shares a story of their choosing. One of the faery folk from past stories is stranded there, and he tells his tale, which allows us to see Dream. Although each tale is separate, they all incorporate characters from previous collections. It's nice to see such continuity in a series.

So, all of these stories occur during a storm that has stranded travelers from various worlds and ages. But, the cause of the storm is never mentioned ... until the end when it's revealed. And my oh my, what a revelation. The two-page spread of a figure walking through the sky was powerful. But when I turned the page, saw the illustration and realized what had caused the storm, I literally had to catch my breath. If you read Volume 8 before Volume 9, it is a foreshadowing. But because I had read Volume 9 before Volume 8, I knew exactly who had died.

This is where it all starts, and where the circle comes to completion, where Neil Gaiman tells us at last how Dream of the Endless came to be imprisoned for so many years by a mortal madman.

It's no stretch to say that Sandman is one of the most finely-crafted comic-book series in the history of the medium. It's a story with a clear beginning and a satisfying end, and a fascinating progression from one to the other, still leaving room to explore further nooks and crannies. "Overture" is one of those unexplored spaces in the story of the Sandman, and it runs deep.

"Overture" takes place before the events of the original series, and Gaiman wastes no time getting into world-spanning epic territory. The dreams of flowers and cats, the insanity of stars, the book of Destiny, a multiplicity of Dream, and a girl named Hope are all quickly brought into the tale. There are stories within stories and new characters to meet, both mortal and eternal. All familiar territory to those who have read Sandman before, and Gaiman has lost none of his flair for the fantastic worlds of the Endless. Those who know these stories will find that "Overture" fits in delightfully well.

The art of "Overture" is, in a word, beautiful. JH Williams III does more than illustrate the words Gaiman writes - he embellishes them, illuminates them, like the bookmakers of old used to do. Williams crafts our experience of the story through intricate panel designs, warping the medium to suit the story's needs, and lavish illustrations filled with rich detail on every page. From intricate, lifelike portraits of the many aspects of Dream, to the sketchlike embodiment of Delirium, Williams does things with the medium that defy its conventions - the perfect approach for a story like this one.

For those new to the world of the Sandman, this is probably not the best place to start. "Overture" is filled with deep references to the events of the whole series, and features many familiar faces (both human and Endless) without much in the way of introduction or preamble. New readers will be presented with a rich world, fully formed and fascinating - and may find themselves lost, not quite understanding what is going on. Even though it takes place after "Overture," readers new to the Sandman would likely be better off beginning where it truly began, with "Preludes and Nocturnes."

An overture in music is an introduction to a piece, but in the case of the Sandman, "Overture" feels like a crescendo. It's a return to a place we've known intimately, but not felt in a long time. It's a friend we've missed, suddenly there again like no time has passed at all.

"Overture" is an ending, and like most endings, it carries within it the seed of the beginning. It all ends, and begins again, here.

We've known for 25 years or so that when Roderick Burgess captures Morpheus at the beginning of <b>The Sandman</b> #1 he was weary and weakened from an errand in a distant galaxy. This is the story of that errand.

The long and the short of it, without spoiling too much, is that it's the beginning of the 20th Century, the Universe is dying, and it's Dream's fault. Duty-ridden fellow that he is, he sets out to set it right, though it is, in fact, not possible.

The story takes many turns, right and left and up and down and other directions entirely, remaining coherent and cohesive and as beautifully written as anything Gaiman has done.

Williams's art and Stewart's coloring are, I think, the best that has ever been brought to bear on the Dreamlord, varying stylistically with the needs of the plot and generally adding to rather than simply illustrating Gaiman's words.

If this isn't up for the Graphic Novel Hugo at MidAmeriCon 2, then TANJ.

Imagine if the "Canterbury Tales" were told not by ordinary people on a pilgrimage, but magical beings in an otherworldly inn. That is the framing device for Neil Gaiman's eighth collection of Sandman comics, "World's End." Morpheus and the Endless have only small parts to play in this story, but it's enough to link together the assorted short stories -- and through it all, Gaiman conjures a sense of wonder and fear.

On a snowy night, a strange beast causes a car crash. Brant manages to carry his coworker Charlene to a nearby inn known as the World's End. It's probably a good thing that Brant seems slightly concussed, because inside are things he probably doesn't think are real -- gods, centaurs, faeries and other weird things that have also taken shelter.

To pass the time, they tell stories -- stories of slumbering cities; the Cluracan's clash with a vile psychopomp in a dying city; a cabin-boy glimpsing the strange mysteries of the sea; Prez Rickard, the greatest president in history; of the necropolis of Letharge; and of the mysteries that dwell inside and outside the inn...

One of Neil Gaiman's greatest skills is to make you see the terrifying, wondrous possibilities of fantasy -- of many worlds like apples on a tree, vast godlike entities walking through a starry sky, and forces so alien and powerful that it makes the spirit quake. Despite the Chauceresque setup of "World's End," these possibilities swim just under the surface.

