The Sandman: Book of Dreams

July 29, 1996
Though he won the World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction in 1991, Gaiman is best known as the writer who transformed the WWII-era DC Comics character the Sandman from a Batman-style detective/vigilante into the much darker Morpheus, aka Dream, the being who presides over the realm of Dreaming. One of seven siblings who represent various states of consciousness--Destiny, Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair, Dream and Delirium--Morpheus is head of the allegorical family called the Endless. Here, popular fantasy writers expand upon Gaiman's original concepts, with mixed results. Colin Greenland's bittersweet "Masquerade and High Water" and Barbara Hambly's "Each Damp Thing" provide insights into the backstage workings of the Endless. Tad Williams's "The Writer's Child" is a finely crafted story about loyalty and the value of innocence. Weak spots include George Alec Effinger's resurrection of a saccharine Little Nemo for "Seven Nights in Slumberland," Lisa Goldstein's bland "Stronger Than Desire" and B.W. Clough's vignette "The Birth Day." Susanna Clarke's "Stopp't-Clock Yard" and a lyrical meditation on Death by songwriter Tori Amos close the anthology on a strong note; a b&w drawing by Clive Barker opens it on a garish one. Though perhaps most interesting as an example of media-crossover, this collection presents some powerful writing about, and memorable images of, the other reality wherein we while away a third of our lives.

January 2, 1995
Gaiman's very popular Sandman series (this is the eighth book in the series) continues with another tale of the Endless, the family of mythic cosmic beings that govern the psychic and physical realms of Dream, Desire, Despair, Destiny, Delirium, Destruction and Death. Morpheus, Lord of Dreams and the central figure in the series, is asked by his sister, the unstable and touchingly demented Delirium, to help locate their brother Destruction. Destruction abandoned his duties 300 years ago (about the time of the Enlightenmentnt), dropping out of sight after a prescient and despairing glimpse of the rise of human reason and its own destructive proclivities. The grimly ironic Morpheus and his whimsically erratic sister travel among the mortals of earth in search of their brother and ultimately learn something of Destruction's reasons for abdicating. Gaiman's works often follow the plots of classical and mythical narratives and Brief Lives, like his other works, can often look and sound as ponderous as a bad period costume movie. But his works are also driven by sharply drawn characters and his knack for capturing the patterns of intimacy, even in an otherworldly setting, can be affecting. Thompson and Locke contribute subtle and vividly colored drawings, rendered in an awkward but agile line.

Starred review from September 8, 2003
Now that he's a bestselling fantasy novelist, Gaiman returns to the comics series that made his reputation with this new volume of seven gorgeously illustrated stories. Gaiman specializes in inventing fantastic allegories for the quotidian, in a voice that casually shifts between uneasy realism and Borgesian grandeur. In Sandman cosmology, "The Endless" are seven immortal siblings who personify abstract concepts: Dream, Death, Destiny and so on. This work devotes a story to each of them, drawn in distinctly different styles by an all-star lineup of American, British and European cartoonists and fine artists. Gaiman is famous for writing to his artists' strengths, and he does so here. P. Craig Russell draws the surreal fantasia "Death and Venice" with the opulent brio of his opera adaptations. "What I've Tasted of Desire" is a darkly sexual fable, painted by Milo Manara in the style of his more X-rated work. A couple of the stories find Gaiman working in a more experimental mode than usual, notably "Fifteen Portraits of Despair," a set of anecdotes and prose poems accompanied by Barron Storey's tormented, abstract drawings and paintings. Longtime comics fans will notice plenty of inside jokes in "The Heart of a Star," but most of this book is a red carpet—or perhaps a Persian rug—rolled out for Gaiman's prose readers to see his visions turned into lush, dramatic images.

Starred review from November 30, 2015
Gaiman (The Ocean at the End of the Lane) and Williams (Batwoman) revisit the dark world of the Endless in this splendid prequel. Morpheus, the manifestation and master of dreams, has found himself embroiled in a galaxy-spanning crisis: a sentient star has lost its mind, and its madness threatens to unravel the universe. With the help of an earnest young alien girl and an alternate, feline form of himself, he sets out on a journey to set things right. Williams’s dizzyingly surreal work is perfectly paired with Gaiman’s famed wild flights of fancy. Infinitely adaptable, Williams’s dazzling art recalls everyone from Alphonse Mucha to Jack Kirby. Gaiman is in fine form as well—it is a true pleasure to watch him plumb the depths of weirdness that made Sandman a classic. This is a shining addition to a beloved series.

December 7, 2009
Gaiman's novella The Sandman: The Dream Hunters
, previously illustrated by acclaimed Japanese artist Yoshitako Amano, has been reimagined by award-winning artist Russell. This new release celebrates the 20th anniversary of Gaiman's Sandman
and turns the original prose from 1999 into a graphic novel. The original blended Gaiman's mythology of the Dreaming with traditional Japanese myths and legends to tell the tale of a fox who makes a wager to dislodge a young monk from his home, losing her heart in the end and causing the intervention of the King of All Night's Dreaming. The pairing of Gaiman and Russell—previous collaborations between the two have won four Eisner Awards—is as strong as ever; together they develop the tale further, visually expanding upon Amano's original designs. The hardcover—sure to please the legions of Gaiman and Sandman admirers—also includes commentary and a cover gallery including variant covers by Russell, Yuko Shimizu, Mike Mignola, Paul Pope, and Joe Kubert.