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Title: The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country
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Manufacturer: Vertigo
List Price: $14.99
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| The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country by Vertigo Graphic SF Reader | A few stand alone stories are in this volume. William Shakespeare produces the first play that Morpheus has requested, and puts on a live performance in the wild for Titania and Auberon.
A man literally gets his muse from another writer, we see the Dream of Cats, and the final fate of an Element Woman who has had enough.
| | The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country by Vertigo Highly original and beautifully written | | Gaiman is an original in every sense of the word. The first couple of volumes I read in the "Sandman" series didn't impress me all that much, I have to admit. At least, not uniformly. But the average quality in this one is very high indeed. The four stories all share the theme of dreams, from a novelist enslaving Calliope the muse to provide ideas for his books, to a cat's revelation of what the real world used to be like, to a piece about a woman who only wants to die but can't (the only "comic book" story you'll find here, and the least successful, in my opinion), and the award-winning story of the first performance by Will Shakespeare's company of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" -- for an audience from Faerie (and that one alone is worth the price of the book). | | The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country by Vertigo Dream Country | | Excellent book, it is a few seperate stories but there is some background of the main characters not to be missed. | | The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country by Vertigo I dreamed that this volume didn't exist in the series... | When one walks into a movie theater, they expect to see a movie. When one walks into a pizzeria, they expect to be served pizza. When one plays paintball, you should expect to be hit by at least one paintball. So, one could draw the conclusion that when one reads any of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, you should expect to be pulled into a bizarre world where your heroine (or dark figure leading the show) happens to be the actual Sandman ... right? Apparently, the answer is closer towards the "no" theory than one could expect. I understand the concept of building a stage and allowing readers to see the entire universe, and not just one small figure, but that isn't why I purchased this series. I purchased it for the sole reason that I enjoyed the first two in this collective series. I find the character of the Sandman to be one of the greatest literary figures in graphic novels today. His words will entice, his patience will amaze, and his strength will force you to think of Superman as the weakest man alive. The Sandman is intelligence, boldness, and heroics all boiled together into one shaded character. He is the epitome of "cool", if one were to phrase it that way. Yet, why would anyone who loves this series think that without the main character, the central focus of the show, would a series be able to survive? If I had started with this collection, I don't believe I would have gone any further.
I know, I seem to be an odd voice in this collection that seems to have garnered award after award for possibly the dullest story ever dreamed by Gaiman. For those fan boys out there that are drooling over the ingenuity of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", I would say - not rudely - but get over it. Sure, there were moments of fun and inspiration, but for the most part this story seemed to go on longer than needed and gave this avid Sandman reader a chance to catch up on some well deserved rest. I had seen Gaiman twist the story of Shakespeare earlier in one of the early collections (I think it was when the Sandman was talking with his "friend", Hob Gadling), but I didn't think he would dedicate half a collection to the birth of an idea. Again, I am not knocking the creativity of the piece, because I saw the premise well, it just felt overly-dramatic coupled with an overall sense of "blah". It was too much for this reader to enjoy. I wanted the fantastical coupled with sinister, and before you say it, this just didn't have it. Sure, there were creatures, but they did not come anywhere close to what I witnessed in the first two collections. I just missed the tone that Gaiman had captured with his creation in the first two collections; obviously this was a completely different step.
How did I enjoy the other stories? I thought that "A Dream of A Thousand Cats" was decent, but again lacking that panache that lingered from the first two books. "Facades" was utterly fun, but diabolically confusing. Who remembers Element Girl? To me, it just seemed too outdated for the rest of the series. My personal favorite was "Calliope", a truly frightening tale of imagination that reminded me of why I am such a big Gaiman fan. It was dark and spooky all at the same time. It was the epitome of what the Sandman represents, then we are left with nothing more a ramshackle of other stories that don't fit the bill. They were a hit or miss with me, as I have read, it seems to be the case with other Gaiman fans. I wanted, and desperately needed, more Sandman. I wanted my character back. I wanted something to breathe life back into this short collection. For those of you wondering where most of the pages remain, there is a huge development of the "Calliope" story at the end which nearly takes up 20 pages. This was a waste of time and space. Obviously, this was the weakest link pertaining to the series.