So you don't see EVERYTHING in the World's End. It's all mirrors and smoke, shadows and flames -- and when you catch a glimpse, you KNOW that there's more to it. But you'll never be the same again.

But even if you take the stories on their own, they're pretty entertaining tales -- some are set in our world, while others are in weird places like the necropolis. There's a lot of weird macabre humor (the drunken Cluracan manages to be both scary AND funny) interspersed with the stories, and the human characters get intertwined with the World's End themselves by the volume's finale.

Morpheus only pops up a few times (mostly to rescue the main characters and pop back out), so a lot of the emphasis is on the people gathered at the inn. Some are frightening, some are comforting, some are weird, and some... are just drunk. The most disappointing part of this collection is the fact that you know there are more stories there, still not told. (Come on, how about that inkeeper?!)

"The Sandman Volume 8: World's End" is a brief stopover before the Sandman series' grand finale, reminding us of the beautiful, terrible world it inhabits.

Two travellers are driving across the United States, headed for Chicago. An unseasonable storm strands them at an inn, known as Worlds' End. Within waits a collection of fellow travellers from many worlds, all waiting for the storm to end. To pass the time they tell stories, stories from many worlds and many times.

Worlds' End is the eighth Sandman collection. It's a collection of self-contained short stories, but the stories feature recurring motifs. They are being told against the backdrop of a 'reality storm' that has been triggered by a cataclysmic event somewhere else in the multiverse (and, although a strong clue is given, we will not find out the nature of that event until the end of the following volume). It's Neil Gaiman's last chance to really exercise his imagination at short lengths before the beginning of the subsequent story arc, Sandman's largest and most epic, The Kindly Ones.

Worlds' End features a succession of stories, told by and featuring characters both new and familiar from the Sandman mythos. 'A Tale of Two Cities' is told in a minimalist art style, mostly through prose accompaniment, and features a traveller who loves his city so much that he becomes trapped in its dreams. It's weird and offbeat, and will probably appeal a lot to fans of China Mieville.

'Cluracan's Tale' features the return of the elf Cluracan, whose story is a bonkers collection of trickery, deception and a swordfight that may or may not have happened. It's lightweight (and Gaiman's not a huge fan of it, feeling it was too big for his page count and was consequently diminished in its impact) but fun. 'Hob's Leviathan' features a traditional narrative device, of a youngster running away to sea, and the return of one of the more popular Sandman characters, Hob Gadling, who was gifted with immortality by Dream and who meets him once a century to catch up. In this story, Hob is a passenger on a ship where the journey takes a turn for the very strange. It's a smart and tight story, with a couple of twists that are perhaps predictable but pulled off so well it doesn't really matter.

In 'The Golden Boy' Gaiman resurrects the fairly obscure DC character Prez Rickard, the first teenage President of the United States of America (running on an independent ticket). Set in an alternate United States, Prez becomes the embodiment of the hopes that Americans apparently place in their leaders: a virtuous man who helps the poor and needy without impoverishing the country, and manages to lower its debts. He resists corruption and survives tragedy (an attempted assassination that takes the life of his fiancee). A story about such a paragon sounds boring, but Gaiman infuses it with wit and some amusing lines and cultural references, not mention several nods to his friend Alan Moore's Watchmen. He also solves a minor puzzle about Dream that had been left dangling for almost five years by that point.

The next story, 'Cerements', is the most complex. Given there are nods in it to the work of Gene Wolfe - the inhumers share some similarities with the guild of torturers in The Book of the New Sun - this is to be expected. It is a tale told by Petrefrax, a prentice inhumer from the Necropolis Litharge. But within his tale, three others tell their tales (one of which contains a short story in itself). The result is a complex Russian's doll of narratives nestled within one another, seemingly disconnected but featuring some key insights into the Endless and (another recurring element in these stories) the nature of how they die. Compared to Cluracan's story (which is lightweight but baggy), 'Cerements' is fiendishly complex but told with impressive economy.

At the end of the collection - after a meta-aside in which a woman at the inn complains about the sexism of the story-tellers - the storm ends with a haunting vision of vast figures in the sky, a clue as to what caused the storm and the event that will drive the remainder of the series.

Worlds' End uses a familiar device (influenced by The Canterbury Tales) but does so with wit and intelligence. The stories are decent, with Cluracan's perhaps being the least memorable, and feature some wonderful fantastical imagery. 'The Golden Boy' also flirts with politics, not the nitty-gritty of ideologies, but what people want from their leaders, no matter how unrealistic. There is also a feeling of doom overhanging the collection, of events, no matter how seemingly disconnected, being linked to a tragedy whose own story is yet to be told.

Absolutely breathtaking artwork!!! Not at all the original but a whole new style of artwork than encapsulates The Sandman almost as perfectly as before (& that's coming from someone who doesn't even like the recolored editions because I feel it ruins the old art). There are several panels/pages that feel as iconic as the original Sandman stuff. & while I don't feel the story is perfect (partnering up with a giant cat & a little girl felt very cliché, although that may just be cause I've been reading a lot of Saga lol) it was extremely well written as expected & worth reading multiple times over. Also it is obviously very heavy on Morpheus/Dream himself, which were always my favorite kind of Sandman stories. Overall it's my favorite Sandman story since the original 10 volumes & I highly recommend it to any Sandman/Vertigo/Graphic Novel fan.

