[Book Review] The Sandman: Overture

The Sandman: Overture / Neil Gaiman, J. H. Williams III, & Dave Stewart

A precursor of sorts to his original Sandaman series, though in telling the stories of Dream respect for time is more of a courtesy than necessity.  Not truly an origin story, but a story of what came before Preludes & Nocturnes.

Gaiman gives us a glimpse of Dream not just as an Endless, but as an Endless out of place with his family and the world around him.  We see the insanity of stars, the power of dreams, and the instability of reality.  The story is dark, about the destruction of worlds not just individual lives, but darkness is still expected in world where creatures such as the Corinthian exists.

The art is lovely, rich, and jarring, illustrating pictures of madness and unreality.  There's a saturation that doesn't exist in the original comics.  The art shifts and changes, both in style and orientation, delivering different realities.  I strongly recommend reading this in print, as digital pagination may interrupt the flow of art and dialog across two pages.  The one advantage of a digital copy is the ease with which you can zoom in to read some of the more decorative fonts.

I actually have the issues on my shelf, reading them long before I saw the ARC of the deluxe edition for request on NetGalley.  In much of The Sandman we get the story of Morpheus, and that of his siblings, as they interact and react to the mortal world.  The Sandman: Overture exists separate from our world, purely in dreams and worlds beyond our ken.

A definite read for fans of The Sandman.

Advanced Reader Copy copy courtesy of DC Entertainment via NetGalley; differences may exist between uncorrected galley text and the final edition.

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