Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, dc, dc comics, neil gaiman, sandman, sandman overture, vertigo

Sandman Overture – Secret Wars Done Right?

Published Wed, 30 Sep 2015 11:00:02 -0500

There is an apocryphal story that a Marvel executive once described their comic book Sleepwalker as "Sandman done right."

But reading the final, wonderful, issue of Sandman Overture by Neil Gaiman and JH Williams, I was struck how much it reminded me of the recent Secret Wars series from Marvel.

Just, a more pacifist version. People who should not be together, forced together in an unnatural way. Though in this case, managing not to, you know, have a war. And solve their problems through dreams.

Because at the end of all things, destruction of world upon world, with those trying to save it…

…and failing..

It's the ultimate Ragnarok. But Dream, the definer of all reality, doing what is necessary to save it, this time around, both the god of all and the agency of others, unsure, goaded, and faced with the reality that not only is what he attempting to do very difficult but previously he has failed.

The stakes are higher, the likelihood of success is worse, and it ties into all the future continuity that we know of Sandman, the vortex star that he let live, the stones of power that can change everything, and the words spoken in those first pages of Sandman #1, echoing from the future waiting to claim him.

And each and every time, JH Williams drawing and painting the most extremes of presence, of play, stretching across the landscape page and demanding as much time be spent investigating each page as was spent creating it.

A masterly work of art and craft. Okay, it's Sandman done right… and that's what really matters.

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics, London. Who will be hosting the 2015 Jonathan Cape/Observer/ ComicaGraphic Short Story Prize exhibition, with a private view on October 15th, and an exhibition through till the end of the month.