"The Sandman: Overture" concludes Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series by returning to the events that led to Dream's imprisonment prior to the first volume. This story explores more of the universe of the Endless, including their parents, while examining the nature of time. J.H. Williams' artwork is at its best, with gorgeous spreads and fold-out pages and different styles to represent the different planes on which parts of the story take place. Both Gaiman's writing and Williams' art make the wait for this book well worth it and beg to be read over and over. Fans and newcomers will delight. The Deluxe Edition contains interviews about the writing, art, and lettering of the story.

PREFACE:
WORLD'S END is a great collection of short stories, but it works best as part of the Sandman series. If you have not caught up by reading volumes 1-7, I'd suggest finishing those volumes before moving to this one. It's not absolutely necessary (this volume takes place largely outside the continuity of the universe), it helps if you are familiar with Gaiman's style and characters. If you have not read any Sandman yet, you're in for a treat: The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes (New Edition).

REVIEW:
WORLD'S END is a 6-issue arc that is composed of 6 short stories. Picking up off of the hefty The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives, Gaiman takes the listeners outside the Sandman narrative for a handful of musings. WORLD'S END follows two travelers who mysteriously find themselves lost in a storm. Seeking shelter and safety, the two travelers find their way to World's End, an inn that exists somewhere between space and time. The inn is populated with other wayward travelers, from different times, dimensions, and universes. With everyone stuck at the inn, the patrons pass the time by sharing stories.

These standalone stories range greatly in content, delivery, tone, and characterization. What I admired most about this collection was the range that Gaiman has control over. Each issue's narrative feels almost as if it were written by a different author -- this creates an impressive perceived verisimilitude to the characters' stories. These shifts in tone, however, are nearly seamless. The stories work with the reader and not against them. There's a moment in WORLD'S END when Gaiman is describing a character telling a story in which a character is telling a story about another character telling a story. Sound confusing? In the moment, it makes perfect sense, it's perfectly clear, and it doesn't feel out of place at all.

Gaiman admits in the acknowledgments that WORLD'S END was inspired by his desire to experiment with other authors. The result is incredibly interesting and beautiful. Each patron's story is pencilled/inked by a different artist as compared to the frame narrative. This conceit adds further depth to these stories; WORLD'S END is a story about the power of stories. While some of these narratives find us encountering Morpheus, he's conspicuously missing for the most of the volume. There's a good reason for that, but readers will have to wait for the final moments of the volume to discover why. The ending is spectacular.

I've read this collection in the original trade-paperback version (released in the mid-90's) and again in the updated version (released in 2012). The "new edition" (The Sandman Vol. 8: World's End contains everything from the previous collection (including Stephen King's introduction), but the color has been restored to reflect Gaiman's intent. The difference isn't jarring, but in the case of WORLD'S END, which relies heavily on the artwork, I'd definitely side with the "new edition" here. Additionally, the updated version is available on Kindle (and other eReaders).

I felt this story was exactly inline with the original series. The choice of art team, cover artist all the way to the letterer all being veterans of the original series was instrumental IMO towards the goal of making this series line up perfectly as a prequel. On the subject of it being a prequel, I ALWAYS felt a need to read this tale as it always seemed missing from issue #1 through to the end of the series (issue #75) and I am so thankful to everyone involved for making this happen.
Neil's writing has changed considerably over the years as he branched out into different types of media so, to me, it felt as tho he channeled his younger self to achieve the level of similarity with the original series he wrote so long ago. I am VERY grateful for that as well.
As another reviewer has already stated, reading this in one sitting has inspired me to re-read this and then the entire Sandman series after it. Luckily, I have just completed my set of TradePaperBacks contained within a set of 3 very sexy slip covers so I will be reading those copies from now on rather than the inconvenience of my individually bagged and boarded original issues I bought back when as they came out.
I highly recommend this to anyone who is a Sandman fan on ANY level. However, if you have never read the original series I would suggest reading it in the order it was released in - meaning start with Preludes and Nocturens and work your way through to The Wake then come back and read Overture the way it was intended. You may want to then re-read the series in numerical order starting with Overture through to The Wake - it is really ACTUALLY that good. Without a doubt Neil Gaiman's The Sandman is within the top ten greatest comics of all time if not THE greatest! The Sandman is such an amazingly influential series that there is even a thoroughly enjoyable TV series that is based loosely on a throwaway epilogue from one of the miniseries contained within this comics original run. I am speaking, of course, of the TV show "Lucifer" which is, by way of a mini series and then a regular series, the product of epilogue to the Sandman series "Season Of Mist". Go and check that out as well (However realize that it is a TV series designed to entertain people who are not necessarily comicbook fans so there is a police procedural element that you may not agree with)
I ramble and I get offtopic - sue me :)

In "The Sandman: World's End", Neil Gaiman channels Boccaccio's "Decameron" with travelers exchanging stories as they wait out a reality storm. The narrative style allows Gaiman and his artists to explore new worlds not tied to the larger <i>Sandman</i> narrative. Even eight volumes in, Gaiman maintains the compelling nature of these stories, raising the bar for the comics medium.

