Gaiman, Neil - The Sandman, Vol. 1 - "Informal Buddy Read" - Start date July 09, 2014

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

This topic is open for discussion of The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman


BE PREPARED FOR SPOILERS

What is a buddy read?

About this Buddy Read
An “Informal Buddy Read” doesn’t have a discussion leader and participants are asked to consider some generic questions when making comments about the book

Synopsis
Written by Neil Gaiman; Art by Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, and Malcolm Jones, III; Painted Cover by Dave McKean A wizard attempting to capture Death to bargain for eternal life traps her younger brother Dream instead. Fearful for his safety, the wizard kept him imprisoned in a glass bottle for decades. After his escape, Dream, also known as Morpheus, goes on a quest for his lost objects of power. On the way, Morpheus encounters Lucifer and demons from Hell, the Justice League, and John Constantine, the Hellblazer. This book also includes the story "The Sound of Her Wings" which introduces us to the pragmatic and perky goth girl, Death

Neil Gaiman Seasonal Challenge
This is our July 2014 choice. If you want to join us for a Neil Gaiman BR a month, you can sign up here

You do not need to be part of the challenge to join this buddy read. Everyone is welcome!

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

reserved

[Nicole]

I thought we were doing Smoke and Mirrors this month. I've just started Sandman so this is good timing for me.

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

we are, this one is July ;)

[Nicole]

Ah. ;)

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

teehee

[Beth]

reserved

[Nicole]

I dont think I'm going to be able to wait two full months!

[Ashley Marie]

tagging for updates :)

[Kaitlin]

I read this today. So dark and creepy. The story was good and I liked the twist at the end.

What I love about Gaiman is that each of his works is so different that it's hard to tell they were written by the same person.

[Beth]

I read Sandman in 2011, but this was the second volume I read because I had started with vol. 3, Dream Country. Here are my comments on each issue.

Issue 1: Sleep of the Just

This isn't as interesting as later issues. It moves slowly, and it has the kind of conventional plot that can't really sustain a slow, atmospheric story for me.

The villains are really stupid here. An end to Death wouldn't just make everyone immortal in a painless way - it would also prevent death for those who were in excruciating pain and would otherwise die. This is set during WWI, so that probably applies to many soldiers. It's also a bit strange that Dr. Hathaway's grief makes him want to ensure that "no one ever need die again" - why would be more scared of death as opposed to wanting to see his son again?

But the disaster caused by Dream's imprisonment is interesting. What Dream does to Alex Burgess at the end is really disturbing, and I love that the very first issue raises questions about how much of a good guy Dream is.

from the online Sandman annotations: I've excerpted a bit below because the link has spoilers for later volumes.
http://www.arschkrebs.de/sandman/anno...

Page 6 (in the trade paperback this is page 18)
Panel 4

Burgess gives the name of "old lords": Namtar, Allatu, Morax, Naberius, Klesh, Vepar, Maymon. Morax is certainly the name of a bull-headed demon appearing in The Demon. Maymon may be a reference to Mammon, a Greek word for riches. Mammon is also the name of a devil in the Key of Solomon, based on the line "one cannot serve God and Mammon" in the scripture.
Panel 5

More names: Ashema-Deva, Maborym, Horvendile. Ashema-Deva is Persian, a god or devil in the Zoroastrian pantheon. He is more familiar to Westerners under the name Asmodeus. Horvendile is a name that appears in both Lord Dunsany and James Branch Cabell. In Dunsany (an early fantasist and playwright, active in the early decades of this century, best known work perhaps The King of Elfland's Daughter), Horvendile is a god. In Cabell's "Poictesme" cycle, he is referred to as a demiurge, a being who, though walking through the story, is above it, and possibly pulling the strings. He also keeps swine that feed on human flesh."

The annotations also point out that the at bottom of this page there is a close-up of Unity's lips, and (view spoiler)[the image resembles Desire's sigil. A terrific bit of foreshadowing. (hide spoiler)]

Issue 2: Imperfect Hosts - I don't have much to say about this one.

Dream addresses the oldest of the Fates by her Greek name, Atropos, but middle-aged one (in appearance anyway) refers to their old names as Tisiphone, Alecto, and Maegara - the names of the Furies. When I first read this, I sort of knew what the Furies were, but not that they had individual names.

Issue 3: Dream shows a little compassion here, for once, when he is tempted to leave Rachel the way she is but Constantine convinces him to give her a peaceful death.

Issue 4: I really like this issue. The Wood of the Suicides (a reference to Dante's Inferno) is a nice touch. It took me aback at first because the idea that people get sent to hell for committing suicide is disturbing from a modern perspective. But later in Sandman (view spoiler)[it's revealed that the suicides who go to hell are those who believe they belong there. (hide spoiler)] The duel with Choronzon very clever and is one of my favorite moments in Sandman. On the other hand, Dream punching Squatterbloat isn't really his style in later volumes, and it's a reminder of how different this first volume is.

Issue 5: I like this line:
"People think dreams aren't real because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes."

Issue 6: 24 Hours
I'm sure this is too disturbing for some readers to like, but I like it, even though it is all kinds of messed up. I love the narration of this issue; it's the first issue of Sandman where that really stands out to me.
I got chills rereading (view spoiler)[ the line "She's realized the real problem with stories. If you keep them going long enough they always end in death. (hide spoiler)] because of the foreshadowing.

The psychological manipulation is sort of fascinating. Dee never directly lifts a finger against any of the people in the diner; he makes them kill themselves and each other instead. One of the most disturbing moments is hour 15, when Dee temporarily lets his victims realize what he's doing to them. It's especially horrifying because it's not the end; they don't even get the closure of dying with the knowledge of what's happening to them.

Issue 7: Sound & Fury:
It's interesting that Dream decides not to punish John Dee. It might indicate a change from his usual vindictiveness - but I think part of the reason Dream isn't as cruel to John Dee as to Alex Burgess is because Dee didn't directly involve him. The situation with Nada also affected him personally in a way that Dee's crimes didn't. So I guess Dream's capacity for forgiveness is progress of a sort, but it's still highly selective.

Issue 8: The Sound of Her Wings
Death made me laugh. But the mother's realization that her baby was dead was a very sad moment. Also, I cried a bit thinking about (view spoiler)[how this ties in with the final chapter of The Kindly Ones. "The last time we had this conversation, you threw a loaf of bread at me." (hide spoiler)]

On page 229, the graffiti reads: "Dreams make no promises" which I think is an interesting contrast between Dream's function and Death's. Death is one of the few certainties.