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xelc's review
5.0
I started reading the Sandman comics because of the Netflix adaptation. While I enjoyed the show, it just can't compare to the comic. The illustrations are gritty yet beautiful. It really immerses you in the world of The Dreaming, all the perverse and delicate intricacies of it. The characters just grab at the attention, even the more fantastical ones, are still humanistic. They serve as reflections, mirrors that amplify the emotions their non-god/omniscient counterparts feel.
Can't wait to continue reading this series!
Can't wait to continue reading this series!
meginsanity's review
5.0
When I first started reading Sandman, which was after I was introduced to Neil Gaiman through American Gods and Stardust, I had to interlibrary loan each volume, meaning (since I wanted to be able to keep track of them and ensure the loaning library got the books back in a timely fashion) I had to wait at least three weeks between volumes. It stretched out the time it took to read the entirety of the series to - well, quite a long time. But waiting for each one was sweet. I liked the anticipation. I didn't want the series to end, nor did I want to rush through it quickly.
Now I've finished it, and I got Absolute Sandman volume 1 as my anniversary present. (We've been married 2 years as of the 17th, together 7 years as of today.) It's a monster of a book with its imposing cover and thick pages. Carrying it around feels like I'm really carrying Something. And it's wonderful to read, curled up in a chair with the book propped on your knees and the ribbon bookmark marking your page. The colors are vibrant and the lettering is wonderful.
And of course, all these stories are collected in this one book for me. I can blaze through them the way I couldn't when I was reading borrowed copies, or I can stop and really look at each panel, and understand how certain things relate to the all-over story.
As for the story - I don't know what I can say about the story. I mean, I absolutely love it, but I can't say that over and over and let it be my review. I like the way Morpheus grows over the course of just this one volume, and how characters are introduced over the course of this book that will become so important over time. I like Morpheus with a pigeon on his head listening to Death. I wince and squirm every time I read the diner scenes, but Dream and the fairies watching A Midsummer Night's Dream makes up for that.
I like Sandman. And I'm really happy my birthday is coming up. That means I can get volume 2. But maybe I should wait... prolong the anticipation.
Now I've finished it, and I got Absolute Sandman volume 1 as my anniversary present. (We've been married 2 years as of the 17th, together 7 years as of today.) It's a monster of a book with its imposing cover and thick pages. Carrying it around feels like I'm really carrying Something. And it's wonderful to read, curled up in a chair with the book propped on your knees and the ribbon bookmark marking your page. The colors are vibrant and the lettering is wonderful.
And of course, all these stories are collected in this one book for me. I can blaze through them the way I couldn't when I was reading borrowed copies, or I can stop and really look at each panel, and understand how certain things relate to the all-over story.
As for the story - I don't know what I can say about the story. I mean, I absolutely love it, but I can't say that over and over and let it be my review. I like the way Morpheus grows over the course of just this one volume, and how characters are introduced over the course of this book that will become so important over time. I like Morpheus with a pigeon on his head listening to Death. I wince and squirm every time I read the diner scenes, but Dream and the fairies watching A Midsummer Night's Dream makes up for that.
I like Sandman. And I'm really happy my birthday is coming up. That means I can get volume 2. But maybe I should wait... prolong the anticipation.
darkskybooks's review
4.0
Firstly, let me say that this compendium of Sandman comics is a beast of book. It is heavy and awkward, but beautifully made. Maybe not the easiest to read, but it is a fantastic work of art...
As to the stories themselves, Neil Gaiman totally refreshed the sandman mythos when he came to this. It is interesting, as these are some of his earlier works but you can see how is later oeuvre borrows heavily on the ideas presented here. The Anthropomorphizing of gods and concepts is something that he uses frequently in later American Gods and contemporaneously with Sandman in Good Omens for example.
The surreal dreamy world he has produced gives a wonderful darkness and whimsy to the world the Sandman inhabits, as befits a being of dreams. The basic story progression of trying to restore his power after being imprisoned. This allows us to be introduced to some of the characters, and also allows Gaiman to fit his Sandman into the universe inhabited by previous iterations of the character. Some of these characters met are downright brilliant - Death as a teenage girl is wonderful realization.