I only recently got into Sandman so the original story was still fresh in my head when I picked up Overture and I was pleasantly surprised. The artwork is gorgeous, probably the best in all of Sandman to date. The plot is a mostly prequel (with some present day scenes) set just before Morpheus' capture at the start of the original Sandman. This is beautiful and it fits seamlessly in with the established lore. I highly recommend it to any Sandman fan.

I've often complained that some Sandman tales are little more than vignettes that have little or nothing to do in the greater scheme of things. This 8th omnibus, The Sandman: World's End is comprised of a number of such tales. Interestingly enough, unlike the others, which I at times found quite offputting, this omnibus works perfectly.

Indeed, I feel that The Sandman: World's End demonstrates just how far-reaching Neil Gaiman's gift for storytelling goes. Essentially, this omnibus is a story about stories, each one more interesting than the other.

Here's the blurb:

This collection of tales tells of travellers caught in the vortex of a "reality storm". These wayfarers come from throughout time, myth and dreams to converge upon a mysterious inn, there to share stories of the places they have been and things they have seen, beside a flickering fire.

"A Tale of Two Cities" a man who believes he now finds himself in the dream of the city he lives in. Exploring that strange environment, he fears that one day the city would awaken. "Cluracan's Tale" is pure fantasy and recounts the story of a Faerie sent to the city of Aurelian to represent the interest of his people. When freed from imprisonment, he'll foment rebellion against the autocratic ruler. "Hob's Leviathan" is about a girl posing as a boy so she can go to sea. "The Golden Boy" follows the tribulation of a messiah figure representing the American Dream. "Cerements" is told by an apprentice from the necropolis Litharge, a city devoted solely to the Dead.

While every story has merit and is entertaining, my favorites were "Cluracan's Tale," "The Golden Boy," and "Cerements."

This omnibus was illustrated by Michael Allred, Gary Amaro, Mark Buckingham, Dick Giordano, Tony Harris, Steve Leialoha, Vince Locke, Shea Anton Pensa, Alec Stevens, Bryan Talbot, John Watkiss, Michael Zulli. Considering the number of artists, it is no wonder that there is absolutely no visual continuity. And yet, each artist's style suits the story they are illustrating very nicely.

Onward to the ninth omnibus!

It’s been several years since I read Neil Gaiman’s astonishing, sprawling, ambitious The Sandman – long enough that even though much of it instantly impressed itself on me permanently, I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to properly appreciate his long-awaited prequel, The Sandman: Overture. Many prequels rely so heavily on dramatic irony – on us knowing where the story goes – that to approach them as an independent tale is folly and absurdity. Moreover, that over-reliance on foreshadowing and setting things up is often their undoing, as there’s little sense of life or spirit to a prequel; instead, it’s all inevitability and putting things into place.

Luckily, Overture suffers from none of that delivering an exhilarating, surreal tale that manages to set up the opening of the landmark series while still functioning as its own exciting, unpredictable story. Indeed, one could almost approach it before you read the series, and it would work fine; then again, that means being thrown into Gaiman’s complex, labyrinthine mythology without much of a guide, which can be a little much to take in.

Because, make no mistake: this plunges you back into the world of Dream and his siblings, avatars of ideas such as Desire, Delight, Death, and others. Much of the joy comes from the way Gaiman slowly reveals the nature of his story, of course, but suffice to say that Overture revolves around a crisis that threatens the nature of the universe – a crisis that Dream himself may have caused, through an act of mercy. Now, he has to face the consequences of that action – consequences which could quite possibly lead to his own death.

As always with Gaiman, the ideas here are astonishing ones, and a joy to explore. Gaiman’s magic has always lay in his own expansive mythologies, and Overture allows him to dip back into one of his greatest accomplishments, simultaneously playing in it and expanding it in subtle ways. And every bit as complex is Gaiman’s approach to morality and story-telling. There are no easy answers, no clear cut villains or heroes. Everyone is flawed; everyone is noble in their own mind. Sacrifice costs; duty matters; good deeds can haunt us. It’s wonderfully complex, thoughtful material – as though Gaiman is capable of much else.

The result is the ideal, perfect union of artist and writer, combining Gaiman’s ambitious, sprawling universe with an art style that pushes against the very boundaries of the form whenever possible. It’s beautiful, unnerving, surreal, a little mind-bending, and oddly evocative – and every single one of those words could apply to Gaiman’s story as well. All of it combines to make a truly remarkable, interesting prequel, one that expands the universe, tells one last story in this incredible world, and explains a little while leaving a lot more unsaid. And the story it tells is nicely self-contained, giving all of the feel and scope of a typical Sandman arc while feeling like its own saga. It’s a joyous return to one of the great comic sagas of all time, and a worthy follow-up to a series that changed comics, delivering a great story, incredible art, and imagination to spare.

