“In my book Neil Gaiman can do no wrong so it was a short step from his fiction to the world of graphic novels. While I can credit Gaiman for my first exposure I have expanded since then to added many other authors to my favorites list, but it is the Sandman series I keep returning to, reading it little bits at a time because it exists only in finite amount and when I'm done, that's it.
I am also not reading the series in order due to the oddities of availability from the public library, so Preludes was the third book I read. I will also admit that not being a Fangirl I sometimes get a bit lost or miss references to comic book characters the first time around, but for me, these are books to be read once for pleasure and then again for nuance and meaning. I believe a fan could easily spend hours just pouring over the details in design and artwork. One chapter can be so dramatically different from another visually because of the artists involved but the books are pulled together by Gaiman's voice and vision. If that is perhaps less true in this first volume it is probably because Gaiman was still experimenting with the Sandman character and where he wanted to go.
Here is introduced the idea of the Endless and a man who tries to capture Death instead captures her brother Dream. This causes great harm to the world, but the Endless are nothing if not patient. Dream bides his time and eventually escapes and goes on a journey to recover the emblems of his power: his bag of sand, his helm, and his ruby. The sand he finds with the help of John Constantine, his helm has ended up in Hell and he has to outwit the demon who took it to get it back, and his ruby has fallen into the hands of past resident of the Arkham Asylum who does some very awful things its power before Dream confronts him.”
Michelle L wrote this review Wednesday, August 12 2009.
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