The Sandman comics

Previously, I watched the first season of The Sandman on Netflix, and fell head over heels. So obviously the next step was to check out the comics. 

I read a bit of the beginning online, but I felt like this degree of love called for doing it properly. Which meant sitting down with some nice proper books, and to have something to display in my bookshelf afterwards. 

After a bit of research I decided on the Deluxe Edition, a set of five hardcover books. And boy, it took some work to find them. Both in the form of lots and lots of googling, and visiting several different book stores in Oslo. I guess this was caused by 1) I live in Norway, 2) niche topic, and 3) but not quite as niche as it used to be after the TV show release. This might also be the most money I have ever spent on comics in one go I think!

Now, a few weeks later, I'm finished with the original run. I still have the last bit of book 5 left, but I'll save that for later. I just wanted to write down some of my thoughts.

I really, really enjoyed the comic whenever it actually focused on Dream and his family. He's a really interesting character to have as – if not the protagonist – the title character. But, I kinda suffered through all the side stories and short stories until the story felt like it got back on track. The bit with the people stuck in the inn at "the world's end" and telling each other stories went on for way too long, and I didn't see the point of it. The Shakespeare stuff I never understood, but I assume that was caused by some skim reading (forgive me). It was really fun to see Hob again though, after his initial appearance in "men of good fortune".

A while into the story there was suddenly an art style change, which I actually didn't mind at all. I kinda liked the stylised look, and it almost felt more odd when the style switched again right at the end. 

I also got spoiled about the ending very early on, probably before I even started reading. That's the risk of looking stuff up online. Maybe it was good that I was prepared for the end, though? I loved the arc of Delirium and Dream looking for their brother, and I didn't expect it to take that dark turn when it did. The story that followed afterwards got progressively darker, and the mood leading up to the end just had me sitting there all anxious the entire time. I wonder if I would have been even more anxious if I hadn't known.

When the end did come, I got a bit sad, but didn't start bawling until the line "the king is dead, long live the king". Then I cried some more after Hob told Death he still wants to live. Omg <3 Though, it really hurts to think about that Hob's one, constant friend is now gone.

Some final thoughts: I really wonder if I would have liked these comics if I read them back when I was 17-18? That seems like a time where I might have tried reading these, if I heard about them for whatever reason. But would I have been put off by all the side stories? Or maybe I would have been told to stick with it by some random blog post or something. We'll never know, but I'd like to think so.