And Then I Read: THE LITTLE ENDLESS STORYBOOKS

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

I've never much liked the idea of baby versions of comics characters. Superboy was okay, but Superbaby was silly. Likewise Wonder Tot. So, when Neil Gaiman and Jill Thompson created infant versions of Death and Dream in SANDMAN #40 as a brief episode, I laughed, but didn't find them that appealing. Apparently lots of fans disagreed, and kept asking for more, so in 2004 Jill wrote and drew the first of these storybooks, very much in children's picture-book style, and expanding the cast to include all of the Endless, as well as supporting characters, especially Delirium's dog Barnabas. I love Jill's art, and it looked pretty cute, but I still wasn't convinced enough to try it.

Recently DC sent me both books (the second, DELIRIUM'S PARTY is new) and I looked through them, loved the art, and before I knew it, I'd read them, too. The stories are fairly simple, funny and entertaining, never straying very far from cute, but not bad. The art is terrific, though I'm still not loving the baby thing.

To make the art more appealing to comics fans like me, though, Jill packs her pages with delightful creative details that I'm sure young readers will find equally engrossing. Here's Delirium's Gallery, a tree with fun contact points to her siblings, and instead of leaves on the tree…

…little cards with pictures of leaves on them, just the sort of wacky thing Delirium might think of, if we can call her process thinking…! On the same page there are other nice touches like a precarious pile of dishes she's standing on, and some tulips giving off soap bubbles, for instance. This kind of playful exuberance tips the balance for me, making these books worth savoring. And all the more if you're already a SANDMAN fan. I can only wonder, though, what a child given these might think when they first discover the real series.

Recommended!