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After a brief discussion of Dunbar’s Number and how staying in touch means something different now than it did 10 years ago, I unwrap Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1 – just in time to read my physical copy for the second installment of my new Sandman Reading Club tomorrow night!
Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.
Episode 63 features The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1.
Tonight’s discussion focuses not only on Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman (1989) issue #1, but who Gaiman was as an author at the time. (Spoilers: he wasn’t very well-known!)
The Sandman (1988) #1 is not a perfect comic, but it’s an excellent one. The issue tracks Dream from his imprisonment in 1916 through his reemergence in 1988.
He does very little in those years, but the world changes around him even as some people sleep the entire time away and others never have a true dream. While Dream is imprisoned and they dream, his tools are stolen and dispersed around the world and his original captor passes away.
Gaiman’s script here is impossibly tight, filled with little details in every inch of narration. Sam Kieth’s art is memorable but a bit haggard at points – this is early in his career, still a few years before defining work on Ghost Rider or Maxx.
Some of Kieth’s long-faced, dropping facial work detracts a bit from the otherwise stellar issue – it’s probably not what you expected from Sandman based on the covers, later interiors, or Overture.
Today’s episode of Crushing Comics will be coming to you 12 hours later than usual, and it will be something very different than what I’ve been doing since the show debuted in November.
Tonight, I’ll be joined by my friend the illustrious FanGirl on a live broadcast where we will discuss and dissect Neil Gaiman’s classic series The Sandman, starting from the first issue!
Want to watch this all-new, all-different pilot episode? Tune in tonight at 8pm ET / 5pm PT / 2pm New Zealand time.
After yesterday’s unwrapping confusion, today I take great care to actually select an Absolute Edition from my shelf. As I unwrap, I talk about why DC is so under-represented on my shelf.
The book that I pulled is the second Absolute edition of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Since I have an imperfect memory of the stories therein, I discuss the World Fantasy Award the series received just prior to this run, and how that was a part of Sandman becoming the Literature of comics (all while Marvel and DC where at the height of the 90s speculation boom).
Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.
Episode 53 features The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 2.
I’m back for more unwrapping with new episodes every weekday!
Today I pull out my first Absolute Edition (of a scant few), but before I unwrap it I share my thoughts on how our hobbies grow to own our time. After that, I share some… let’s say, “vague” thoughts on the one Sandman Absolute from which I’ve never read any material.
Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.
Episode 31 features The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 3.
Not a fan of watching videos – or just not able to watch right now? First, did you know you can speed up YouTube videos? Just click the little gear icon to change the speed settings. I know that makes me much more apt to watch.
Alternately, you can keep reading for the full transcript. Please keep in mind that this season of videos is shot off the cuff with no chance to review the books ahead of time, so I might occasionally fudge some facts (usually addressed in the video by subtitles).