Vertigo: The Sandman

Be honest with me here Sup Forums, is it worth the read or is there better to offer?

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I'm only sad that the Endless aren't canon to the greater DC universe, any DC universe.

Wasn't Dream recently in one of the Dark Knights: Metal releases? Or was that something else?

Yeah, he plays an important role in Metal.

Just read it OP, there's a reason it's one of the most highly acclaimed comics of all time. It's unlike anything else.

it's uneven
there's a bit of everything

I got kind of #triggered by the trannie stuff but otherwise I enjoyed it

Where is a good place to buy some of the issues? Or should I just find a torrent?

Tranny stuff?

>Where is a good place to buy some of the issues?
Amazon I guess for online, but anywhere that sells comics sells Sandman. My LCS, which is a glorified MTG and Warhammer shop has 4 or 5 people currently buying through the owner's stock about as fast as he can put it in. It's really easy to find, but it'll cost you about $200 for all 10 volumes.

They're canon, but they're not used often.

There's a trans character in an arc which involves witches and sorority. The triggered user is a retard, don't pay attention to him.
Try to not get spoiled in this thread tho, you should read it as soon as possible.

The tranny gets shat on and put in his place by the literal embodiments of gender itself.. Based Gaiman.

Fuck off illiterate retard.

The two choices are not mutually exclusive, user. It is both worth the read and not as good as some other comics.

don't go in to it with any expectations. if you do, you'll get bogged down.

by the way i loved it and the sandman is the reason neil gaiman is most valuable comic writer other than alan moore and provided Mike Carey the opportunity to write Lucifer, which was also a great comic

It's a great read if your knowledge of general culture is above average.

>$200 for all 10 volumes.
only if you are getting the Absolute versions. The omni is half that

It's easily among the best there is.

Very few other comic could reach the bar it set.

OP's question wasn answered, I have one.

I loved Sandman and Lucifer to death, am currently enjoying Delano Hellblazer, Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, am almost up to date on all things Hellboy and am waiting for Monstress to start coming out again.

What other comics should I look into? I haven't read much more than these, just 100 Bullets, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Transmet or other Gaiman comics. I don't like superheroes as a rule but am not dumb enough to refuse to try specific recommendations. Also, I know everyone recommends Moore's Swamp Thing specifically, but are there other runs worth checking out if I enjoyed that? Does Hellblazer maintain quality well? I'm looking forward to Carey's run but don't like the idea of skipping over everything.

What comics do, in your opinion?

keep up with those old Vertigo stuff, Books of Magic and Lucifer should be added to your list, and some new Vertigo like Shade the Changing Girl.

For some current Image books I recommend The Black Monday Murders and Seven to Eternity

But they ARE canon... They just don't get used a lot because Gaiman has a say in how the characters are used, which stops the shitty writers from using them, and because people hold them/Gaiman in such high regards that they don't want to use them willy-nilly.

The issues focused on the Endless are pretty great, the rest will either make you fall asleep or will be top tier material.

>I got kind of #triggered by the trannie stuff but otherwise I enjoyed it
Now that you mentioned it both Sandman and Lucifer have a surprisingly big amount of fags, dykes and trannies, it's like one in every five women is dressed like a prostitute.

>Does Hellblazer maintain quality well?
I remember a massive slump as John went to America which pretty much everyone agrees was shit, and then it really shits the bed at the last 30-50-ish issues, but that might be more of a personal thing.

As for what else to read... Locke & Key maybe? It's a lot more contained in its scope but that makes the story satisfying, and it's got a magical/mystical angle coupled with dark themes like a lot of the other stuff listed. It's nowhere near as big a commitment as Hellblazer or Hellboy either, since it's a shorter story.

some of the non-endless stuff is amazing though. 24 hours is one of the best examples of doing horror right in comics.

Here have it live action too
vimeo.com/223025116

it's cause they are pulling from myth inspirations. A lot of classic mythology centers around hemaphodite seers and stuff. It fits in the horror/fantasy genre very well

Prez was hands down my favorite non Endless story.

That's exactly what happens, though. Sure they end it with an unrelated aspect trying to be like "Uuuhh but she is a woman" as if the literal beings that decide how those things work wouldn't know more.

