Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, multiple titles
- The Sandman: Fables and Reflections (Started June 1 � Finished June 1, 2003; 264 pages)
- The Sandman: Brief Lives (Started June 1 � Finished June 1, 2003 256 pages)
It was all working out so well. Despite the fact that I hadn�t opened a book during the month of May until the 11th, I still managed to pour through a significant number, and, seeing as I had decided to pick books alphabetically by title, I wasn�t picking the slimmest, easiest books on the shelf.
Then I graduated. And suddenly I was presented with presents. Lots of presents. And every one of these presents were books. I received 11 books as presents. Gee fucking thanks people! Never mind the eight thousand dollars in student loans that I have, lets give me things that take away from my ability to make money in order to keep the state and federal government from taking my thumbs. (And you know that both of them have just about reached that level.)
So I crammed. I�m seriously trying to get through these books, despite my finding more nearly every day that I have an interest to read. But I�ve also made concessions. When I first started this project, I decreed that I would finish six books before purchasing another. Six turned to five. Then Four. Then three. Finally, I said that I had to finish at least two books for every one that I bought. At least this way my pile would grow smaller, albeit much slower than I originally planned.
And then the presents rolled in. In desperation, I broke my prepared list just so I would finish more books in a month than I brought home.
And the easiest way to accomplish this was with graphic novels. Plus, much like how I read the five books by Warren Ellis last month, something appealed to me with the idea that I wouldn�t have to write a paragraph explaining the material with every new Sandman book.
Though I�m wondering if I don�t need to do that anyway. With as many times as I�ve praised Neil Gaiman�s work, few seem to be taking my advice. Last month, My friends and I had a �Night of the Living Dorks� drive-in excursion to see X-men 2 with Daredevil. Joe got in my car, pointed to the glued-on figure of Death on the dashboard, and asked who it was. A few weeks later, Dover did the same thing, though to be fair, he doesn�t have a computer.
So once again people, The Sandman series is one of those things that you should read. Must read, even. But which one should you read? I don�t know that I can answer that, as I�ve spread the series out over many years, and not in any particular order. But, as you should know, all roads dorky and nerdlike lead me back into soliloquies about the Daredevil comic, so here we go again.
Owning every single issue, as I do, I�ve seen a lot of really, REALLY stupid Daredevil comics. Almost without fail, these entail the one-shot comics where you can picture the writing team stuck for ideas. Ultimately, they would decide to introduce a character, have them fight, and then good wins out over evil 28 pages later. Like a sitcom, these issues can only allow so much exposition and then rush toward the Comic Code Authority required happy ending.
And before you start screaming about what the hell does Daredevil have to do with Sandman, I�ll just point out that this was the problem I had with Fables and Reflections, the first book I read this time around in Gaiman�s series. His nine short stories in this collection, each wrapped up 28 pages later, feel rushed. Worse, they feel unimportant.
Just when I was feeling grumpy and cheated, I started Brief Lives. Like the Daredevil series that is currently running which very slowly (actually, almost too slowly) unveils the story, playing out more like an episode of The Soprano�s then like a stupid superhero comic; Brief Lives takes its time to unfold. And it does so beautifully.
I�ve already written too much to try and explain the story here. For those who are unfortunate enough to have never read the series (Joe, casting a stern glance toward you), let�s just say there are seven members of the psyche (mixed with mythology) that this series deals with: Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium. Like most people, these figures change with time, and Brief Lives deals with two of these people who have changed.
The result is some of the best fiction I have read in a long, long time. I�ve been warned against reading Gaiman�s prose works by some people, but seeing how he excels here I�m beginning to doubt the validity of these statements.
Which sucks, because that means there�s at least four more books that I�m suddenly interested in. In the meantime, I think I need to find a figurine for Delirium, as she�s my new favorite character (but still, of course, playing second fiddle to Daredevil).
