The Sandman: Endless Nights - Hardcover

Gaiman, Neil; Fabry, Glenn; Klein, Todd

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1401200893 ISBN 13: 9781401200893

Publisher: Dc Comics, 2000

Synopsis

Presents a collection of seven graphic stories that feature the character known as "The Sandman" who rules over humans as they sleep.

About this title

Review

With The Sandman: Endless Nights, bestselling author Neil Gaiman returns to the characters (and medium) that made him famous. It's a collection of seven short stories, each illustrated by some of the best artists working in contemporary comics (eg, Frank Quitely, Glenn Fabry and Milo Manara) and focusing on the Endless--the anthropomorphic manifestations of seven universal concepts: Death, Desire, Dream, Despair, Delirium, Destruction and Destiny. So, it's a collection of fantasy stories, but don't let that put you off. Gaiman is much more than a typical fantasy storyteller--his strength has always been his ability to ground his epic concepts within a sympathetically human framework. That's one of the reasons why the original Sandman series was so successful--nowadays, thanks to the work of creators like Neil Gaiman (and, of course, Alan Moore), it's difficult to remember a time when comics (or graphic novels, or sequential storytelling, or whatever people want to call them nowadays) weren't taken very seriously as a "grown-up" medium.

That said, Endless Nights is a bit hit and miss. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the best story here is Dream ("The Heart of a Star"), where Gaiman and artist Miguelanxo Prado revisit the Sandman's protagonist and tell a short, poignant love story from the character's past, carefully constructed to please fans without baffling newcomers. "15 Portraits of Despair", with Barron Storey's art and Dave McKean's designs, is not a story but a collection of darkly-toned, disturbing vignettes, while Bill Sienkiewicz's art for Delirium ("Going Inside") is appropriately manic and unhinged. But, unfortunately, some of the stories here lack any real depth: Frank Quitely's art for Destiny ("Endless Nights") adds a grandiose scale to a story that is little more than a character sketch (albeit a beautiful one), while the Destruction story ("On the Peninsula") squanders what could have been an interesting idea if Gaiman had had more time and space to flesh it out. Still, Endless Nights should be enough to keep Sandman fans happy, while acting as a useful introduction to these characters for any newcomers. And if it gets more people reading Sandman, that can only be a good thing. --Robert Burrow

Review

"...a classic collection of fantasy tales with stunning illustrative work by a host of top artists..." -- Sunday Mercury Birmingham 6 February 2005

"Gaiman has definitely not lost his touch on the series which made his name..." -- Go! Essex Chronicle, week ending November 12 2004, review by Matt Adams

At once part of a wonderful comic tradition, and also a great collection of illustrated short stories. -- Guardian, October 25 2003

Wonderful Sandman moments .... beautiful artwork ... an exquisite treat for Sandman fans. -- Dreamwatch. issue 111

Edition details

• Publisher: Dc Comics
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1401200893
• ISBN 13: 9781401200893
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Manara Milo, Prado Miguelanxo, Quitely Frank, Russell P. Craig, Sienkiewicz Bill, Storey Barron
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160
• Editor: Berger Karen, Bond Shelly, Huehner Mariah, Cunningham Terri, Didio Dan