Customer Reviews

The Sandman: Endless Nights

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For anyone who has followed the sandman series already, don't expect to find part of the wonderous trail of events here. But there are mentions of events that tie into the original 10 books.

Of the things that make this book worth reading are...

A) the chapters are divided into detailed descriptions of the 7 endless. It lets you really get inside each aspect.

B) in this book you get the oppurtunity to see many things not found in the original 10 books. 2 of my favorites include what started the feud between dream and desire and you are graced with the presence of delight before she became delerium.

C) the artwork in this book is truly amazing. The same could be said for any book in this series (save some of "Kindly Ones, Volume 9 which features a much more cartoon style) yet in my opinion the art in this particular book goes above and beyond the rest.

D) There are beutiful poetic symbols laced throughout this book about the endless. From Delerium's fish to portraits of despair, it is a truly beautiful image.


Therefore, although it truly cannot be compared to the original 10 works, it is a worthy epilogue; a study in the characters the reader by this point must have learned to love.

When I heard that Neil Gaiman was working on a new Sandman graphic novel, I was skeptical. The seventy-five issue comic book series began, proceeded and ended just fine. With dozens of spin-off mini-series, an illustrated Sandman prose novel, a "companion" book, a collection of quotes and a book of covers, the amount of peripheral volumes has become excessive. Then there are the posters, statues, and action figures. Even an artist as genuine as Gaiman can be tempted by the right amount of money and publicity and I feared Sandman: Endless Nights was just another part of the small marketing blitz that has accompanied Sandman's lasting popularity.

Now that I have read Endless Nights I am not sure. There are fantastic stories in here that are superb additions to the Sandman saga and there are also stories that seem like they did not need to be told.

Perhaps the reason Endless Nights is hit-or-miss is its format. In Sandman, seven all-powerful siblings, called The Endless, each have a different role in regulating conscious experience. The main character was the morose Dream, but the saga also featured the omniscient Destiny, the upbeat yet intelligent Death, the easy-going Destruction, the stoic Despair, the condescending Desire and the loopy Delirium. Endless Nights consists of seven chapters, each drawn by a different illustrator and each devoted to a different sibling. The problem is that these characters are defined by their mysteriousness and strangeness and do not easily lend themselves to central roles (Even Dream, the member of The Endless who readers knew best, played a role other than protagonist more often than not during the run of the comic series).

In three cases, Endless Nights adapts with structures as abstract as its characters. "Fifteen Portraits of Despair" consists of bizarre sketches showing Despair's unsightly body, surrounded by anecdotes about miserable people. "Destiny" is a Biblical-sounding description of Destiny's realm and duties drawn in big, splashy illustrations. "Going Inside" features Dream recruiting five mentally ill people to rescue Delirium from a sticky situation she has gotten herself into in her realm. This chapter is told in a blend of computer-generated images and cartoony artwork that can only be described as breathe-taking. In fact, all these chapters feature gorgeous visuals but the stories, while original, seem clumsy and underdeveloped; as if having one chapter devoted to each of the Endless and experimental art techniques were most important and the plots were throw together secondarily.

The better chapters are the ones that adapt to the nature of The Endless by putting someone else in the lead. In "What I've Tasted of Desire," a story from olden times, a maiden is transformed by Desire into a crafty seductress. In "Death and Venice," (a Sandman-style "Masque of the Red Death") an American GI helps Death enter a masked ball that a sixteenth century Count has kept frozen in time. In "Destruction on the Peninsula," an archeologist uncovers a strange phenomena related to Destruction and Delirium vacationing nearby (This chapter follows-up "Going Inside" yet leaves much unsolved. Is Gaiman contemplating another Sandman project?). The very best chapter is "The Heart of a Star." At the dawn of time, stars could live, breath, speak and love and one loved Dream. The surreally beautiful story tells much about history of The Endless and is the biggest treat for longtime readers. The artwork of these four tales is less grand than that of the other three, but certainly has its own merits.

Endless Nights has its ups and downs and I cannot say fully that it was a bad idea for Gaiman to reopen the world of Sandman. The Endless are fascinating and there are countless tales that could be told about them. Let's just hope that if Gaiman plans on extending his return to Sandman, the quality of his stories is more consistent.

For those of you ready to take the plunge in making purchase of this excellent graphic novel, do yourself a favor and spend the few extra bucks on the hardcover version. For starters the hardback is slightly oversized and the thick, glossy paperstock wonderfully frames every panel of this diverse and beautifully illutrated book.

