Sandman: Doll's House - Neil Gaiman
Volume 2 of the Sandman series. ( it includes issues #9-16 ).
I enjoy Preludes & Nocturnes and i find The Doll's House as notching it up higher in terms of great storytelling and visual feast.
The Doll's House follows a girl named Rose Walker who later learned the real identity of her grandmother, Unity Kincaid ( the hapless girl who spent a great majority of her life in a deep slumber in Preludes & Nocturnes ).
And later on trying to find her long lost brother Jed, at the same time Rose is being monitored by Morpheus aka Dream with her possibly being the "Vortex" that threatens the world and the dreamworld as well.
Hatched through the story are fantastic single-chapter sub plots and short stories that take us away from the action but also help refine the Sandman as character from long way back. The story telling is executed perfectly; never dragging and always perfectly paced.
I particularly like the totally unrelated story ( but it could be in the upcoming volumes ) "Men of Good Fortune", about Hob Gadling, a 14th century man who tried and succeeded in defying death, saying that "It's a mug's game. I wont have any part on it" ( referring to death ).
He then attained immortality. And from his initial conversation with Dream they agreed to meet at the same place once in every hundred years, eventually they both became friends.
But nothing will beat the great storytelling, horror and humor of "Collectors".
In this chapter, Rose Walker and Gilbert find themselves among a Cereal Convention but in reality was a "Serial Killer Convention, where lifelong criminals ( grass widow, psycho killer, candyman, nimrod, dark angel etc ) are gathered and engages in panel discussions in topics like "We are what we are", "Women in Serial Killing" "There is no sanity clause".
It's a humor laden chapter and a harrowing one as well.
The Corinthian: "the good doctor likes to skin people, Nimrod is a bone hunter. He can bone joint and gut any animal in minutes. For myself i have a penchant for eyes. And you know what we're going to do now, Philip?...We're going to take turns"
Not to mention Gilbert's retelling of a supposed to be original version of "Little Red Riding Hood".
*****
Over-all as i said, it keeps getting better. My sandman experience is turning out to be a great one, calls for more urgent needs to get my hand on the following volumes.
The artwork is outstanding, a "Visual Feast" as Bunnylette would say and i agree.
As one online review would say
"This is arguably one of the highlights of the Sandman series and sets the standard for what follows. The Doll's House seems to expand and improve with every reading and should take pride of place on the bookshelf of anyone who likes a good yarn, comic reader or not"
I enjoy Preludes & Nocturnes and i find The Doll's House as notching it up higher in terms of great storytelling and visual feast.
The Doll's House follows a girl named Rose Walker who later learned the real identity of her grandmother, Unity Kincaid ( the hapless girl who spent a great majority of her life in a deep slumber in Preludes & Nocturnes ).
And later on trying to find her long lost brother Jed, at the same time Rose is being monitored by Morpheus aka Dream with her possibly being the "Vortex" that threatens the world and the dreamworld as well.
Hatched through the story are fantastic single-chapter sub plots and short stories that take us away from the action but also help refine the Sandman as character from long way back. The story telling is executed perfectly; never dragging and always perfectly paced.
I particularly like the totally unrelated story ( but it could be in the upcoming volumes ) "Men of Good Fortune", about Hob Gadling, a 14th century man who tried and succeeded in defying death, saying that "It's a mug's game. I wont have any part on it" ( referring to death ).
He then attained immortality. And from his initial conversation with Dream they agreed to meet at the same place once in every hundred years, eventually they both became friends.
But nothing will beat the great storytelling, horror and humor of "Collectors".
In this chapter, Rose Walker and Gilbert find themselves among a Cereal Convention but in reality was a "Serial Killer Convention, where lifelong criminals ( grass widow, psycho killer, candyman, nimrod, dark angel etc ) are gathered and engages in panel discussions in topics like "We are what we are", "Women in Serial Killing" "There is no sanity clause".
It's a humor laden chapter and a harrowing one as well.
The Corinthian: "the good doctor likes to skin people, Nimrod is a bone hunter. He can bone joint and gut any animal in minutes. For myself i have a penchant for eyes. And you know what we're going to do now, Philip?...We're going to take turns"
Not to mention Gilbert's retelling of a supposed to be original version of "Little Red Riding Hood".
*****
Over-all as i said, it keeps getting better. My sandman experience is turning out to be a great one, calls for more urgent needs to get my hand on the following volumes.
The artwork is outstanding, a "Visual Feast" as Bunnylette would say and i agree.
As one online review would say
"This is arguably one of the highlights of the Sandman series and sets the standard for what follows. The Doll's House seems to expand and improve with every reading and should take pride of place on the bookshelf of anyone who likes a good yarn, comic reader or not"
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