I am not the best when it comes to writing reviews based purely on aesthetics and structure. Especially if the subject of the review has anything to do with The Sandman. I have been a fan of this series for as long as I can remember, and so therefore it is difficult for me to be objective.

That being said, it was a little difficult to read.

Twenty years or so ago when this series started (or, got rebooted by Neil Gaiman...depending how you look at it) I, along with countless others were enraptured and ensnared by a completely brave and new type of storytelling. And we all wanted more.

Years pass, and the Overture pushes past the boundaries that the original series had previously broken.

It was a little difficult to read, and that's a good thing. That just means it warrants repeating reading.

Are Sandman fans such because they love the characters (Dream, Delirium, etc.) or because they love the writings of Neil Gaiman?

I'd imagine that there are both types, and that most of us are somewhere on a continuum in-between.

I mention this, because those of you who are closer to the "love Gaiman" pole, like myself, will doubtless love this collection of short stories, set in the Sandman universe. On the otherhand, those who are closer to the characters pole might well be disappointed, as they are almost non-existent, here.

Worlds' End concerns a group of travellers, taking shelter from a very strange storm at a pan-dimensional inn, who while away the hours telling stories, a la The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron, Hyperion, etc. While we *could* say that this is a tired cliche, or device, or any number of things that would be unfairly unflattering of Mr. Gaiman, I think, rather, that he's using this structure to make a point. In fact, *within* one of these stories, there is a character who gets into a group that starts telling stories to pass the time. The tale, itself, is a narration of a story being told. And, lest we forget, the whole comic is a story being told from Gaiman to us. Stories, within stories, within stories, within stories, within stories...

I think that, here, Gaiman wants to reflect in part on the role that stories play in our lives. Sandman, here, isn't Dream, but is the Master of Stories (which is pointed out in this volume).

And so, if you're comfortable with the fact that cutie Death will only put in a cameo or two, the question becomes: are these stories any good?

My answer--yes, they're good.

Another strong book in an amazing series. Five stars.

I am not the best when it comes to writing reviews based purely on aesthetics and structure. Especially if the subject of the review has anything to do with The Sandman. I have been a fan of this series for as long as I can remember, and so therefore it is difficult for me to be objective.

That being said, it was a little difficult to read.

Twenty years or so ago when this series started (or, got rebooted by Neil Gaiman...depending how you look at it) I, along with countless others were enraptured and ensnared by a completely brave and new type of storytelling. And we all wanted more.

Years pass, and the Overture pushes past the boundaries that the original series had previously broken.

It was a little difficult to read, and that's a good thing. That just means it warrants repeating reading.

Are Sandman fans such because they love the characters (Dream, Delirium, etc.) or because they love the writings of Neil Gaiman?

I'd imagine that there are both types, and that most of us are somewhere on a continuum in-between.

I mention this, because those of you who are closer to the "love Gaiman" pole, like myself, will doubtless love this collection of short stories, set in the Sandman universe. On the otherhand, those who are closer to the characters pole might well be disappointed, as they are almost non-existent, here.

Worlds' End concerns a group of travellers, taking shelter from a very strange storm at a pan-dimensional inn, who while away the hours telling stories, a la The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron, Hyperion, etc. While we *could* say that this is a tired cliche, or device, or any number of things that would be unfairly unflattering of Mr. Gaiman, I think, rather, that he's using this structure to make a point. In fact, *within* one of these stories, there is a character who gets into a group that starts telling stories to pass the time. The tale, itself, is a narration of a story being told. And, lest we forget, the whole comic is a story being told from Gaiman to us. Stories, within stories, within stories, within stories, within stories...

I think that, here, Gaiman wants to reflect in part on the role that stories play in our lives. Sandman, here, isn't Dream, but is the Master of Stories (which is pointed out in this volume).

And so, if you're comfortable with the fact that cutie Death will only put in a cameo or two, the question becomes: are these stories any good?

My answer--yes, they're good.

Another strong book in an amazing series. Five stars.

