Author: Neil Gaiman
The Sandman, vol. 6
My rating: 5 of 5
WARNING: Mature Audience
Late one night, a blooming artist faces his deepest fears. In September of 1859, a man writes to the paper declaring himself emperor of the United States. For one day out of the year, Caesar leaves his position and takes to the streets, disguised as a beggar, to think and plan beyond the attention of the gods. In 1273, young Marco Polo finds himself lost in a desert sandstorm, beguiled away from the path by voices–real or imagined he cannot tell. On his wedding day, the son of Morpheus of the Endless will find great joy followed by great sorrow, enough to change his existence forever. And through all these stories and more, the presence of Dream weaving through their realities, touching people and altering their minds and hearts–as is the wont of dreams.
Fables & Reflections may just be my favorite Sandman volume to date. It’s quite an eclectic collection. The first good chunk of it–several individual stories–is all essentially historical fiction, more magical realism than true fantasy, really. And I loved the way Gaiman wrote these stories, the way he wove Morpheus into these historical lives and the way he drew attention to lesser known historical figures. The story of Emperor Norton–of whom I had never heard before this–actually moved me to tears. From there, we move to what I would consider more traditional Sandman stories: a kid wandering into the Dreaming, meeting Matthew the raven, and hearing stories from Cain, Abel, and Eve; a highly stylized story of a ruler of Baghdad during its golden age; and perhaps most significantly, a retelling of the story of Orpheus spanning multiple chapters and tying him in with Dream and the Endless directly. The storytelling in all of these tales is absolutely top-notch–clear and insightful and beautifully phrased, basically everything I love about Gaiman’s writing. I also found the art in this volume to be more appealing than that which I typically find in this medium. It’s still definitely a more comic-book style, but the flow is nice, there’s a greater focus on the text (with fonts and such used to great effect), and the coloring is generally appealing; the art suits the stories well. For those who enjoy Gaiman’s writing, I would definitely recommend Fables & Reflection. It’s probably advisable to read the other volumes first, but this could probably stand on its own and be fairly easy to follow as well.
Covers & Design by Dave McKean/Illustrated by Bryan Talbot, Stan Woch, P. Russell Craig, Shawn McManus, John Watkiss, Jill Thompson, Duncan Eagleson, Kent Williams, Mark Buckingham, Vince Locke, & Dick Giordano/Colored by Danny Vozzo, Digital Chameleon, & Sherilyn Van Valkenburgh/Lettered by Todd Klein/Introduced by Gene Wolfe
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