I know I'm late. I have this pesky aversion to jumping on bandwagons. I only recently started to read Harry Potter for example. So, back in tha day when EVERYONE was reading Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" I avoided it like the plague, and read all my "Captain Carrot and the Amazing Zoo Crew" books. OK, not really, but I sure as heck wasn't reading that Sandman - no matter how much people said they loved it, or how much those "insiders" said it was redefining the industry. Nope, not me.
I finally broke down some months ago and picked up the first trade graphic novel thingy and promptly kicked myself in the ass. Why did I wait YEARS to read this sublime exploration of universal archtypes? Now I'm at the end, I have completed "The Wake" and it's done.. no more.. and I am satisfied.
The last couple story arc's weren't quite as good as the first, but still some of the best I have ever read. I mean, how can one top the Diner Scene will Dr John Dee (Dr Destiny). That was some mind-twisting deeply troubling stuff there. Or the sympathetic and heroic Wanda - the NY Tranny.
Gaiman wrote about the misfits, the marganilized, the troubled. He evoked a world where dream and reality interconnected and I was never quite sure which was what. The use of different artists gave each story a distinct feeling and furthered the feeling of a disjointed yet connected landscape.
Actually, I'm glad I waited to read this. I don't think I could have been patient enough to wait monthly for the issues. This way I got to enjoy them the way I would have a novel.
Now.. I just have to ponder what my next set of missed gems will be.
Posts
8 comments:
Oh, you like Sandman!! It's my facourite comic, every character on it is great, specially my loved Death. <3
I recomend you "The dream hunters", a collaboration between Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano. It's a tale of Morpheus in feudal Japan, and in my opinion is the best book.
Thanks nmlss!! I'll check it out next week when I haul my bottom to the comic shop.
Are you enjoying Harry Potter then? Are you reading it in the chronological order or last book first? :p
I loved Dumbledore, Hermione, Snape, young Riddle and the Weasley Twins. And ofcourse I liked Harry too. ;)
I'm reading them in order, but finding the time to settle in for a good read has been a problem lately.
For some reason, I'm really digging Ron's mom.
Ron's Mom is awesome, just wait 'till you read the last book... And Sandman, of course, is a pinnacle of comic book lit. Fiddler's Green writing on the ceiling, Ishtar's last dance, the story of Calliope? Breathtaking in scope, beautiful and horrific in turns.
Pellinore... that reminds me of King Pellinore chasing the Questing Beast for ever. I loved that character from T. H. White's "The sword in the stone".
Mizzy B, I like Ron's mom when she gets angry on her children. She can change gear very swiftly from anger to affection. You are sometimes like her.
~guess who :p
"...if I were King Pellinore, I would say 'what what, what?'"
~guess who :p
Ahh my long lost Sesame *hugs ya cutie*
Post a Comment