My Dreamy Review of The Sandman: Overture

In the 90’s I was introduced to the music of Tori Amos and awakened a part of myself I never realized was sleeping. Her “Little Earthquakes” album is a confessional masterpiece as relevant to me now as it ever has been.  I remember listening to Tori’s lyrics and obsessively trying to decipher references that made absolutely no sense to me. These were the early days before the full potential of the internet was realized; there was no Google search bar for me to enter, “If you need me, me and Neil’ll be hangin’ out with DreamKing.”

Who was Neil? Who was the DreamKing? I would have to know that. 

Through interviews, CD inserts, and any other media I could get my hands on, I discovered Tori’s friend Neil Gaiman. He wrote a comic book series released by Vertigo (a DC subsidiary) called 'The Sandman'. I would, at Tori’s reverence, follow Neil down a rabbit hole that I have not yet found my way out of almost 20 years later.  

I started, apprehensively, with The Sandman. I wanted to love it because a comic book about a DreamKing and his anthropomorphic siblings known as the Endless (Destiny, Death, Dream Desire, Despair, Destruction, and Delight/Delirium) was an intriguing concept to me. I didn’t have high hopes of becoming a superfan since my respect for the graphic novel far surpasses my interest in the genre as a whole. Then it happened, I was fiercely entrenched. I had finally found my piece of the comic genre and it was wonderful.

Fast forward to present day and Gaiman is still telling me stories. Over the years, 'Neverwhere', 'American Gods', 'Ocean at the End of the Lane' (to name a few) have seasoned my literary palate for supernatural realism. Neil’s prose is unpretentious, yet fantastical. Harvesting a kitten from the earth in Neil’s world seems as possible as harvesting a ripe tomato from your  backyard garden. I love that I can share some of his stories with my 7 year old too. 'Fortunately, the Milk' and 'Coraline' are treasures to children’s literature and my son Jonas and I are both looking forward to our next Gaiman installment, 'The Graveyard Book'.

Recently, my superfriend/neighbor, lent me his copy of 'The Sandman: Overture', a prequel story (of sorts) that leads up to Dream’s capture by mortals and his imprisonment at the beginning of the original series. 

I began and devoured this masterpiece on a night that seemed made for a read like this...I even Tweeted about it and this awesome thing happened:   

In dreams and nightmares, there is hope and hope lost, there is confusion and clarity, there is happy endings and tragedy.  I had forgotten how terrifying and beautiful The Dreaming could be. Overture brought this to life in a unprecedented way with the illustrations by J. H. Williams III (artist) & Dave Stewart (color). I won’t pretend that I am an expert on comic art styles but I can say with humble certainty, that 'The Sandman: Overture' is more fine art than it is comic, though it is definitely that too. Neil’s gifted story tendrils weave themselves through the illustrations and together they create a dazzling transport into the astral plane. 

I have decided to keep going from Overture and follow 'The Sandman' through again.  After all, it was nice to see the Corinthian, Merv Pumpkinhead, and The Endless again. Things always get interesting when the mad stars are out.