The Sandman: The Doll's House

The Doll's House
Neil Gaiman

:::I've just realised that this is the second of two special Gaiman orientated posts, and for some reason, I feel ever so slightly guilty. I suppose it's because, at the moment, and for the next week or so, I'm going to be a bit quiet around here. I'll be popping in, and hopefully reviewing as usual, and hosting contests, but generally, I won't really be here. Perhaps I'm just a dream...

Firstly, I've never read a comic book/graphic novel before. Secondly, I will be reading more! For some reason I'd always shied away from them; I'd always thought that they just weren't for me. I mean, I don't like art* -- I like to read things. Good things. By which, I mean: not comic books.

Well, I was wrong, totally, and utterly, and happily. The Sandman is a very popular comic book series of the 1990s written by Neil Gaiman (yes, him again), which, to quote the BBC, successfully raised the bar for what should come to be expected from comics and helped change views on comics as an art medium". In my research, I also discovered that, for the first time, Sandman was equally popular with the mid-20s female demographic than it was with the more stereotypical teenage boy.

I started on volume 2, The Doll's House, which collects issues 9-16. I'd been told by a friend that you can start anywhere, and that he'd recommend starting with volume two rather than volume one, as in the first issues it takes a while for Gaiman to reach his stride, and are best read after the series. So that's what I did.

The Sandman tells the story of Dream, one of the Endless, the younger brother of Death (and others) and how he goes about picking up the pieces of his rule over Dreams, after being imprisoned for the most part of the 19th century. His siblings, Desire and Despair and those others, have traps for him, though, and even rogue dreams are against him, now that the eternal Lord Kai'ckul (Dream) tries to restore his Dream kingdom.

Wow, that sounds very crazy. And it probably is. But it works so very well. The writing is good; the artwork is good; the story is good. One thing I'd never really understood about comics was that in this piece of work, new and unique, etc, you could have Superman or somebody else from the DC Universe show up. There are a few such small occurrences that take place in the Sandman like this, I've been told, but I'm not versed enough to have noticed.(Though, apparently, Superman becomes temporary Lord of Hell (not my Dream job, if you ignore the pun) in one issue).

While the original concept of the Sandman story is very old, a tale from classic mythology and folklore, Gaiman, being Gaiman, and I'll quote the BBC again: has honoured this and the many different versions of the Sandman throughout the series, just as he honours the complexities of storytelling as a whole. He has pooled a thousand references to other works, from his years of research and study. From ancient mythologies and fairy tales (including Greek, Egyptian, Japanese, Chinese, Norse and African), to great literature and writers like Shakespeare, Poe and Lewis Carroll to the lyrics of modern rock songs, all are abundant in the stories of the Sandman."

Graphic novels take a lot of time to read. They take just as long, if not longer, than an equally sized book, which is something I had never realised. There's so much to take in, and so much story being told, and I am now a fan. I will be finishing up the Sandman series over the coming year. (I've a couple of brief holiday (and annoying exam) hiatuses coming up, which will stop me reading -- and blogging, indeed -- for a week or so at a time.)

For now, though, while I have time, I'm off to re-read The Doll's House ;)

*I do like art. I have no idea why I said that.