Whats everyone reading?

[TordelBack]

Finally completed my re-read of Sandman today, with the Sandman Mystery Theatre crossover book serving as the last epilogue (in that it brings us back to the start), and which turned out to be almost my favourite bit. 

Some of Sandman is not very good. Much of it is really great, certainly, and the art gets better and better (certainly after Danny Vozzo comes on board with his revolutionary understanding that colour is supposed to support not obscure the linework). But ultimately I felt it fell flat - Dream's final decision is basically stupid, and a poor thing to build a huge tale around. The individual bits and one-offs are generally superb, but it just doesn't hand together for me as a single read. 

"I am the prince of stories, but I have no story of my own" he says at one point, which may or may not be lampshading this fact. 

However, it is possible that I have just failed to correctly interpret Hob Gadling's final dream at the end of 'The Wake', [spoiler]where he, Morpheus and Destruction walk off into the sunset.  Can Morpheus really be dead if he still lives in the dreams of an immortal man[/spoiler]?

Some things actively annoyed me this time around, the two Death miniseries being the main offenders.  Having established Hazel & Foxglove so well in 'A Game of You', it was frustrating that Gaiman sent me off to find out their fates in a spinoff, and even more frustrating that almost the exact same thing happens in Death: The Time of Your Life - [spoiler]a bargain is made with one of the Endless, with the result that the only black character sacrifices themselves to save the pretty blond girl[/spoiler]. 

The real lowpoint is also in a sort-of-spinoff, Endless Nights.  Here two of the most enticing mysteries of the series, what were Delight and the original Depair like are revealed to be heart-breakingly dull ([spoiler]a younger version of Delirium and a tattooed version of Despair, apparently[/spoiler]).  Another story in Endless Nights also contains a throwaway line from Death: The Time of Your Life worked up into a long, tasteless gag. Another has Destruction, who has exiled himself from the family, shows up fairly randomly as his sister's nursemaid.  It's very disappointing stuff.

Maybe it's unfair of me to find such fault with peripheral material (although all is by Gaiman), but I think I was looking there for something offset a general feeling of hollowness about the core, and it didn't happen.

[JamesC]

just read Azzerello's Joker, on loan from the library. terrible terrible book. Pretentious shallow bullshit. I cant help but find him hugely overrated as a writer.

Same here. If it has Azzerello attached I don't buy it!

I'm also pretty wary about Greg Rucka.

[Mardroid]

The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury

A novel set in the series universe. I don't recognise the characters, which isn't too surprising as we are following another group. [spoiler]I know they turn up in the governor's town so I wonder if they'll turn up later in Series 3. Of course they could be a bunch who come and go in the time period before. [/spoiler]

Anyway it's interesting reading about another bunch in that world.

[sheldipez]

The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury

A novel set in the series universe. I don't recognise the characters, which isn't too surprising as we are following another group. [spoiler]I know they turn up in the governor's town so I wonder if they'll turn up later in Series 3. Of course they could be a bunch who come and go in the time period before. [/spoiler]

Anyway it's interesting reading about another bunch in that world.

I enjoyed the first book "Rise of the governor" but didn't think much of the "Road to.." to be honest and I found it a bit of slog to get through.

The only character that really pops up from "Road" is Lily (in #46-#48). I've no idea if there's a tv show counterpart though as I don't watch it so haven't a clue how faithful they are being to the comics continuity (where this trilogy of prose novels are set).

[I, Cosh]

Some of Sandman is not very good. Much of it is really great, certainly, and the art gets better and better (certainly after Danny Vozzo comes on board with his revolutionary understanding that colour is supposed to support not obscure the linework). But ultimately I felt it fell flat...

Interesting. Last time I reread Sandman, two or three years ago, I was similarly disappointed. Guess there are some wines you shouldn't leave in the cellar too long. I did think Marc Hempel's art on The Kindly Ones was absolutely amazing that time round though, so that was nice.

Never heard of this Sandman Mystery Theatre story.

[Mardroid]

The only character that really pops up from "Road" is Lily (in #46-#48). I've no idea if there's a tv show counterpart though as I don't watch it so haven't a clue how faithful they are being to the comics continuity (where this trilogy of prose novels are set).

I haven't read the other prose novels. I didn't realise it was set in the comic continuity. I've read some of that including the governor arc (or most of it). I can't place Lily, but that's not saying much as my memory for names is bad. By the end of the novel, when I see where she ends up, it should be clearer.

[TordelBack]

I did think Marc Hempel's art on The Kindly Ones was absolutely amazing that time round though, so that was nice

Shamefully I didn't like Hempel's art at the time (even though much of it was inked by D'Israeli!).  Really enjoyed it this time, although I also thought the fill-in art in the middle by Glynn Dillon (?) was truly superb.   

Talking of The Kindly Ones, I think some of my reticence about Sandman is the way it starts into a protracted ending not even 2/3rds of the way through. From the end of A Game of You on (i.e. the halfway point in the series) Morpheus is basically [spoiler]moping his way to his eventual convoluted suicide[/spoiler], and that story almost feels like it's the last fresh thing in the series: after this the A-plot is just filling in blanks and tying up loose ends.  The Kindly Ones and The Wake read like greatest hits collections but together make up 17 issues out of only 75, almost a quarter of the run, with a leaden melancholy for tone.  The collected form makes this trudge to the finish even more protracted, since the largely excellent Fables and Reflections collects stories from both before and after A Game of You.   I did the re-read from the original issues, but couldn't help pondering the repercussions of the collection structure.