Like Fables and Recollections and Dream Country, World's End is a collection of individual stories that have little do with the Sandman arc. Unlike its predecessors, however, there is greater continuity between the stories, negating the impressions I had (particularly in Dream Country), that Gaiman just threw together a bunch of cool - but unrelated- ideas and constructed a book. The stories within World's End are all linked to a singular event: travelers gathering 'round and exchanging their weirdest, most interesting tales (admittedly, an almost done-to-death literary device). Gaiman breathes new life into this convention by inserting a dizzying amount of layers into the storytelling function. In a wonderfully witty Introduction, Stephen King compares the collection to "nested Chinese boxes:" stories existing within stories within stories. Gaiman really flexes his writing muscles here, constructing highly imaginative parallel universes that eerily mirror our own world (fans of Gaiman will note that "A Tale of Two Cities" borrows heavily from the essay he wrote for the SIMCITY 2000 game). He also inserts his most shocking plot twist to date at the end of the book, which forms the basis of the last two books on the Sandman collection and is guaranteed to pique the continued interest of the Sandman readership.
I really enjoyed the diversity of the art; to note, the visually arresting rectangular and vertically arranged panels done by Alec Stevens in the aforementioned lead story "A Tale of Two Cities;" John Watkiss' crispness and use of clean lines; the tasteful, subdued tones of Michael Zulli and frequent Sandman collaborator Dick Giordano in "Hob's Leviathan."
My only wish would have been for the book to be a little longer. Obviously, that's not a critique at all, but a compliment to Gaiman's skills as a writer. But, when you're plunking down $32.95 (Canadian) for a book, it's a little disappointing to get a relatively slim volume.

_There is an inn at worlds' end. It is a place beyond space and time where all realms, all planes, intersect. Some travelers between the worlds come there willingly, but others find themselves driven there by reality storms- storms caused by events that disturb the very fabric of the cosmos itself. That is the case with the guests on this night. They find themselves trapped, and by immortal custom, obliged to pay for their keep with their best stories.

_The first of these stories is "A Tale of Two Cities." It deals with a man trapped in a dream city- or is it the dream of a sleeping city?

_The second story "Cluracan's Tale" tells of the mission of Cluracan, Ambassador of the Queen of Faery to the mortal world. It teaches why it is both unwise to attempt to combine temporal and spiritual power- and to offer disrespect to the Fair Folk.

_Tale three "Hob's Leviathan" is from the last days of working sail upon the high seas- and of those who walk among us who are not what they seem.

_The fourth "The Golden Boy" is the myth of Prez Rickard- born to be America's greatest president. His nemesis is "Boss Smiley" (interesting that this symbol of corruption and evil is based on the symbol of Wal-Mart....)

_Finally, there is the story "Cerements", of the great necropolis Litharge. This is a city whose entire reason for existance is to render respectful last rites to the dead. Even the Endless trust their cerements to the inhabitants of this city.

_And after all the tales are told the guests at the inn are granted a vision of the event that is powerful enough to create a storm to shake all their worlds....

I am a huge Neil Gaiman fan and have been slowly working my way through his Sandman graphic novels. Slowly because I want them to last as long as they can. This book was lots of fun. It was less pilosophical than the last book and more fun; but there are still deep underlying messages woven into the stories that are told.

In this book a guy and girl get into a car accident and find themselves taking shelter from a June snowstorm at a strange inn. In the inn a number of fantastical people from various times and realities are waiting out the reality storm. While they wait they tell a number of interesting stories.

This story is a bit of a break from the stories about the mythological gods. The gods are still in some of the stories and, in the end, it ends up that even this whole novel is really about them in a very direct way.

I enjoyed every bit of this book. It was fun to read about all these different stories. The idea of an Inn at the end of reality is fun and interesting. The artwork throughout the book went through a number of different styles but all of them were fantastic.

A wonderful addition to the Sandman series. I can't wait to read the next one!

Neil Gaiman, Sandman: Worlds' End (DC Comics, 1999)

Worlds' End, the eighth book in the Sandman series, shows the increasing fragmentation of the main characters' stories, as we get another book that only tangentially has anything to do with the Endless. That said, the possible disintegration of the overarching story arc does nothing to diminish the quality of this fantastic series.

Brent and Charlene are driving through rural Illinois when a snowstorm blows up. This would not be strange, save that it's the middle of June. The car is wrecked, and the two of them eventually come to the Worlds' End Inn, a place between the worlds where travelers caught in out-of-the-ordinary storms come to rest and exchange stories until the storm ends. That's the frame, anyway; the actual book is stories within stories within stories. And while the stories themselves are fascinating glimpses into both new worlds and those we already know, what is most interesting about this book is its construction, the way in which we go levels deep into stories without ever getting confused as to where we are and how far down we've gone; everything works surprisingly well for this sort of narrative.

This probably shouldn't surprise me, given that Sandman has a well-deserved reputation for brilliance. This book is one of those that truly showcases it. ****

I guess one would be extremely hard pressed to choose which of the Sandman collections can be considered the best, but I'm going to choose this one. I'm a little biased, because it was these stories which hooked me on the Sandman when the series was still being published in the early 90s. Gaiman is an intensely storyteller with a wide bredth of mythology at his command which he weaves together in the individaul issues reprinted in this collection. The artwork but such luminaries like Mike Allred of later Madman fame (in the mesmerizing story "Prez") enhance the spellbinding words that Gaiman has meticulously crafted for the right affect.
The Sandman is best appreciated when read it order the magazine was publihsed, which is difficult to do in the TPB and hardcover editions because some of the stories are reprinted thematically, not sequentially. However, if you are not sure who you will respond to Gaiman, Dream and the rest of the Endless this edition will give you a satisfying glimpse of not just great comic storytelling, but great storytelling. I wouldn't call this fantasy, nor would I dismiss this as "a mere comic book." Gaiman helped elevate the medium with his creation, all fans of the written word and graphic art will enjoy this and all the volumes in the Sandman collection.

