![]() The main story follows Dream, and the comic’s most famous and celebrated stories tend to put him at the center.īut much of the joy of The Sandman comes from how deftly and unexpectedly it builds out the world around Dream, in stories where he’s often just a supporting player. In general, The Sandman alternated between long narrative arcs and one-off stories over its 75-issue run. So what can I expect from the rest of the series? Overture is dense as hell, and I personally think Preludes & Nocturnes is still a better intro to The Sandman overall-but if you’d rather get the whole story chronologically, grab Overture instead. ![]() Back in 2013, Gaiman returned to the Sandman universe with a six-issue limited series called Sandman: Overture-a cosmic story that takes place immediately before the events of Preludes & Nocturnes, explaining how Dream was weakened to the point that a bunch of occultists could trap him in the first place. Wait! Come back! If you’re looking for a logical Sandman starting point, there’s one more option to consider. Preludes & Nocturnes it is! See you later! It’s not until the subsequent volumes that Sandman reveals its full narrative ambition-so if you’re a little underwhelmed at the end of Preludes & Nocturnes, I’d check out the next one, The Doll’s House, and see how you feel after that. And the central narrative is a little contrived and video game-ish, following Dream’s relatively straightforward quest to recover three magical trinkets. The artwork doesn’t really come alive until Mike Dringenberg takes over as penciller in issue #6. (Among other things, it contains one of the very best single-issue horror stories I've ever read.) But I should also note that it’s an imperfect introduction to The Sandman as a whole. ![]() It begins with Dream’s decades-long imprisonment-an essential story point with consequences that stretch to the end of the series-and chronicles his escape and his attempt to regain his powers in a linear, satisfying fashion. But if you’re still on the fence, and just want to dip your toe into the Sandman universe, go with Preludes and Nocturnes. Well, if you’re ready to go all in on The Sandman, go ahead and buy the first Omnibus. Two matching (and massive) hardcover volumes, titled The Sandman Omnibus, which collect the entire series. It’s a great resource for hardcore fans-but not a great starting point. The art is also completely recolored from the original comic-book run, which remains controversial among Sandman fans.įour matching hardcover volumes, titled The Annotated Sandman, which include detailed notes on all the allusions and references buried in the series. If you want to read the whole series, there are a few easily available options:ġ0 individual softcover volumes-beginning with Preludes and Nocturnes and ending with The Wake-which also give names to the biggest plot arcs of the series.įour matching hardcover volumes, titled The Absolute Sandman, which collect the entire series. The Sandman was originally published as a monthly comic-but today, you’ll have a better time reading it in book form. ![]() When you need to understand something, Sandman will make sure you understand it. Sandman is a pretty complicated story, but it doesn’t ask you to wrap your head around everything it’s doing right away. ![]()
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