The Sandman: Overture Deluxe Edition

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What I think, while not necessary, it could be cool, it was to dedicate at least one issue of the six, forming the overture, to have the humans (at least the most relevan tones) here showing how their lives lead to the points where we find them in the main series. On his journey Dream encounters multiple aspects of himself forcing a bout of severe reflection and mediation, here forms the core group of an innocent girl rescued and Dreams feline countenance for an intensely personnel adventure. We meet the majority of the Endless, The Corinthian with his toothed eyes, Merv Pumpkinhead, Lucien and even the temperamental forces of the old dears, bless them. And certainly one of the most memorable pieces developed here is “the father” of Dream. Priceless. Standing ovation. Really. It touched my heart. (And I am not referring about the character in the story but his real identity). Morpheus must undertake a pressing journey to save reality and the ending of the tale is where the Sandman series starts. More than that I shall not say since this one is a must read for anyone who appreciates the brilliant talents displayed in this book. Where do they come from? where they present at the birth of the Universe? Will they be present at the final battle? How did Dream manage to lose his powers and become imprisoned before the start of the original run of the series? and, if the Endless are a family, who are their progenitors and why were they send out to play havoc with reality? Who wrote the rules of the game?

The journey itself, well that's something you'll have to find out about all on your own but safe to say, with chocolate sprinkles on, that if you've read the Sandman series then Overture adds a treasure chest of delights and awesomeness. And did I mention the artwork, genius stuff. Overture is at least technically a prequel to the Sandman series, and it ends with an explanation of how Dream came to be imprisoned by an evil magician in the first place. Well, some sort of an explanation.Delirium was “Delight” before, but you have already Delirium here. Destruction left his position as an Endless, but he already left here. Despair, the second one, is already serving as such. Overture brings Gaiman’s mesmerizing saga of the Sandman full circle, serving as both a prequel and a coda to the groundbreaking original series. Lushly illustrated by acclaimed artist J.H. Williams III, this stunning tale follows the King of Dreams as he travels across the universe–and into realms unbounded by time and space–on a fateful mission to prevent all of reality from unraveling.

However, I didn’t expect what I got in the sense of storyline. Don’t get me wrong. It was a great story, just not the one that I expected taking in account that it was a prequel to the main series. Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors. He, yet again, has produced a veritable piece of art. It works on many levels- superb artwork, wonderful plot and great dialogue are the cornerstones of this wonderful prelude to his epic classic Sandman series.I have to mention the artwork. Literary quality aside, writing aside, plot allegories and symbolism aside, this was simply stunning. By its own it is just extraordinary. The covers are so damn cool. I’m amazed at it. I became lost in it. I probably still am. I really appreciated all the aspects of this story. From the great cameo appearances by different members of the Endless (Dream has a truly fascinating family) to my very first introduction to Dream's mother and father-this was a welcome addition to my Sandman collection. The title gives it away as an "overture" in music is the opening part to an opera or it can mean an introduction for something more substantial (and the entire run of Sandman is quite substantial). The story and prose alone would have been enough to merit this a 3-4 star rating alone. But in conjunction with this truly beautiful artwork makes this a sublime comic. It's the kind of book I will grab off my shelf and show it to my friends. A meeting is held on a distant planet. Aspects of Dream from various sentient species are present and have been awaiting his arrival to investigate. After consulting the oldest Aspect of Dream and another figure known as "Glory of the First Circle" he learns that the cause of the wrongness is the insanity of a star which will spread until the universe itself is destroyed. Glory claims that Dream is at fault for the insanity. After the monthly series concluded with issue 75, Vertigo was in deep denial that Morpheus was dead and gone... sort of dead and gone. So, they released 'The Dreaming', a monthly Sandman spinoff, and several 'Sandman Presents', none of them written by Gaiman. He DID write the two 'Death' mini-series, but they appeared while 'The Sandman' was still going. Then Vertigo launched two more Sandman-based monthly series: 'Lucifer', based on the events that took place in 'Season of Mists', when Lucifer quit Hell and moved 'topside' to open a fancy nightclub, recently adapted as a shitty TV show; and 'House of Mystery', based on Gaiman's version of the classic series, relocated to The Dreaming. The main series left many questions unanswered and having an “untold” story set before the events of the main series, I think that was the perfect place to answer them.

A star has gone mad and has infected others with its madness, threatening all of creation. Dream of the Endless must put right something he left undone years ago. With him are a girl named Hope and another version of himself in the form of a cat...Here, we get to know the parents of Dream and his siblings! That alone was epic, but we also get the story behind why Morpheus was so tired/exhausted when he was summoned by Burgess and subsequently imprisoned. And it is fantastic (I don't think I need to say any more about Gaiman's ability to write memorable dialogue, bring to life impressive characters or create the most intricate worlds). So yes, this volume enables us to come full circle and I really recommend reading this one last. So far, you only have read my complains of that my expectations weren’t to be found in this overture, so you may wonder why such good rating of 4 stars…