Overall, I cannot suggest this book to friends or family. If one asks which collection they should start learning about our heroine, the Sandman, in Gaiman's eyes, I would tell them to stay clear of this collection. Dream Country may be giving us a hit of what is to come, but for me it felt tired, bored, and over inflated. While "Calliope" will pull you in, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" will confuse you to the point of insanity, or at least give you a good nights rest. Dream Country was weak, and it is obvious with the fact that there was what I like to call "filler" at the end of the collection. If one doesn't have anything worth saying, don't waste my time. This collection will anger any fans of the series that loved the first two. Read through this one quickly, and get to the next. I promise ... it will only get better from here.
Grade: ** out of ***** | | The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country by Vertigo An Excellent Introduction to Comics' Greatest Series | Let me just say that I have kids. They do things that kids are wont to do; make noise, make messes and generally prevent me from reading, my favorite pleasure. So I made a compromise; I wanted to read, but I couldn't get into a book, then I decided to get back into comics. Needless to say, I am a long time comic reader. Superhero stuff mainly. Characters from the DC universe (Batman is my favorite) and Kurt Busiek's Astro City were pretty much it for me.
But I got restless. I needed a change. Not that I've quit reading about superheroes, but I needed to broaden my outlook.
I've long known about Gaiman's classic Sandman series, but at the time, it just didn't seem interesting to me. But I asked a young woman who worked in a comic book store about it. She praised it and recommended the series. Since I didn't know anything about Morpheus or any of his siblings in the endless, she suggested starting off with Dream Country, in what is the third volume of the series.
To veteran Sandman readers, it's a brief collection of four short stories and the shortest book of the lot. But for the novice, it's a superb introduction to Neil Gaiman's brilliant storytelling and a nice way to ease into his fantastic world. I read the collection in a day. I then got the rest of the series. If you like good stories well told, superb characters you want to feel for and a taste for the different, look no further.
I would recommend Sandman to even the most jaded reader. I'd be genuinely shocked of they weren't won over. | | The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country by Vertigo Product Description | | The third book of the Sandman collection is a series of four short comic book stories. What's remarkable here (considering the publisher and the time that this was originally published) is that the main character of the book--the Sandman, King of Dreams--serves only as a minor character in each of these otherwise unrelated stories. (Actually, he's not even in the last story.) This signaled a couple of important things in the development of what is considered one of the great comics of the second half of the century. First, it marked a distinct move away from the horror genre and into a more fantasy-rich, classical mythology-laden environment. And secondly, it solidly cemented Neil Gaiman as a storyteller. One of the stories here, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," took home the World Fantasy Award for best short story--the first time a comic was given that honor. But for my money, another story in Dream Country has it beat hands down. "A Dream of a Thousand Cats" has such hope, beauty, and good old-fashionedchills that rereading it becomes a welcome pleasure. --Jim Pascoe | | The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country by Vertigo Amazon.com | | The third book of the Sandman collection is a series of four short comic book stories. What's remarkable here (considering the publisher and the time that this was originally published) is that the main character of the book--the Sandman, King of Dreams--serves only as a minor character in each of these otherwise unrelated stories. (Actually, he's not even in the last story.) This signaled a couple of important things in the development of what is considered one of the great comics of the second half of the century. First, it marked a distinct move away from the horror genre and into a more fantasy-rich, classical mythology-laden environment. And secondly, it solidly cemented Neil Gaiman as a storyteller. One of the stories here, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," took home the World Fantasy Award for best short story--the first time a comic was given that honor. But for my money, another story in Dream Country has it beat hands down. "A Dream of a Thousand Cats" has such hope, beauty, and good old-fashioned chills that rereading it becomes a welcome pleasure. --Jim Pascoe |
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