First, can you truly spoil something that was published 16 years ago?

Anyway a while back I posted this thread:

Gaiman's Sandman-Worth Reading?

In it, I solicited opinions on what readers thought of this series, to see if it was something that I might want to read. After a few responses, I decided to go for it, and start reading this title.

So here I sit, nearly finished with the second trade, The Doll's House. I am about to read the final issue, and I just wanted to share my experience so far.

The first trade was masterful. It kept me intruiged from begining to end. Reading about Dream being captured, escaping, and then working to reclaim his realm, and his place in it was mesmerizing, to say the least.

The second trade hasn't been quite as good, but it's still been enjoyable. To date, though, it contains what has to be my favorite issue-the story about the the guy that Morpheus meets with every 100 years was really touching, and deep.

I'm looking forward to the other 9 trades.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank those who responded to my question. If I haven't repped you yet, it's coming.

You'll be seeing more of Hobbie over the other TPB's. He's a fantastic character and one of those "Wonder what they're up to now?"-types that you remember from great comics and usually never see after the title ends.

Sidebit - the "missing serial killer" you just read about actually died off in Alan Moore's "Swamp Thing" run. There's also a short story related to the events in the Sandman short story collection (which also includes a great short story crossover between "Little Nemo in Slumberland" and "The Sandman").

"Doll House" also includes the first time we saw Hector Hall and Lyta after "Infinity, Inc." but - and if you're familiar enough with comic history that I'm babbling, I apologize - also puts Hector into the role of Simon and Kirby's Silver Age "Sandman" character (Glob and Brute were from that series as well).

I assume you caught it but Unity was also in the first TPB. The events of "A Doll's House" may seem a bit "dreary" compared to the first TPB but I promise you they have some of the most far-reaching events for the series.

Oh, and being she was the "fame character" of the series, how did you like Death?

I got the sense that he was a good character. But the whole concept of his relationship with Dream is cool. I look forward to seeing how this develops.

I assume that by "missing serial killer," you mean the guy who was the guest speaker and never showed? Interesting! Before all is said and done, I may have to look into getting Moore's Swamp Thing run, too.

Yeah, I was somewhat familiar with Hector being Sandman for awhile. But after reading this last night, I did a little more research on the whole Sandman thing. Unfortuantley I came across a spoiler that I wouldn't have wanted to know. But I'll live.

Yeah, I caught that Unity was was in the first arc. I thought one of the best things about this arc, was the fact that she was the Vortex, and that it had skipped her. I thought it brought Rose's significance to bear in a very strong way, after the stroy focused on her so much. What I really thought was awesome, was finding out Jed's importance to the previous Sandman stories.

I read the final issue after I posted this thread. It wrapped everything up nicely, I thought. As I stated, it was still a great read, I just enjoyed the first arc better.

Death was cool. It's nice to see this depiction of her-as a free spirit who knows the importance of her role, but yet still finds the time to provide support for her brother. Desire, was cool too. Seems to me that he/she is a very mischevious entity.

Just wait until you get to Delirium (especially in the "Brief Lives" arc later on down the road ).

The Dolls House is designed as a break between the first Preludes and Nocturnes, and Season of the Mists (which has a couple of cameos of the JSA fighting Ragnorak, and a couple of other things, Thor with the Hammer joke etc).

Alan Moore's Swamp Thing is now all in trades (I think), it has some really interesting ideas in it. When you come to read those let us know. They are not required reading, unless you want to see what John Constantine should really have been like in the movie.

Back to Sandman, my home town is mentioned in Sandman, when he visits Satna on the beach. The sunset line is very funny and true.

Welcome to the rollercoaster, you are in for a ride. The other thing to do is once you have finished it, track down a copy of the Sandman Companion, and re-read the issues with the Companion, it points out a lot of references that you miss the first time round.

Well I am most certainly am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. I picked up the third trade today, but it will be awhile before I get to it.

I started the Marvel Zombies trade today, and will follow it up with the Essential X-Men vol. 7, before I get to volume 3. So much good ####, I can hardly contain myself.

Disclaimer: According to a couple of Morons, I'm a DC Zombie...please forgive a few trespasses, en route on my path of enlightenment.................

Congratulations at discovering Sandman. I remember first reading the entire series in a single night while housesitting for a woman with an incredible comic collection (every. single. issue. of X-Men). That was a long night!