There are many great installments in this series, but if I wanted someone to understand the range of Gaiman's storytelling I would consider this volume a good choice. It's a collection of stories held together by the conceit that a group of people, from many different worlds, are gathered together to wait out a storm at an Inn. To pass the time, they tell stories. This book, until the final pages, doesn't have much of the Endless (although they pop up, from time to time, in the various stories). The stories are diverse -- this is a book that is driven by the interplay between the art and the story.

*Book source ~ Library

Strangers stranded at an inn during a storm, but in this volume the strangers are all from different years and different realms. Most of them have a story to tell and they’re all interesting. Each story is illustrated differently and all of the artwork is enjoyable.

These are good stories. Properly speaking, they are barely 'Sandman' stories: I think the Sandman makes just one cameo appearance. They're still good stories.
The format is familiar: strangers wait out a storm at an inn unfamiliar to all of them. They pass the time exchanging stories. OK, it's an old bottle, but Gaiman fills it with new wine. The stories range from the biographical to the fantastic and satiric.
The most mythic story, I think, takes place in the politics of a world much like modern America, or maybe 70s America. Mythology isn't about distant times, it's about grand heroes and their quests - I like to be reminded of that occasionally.
I usually read comics for the artwork first and writing second. The various artists in this book are all capable enough, but that's not what carries the book. I was quite happy to be pulled along by the story-telling.

This is not a Dream-centered books, you crazy women who are, admit it, a little stuck on the Sandman. This is a book about dreams...the lives, in essence, that he touches. He pops up in various places along the way, but this is more a collection of short stories. Two travelers get lost in a snowstorm in June and find their way to an inn of all worlds. Creatures from various times and places, caught up in the "reality storm" have come to this place for food and drink and rest from the icy storm, including Clurachan (sp?), a favorite faerie hedonist from other installments in the Sandman series.
My favorite story is inarguable "A Tale of Two Cities" when a very average man with a very normal job and a great love of his city finds himself, after falling asleep in the subway (see if you can't connect to an interest in subways overall by Gaiman in his book "Neverwhere"), that he has fallen into a dream of the city. Cities dream as do people...anyone who has traveled extensively knows that cities do have their own personalities. New Orleans feels nothing like New York, etcetera. He searches for months trying to find an exit from the dream of the city, only to find temptation to stay.
All of the stories are entertaining, but this one sticks out the most in my mind. I have a great love of cities, especially New York, and I can only imagine what she dreams.
A dark shadow plagues the end of "World's End"...a funeral procession...who this funeral procession is for, well...call it foreshadowing.

Absolutely mindblowing! I had to fight back tears at the ending not because it was particularly sad but just the sheer beauty and genius of the whole thing. Overtures really brings the series full circle. I had about 4,000 braingasms while reading this. The art and concepts are way more psychedelic than anything Neil has ever worked on and I recommend this to any fans or newcomers to the series, although the rest of the Sandman should be read first too fully appreciate the majesty of this thing.

This is one hell of a comic, don't miss it even if you are not already familiar with Sandman.

Questo é un fumetto incredibile, sia per le storie che per le illustrazioni, da non perdere assolutamente specialmente se non avete mai letto Sandman.

Telling stories is a lost art. Few do it well anymore, (although Anna Devere Smith and Spalding Gray come to mind) and Gaiman uses A World's End to take a breath and tell some stories before the end of the Sandman series. A tavern in the middle of nowhere is the place to tell stories of Prez Rickard, the elf Cluracan, of a young "man" at sea and a world dedicated to the proper treatment of the departed. As with any collection of short stories, some stories are more successful than others and one character even complains that they are all "boy's own stories" simply variations on a theme. This is basically true and I admire Gaiman for having made this reference himself. They are stories to kill time before the next journey.

Rather than a continuous narrative, this volume is a collection of short pieces with distinctly different artistic treatments. The frame story is that there's an inn just outside space and time, where travelers just might find themselves marooned for awhile when a reality story hits. There not being much else to do, they take turns telling stories, Canterbury-style. Some, like "Cluracan's Tale" and "The Golden Boy," are quite good. Others, like "Hob's Leviathan," are just kind of pointless. For me, this is one of the less satisfying entries in an excellent series.

As a fan and collector of the original series, I had to go back and polish up on my Sandman history. I enjoy most everything Gaiman has written so as to clue you in. This book definitely made me ponder. I initially read it in comic book fornat, waiting each month for the bext issue, so I had more time to reflect. This story is an excellent recall and end but shouldnt be a hopping-on point. The artwork itself is worth the cost of the book.

This is my favorite of the Sandman series so far. On to book 9, but this one blew me out of the water. The quality and beauty of all the mini stories was mind altering. I feel like I just did drugs again for the first time.