I suppose I should balance my negativity by saying what I did like, aside from the art. I've already sung the praises of the opening chapters, which are dense and engrossing and disturbing, but I enjoyed the short stories most of all, and the way they told their own stories while tossing out crumbs of the main story.  Some of them are incredibly clever, Petrefax's tale in World's End is a masterclass in story-within-story-within-a-story-within-a-story.  I think I counted nine nested tales in that one issue.   

I also found myself really warming to the last three issues, despite all three being 'sequels' to earlier short stories: [spoiler]the epilogue to The Wake where Hob wanders around a ghastly Renaissance Fayre feeling his age; the minimalist Jon Muth tale of a court adviser lost in the desert and meeting the two incarnations of Dream; and The Tempest, the second (well, third) Shakespeare story, which succeeds through its sheer bloody humanity. [/spoiler] As an aside, there is much talk in the issue itself of critical help rendered by Bryan Talbot and John Ridgeway.  Talbot's work I can clearly see in the face of the bishop in the snow scene, but has anyone spotted Ridgeway?

Ultimately if Sandman is about stories, it succeeds wonderfully - it contains some of the best stories I've ever read in a comic, and in huge quantities.  Gaiman can write like a bastard.  If OTOH it's about Dream and his family, it's pretty dull and self-indulgent. I am however still looking forward to the prequel, although it'd want to be a lot better than Endless Nights. 

@The Cosh:  the Sandman Mystery Theatre crossover is a one-shot square-bound thing with glorious painted art by Teddy Kristiansen that brings the Wesley Dodds 'Golden Age' Sandman to Fawney Rig for fateful meetings with its inhabitants.  It has its own separate plot, and development of the SMT characters' relationships, as well as an exploration of the relationship  of both Vertigo Sandmen.  It's very very good, and sheds light on aspects of both Preludes and Nocturnes and The Kindly Ones, but there is a continuity error for the uncharitable to ponder.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

'Their clocks made pulsars look slipshod.'







Snutting loving this.

[Mabs]

No offence but that looks like a giant sheathed phallus in space! 

As for my reading stuff, I've just started The Day of Chaos: Endgame trade. Been waiting a while to get my hands on that!

[Simon Beigh]

As for my reading stuff, I've just started The Day of Chaos: Endgame trade. Been waiting a while to get my hands on that!

Oooo - finished that at the weekend. I really enjoyed it...

[LorcanQ]

just read Azzerello's Joker, on loan from the library. terrible terrible book. Pretentious shallow bullshit. I cant help but find him hugely overrated as a writer.

Same here. If it has Azzerello attached I don't buy it!

I'm also pretty wary about Greg Rucka.

Haha thanks for saying that, i've always found azzerello's critical acclaim absolutely baffling! Have yet to read anything by Rucka strangely enough..

Some of Sandman is not very good. Much of it is really great, certainly, and the art gets better and better (certainly after Danny Vozzo comes on board with his revolutionary understanding that colour is supposed to support not obscure the linework). But ultimately I felt it fell flat - Dream's final decision is basically stupid, and a poor thing to build a huge tale around. The individual bits and one-offs are generally superb, but it just doesn't hand together for me as a single read. 

interesting you said that. ive yet to read the full series but ive read volumes 1-7 of the graphic novels. With each of the full story arcs (ie.Doll's house, Seasons of mist, Game of you, Brief Lives) i've always found that they are absolutely fantastic right up to the end of the arc. The last 1 or 2 issues of each story are, for me, generally an anti-climax and disappointing after such great build-up. It would thus make sense you saying that the overall end to the series doesnt pay off. Perhaps Gaiman has a bit of a problem concluding stories properly. Still, if just for the build-up and imagination in each arc, the series is a joy to read.

[JamesC]

I've just read 'Old Man Logan' which is a Mark Millar story about Wolverine in a post apocalyptic future in which all super heroes are dead and the villains control America.

Has anyone read this? It's absolutely awful!

For some reason it seems to be rather well regarded on the Internet but I found it really quite cringeworthy.
I suppose it would be okay as a fairly slight plot for a post apocalypse revenge story but it doesn't suit the Marvel universe at all.

Not a single character feels authentic and the situations feel totally unbelievable (which is saying something for a story set in the Marvel universe). Every character seems to be 'badass' and needlessly cruel and violent (Millar should just write a Snake Plisken comic if this is what he wants) and there's lots of unnecessary swearing, incest and infanticide.

Terrible - one of the worst things I've read for ages.

[Spikes]

A grand selection of those gorgeous old Titan reprint books. Sent to me, for nowt, by a fellow CAF'er - and 2000ad fan (dont think he posts on here...).

So a nice re-read of the VC's (books 1 and 2) tonight. 

[Daveycandlish]

DC's Constantine.

Well that series didn't take long to jump the shark did it?
What with this and Jonah Hex now having the budgie smuggler wearing spandex clad brigade guest starring, it seems I am now down to only one DC book to buy on a monthly basis, namely Rocketeer and Spirit.
DC - please don't fuck this one up!

[Simon Beigh]

A grand selection of those gorgeous old Titan reprint books. Sent to me, for nowt, by a fellow CAF'er - and 2000ad fan (dont think he posts on here...).

So a nice re-read of the VC's (books 1 and 2) tonight. 

Now that really is sharing the love! I must add VC's to my list, which I shall probably get to in about 2016!