The great thing about reading that series is that Gaiman never really forgets a good character or opportunity. An apparently incidental character from The Doll's House is the focus for an entire storyarc later on, and it's among the most chaming, realistically human, and tragic stories of the entire run.

There's also a good number of single-issue stories such as the one featuring Hobb - A Dream of a Thousand Cats (in Dream Country) is one of the most popular. A Midsummer's Night Dream won the World Fantasy Award.

Dream Country, Fables and Reflections, and World's End are all collections of such short stories. Many of them feature characters you've met previously (and the deeper exploration of their lives) or tie into the overall story in an enlightening way.

I'd also recommend that you check out Sandman Mystery Theatre. It's only tenuously connected to the Dreaming mythology, but it's an underappreciated series with three-dimensional characters and subtleties in the narrative. One special, Sandman Midnight Theatre, serves as a 'crossover" of sorts between the stories of Morpheus and those of Wesley Dodds.

"Game of You" is my favourite arc in the series and builds on what seems liek a throwaway character in Doll's House. Doll's house is also one of the last complete arcs that Dringenberg was artist on, so its regarded fondly by me (I hated Jones' art and was glad when he left the series).

The Next Trade "Dream Country" has three of the best issues in the series and ironically the absolute worst ("Calliope"). There's an interesting inclusion of the script with notes by Jones here you can see it's actually a decent story, but Jones nearly completely ruins it with some of his choices.

Brief Lives is still my Favorite Trade/Storyline. In case you haven't caught any spoilers I won't mention the name of the character being looked for, but it's a marvelously apt story for it.

Tarnish

Oh and if you liked Lucifer in Preludes, he pops up semi often, and in fact has an excellent Mini series and a concluded (ended on purpose like Sandman) monthly series that I enjoyed about as much as Sandman. But finish Sandman first as it's all set after the end of Sandman.

Tarnish

Yeah, I can't reiterate enough how wonderful LUCIFER is as well. That whole series itself makes my top ten alltime reads. While it's not as lyrical and wholly throught-provoking as SANDMAN was, I actually think it's a much more entertaining and kinetic read than SANDMAN was. I can see myself re-reading LUCIFER more than Gaiman's opus, even though I think SANDMAN is still the best comic I've ever read. If that makes sense to anyone.

So the Dream Country trade was a mixed bag for me. I liked the stories involving Calliope and Rainie, but didn't care too much for the Mid-Summer Night's Dream or the cat story. Though I must admit, having Dream suggest the Mid-Summer Night's Dream to Shakespear. It'll probably be awhile before I get the fourth trade. Currently, I'm reading Watchmen. I ordered Essential X-Factor, and Superman for all Seasons, and will be reading those following Watchmen.

I dont remember which trade its in (the earlier issuea as Sandman still had DCU connections), but the one where Dr. Destiny appears still ranks on "my top 10 creepiest comics ever read" list.

Unless he appears later on in the series, that happens in the first trade. So far, it's my favorite of the three that I've read, but they all have been good.

Hey Darth

Actually the missing serial killer is the one who the journalist impersonates. I think it's Swamp Thing 31 and 32 or around there where the killer meets his demise.

Ya know the funny thing about this thread is sort of a story for me. Long ago, someone was storing my comics for me (another long story) but he fell in love with Sandman and convinvced me to trade the comics for the graphic novels and a bunch of Spirit comics. I was a fair trade, but I was never really happy with it (I'm a bit of a hoarder/pack rat.) Two weeks ago, I was surfing Craigslist and somebody was selling the whole Sandman run for $75. I considered it a steal (especially since it included both Death miniseries, and about 20 or so misc. Vertigo books). Soo anyhoo, I've been rereading the series over the last couple weeks, and it still rocks. I loved Dream of a 1000 Cats. The death of Element Girl was incredible.

One of the real beauties of the series was ALL the misc. DC history that was tied in. Did you know that Gregory the Gargoyle first showed up in Blue Devil of all places (where Cain and Abel were also regulars)? Did you spot Claw and Stalker in the Inn at the Worlds End? I could go on, but Sandman was a treasury of Easter Eggs for those who've read comics for a long time (like me, and I assume you too, Johnny.)

Enjoy.

My only complaint is that the trades don't present the story as it came out in comics. Stand alone stories are collected in different trades. It's not the same rhythm as originally presented. Minor quibble.

One last note: Sandman got my stepdaughter to read comics I've had a positive influence in her life!!!