Issue 13- The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes

comicscorner (53)in #steempress • 6 years ago (edited)

Issue 13- The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes

Welcome back to the Dreaming my followers. Walk with me as we start our retrospective of The Sandman in earnest. Now that we’re actually getting into the meat of the series, this is how it’ll go. I’ll give an overview of the entire arc, adding some trivia and added info of backstory if needed before giving my personal thoughts and feelings. Make sure to read my first post here as well to get some fun backstory to this series! Let’s begin the tale, shall we?

(Welcome officially to the retrospective!)

Preludes

The first issue covers basic world building as we focus not upon the eponymous Sandman, but on a cult attempting to capture death through an ancient book of spells in 1916. Unfortunately for them, but fortunate for the world they instead capture a pale man, Dream, taking his items of power and locking him away in hopes of gaining further riches or fortunes since their original plans were foiled.

The cult changes and grows throughout the years, with magic and murder following it’s members while the outside world sleeps almost dreamlessly, some even falling into an almost endless slumber.

Decades later, the son of the man who cast the spell, now an elderly wheelchair bound geezer, still begging, threatening, and telling Dream to grant him his desires, makes a mistake and finally the Sandman is released, wrecking a sleepless vengeance on his captor. Still, at the end of his first rounds of vengeance, he flees for his home, weak and lacking of his three items of power. A Helmet, a bag of sand, and a ruby.

(Vengeance is going to be a running theme with Dream. Eternal waking is not as fun as it sounds…)

After his minions, Cain and Abel, nurse him back to health and bring him home, Dream of the Endless starts his mission. He begins by summing three characters we’ll see throughout the series run in multiple guises. The Fates, the witches, the kindly ones or The Hecateae, these three woman come with various names and designs. Consulting with them, he finds where his items of power were carried too and begins his quest

Sand And Fire

The Sandman begins his journey meeting with John Constantine, the hell-blazer. This tale is told mostly from this British con artist’s perspective as our heroes find that Dream’s sand had been stolen by John’s girlfriend. Upon finding her residence, we quickly realize that the sand has become sentient, keeping Constantine's ex in a constant dream high while her body withered while killing unsuspecting people who lived in the house, reminiscent of a body horror.

sandman ew.jpg

(EWWWWWWW!!!!)

They find the sand and Morpheus, another alias of our pale hero, lets John's ex die peacefully in her dreams before retaking the first of his items.

The second would be a much bigger trial as his helmet was purchased by a demon. Traveling to hell, Dream meets with Lucifer, yes THAT Lucifer. Dream finds that he has to match wits with the demon who bought his helmet in order to gain his prize.

The fight however is not one of a physical nature, but one of shapes, ideas, and concepts. Reality is the battleground and the two shift shapes, constantly one upping the other. From spider to fly, ox to snake, they shift, growing to become a universe, a nova till the demon, Choronzon, decides to choose the anti-life equation, the end of all. Dream has only one recourse left. Hope.

sandman hope.jpg

(Hope is a powerful thing. Plus it's freaking amazing to beat Anti-Life with Hope!)

This proves to be the demons undoing and Morpheus walks away with his helmet, only one more piece to go and it’s in the hands of a psychopath. He also exits with a new enemy. Lucifer Morningstar is not one to be trifled with but we'll return to him later.

Rubies and Death

Dr. Destiny was an inmate at Arkham Asylum, if that gives you any indication of the kind of villain we’re dealing with. Using the ruby from Dream, he terrorized the Justice League on multiple occasions till he was brought to, well, justice. His visage had since rotted in confinement to that of a ghastly goblin and with the help of Batman's foe the Scarecrow, he escapes to find his gem once again, wreaking havoc on the world.

Dream meets with the current member of the League itself, and we find our first him that the ashen man we see is only how he appears to us, as when the Martian Manhunter first views him, we’re greeted with a fiery visage showing us that the Endless appear differently to separate species and peoples based on their myths.

In the meantime, Dr. Destiny takes a 24 hour diner hostage and turns it into his own personal den of entertainment and depravity all while his newfound powers bring the world into a sleepless, chaotic end. Rape, murder, he commits every sin imaginable on those unknowing diners till each dies painfully. It’s a haunting scene till finally Dream arrives, yet he too is fearful he doesn’t have the power to best this madman.

Till Destiny makes a mistake. He destroys the gem, releasing all of Morpheus’s power back to him instantly ending the struggle. Dream is not out for vengeance this time actually feeling pity for the mad villain, taking the doctor back to jail.

The arc ends with the introduction of the second of the Endless, Death. The Sandman’s older sister is portrayed as a young, goth woman with a fun, if quirky, attitude. It meshes hilariously with the currently dour Dream who’s was at a loss at what to do now that his powers have been returned and his kingdom is being rebuilt.

Death pretty much takes him aside and listens to his troubles before aggressively pointing out his flaws, that we as the reader might not have caught up on till now. She really doesn’t care for formalities as she lays into him how worried she was, all the while she humanizes the Endless, making them not feel so distant from our own humanity.

He then follows her as she goes on her business, taking the souls of the departed and in one tragic scene, that of a newborn.

(I will admit, this got me teary eyed.)

She wanted him to ask for her for help we find out. Or at the very least, have contacted her. There's real love and caring here from these anthropomorphic personification of universal concepts that's shown in a very human brother sister bond.

This gives Dream the kick in the pants he needs to ditch his brooding desires and start looking forward to his next quest.

Thoughts and Dreams

Preludes and Nocturnes is one of my favorite story-lines of the series. It sets up so many plot threads and foreshadows a lot of future events that when you look back you can’t help but acknowledge on future re-reads. And trust me, this is one series you’ll want to look through all over again, if not for enjoyment, then to catch everything you missed.

It’s a toss up as to my favorite part of this arc, between meeting Death and the demon battle. The battle was just so imaginative, with the forces of evil fighting, shifting to constantly one up the forces of good, till only hope remains. I’d be surprised if the Greek myth of Pandora’s box didn’t factor into the story but still, it was amazing.

Death might be my favorite side character of not only The Sandman, but the entire DC universe. For someone carrying the living to their eventual final resting place, she just always acts so...well perky. And fun yet at the same time her wisdom belies her youthful, almost rebellious appearance. And she can also call out her brother, chastising him for his faults, his pride that was part of his downfall.

It’s also at that point that we do realize that Dream, while being all powerful in his realm, does suffer from very human downfalls such as his pride and arrogance. He placed too much of his power into objects, which made him lazy. He threw a woman into hell for a reason that’ll become important as the story progresses.

These first 8 issues explore a lot of themes and concepts, fantasy and horror, all while setting up multiple domino's that will fall throughout the series. But my readers, this is where the story ends for now. Do make sure to pick this up if the story seems interesting to you, I barely scratched the surface of everything that happens! Next time I’ll have a fun article for you on some of my favorite, weirdest crossovers. Sweet dreams…