The Sandman

An epic, surreal, slightly macabre, beautiful and thought-provoking series

by Neil Gaiman (and assorted artists)

Rating: Adult

Genre / themes: gods, mythology, alternate reality, psychology,

Art level: Variable. Distinctive characters, but a lot of people don't like the art. Very dark tones for most books, even though they are usually in colour.

Star Rating: 4.5/5


Number of Books: Was released in single comics, then twelve collected graphic novels. Four huge ultimate editions available, and a smaller Death one.

Other notes: Neil Gaiman is one of the Gods of writing :D

My Review
Gaiman's Sandman series was a long-running comic which opens up a clever, dark, often satirical world that is full of short stories of sad or ordinary or miraculous people, and is connected by the great deeds and brief appearances of the Endless - Death, Dream, Desire, Despair, Destruction, Destiny and Delirium.

 Sometimes the stories are tragic, or horrible, they focus on people's lives as they live and die, write books, touch magic, have sex, retreat from society. Sometimes the stories are utterly mundane, sometimes the characters save the world. Sometimes they're metaphorical - the famous writer who keeps a muse trapped in the attic, the woman who suffers a debilitating disease and retreats from society (but is actually turned into metamorphic warrior by the sungod Ra).

...and I just found this awfully fun dissertation on DeviantART looking at The Kindly Ones in the Sandman books.

The Sandman series is HUGE - the complete comics collection was recently released as the Absolute Sandman books - four enormous volumes bigger than my cat, and another for Death's miniseries. But it's also available in twelve 'normal' sized graphic novels, and a 'collected dustcovers' book. It was originally published - for years - in single comics, which can still be found on eBay.

The Absolute Sandman editions

Order the Sandman books from The Book Depository and get FREE shipping!

The Absolute Death volume is high quality and focuses only on Death herself - but it's also pretty short. It's only worth it if you can afford it, as there isn't enough exclusive content to make it worth buying for that alone. That said, the format is very nice, so if you can afford it, it's better quality than other options.

(Also, the price has dropped a lot on Amazon - it started out at $100!)

V For Vendetta

A clever and dark futuristic England, and the downfall of its dictatorial political regime

by Alan Moore

Rating: Adult

Genre / themes: Politics, freedom, terrorism, Guy Fawkes, Future England.

Art level: Basic, gets the job done. All black and white and quite small.

Star Rating: 4/5

Number of Books: One.

Other notes: Very thick book, a lot of writing and talking. 'Classic' of graphic novels. The recent film starring Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman was based of this book. Alan Moore also wrote Watchmen




My Review
Another book by Alan Moore, V For Vendetta was recently made into a fantastic film featuring Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman. Futuristic England is in the grip of fear and dictatorship, and V is the mysterious terrorist who decides to bring back the memory of Guy Fawkes and free England. A very good book, and again, like Watchmen, not for kids.

A thick book, with small black and white illustrations and a lot of text, this is a very interesting book to read and well deserves to be ranked up with classic novels (I'd put it well above The Great Gatsby for example!)

This isn't light reading, but it's one you'll go back to.

The film of the book

V for Vendetta (Widescreen Edition)

The recent movie, starring Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman, is one of my favourite films. It neatens up the storyline (of course) but is still very effective - dramatic, with sword fights and bullets, classical music and explosions, mysterious masks, government cover-ups, medical testing, plagues, people being 'disappeared', the Voice of London, murders, and imprisonment. And roses.

Three of my favourite parts include the explosions to music, the story of the woman who was questioned and executed for loving another woman, that Evey found (...for three years I had roses and apologised to no one) and of course V's entire speech from his very vivacious and veritably versatile first appearance:

V: Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villian by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. (he carves a "V" into a sign) The only verdict is vengence; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. (giggles) Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.


Evey: Are you like a crazy person?


V: I'm quite sure they will say so.

Fables

A new fantasy series about fairytale characters, and their refugee community in the real world

by Bill Willingham and various artists

(principal artist Mark Buckingham)

Fables Vol. 4:
March of the Wooden Soldiers

Rating: Young adult to adult.

Genre / themes: Alternate fairy tales, alternate universes, refugees, urban fantasy, modern world.

Art level: Good, coloured, western.

Star Rating: 4/5

Number of Books: Currently 14, nearly completed (I haven't been able to read the last couple of books yet).
 Also a spin-off series of nine books called 'Jack of the Fables'

and a single spin-off title, Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love


Other notes: Variable books quality and length, but gets into its stride later in the series. Worth reading as an entire series.

The Fables books are a very new graphic novel series, and definitely worth picking up. The books are extremely variable in both length and quality - but skipping any isn't the best idea, as there is an actual narrative storyline! The first book is probably the least impressive, but later ones definitely make up for it! (I wouldn't recommend the first book alone, but I strongly recommend the entire series)

Fables is the story of the Fables - story book characters, fairy tales and myths - Snow White, Baba Yaga, Bigsby (the Big Bad Wolf), Prince Charming, Shere Khan, Bluebeard, Geppetto and Pinochio, the major King Coal, and the frog prince, to name but a few. They are refugees, fleeing a terrible army, who have established a city in the real world and are trying to get by without being noticed.

Fabletown is initially run by the affable and portly major, King Coal, and his ruthless secretary, Snow White. Bigsby, oncet he Big Bad Wolf, and the son of the North Wind, plays the sheriff, and the rest of the fables make up the diversity of the rest of the community, that they try to keep in line and out of site of the Mundanes. All signed a compact forgiving past crimes, and swearing to obey the laws of Fabletown. The (visually) non-humans live up on the Farm, also a source of tension.

The books follow both their individual adventures (Jack, knave of many stories, from tarts to beanstalks, wanders off to make himself a movie star at one point, and the first book revolves around the apparent murder of Rose Red), the politics and life of Fabletown (an uprising on the Farm, Prince Charming's election campaign), and the actual war with the Enemy (both in their homelands, and when spies and armies invade Fabletown).

The entire published Fables series in order, from left to right