One of my favorite things that Neil does is introduce old stories and mythology that I've never heard of. Then I can go back and investigate these characters as they existed in real life and walla!, I've learned something new.

Even on the small screen (kindle hd7), the art was breathtaking! A wee bit frustrating when word balloons go upsidedown, u turn the kindle to read it but it just reorients! This still gives me the feel of awe at the art/tale relationship...so surreal!

This is good, but likely my least favorite Sandman so far. It has some of creativity present in the other volumes, but, really, it represents a significant step downward from the peak of inspiration the Sandman is famous for. The format of this volume is the 'story collection' used in earlier volumes, yet, here, to weaker effect. Overall, a decent disappointment.

A reality storm causes a group of travellers, all afflicted by actual storms in their own realities to be transported elsewhere, nearby to the Inn at World's End. They all take shelter there, heal injuries, and pass the time on the piss and doing some telling of stories. One of the travellers is Cluracan of Faery, having been on a diplomatic mission, and two are humans from different time periods.

First, it's Gaiman, which makes it almost a must buy. It's also Sandman, the title that put Gaiman on the map, for me, at least. It's the eighth book in a ten book collection of the entire Sandman series. This one has a lot of seemingly unconnected stories, which, in fact, kind of wrap up some loose ends from earlier. More importantly, it shows the funeral of a major character in the Sandman's world. This sets the stage for the next two volumes. Fan-blasted-tastic. Get it, read it. End of this story.

Pick up this series. Buy the collectors edition, the TPB, the floppies, Digital w/e. Just do it, the art is amazing, the story well written, and the characters memorable. Also look into the Death spin offs, and Lucifer series which at one point intersects The Sandman.

Somehow I managed to never be introduced to The Sandman and, as with many IPs, I found myself lost as to where to start once I wanted to. I figured this might be great since it provides backstory, an origin story. Sadly, while it was interesting, intriguing, and beautiful... I was so confused and lost. If like myself, you're a Sandman newbie please don't make my mistake and start here.

Note: I received a review copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book for those long winter nights, when you just need to curl up by the fire (or the lamp) and escape into the realm of stories. The collection is similar to the Arabian Nights in it's story within a story structure and it will not disappoint. Definitely a must have for all Sandman buffs as well as for lovers of good storytelling. This and the entire Sandman series is comic book literature at it's best.

From a previous review, the following quote exists:

fans of Gaiman will note that "A Tale of Two Cities" borrows heavily from the essay he wrote for the SIMCITY 2000 game

As a point of accuracy, it's the other way around, The Tale of Two Cities came before the SimCity 2000 Game.

This is still my favorite collection of Sandman Stories. The Sea Witch Story is one I occasionally dream about.

It's the first Sandman story I ever read and that's why I feel a bit out of place judging it. I'm reading Brief Lives right now too, but it seems like Sandman is beyond anything else in the industry right now. The Invisibles, Preacher and Sandman all have been cancelled so we're stuck with reflecting on these.

I'm not writing a Neil Gaiman or Sandman enthusiast's review, but rather one of a reader of "The Sandman: Overture" who has NOT read "Sandman" previously! I liked it. Very good art and story. My contribution is to say that even not having read the original story you can read and enjoy this one.

An excellent example of Neil's work. A wonderfully told tale about telling tales. Mr. Gaiman utilizes the "frame story" to such advantage that the audience is often so lost in the multifaceted worlds that one forgets that they are reading at all. Truly masterful.

I will also give this book one star. I started reading the original Sandman series in the 90's and would give it 100 stars if that were an option. But Sandman Overture was as boring as a high school social studies book. Neil Gaiman is a much better writher than this. Why do multiple incarnations of Dream stand around for four pages talking to each other about:

"You are all me, I take it?"
"It would be more accurate to state that we are all aspects of us."
"There is no us, there is only I."
"What matters is why we are, and WHY we are here."
"Yes. Why?"

....and other such pointless page-filler. Once a conversation actually did start rolling it quickly turned pointless, or referenced a story from the past that we've never heard, and had no meaning whatsoever once it was told.

And bringing in Mervin, Lucien, the Corinthian, the Kindly Ones, etc., was also clearly done to try and give the reader that "OMG! it's the old Sandman crew!" feeling. Unfortunately, they all made breif cameos and had no impact on the story in any way. As for the art, yes it was pretty but nauseating at the same time. I couldn't tell which text to read next since the whole background was just swirls of colors. You can't tell if you're supposed to read a page from top to bottom or if you're supposed to go across a two-page spread. Once you find out you read it wrong, you have to go back and re-read it, only to get more of the same pointless dialogue.

Don't get me wrong. I bought all the original Sandman comics and now own the beautiful Absolute editions. I have several of Gaiman's books and find them to be valuable addtions to my library. But this was just a waste of money. I feel it was Gaiman's last Sandman hurrah and I really hope he doesn't do anymore Sandman mini-series. I just don't have the heart to pass on a another Sandman story because of how poorly executed this one was.