The Kindly Ones
Aug. 20th, 2022 06:26 pmIn which the story of Morpheus, Dream of the Endless, reaches the end it's been clearly aiming for since at least Brief Lives, if not Season of Mists.
I remember disliking the art the last time I read this. Or, not disliking exactly, but thinking it wasn't good enough. It's certainly not photorealistic or drawn-from-life or representative or whatever you call it. "Art deco-ish," I said when I loaned it to Chris, and it is, all sharp angles and solid colours. But it's also exaggerated proportions and bold lines. And it works for the story, it drew me in and it didn't detract and probably added to the mythic feel.
I dunno. It's too big to talk about, especially since it's been so long since I've read the rest. Thirteen issues, drawing heavily on everything that's come before, some of which I remembered and some of which I didn't.
It's basically successful, I think. It reads like a coherent fully-constructed narrative, which the first two didn't; it has actual consequences, which A Game Of You and to some extent Brief Lives fell down on. It probably is the best of the arcs but it relies so very much on what's come before for that impact... it's like saying "The Sound of Her Wings" (tv or comic) is the best Sandman story, but it means so much less without the rest of Preludes.
It's worth reading the rest of Sandman for, though the rest of Sandman is generally good in its own right (my grumpiness aside).
Presumably I'll reread it again sooner than twenty years, this time.
(Not to say that I'm done. There's still The Wake, plus ancillary material: the Death stories, Dream Hunters, Endless Nights, and finally a first-read of Overture. Oh, and I scored a copy of Dust Covers recently as well.)
I remember disliking the art the last time I read this. Or, not disliking exactly, but thinking it wasn't good enough. It's certainly not photorealistic or drawn-from-life or representative or whatever you call it. "Art deco-ish," I said when I loaned it to Chris, and it is, all sharp angles and solid colours. But it's also exaggerated proportions and bold lines. And it works for the story, it drew me in and it didn't detract and probably added to the mythic feel.
I dunno. It's too big to talk about, especially since it's been so long since I've read the rest. Thirteen issues, drawing heavily on everything that's come before, some of which I remembered and some of which I didn't.
It's basically successful, I think. It reads like a coherent fully-constructed narrative, which the first two didn't; it has actual consequences, which A Game Of You and to some extent Brief Lives fell down on. It probably is the best of the arcs but it relies so very much on what's come before for that impact... it's like saying "The Sound of Her Wings" (tv or comic) is the best Sandman story, but it means so much less without the rest of Preludes.
It's worth reading the rest of Sandman for, though the rest of Sandman is generally good in its own right (my grumpiness aside).
Presumably I'll reread it again sooner than twenty years, this time.
(Not to say that I'm done. There's still The Wake, plus ancillary material: the Death stories, Dream Hunters, Endless Nights, and finally a first-read of Overture. Oh, and I scored a copy of Dust Covers recently as well.)