Sandman and Hellblazer were the comics that got me "back" into comics, after I'd only been reading The Phantom and Donald Duck as a kid. I had the view that American comics were just superheroes before that. It's definitely worth the read, based off of how it jump-kicked my view of comics-merit. I can't say that I really remember many of the finer details of it though, I haven't read it in probably a decade now and my memory isn't that great. I think I'll start off the new year by re-reading it for the first time.

The very first issue confirms that Sandman takes place in the DCU. I was always under the impression that the Endless existed outside of any 'Earth' and thus existed as a part of the larger structure of the DCU.

>They're canon, but they're not used often.

correct

>Gaiman has a say in how the characters are used,

accurate

>thus existed as a part of the larger structure of the DCU.

To your point, the Multiverse map in Multiversity acknowledges that there is a realm of the Endless in the similar way that you posit.

Gaiman used them the same way everyone else essentially uses any creation - Earth is the center of the universe, of existence. Thus, a lot of Sandman takes place on Earth, even if it's a dreamscape, etc. Likewise with most anything else - GoT takes place in a middle-ages type mythological environment certainly based on Earth, Star Trek's federation is based on Earth, etc. etc. Thanos has to come to Earth in the Climax of the Marlel CU, and of course, it will take Earth based heroes to defeat the universal big bad.

Even the things which aren't Earth focused (Star Wars) are humanoid based, and a lot of their conceits are Earth based (like the Hutts being a mafia like criminal family, for example).

I read all the collected trades via my library system, so if you have that option, you should explore it. My experience is that even in city that won't buy Graphic Novels (which my system in Southern California does - from Image to weird, highly indie self published stuff, to DC and Marvel), most buy certain things like Maus, and a fair amount of Vertigo, which would include Sandman (also because of Gaiman's other published work).

You can find all the issues in digital or scans on a torrent. If you can afford it, I'd at least buy some of the trades.

There are cheaper places than Amazon, In Stock Trades, albeit DC is currently having a sale, so you could buy each trade for $4.99 until the 4th. They usually have a similar sale a few times a year.

It's worth the read. No doubt about it.

>most important arc has the worst art
Forever mad.

>is it worth the read

It's absolutely worth the read. Whether you'll like it is another issue.

I loved it but then again, I read it during my angsty teen years.

Definitely worth the read, but there's a long stretch of boring right in the middle of the series.
On another note, what's you guys' favorite one-off issue? Mine was Augustus
>yfw it slowly dawns on you what Octavian is planning

Judging by the ones you listed try out Providence and From Hell, both by Moore

Just wait until he dies, and they pull what they did with Watchmen

Fables maybe

Hurr durr based gayman who gave the tranny a happy ending then?
You are obviously pretending to be retarded by simplifying what happens. I don't care about your retarded world views, just fuck off.

Hellblazer by Delano, Ennis and Carey are the highlights. Imo Jenkins and Milligan had some good stories but they aren't as universally liked. Rest is not very good. Only ones that sucked really badly are Azzarello and Mina but Ellis and Diggle weren't any good either.
Try Invisibles, The Filth, Moonshadow, Shade The Changing Man, Enigma, Egypt, The Unwritten.

Difficult question.
I'm thorn between A dream of a thousand cats, Facade or Three septembers and a January.
Or the one about Hob. Fuck I just love Sandman as a whole, don't make me choose.

I like when Death teaches me sex

>implying I plan on outliving Gaiman

If you like Lovecraftian stuff be sure to check out Locke & Key.

The answer to both questions is yes. Lucifer is the superior series, of course.

The best issue is Men of Good Fortune. I love Hob.

Sandman is better, Lucifer is solid but bit more a traditional fantasy story that you usually get.

Sandman has highs and lows, Lucifer is great throughout and therefore the better series. It also does a lot more playing around with mythology and has more creative fantasy scenarios than Sandman, which is pretty mundane by comparison.

Lucifer has some big luls where it's really really slow. But it does pay off sometimes it just takes 7 issues

Difference is when Sandman gets great it gets really great, and Lucifer never quite gets there because it goes with tried and true fantasy-novel writing and pacing. Not that theres anything wrong about it but it lacks the uniqueness Sandman has thanks to not taking many risks in its storytelling. Sandman deserved the literature awards it got but theres no denying Lucifer would be much easier to make into a good tv show.