The artwork here fits very well with the dreaminess inherent in the Sandman character. There is a reason this comic series is so well loved. This has to go down as one of the best graphic novels I have read!
As to the stories themselves, Neil Gaiman totally refreshed the sandman mythos when he came to this. It is interesting, as these are some of his earlier works but you can see how is later oeuvre borrows heavily on the ideas presented here. The Anthropomorphizing of gods and concepts is something that he uses frequently in later American Gods and contemporaneously with Sandman in Good Omens for example.
The surreal dreamy world he has produced gives a wonderful darkness and whimsy to the world the Sandman inhabits, as befits a being of dreams. The basic story progression of trying to restore his power after being imprisoned. This allows us to be introduced to some of the characters, and also allows Gaiman to fit his Sandman into the universe inhabited by previous iterations of the character. Some of these characters met are downright brilliant - Death as a teenage girl is wonderful realization.
The artwork here fits very well with the dreaminess inherent in the Sandman character. There is a reason this comic series is so well loved. This has to go down as one of the best graphic novels I have read!
leonard_gaya's review
2.0
This graphic novel is one of Neil Gaiman’s early major works, which catapulted him to his present fame, somewhere in the upper floors of the Dark Fantasy & Mythology Redux literary pantheon. This first issue of the Absolute Sandman is a massive volume, 600 pages!, that collects the first 20 chapters of the Sandman series — there are at least five or six other volumes after this one, in the Absolute Sandman saga, published by DC Comics / Vertigo.
I hate to write a negative review, especially considering such an impressive work, with so many accolades in the last thirty years, and by one of the most charming fantasy authors around. Moreover, all the ingredients are here to please: an artistically ambitious novel, a dark handsome hero (that kinda looks like the author!), a fistful of Lovecraftian horror, a pinch of Dantean pandemonium, a quest for occult symbols — that heralds the Voldemort business in the late [b:Harry Potter|136251|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)|J.K. Rowling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1474171184l/136251._SY75_.jpg|2963218] novels —, a dust of serial killers, a sprinkle of Shakespeare here and there…
Nevertheless, the whole thing is, the way I see it, an overrated post-baroque, disjointed millefeuille, with a plot that peters out by the 8th chapter, leaving the rest of the volume as a collection of dismembered short stories, just barely related by a couple of recurring characters. A few of these fragments stand out, like “Tales in the Sand”, or “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; the rest is either a bit silly or stodgy. To boot, the artwork, although in line with the style of DC Comics, looks, for the most part, overdrawn and murky. Sadly, disappointing.
I hate to write a negative review, especially considering such an impressive work, with so many accolades in the last thirty years, and by one of the most charming fantasy authors around. Moreover, all the ingredients are here to please: an artistically ambitious novel, a dark handsome hero (that kinda looks like the author!), a fistful of Lovecraftian horror, a pinch of Dantean pandemonium, a quest for occult symbols — that heralds the Voldemort business in the late [b:Harry Potter|136251|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)|J.K. Rowling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1474171184l/136251._SY75_.jpg|2963218] novels —, a dust of serial killers, a sprinkle of Shakespeare here and there…
Nevertheless, the whole thing is, the way I see it, an overrated post-baroque, disjointed millefeuille, with a plot that peters out by the 8th chapter, leaving the rest of the volume as a collection of dismembered short stories, just barely related by a couple of recurring characters. A few of these fragments stand out, like “Tales in the Sand”, or “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; the rest is either a bit silly or stodgy. To boot, the artwork, although in line with the style of DC Comics, looks, for the most part, overdrawn and murky. Sadly, disappointing.
bexxon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
moses_'s review
5.0
I already know this stuff is 10x better than the show y'all gotta read this and enjoy the gorgeous illustrations.
bantwalkers's review
3.0
Ok. I love this book. Funny. Smart. Cool artwork. Absurd. Terrifying. But man, it was trying sometimes. It is a little too absurd. Too free to jump around to whatever it wants to. It was sometimes slow going and frustrating.
inesgarherr's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
daumari's review
5.0
Accidentally stayed up way past my bedtime reading this in one sitting. Gonna hold off on the other volumes until later this week.