Fans of Neil Gaiman will find much to be delighted about in this return to his beloved, 'Sandman,' series. Made up of 7 chapters, each chronicles one of the Endless (Death, Desire, Dream, Despair, Delirium, Destruction and Destiny) in a self-contained story superbly illustrated by a different artist. Particular standouts are Milo Manara's contributions in 'Desire,' the subdued tones of Miguelanxo Prado in 'Dream,' and Barron Storey and Dave McKean's gritty work in 'Despair.' As a volume of bonus material post-Sandman, this book is a wonderful treat for fans and certainly lives up to the quality we've come to expect from Gaiman and company.

Neil Gaiman revisits his creations, the Endless, in this collection of new stories. Working with some of the top artists in comics, Gaiman focuses on stories that feature each one of his creations with varying degrees of success.
Death- the idea behind this story is an old one: "How can someone cheat Death?" Gaiman's take on this old chestnut is not really a new one, (In fact, the movie GROUNDHOG DAY comes to mind) but P. Craig Russell's art makes the most of a forgettable tale.
Desire- This is the first Desire story that I feel truly captures the appeal of the character. This story of someone paying the ultimate price for her desire and still believing it was worth it, goes a long way in showing me what Gaiman was trying to convey with this character all along. Milo Manara does a fine job on this story as it plays well to his strength as a storyteller.
Dream- Wonderfully otherworldly art by Prado is a welcome sight on this story. It takes place in the distant past when our sun was young and Gaiman shows long time fans the reason for the animosity between Dream and Desire.
Delirium- Sienkiewicz is at his lunatic best with this trip into Delirium's realm. When Delirium falls too deeply into her own world, Dream and Delirium's faithful dog, Barnabas, collect some denizens of her realm to go in and find her. Gaiman cleverly utilizes Sienkiewicz's inspired illustrations to paint a portrait of what it is like inside the minds of Delerium's charges.
Despair- 15 intuitive portraits of Despair by Barron Storey are used as templates for short pieces by Gaiman allowing the reader to get a glimpse of Despair's realm. Each story is as dark as Storey's art is haunting.
Destruction- This is basically a decent SF story that happens to have Destruction (and Delirium) in it. Their presence is superfluous to this tale of weapons from another time invading our world.
Destiny- Just another stroll through Destiny's garden, albeit with great art by Quitely. One day Gaiman will get around to writing a story with this character, but this isn't it.

This collection should satisfy fans of the series, but it lacks the epic scope of Gaiman's Sandman series. But until Gaiman decides that he wants to take another run at his creations this will have to do.

_Endless Nights_ contains 7 chapters, each of which includes one of the Endless as a character. If you've already read the Sandman series, you'll understand who the Endless are. If not, this book may not make sense to you.

Neil Gaiman can usually tell a good story; one whose characters, emotions, and plot involve the reader. Here he succeeds with "Desire," apparently set in pre-Roman Gaul, and in "Destruction," apparently contemporary and set on a barren Mediterranean peninsula. He suceeds to some extent, though not quite as well, with "Dream," which arouses cosmic awe but which is not strong on plot or character. And with "Death," which has a fascinating 18th-century world but a modern narrator who contributes little.

However, with "Delirium," "Despair," and "Destiny," Gaiman fails. "Delirium" has a sort of plot, but not much of one, and although it tries to be sentimental it fails to be emotionally engaging. "Destiny" has no plot. The chapter just shows him in his garden, where we've all seen him before. "Despair" doesn't even try to be a story. I think it's a series of prose poems, but it doesn't work.

As with Sandman, the art is very colorful, and by different artists.

I'm sure many Sandman fans will buy this, and if they're fannish enough it won't disappoint them. I just wish the rest of the stories met the standards of the best three.

While I was pleased by this particular collection, I wasn't exacltly knocked out by it. There are three really great stories about Gaiman's Endless family. The Death, Delirium, and Dream stories were very much the type of story that Gaiman told in his "Sandman" series, using the respective characters as supporting players more than anything. Of the lot, the Dream story was the one I enjoyed the most, as it provided some interesting back-story (why Dream was morose in the "Sandman"; why he and Desire were always at each other's throats), while reminding the reader that despite the Vertigo trappings of the series, it was still conceived in the DC Universe proper. The Death story was also a treat, as Death waits for an island trapped in eternity. And the Desire story was really more of an adventure story, harkening to Tolkien or Howard (with excellent art by Milo Manera, reknowned for his ADULT work).

