The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 3
Oh don't worry, 'Sandman's still good. The series simply couldn't sustain the level of the first 20 issues or the superb "Season of Mists" and "A Game of You" arcs found in 'Absolute Sandman, Vol. 2'.
Collecting issues #40-56, plus the usual bonus features, the two arcs here are "Brief Lives" and "World's End", the first beginning with a separate story detailing Dream's son Orpheus' beginnings and continuing through a bizarre road trip Dream takes with Delirium, ostensibly in search of their missing brother. I feel like I'm alone when I say I was underwhelmed by it. As potentially satisfying the revelation of the mysterious seventh Endless could have been, I had to fight to keep the glaze off my eyeballs sometimes. The only part I really enjoyed out of the whole situation was Despair's relationship with the missing brother. Also: Everybody Gets a Pet!
Gaiman's often faded The Sandman into the background of his own title for the interests of a greater story, so I have no problem with the extremes that that took place - more so than the quartet of issues that featured the Emperor Augustus and Element Girl with only the most tenuous connections to the Endless - in these issues. "World's End" was very fragmented. Narratives in narratives in narratives, nesting to an almost Conrad-like level where the very idea that one person is telling this to a crowd of strangers in an Inn was ridiculous. As much as I appreciated the lateral view of Gaiman's take on the DC universe, it's a given that these smaller stories don't have the success that the grand over-arching story-lines have. Even with the big splash at the conclusion of "World's End" I wasn't left feeling much.
I'm sure that 'Absolute Sandman, Vol. 4' will tie these strands more strongly together, but for now this collection is where the series starts to plateau. Nothing lost, but nothing gained either.
Sandman
Next: 'Volume 4'
Previous: 'Volume 2'
