It’s not quite the UCB library, but it’s pretty good.

I bet I have a few gems in here that UCB doesn’t too!

I am having a tough time writing about Brief Lives because it’s all about change, a subject that I have been dealing with a lot lately but still feel emotionally ill-equipped to handle. 

After noting last time that I would have liked a bit more about The Endless, I certainly got my wish. I really like Delerium, Dream and Destruction, the three who were focused upon in this arc but their stories all made me particularly sad.

I don’t know. It’s hard to come up with what to say about this as I am still internalizing that story. Perhaps you could ask me a question about it, sort of like an essay prompt.

Since I’m on a Neil Gaiman kick anyway…

Both Will Hines and Hal Phillips have told me that I’m at the point in which everything in Sandman is consistently good, and I trust their opinions so I’m not anticipating offering too much criticism at this point. Instead everything is going to be about what worked more or less well compared to other Sandman stories.

I am not entirely sure why the Convergence stories are grouped together. I didn’t necessarily see a unifying theme among them beyond the use of cultural mythologies to tell a universal tale. I thought that “The Hunt” was a lovely story, and it even overcame my disdain for a framing device that uses a youngster constantly calling bull on an old relative’s story. Actually, much of it was cliche but worked inspite of that, right down to the reveal that the story was about the grandfather. It contained some incredibly predictable moments but that didn’t get in the way of what was still a very cool tale.

I cared much less for “Soft Places.” While it was enjoyable it also felt incredibly unclear as to what the purpose of the story was. In some ways it felt like it was meant to throw off the reader, who at this point might think they understand the difference between dreams and reality, and say “Uh-uh-uh, you don’t know nothing.” Still I felt like there was meant to be a message that I just didn’t get.

I really liked “The Parliament of Rocks” but I attribute that primarily to my own interest in Biblical stories. I kind of loved that Adam rejected his second wife because he saw all that went inside of her. That’s such a bizarre but plausible scenario, following Bible-logic. I also really liked the chibi versions of Death, Dream, Cain and Abel that appeared in Abel’s story. It felt like such a contrast to the visual styles that have come up until now, but it still fit perfectly.

I have almost no opinion about “Fear of Falling,” which came before “The Parliament of Rooks” in my books (it was actually the first story of Vol. 3 but I’m writing about it last because it’s not labeled as a Convergence story). I did not dislike it but I felt like there was very little to it beyond the idea that one must try, whether they fail or not. It was a nice, important lesson but it didn’t move far beyond that.

While this does not come in the chronology of the Sandman stories as they are largely accepted, I did read “The Flowers of Romance: A Story of Desire” at the end of my Absolute Sandman Volume 2 book. I adored this story about the demise of a Satyr. Beyond being a sad but lovely story, the artwork is gorgeous. If you are a Sandman fan but haven’t read this, I highly recommend you find it. It was originally published in Vertigo: Winters Edge #1.

Books are beautiful. Hard copies of books are beautiful. I understand the functionality of e-books, and on occasion I will buy them if its a book that would be unduly heavy to carry around and I want at my disposal, or if I’m going on a trip and I want to have lots of different options of things to read, then I will get an e-book. But it really isn’t the same. Books are lovely. They are works of art that should be respected as such. Even books without pictures, it’s so much more intimate to read and touch a tangible book than it is to look at a screen. Even the plainest books have an erotic quality that becomes lost when viewing them from an iPad or a Kindle or a Nook or whatever device. Nothing beats a book.

These three issues were all in the right vein of story-telling that I enjoyed though none of them blue me away. Of the three “Calliope” was probably my favorite, though it made me very sad. The concept of muses always gets me down because I hate to think of anyone existing solely for the purpose of making someone else whole. Gaiman effectively honored that and made it clear that he recognizes what’s problematic about the personification of inspiration, especially as woman. One can only imagine what Homer put Calliope through to write his epic poems.

I appreciated the choice to tell a story entirely through the eyes of cats in “A Dream of a Thousand Cats,” though I didn’t care for how parable-y it came off. While I like it fine, I also feel like it presents the moral of the story in a way that I resent as a reader. 

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was fascinating. I like that it picked up on the interaction that Dream had with William Shakespeare in “Men of Good Fortune.” It was definitely fun to see a reason for why Shakespeare wrote some of his plays that feel out of place amongst his canon of works. As in “Calliope” and certain other issues I’ve read so far, I enjoy reading Gaiman write fiction about writers and the process of being inspired, particularly since I’ve read him write on that subject from a first person perspective via his tumblr. I would definitely enjoy reading more stories like the “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” issue, though I also appreciate it as being a strange little anomaly within the series. In that regard I have no opinion or hopes about whether it come back or if Gaiman should write his version of how other real authors came to write their tales.

These three stories bring us back to having clear and obvious ongoing plots. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I tend not to be as compelled as I am when I’m reading a lovely stand-alone issue like “Tales in the Sand.” Rose Walker has been introduced to the story and I take it that she will be around for quite some time since I recognize her from the famous “I hate love” monologue. If it weren’t for my foreknowledge that she says something that profound later on, I’m not sure that I would care too much about her or Jed. I really don’t know where this is going and I’m not sure how I feel about all of the business with Rose being a vortex or whatever. Those supernatural elements continue to interest me less than universal stories of humanity but at this point I totally trust Gaiman to make it work.

I’m in. “24 Hours” was the story that did it for me. I find this series most interesting when it’s about bizarre slice of life/human experience things that just happen to have this sci-fi aspect going on too. I really liked “24 Hours” for that reason. The sci-fi/horror stuff was totally there but it didn’t feel like that was the point. Bette, the waitress who is also a writer but keeps her writing secret was a perfect character for me and the diner offered a great place to see lots of different people in different situations. I hope the series continues in this direction. 

I still feel like not being a real comic book nerd does put me at a minor disadvantage when reading this. I have enough cultural literacy that non of the references to other parts of the DC Universe are really throwing me but I feel like I could get a lot more out of them the allusions if I had a fuller understanding. Knowing everything is hard.

At this point I don’t really care too much about the Sandman character. I’m much more interested in the human emotional side of things than any science fiction of fantasy that sets a backdrop. So I liked John Constantine in this. I assume his presence would matter more to me if I had a full understanding of his place in the DC/Vertigo cannon, but whatever. I still found him interesting here.

I think that I’m warming up to the series a bit more. There’s some bizarre humor here that I really like. The idea that Cain would kill Abel over not giving a gargoyle a “G” name—hilarious! I still don’t know where this is going but I like it and I’m all for continuing the journey.

I’m also invested in wanting to like it. I feel like half of the reason that people like or dislike something is because they want  to like it or not. Since people I respect like this I want to like it also. I’m also financially invested in wanting to like it since I bought this big leather-bound book which wasn’t a crazy investment but it still cost more than most books I buy. I must say that reading this out of a big leather book instead of off of a computer screen, tablet, or even individual issues does make the experience feel special. When I sit down to read an issue I feel like I’m reading with a purpose. While new technologies are great for making books more portable, one of the reasons I love hard copies of books is because it makes me feel like I’m really reading and paying attention. Plus since this is a graphic medium being able to really study the illustrations feels important.