SANDMAN DELUXE, Reviewed By Matt Lowder

guest review by The 10,000 Comics Pyramid's MATT LOWER . . . . .

The Sandman, Volume One (DC/Vertigo, 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition 2018, #1-16 originally 1988) Matt's Rating: Five out of a possible Five Stars.

I’ve sat here for too long, wondering how to begin writing about this book. I really can’t do it justice, so I’m just going to begin typing. This is one of the few masterpieces in comic books. I was transported. Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman”, even taken just in these two arcs (#1-8 preludes and nocturnes, and #7-16 The Doll's House) represents a metaphorical, theological, philosophically-rich triumph I could discuss for hours.

I had heard about this book for ten years but was always put off by the illustrations. The style looked old to me. Not sexy. Garish, scratchy nightmares. And yet, once I began reading and got over it, I discovered this very style was the precise style needed to convey these places and landscapes, these metaphysical worlds between worlds. These wild ideas hypnotized me through a variety of pencil shading styles, use of negative space, and innovative layouts, overlaps, and paneling structure. It’s so strong that I think the book may look even better in black and white, or at least just as good. The bones are that strong. 

The emotional depth is staggering, and it demands to be read slowly as it challenges you to figure things out for yourself and interpret meaning as you piece each comic together, giving you another then another puzzle piece of who these characters are and why you’re eavesdropping on their lives – only to brilliantly connect them all together like a kaleidoscope that was curious and chaotic for several rotations to then suddenly snap into a crystal clear Mona Lisa.

I may not continue on with Sandman as I believe that the deluxe double arc of #1-16 is a perfect graphic novel that leaves plenty up to your own haunted imagination, but it’s nice to know there is more content here.

If this late 2021 Netflix show is anything like this first arc, it can be one of the greatest Netflix fantasies ever. If you enjoy The Cure (band), The Crow, Labyrinth (movies), Lucifer, Unwritten, (comics) The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neverwhere (Gaiman novels), Alan Moore (author), or simply enjoy lyrical prose perfectly interwoven with myth and layered upon fables, I insist you read “The Sandman.” It’s a literary masterpiece in comics. 5/5