The Sandman: Overture #1-6
Published by: DC/Vertigo – 2013
Written by: Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by: J. H. Williams III (black and white illustration) and Dave Stewart (colors)
The six-issues of DC/Vertigo’s The Sandman: Overture reintroduces the main cast of Neil Gaiman’s groundbreaking and influential Vertigo series, The Sandman, to a new generation, tantalizing them with tales of the fantastic and transmundane clothed in the enviable art of J. H. Williams III (black and white illustration) and Dave Stewart (colors).
The Sandman: Overture is not beholden to prior events or storylines, and, for that reason, might be a good “jumping-on” point for readers unfamiliar with the elaborate mythos Gaiman created in The Sandman. The Sandman: Overture, however, does presuppose some degree of familiarity with the characters and their roles in Gaiman’s universe—meaning it may still be somewhat confusing for anyone entirely uninformed.
The Sandman: Overture finds our hero, Dream of the Endless—a.k.a. Morpheus, a.k.a. the Sandman—confronted with his own mortality and the eventual unravelling and unmaking of the universe. In his crusade to right a longstanding wrong—thereby avoiding the end of all things—Dream consults with the rest of the Endless, his siblings: Death, Destruction, Delirium, Desire, Despair, and Destiny, as well as his parents: father Time and mother Night. Each of the Endless are embodiments of their names—both personifications of, and rulers over, their respective domains and aspects of life and reality.
The story begins casually with a gathering of the many incarnations of Dream—one for each species of dreamer—as a result of a death of one among them, which leads Dream on a journey to find, and put an end to, a sentient star whose burgeoning insanity threatens to spread madness across the universe, leading to its undoing. Dream enlists the help of some he encounters along the way, including a young orphan girl aptly named “Hope” and a giant cat whom is apparently another incarnation of Dream.
Though initially seemingly a standalone story unrelated to the preceding The Sandman series, at its end the story told in The Sandman: Overture is revealed to tie in quite closely with what had come before, but to say more would spoil the surprises.
The art in The Sandman: Overture is an eye-catching high-point and rewards close scrutiny—elevating what could’ve been a rather mundane visual narrative to the heights of fine art. The artwork throughout appears as if done by a single hand, with Williams and Stewart complementing each other perfectly. It is hard to tell where the work of one ends and the other begins. The color abets the surreality of the premise, and the black and white linework and ink-washes lend realism and form.
Any fan of Williams’ art might do well to check out his work on Promethea which, unfortunately, lacks Stewart’s colors, but does include the writing of comics legend Alan Moore. Williams’ art in Promethea is not as refined—is, perhaps, more rudimentary or amateur—compared to his work in The Sandman: Overture but, considering the fact it premiered more than a decade earlier, it can be forgiven as formative, leaving one to look forward to what Williams will do next.
Desolation Jones is another of Williams’ comics that is worth a look, in part because of the writing of comics legend Warren Ellis. Stylistically, it shares more in common with Sean Phillips and mid-career Jae Lee (think Inhumans), but still presages some of Williams’ more transcendent achievements.
An artist whose art shares aspects of Williams’ aesthetic—such as the use of two-page compositions and less rigid panel structure and arrangement—is David Mack. Though highly recommended, much of Mack’s work is such a drastic departure from the typical comic book reading experience that it may be intimidating despite being rewarding. For that reason, Mack’s earlier work, Kabuki: Circle of Blood might be a better starting point for fans of Williams’ art—despite being in black and white. It is the most straightforward and least experimental of Mack’s best work.
Another comic that comes to mind is Marvel Knights Spider-Man, from 2013, written by Matt Kindt and illustrated by Marco Rudy. Rudy shares with Williams and Mack the design philosophy of having the form of the panels conform to the action specific to that page, rather than allowing a rigid panel-grid dictate the form the images take.
Gaiman’s writing in The Sandman: Overture is, as always, inventive and prone to moments of poesy. The notion of all things being alive and all things dreaming is a beautiful one—what would a flower dream? Or a star? There are, however, a few narrative strands that are begun that seem to go nowhere—anachronistic scenes interspersed in the first two issues that are never revisited, explained, or reincorporated into the story as a whole. The reason for their inclusion confounds me still.
A rereading is rewarded. As mysteries—or mysterious characters or occurrences—are put into proper context; these revelations recontextualize earlier scenes, adding a depth of understanding lacking during a first reading.
Any fan of Gaiman’s writing must, of course, read the original The Sandman ongoing series that first put him on the map and introduced the world to its main character, Dream, and his popular sister Death whom also had a pair of well-received miniseries—Death: The Time of Your Life and Death: The High Cost of Living. The Sandman lasted seventy-five issues, from 1989 to 1996, made use of numerous artists, and incorporated many different stories and plot arcs that, though sometimes episodic, ultimately built toward the eventual end.
It should be warned, though—and this warning should be heeded—that there is some subject matter in Gaiman’s The Sandman that is inappropriate for a younger audience and will still shock, disgust, or disturb all but the most jaded adult readers. In other comics—Preacher comes to mind—the graphic and over-the-top, offensive, or disturbing events are rendered palatable for being few and far between as well as for being cartoonishly exaggerated into the absurd. The offensive material in The Sandman likewise is relatively infrequent—its saving grace—but is made more objectionable for not being the least bit cartoonish, and, thus, it is harder to ignore its relationship to events that might actually happen in the real world. Luckily, The Sandman: Overture lacks such controversial and unsavory content and is thus mostly appropriate for a general audience—one more reason it may be a good introduction to the larger mythos.
Aside from Gaiman’s other graphic novels—Signal to Noise, Stardust, Black Orchid, and Violent Cases, among others—one might also be interested in Gaiman’s non-comic work which is dominated by science fiction and fantasy novels, and also includes children’s books and the original movie Mirrormask—often with the help of longtime artist/collaborator Dave McKean.
Brian Bigelow
November 14, 2017
