Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Sandman: Endless Nights

OK, so I'm sure I'm not the only person who rushed off to the comic shop yesterday to get a copy of this, but no-where does anyone seem to be discussing it. So....

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Well I have to admit I haven't finished reading all the stories yet (still got the Despair and Destruction ones to read) because I wanted to read each story at seperate times so as to really savour them. But I shall whitter about the ones I have read.

First off though the art. By gods, the art. Now when I saw the list of artists and the preview pages at the DC site I knew that we were in for some damn good stuff. Even that didn't prepare me for how good it is though. Obviously P Craig Russell stood out for me (but Russell is probably my favourite comic artist so that's no big surprise) but Glen Fabry amazed me with his Destruction story because all I've ever seen from him before were his Preacher covers and here his art is given so much more of a chance to shine. You get to see his subtlty and his detail and everything in a full length story.

Both the Dream and Desire stories look fabulous too. Perfectly suited to the stories they were telling and just beautiful to look at as pieces of art in their own right. The Despair and Delerium stories are very cool too, very different but again perfectly suited to the tales. The big shot of Del's face in her story is stunning.

And I have to admit it, even though I hate Frank Quitely normally his Destiny story is actually very good. i think possibly because he draws brilliant backgrounds and stuff and it's his people I don't like. the story plays to his strengths in a big way and so ends up being very good and a really nice way to round off the book.

OK, and then of course there's the stories themselves. I think (just from one reading) that the Desire one is probably my favourite. The Death story has my favourite art but I think desire just takes the prize for the story. Pretty simple but so damn clever and satisfying. You read the last line and just sort of go 'oooh'. It's a perfectly complete story told with a really great handle on when not to say something as well as when to say it.

I loved the Dream story in it's own right too but it has to be said that it was the one most obviously written for the fans. Getting to see the Endless when they were still young was great. We get to see the first Despair (who has only ever been mentioned before now) and Delerium when she was still Delight. Plus Death before she got happy and Dream and Desire being best friends. As with a lot of Sandman stories Delight/Delerium stole the story again. I loved the fact that she still had the wonky word baloons with the rainbow colours but slightly less extreme, and that her character was so close to when she's Delerium but just different enough for you to appreciate the change that she went through. I also loved the nods to the regular DCU, the whole Green Flame thing and Despair talking Rao into putting life on Krypton and the whole 'sole survivor of the race' thing. heh.

So tonight I'm going to go home and read the last few stories, and then probably re-read all the others as well. In fact I might have to have a bit of a Sandman weekend and read the collected editions too.

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Hey, Bev.

got this yesterday, too. As a matter of fact, I did a little dance around the comics store when I realized it was in.

Anyone who is a fan of incredible comics art should get this book, as the art is simple breathtaking. Even Quitely (and you put into words what I couldn't as to why it sutied him so well.)

Gaiman does some very innovative and daring things with some of the stories.

For anyone who fell in love with the Endless when Gaiman was writing Sandman, this book is a must-read. I agree with you, Bevis, that I liked the Desire story best. It was so interesting seeing Desire NOT be a total bitch, and Manara's ART just made me glow with joy. It was such a treat turning those pages!

You're right, the Dream story at the beginning of time was a gift to the fans and tickes them where they like to be tickled. However, I felt that it stood up better upon the second reading, and I like Killalla's story. (I also like the fact that the whole thing is told as a bedtime story from Sol to his daughter. Didn't pick that up so much on the first reading.)

Delirium's tale was the most Sandman-ish. For me, anyway. It reminded me the most of the large tales. I actually cheered when I saw Barnabas and Matthew. And I think the pictures of Delirium as the big fishie and the big portrait are my favorite renditions of Del EVER.

Do you think that that was Delirium's big change that Destruction foresaw at the end of Brief Lives? I think so, but my husband Lee does not.

So, what did this run? I'm finally picking up my last 3 weeks worth of books tonight. If my store has a copy and its within my budget I might just pick it up.

I think it was set as $25 on the DC website (£18.99 here in the UK, at least at Forbidden Planet) but it is a hardback and over 100 pages so it's not actually hugely expensive for what it is. That being said DC do have a policy that as soon as the hardback print run sells out they bring out the paperback version. With something like The Hiketeia or The Furies that means a wait of at least six months for the paperback but I should think Endless Nights will be out in a cheaper version pretty darn soon.

And *that* being said I would also say it's worth getting it in hardback. I don't often bother with hardback comics because, well, paperbacks are cheaper. The only two I've ever got were The Furies and Wonder Woman: A League of One and both of those were mainly because of the art and the quality of the printing and such. Endless Nights I think is the same thing, the size of the book, the quality of the printing and the satisfaction of having a big hardback book full of great stories outweighs any qualms I have about it costing twenty quid.

It was 24.99 American dollars for me.

I thought for what I got it was an INCREDIBLE value.

Hmm. A little tight to fit into the budget right now but I'll make the call when I get to the shop. They usually order so few of these kind of things that if they still have one left I'll take it as a sign I was supposed to have it.

I got the "preview" a few weeks back with the Dream story illustrated by Prado, which I loved. I especially appreciated all the references to other DCU ideas (Rao/Krypton, Oa, etc.), as well as the soft, dreamy quality of the art.

I don't think I can afford the hardcover, though -- I'll probably just wait for the TPB to come out. (I got the JLA/JSA Virtue/Vice hardcover a while back, and though I enjoyed it, my wallet ached a bit when when I saw the TPB the other day...)

As I already mentioned in the Back from the Comics Store thread my shop didn't have a copy left. So I'll probably wait for the TPB as well.

Well, if they're bringing out a TPB for sure, I'll probably wait. I didn't pre-order thisbecause I got burned (I felt) on that manga Sandman book. Should have known better, because I don't enjoy most manga. This after blowing $$ on some Edgar Allan Poe hardcover that Vertigo put out with photo-art, which was no more than sort of interesting.

However, your comments here make Endless Nights sound worth the expense.

I was going to get the EAP book by Vertigo, being a big Poe fan and collector. But I just couldn't justify the cash at the time. So was the art that bad?

Not bad, just a bit odd for my tastes. It did have a dark and gloomy feel to it. If you want the book, Scott, it's yours (pm or email me). Otherwise, it's going in the animal shelter sale bin. It's probably not something our local library would put on their shelves - they aren't big on graphic novels.