The Sandman comic series was created by Neil Gaiman in the 80s and 90s. I have so far loved just about everything that Neil Gaiman has written, from his novels, short stories, children’s books, and his collaborations with other authors and artists. I find his humor and craft of storytelling so captivating and just exactly my cup of tea. This comic series follows Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams. Morpheus is the guardian of the land of dreams, that place where we all go when we go to sleep.
Many years ago I started reading the Sandman comics on an iPad I owned at the time. It was a bit difficult to read it in that format because it was each individual comic that you opened up and scrolled through. Then, when I closed it and had to remember which file was next I’d always get mixed up and would be reading in a strange order that ended up being confusing. That’s when I decided that needed to own the comics in some physical form in order to fully enjoy them. And so, when I found the existence of the Sandman Omnibus I jumped at the chance to buy it…. until I saw the price T_T. I did not have a full time job back then so $150 for a book was quite steep for me. But when I got a full time job and there was a sale, I finally acquired the first volume!
I think I had the collection on my shelves for about 2 or 3 years before I actually started reading it this year. And that’s okay! I’m glad I waited because I think there are some parts of this series that I might not have been prepared to read two or three years ago.
Morpheus is such an interesting character. He is an Endless being who has the responsibility of taking care of people’s dreams. It might seem like an aspect of life that does not matter much; however, throughout the comics we learn that dreams really can have a big influence in our lives. If we have peaceful and inspiring dreams we can wake up and tackle the day much differently than if we had nightmares or if we never had dreams at all.
Take a look at Morpheus, isn’t he majestic? There’s a definite sense of drama and flare and power all around him. Love it!
Another character who is super interesting is Death, Morpheus’ older sister. She is a super sensible character who gives advice to Morpheus about decisions that he makes that might not have been the most fair or logical. She also is a caretaker of sorts to all the siblings (Dream, Destiny, Desire, Destruction, Despair, and Desire) since she seems to be the one who tends to try to keep the peace between all of them. We don’t see too much of the other siblings until the very end of this volume but I’m very interested to learn more about them and how they all interact with each other.
I also love her style, she’s very fashionable and the way she interacts with humans is also very compassionate and wonderful.
This might seem obvious but I also really enjoyed the art in these comics. There were so many creative ways that the panels are laid out. For example, here you can see how someone is falling asleep and the panels start turning until you are reading about what’s happening in the land of dreams.
As you can see above there are also some beautiful spreads showing the different lands featured in these comics. The artists are so good and I did find myself actually having dreams in these lands! Some of my dreams were definitely unsettling while others were fantastic and just full of great feelings.
Overall, this collection of comics is excellent. I loved all the stories that featured Morpheus. There were a couple of stories that were very difficult to read, some dealing with suicide, murder, abuse (of all kinds), and the endings for these were sometimes utterly heartbreaking. My favorite bits were the comics that dealt with historical figures and major historical events. I loved how Morpheus or Death would appear and interact with humans in these stories, which worked as a bit of background for why the main characters have made certain decisions.
I’d highly recommend this comic series if you are at all interested in mythology, history, dreams, and just awesome art and storytelling.
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