>big luls
I never felt any displeasure during my reading of the series though, whereas stuff like the issue with Element Girl and Death or A Game of You or the issue about President Prez and Boss Smiley weren't all that enjoyable. And Lucifer also has the advantage of not having Delirium in it. That character was annoying and dragged down Brief Lives, which would've been a much better read if Dream had gone on a trip with Despair instead. I mean what was the point of Despair's character existing in the first place? She was hardly ever used other than that one time with the Emperor of America, and that's just criminal when you take into account the fact that they established she wasn't the original Despair. Wouldn't the story of how the original Despair was killed be worth telling? Apparently not, we get lolrandum girl instead.
Well I guess I'm just too dumb to get why Sandman is so much better.

Prez and that one with the guy who never dies. It's beem a long time since I read Sandman so I can't remember all the one offs

I read all of both Sandman and Lucifer in December, and I honestly enjoyed Lucifer to a greater degree. As others have pointed out, it's way more consistent. There are some stories in Sandman that I just don't care for, and it just feels like they drag on forever when I'd rather get on with everything else the books has to offer.

>start reading expecting 2deep4you shit with a smart ass protag
>get Miles Edgeworth - the Angel and cosmic anime battles
>the british Danny Phantom loli
>the fucking issue with the Chad dammed vs the virgin demon
Lucifer is great

>Well I guess I'm just too dumb to get why Sandman is so much better.

Lucifer is the 5 star restaurant which always provides good meals with traditional and classic recipes. Sandman is the 5 star restaurant which had made some of its very own recipes on top of that. Its not a big difference and you get your money's worth on both places but that difference is still there.

>Miles Angelworth Vs. the Jojo references

>And Lucifer also has the advantage of not having Delirium in it.
oh why did you have to go and make it personal! Delerium is only beaten by Death as the best Endless. So fuck you very much, please and thank you

I didn't mean to say that Lucifer got boring, but it was slow at times where not much was happening. There was a lot of, walking around to said location, a little talk and walking to new location times in the story.

Thanks, to all of you.

> the Chad dammed vs the virgin demon
Christopher Rudd is a goddamn miracle of the universe. Also has a top tier waifu.

I feel like Lucifer is better because it sticks closer to it's ongoing plot rather than having one offs everywhere. Even the issues focused on other characters contribute to the bigger plot about Lucifer's keikaku

I'm not overly fond of Death either to be honest but at least I never actually hated her. No clue why people like her so much though. Destruction and Desire are the best Endless, they actually did things.
Destiny? Who's that?

It's not worth to read because you realize how much every other comic sucks compared to it

I read Sandman pretty early on in my comic book exploits and I've found plenty of series I've enjoyed more.

Says you. Just be thankful other writers don't use them very often, they'd probably screw them up.

>cucks the same dude who released him and finishes him off later
>mindbreaks his fuckbuddy and gets away with it
>kills her buff RED SUN brother in a fair fight
>becomes good pals with her father and an important figure in hell
Hands down the most Chad character in DC

I disagree, I think it's close but imo Lucifer is betetr because it's more consistent. Though I don't think any has low lows.

Hob's ma nigga

But I seriously enjoyed A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Song of Orpheus.
Very honourable mentions goes to Brief Lives (for those top-tier bantz) and The Wake

Jesus christ this comic had some crazy good stories.

Destruction is pretty damned great, I love that he's always trying to paint and be creative.
Read better comics, there are plenty of great things out there that are not Sandman and Lucifer. Those aren't even my favorites, I just understand why they are touted as some of the best comics made

>other comic sucks compared to it
lmao. Sandman is the definition of entry level mature comics

t. Destruction

Delirium a shit, she is like the physical embodiment of lol so randumb humor.

Quick, name your top 20.

What happens when we get Hob and Rudd in the same room?

you don't get her do you? She's the character of the inbetweens, always stuck between two things ever shifting and never actually something. The randomness isn't actually why I love her

Wholeheartedly agree. I have those two tomes that collected every Sandman issue, and the one-offs kinda ruins the whole read-through.

