Hy Bender, �The Sandman Companion�
I, Ladies and gentlemen � but especially you ladies, �cause you�re cuter and men are idiots � just want to say that I have too much crap. I�ve been doing well on clearing out said crap, but still...
I have a lot of crap. I hoard things. It�s difficult for me to throw things away. I mean really, why do I have a brass mug from my job at the restaurant engraved with my name and stating that I was employee of the year? Do I want to be reminded that I was the best damn food service worker in a job that I didn�t particularly like and paid rather shitty? And since it�s brass, you can�t really use it for anything. Ever try a whisky and coke in a brass mug? Not good.
No, wait, I have a better example. One of our roommates up and moved out on us, and I was cleaning up the place to make it look slightly less like the absolute dump that it is. I�m vacuuming the hallway when the belt breaks. Great. Then I remember that while clearing out one of my drawers a few days ago I saw a package of replacement belts. I fetch the package.
So I�m unscrewing the panel on the vacuum, thinking about how fortunate it is that I managed to hold onto something that I actually now need. I even remember when I bought the replacement belts � more than five years ago. I�ve moved twice since then. It�s not like these belts are expensive, but yay for not throwing stuff away just because it�s easier to buy new ones!
Then I realize that I have the wrong size belts.
And then I remember that I discovered they were the wrong belts five years ago.
I have, however, been slowly getting rid of things. It all started with the books, then the films, then the albums, and then random crap. I just sold a shitload of comics, and I�m pretty sure I got ripped off. I�m certain I�ll see my first issue of Sandman on sale behind their counter for about 700 times the amount they paid me for it. Whatever. At least I don�t have to pay to ship it across the ocean.
Geez, geography is a pain in the ass.
I found a fairly cheap rate to ship my car over. Looking over what I have left, I�m pretty sure I could pack the car with everything and be done with this whole moving thing. Not bad.
Of course, the shipping company won�t let you pack the car with anything, but that�s a different story.
In the meantime, I�m concentrating on finishing books that I�m pretty sure I won�t want to take with me, �cause how much would it suck to pay to ship something, only to find that it really, really sucks?
So that means reading things like this book, which I bought in the year 2000 and left on my shelf until now. I mean, really, a literary criticism book on a comic book series. Whoo.
Except that it turned out to be really interesting. Using extensive interviews with Gaiman, Bender offers plot summaries, references things the average readers are likely to miss, and incorporates insights from artists, publihers, and authors of the �serious� variety. But it�s the interviews with Gaiman that really makes this book stand out. I read other books about the Sandman series by other authors, and frankly, they sucked. This didn�t. I sold the other books back to the store. I�m selling this one back as well, but it makes me sad to do it.
I saw Gaiman speak about a year and a half ago, and he was asked some of the same questions posed here. He gave the same answers. But he was so damned nice about it that you couldn�t help but be impressed with his tact. He really is a swell guy.
So swell, in fact, that I when I finished I decided I needed to go read some more Gaiman.
And then decide if I want to keep those as well.
