The Sandman: Dream Country


Although overall I enjoyed both The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes (Canada, USA, Europe) and The Sandman: The Doll's House (Canada, USA, Europe), the stories have always been hit or miss, for the most part. And since most of you had told me not to expect too much from the third omnibus, that everything kicked into high gear in the fourth one, The Sandman: Season of Mists (Canada, USA, Europe), I didn't come into this one with high expectations. Interestingly enough, thus far at least, The Sandman: Dream Country has been my favorite of the bunch.

Compared to the others, this omnibus is relatively brief, as it is comprised of issues 17 to 20, the original script of "Calliope," as well as an introduction by Steve Erickson. I was definitely looking forward to reading the World Fantasy Award-winning "A Midsummer Night's Dream." But in the end, I wasn't really all that impressed with it.

Illustrated by Kelley Jones, Charles Vess, Colleen Doran, and Malcolm Jones III, the art in these four issues was the best so far. And the Dave McKean covers continue to be fantastic.




Once again, the various tales are all over the place, with no main story arc uniting the four issues with the rest of the series. But I'm now getting used to this, and it wasn't a problem in this third omnibus.

"Calliope" is undoubtedly one of my favorite issues of The Sandman thus far. And being a cat person, I really enjoyed "A Dream of a Thousand Cats." "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was good, but I can't help but wonder why it won a World Fantasy Award. Then again, I've rarely agreed with most World Fantasy Award winners, so what the heck!?! "Façade" didn't look like it was going to be great until Death showed up. She is indubitably the coolest character in the series! Can't wait to learn more about her!

The Sandman: Dream Country was an engaging read, and I'm now ready to see the series take off with what everyone says is the best sequence, Season of Mists.

For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe

2 commentaires:

Tree Frog said...

No way, the coolest character in this series is Goldy. By far.

If I'm right, and I think I will be, pick up the Lucifer comics after this. They're sort of a spiritual sequel (in my opinion).

After a rather rough first few issues (the Basanos creation), it kicks into Seasons of Mist high gear for the entire series. Amazing stuff. Amazing art too.

logankstewart said...

I loved the entire series of Sandman. I read the Absolute versions, but they were awesome. And definitely things get way more interesting starting with "Seasons of Mist." Enjoy.