Mah [FRIENDS FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD].

That comes to a matter of taste. I prefer stories that go that little extra mile and manage to be good and experimental at the same time. Nothing wrong with solid, good quality traditional stories but that category is very crowded.

Same reason why Blame! is my favorite manga despite thinking Berserk is better in many ways when it comes to quality. Unique good experience>Traditional good experience.

Sword fighting and chill

Dream is such a dork, I love him

Dream is a massive dork

I can't think of a single thing Berserk is better at than Blame. Maybe going on forever? Having a considerable point in which the overall quality of the writing goes down?

>this kid just gave me a balloon
>I don't want it
>I don't even like balloons
>my feet hurt
>wish I never owned Hell

>having a problem with Delirium
Get out.

Purple monkey dishwasher though.

Fun little fact you might have not noticed when reading Sandman the first time. Every time Destruction interacts with some other character, that character goes through a period of change, usually for the worse. Only one immune to this is Delirium but thats because Destruction accidentally turned Delight into Delirium already long ago. He gives advice for Orpheus and he goes on his trip which eventually results in him being an immortal disembodied head. Dream and Delirium both search for Destruction and as a result ensure the death and madness of many other characters, with Dream not surviving unscathed either but dooming himself.

Probably why Destruction quit in the first place and became a recluse, when he noticed this influence of his. Not easy making friends when just hanging around with them might result in their lives being destroyed or them having to go through some ordeal that irreversably changes them.

This, I want experimental work that is continually trying new stuff. That's why Kabuki is my favorite comic series

What about Despair and Destruction meeting during the plague in London? Sure, London burned down, but it didn't have any effect on Despair

>this party sucks
>I don't know who half of these deities are
>these arch angels are staring at me
>why am I holding a balloon?
>my feet hurt
>I wish I was in my room sobbing about my ex girlfriend

>food is not worth eating because you realise how much eating actual shit sucks compared to it
There's nothing wrong with giving up shit comics, user. Just stop buying those endless superhero-fighting-superhero comics.

>food analogy
Stop it.

>I wish I was in my room sobbing about my ex girlfriend
Oh here's another thing I didn't like about Sandman. He had this relationship with the witch girl completely off-screen so when she becomes important during The Kindly Ones there's no impact to it since the established relationship between them wasn't established at all.
Now why did Gaiman do that, can someone explain?

You sure that wasn't the old Despair, then? Haven't read it in years.

Old despair was killed millions, if not billions of years ago

Well, except Destruction kissing her and making her long for his company again to a point that memory was painful to her. Only way she saved herself from fundamental change was her refusing to go with Delirium despite regretting it afterwards. Even Delirium had to go through a change and occasionally stop being Delirium on the course of that little adventure. The bad idea for the whole thing is written in the goal itself, they're seeking Destruction.

Dream was portrayed as the romantic kind. He kept getting into relationships and getting hurt so developing that one in particular would have been a waste of time.

>there's no impact to it since the established relationship between them wasn't established at all
NIGGAWATT
It's like when you walk around with a friend and he meets an ex and gets really uncomfortable. You don't know shit about their relationship but you can understand why it is uncomfortable. Besides it foreshadowed one of my favorite scenes at the wake.
That's why.

...

Yes, but the plague and the search were 350 years apart.

>a waste of time
>when it was the last one he had
>when the girl he had it with shows up later on in the story and has a real important role to play in the final part of the original Dream's life
I disagree.
My favorite part of The Wake was the calligraphy story about the Chinese guy in the desert, now that was some nice experimental art.

He has multiple awkward ex-girlfriends. He dreams of love so he easily falls in love with mortals but since his bad relationship with Desire that love tends to fizzle out for one reason or another. Dream is stubborn and authoritative as fuck but secretly wants love and stories to be told of him. For women Dream is that dreamy guy you have a crush on at first but eventually get pushed out because of how cold and distant he is. His personality gets in the way so he has a lot of exes. Most awkward relationship ending with him condemning the poor woman to hell for 10,000 years.

Or maybe it's because Desire is an ass?