The Despair and the Delirium stories were experimental, tailored to more abstract artists. Good, if confusing. The Despair story was really a series of anecdotes about miserable persons. The Delirium story actually had a beginning, middle, and end, but it was a difficult read.

The Destruction story was interesting, set in a period after the "Sandman" series ended, but I wasn't sure where Gaiman was going with it. In the end, I suspect Gaiman didn't know either.

The Destiny story, while beautifully illustrated by Frank Quitely, was really a "biography" of Destiny.

It's worth reading, no doubt, but don't even bother unless you are versed in Gaiman's Endless.

Here's hoping Gaiman fills in some of the other gaps in Dream's story.

Neil Gaiman is often compared to Lewis Carroll as a maker of modern fairytales and myths. In "Endless Nights," he provides yet more evidence as to why these comparisons are justified.

Like the rest of Gaiman's "Sandman" series, "Endless Nights" tells stories about beings of great power, which represent universal themes and truths. In addition to the Endless, the seven great beings embodying essential aspects of all living things (Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Despair, Delirium, and Desire), in "Endless Nights" we also find references to cosmic topics like the origins and personalities of the stars and planets, powerful stories in the tradition of the best folktales, and intensely personal stories of modern people.

The illustrations of this book are top-notch, truly some fantasy-pairings of visual stylists with Gaiman's unique style. Each story has a different illustrator, and while all are good, a few stand out. Milo Manara's vision of Desire is surely the best I have ever seen, Barron Storey's "15 Portraits of Despair" demands that each page be examined closely, Bill Sienkiewicz's take on Delirium is so perfect that one wonders why it wasn't done before, and Frank Quitely's short tale of Destiny is the perfect end to the book.

The only thing going against the book, I would say, is that it's billed as a "Sandman" graphic novel, but it really is not one. Its stories, while intriguing, do not fit in effectively with the rest of the Sandman stories. Rather, they are stand-alone stories about the Endless, which means that they're good stories, but they're not an integral part of the larger work of the "Sandman" series. It has been almost ten years since the end of the original "Sandman" series, and it shows. The only other time since then that Gaiman has revisited these characters was in the excellent "The Dream Hunters," which was more of an integral part of the "Sandman" story than "Endless Nights" is.

Still, other than the minor disappointment of not being a better fit for the "Sandman" story arc in general, "Endless Nights" is a fine piece of work in itself, and can be enjoyed many times. The art is beautiful, the stories rich and full of meaning and cultural reference. I would recommend it to just about anyone, but especially fans of Neil Gaiman's other work, fans of the Endless, and avid readers of fairytales and mythology.

Reading this made me feel like I'd never left. Gaiman was pushing the envelope near the end of the series, and while he could have returned to Sandman by just phoning it in (I'd still have been happy), he decides to push the envelope still. Read the Desire or Despair chapters to see what I mean. Then read the Destruction or Death stories to get back to 'classic' Sandman stuff.

Some might not get the references (like the DCU references in the Dream story (hint: Green Lantern and Superman mythos)). Some won't. That's the way it should be.

Great job Neil.

I came to the Sandman late, but it's become a favorite. It must be a favorite of Gaiman's too, for him to come back to it after so many years.

It must be a special favorite for Gaiman to have engaged so many top illustrators. Each of the seven pieces is dedicated to one of the siblings in Gaiman's pantheon, and each piece comes form a different illustrator. P. Craig Russell opens with a story about Death (charming girl, really), using two rendering styles to represent two threads of the plot. Next comes Milo Manara, who brings lush figure illustration into a story or mixed emotions and revenge. Sienkiewicz delivers a complex visual realization of complex people in a very subtle undertaking. Only someone of his skill and judgement can throw so much into an illustrated story create a coherent whole.

The stories are good (except maybe one - I still can't quite make it out). The art is exceptional. If you like the Sandman, or good comic art of any kind, you're sure to like this extension to the Sandman saga.

//wiredweird

ENDLESS NIGHTS is, well, a dream come true for fans of Neil Gaiman's comic book series THE SANDMAN. Endless Nights is a collection of 7 short stories written by Gaiman and featuring fan-favourite artists such as Glenn Fabry, Bill Seinkiewicz, Frank Quietly, & P. Craig Russell among others.

Each of the 7 stories focuses on one of the 7 members of The Endless (Death, Destiny, Dream, Despair, Desire, Delirium, & Destruction) beings which came before anything and will be around after all the gods are dead and gone. My personal favourite was the story about Dream. It offers a lot of history on The Endless and has more than a few surprises for fans of THE SANDMAN series. A let down was the story on Death. Gaiman himself has written somewhat similar stories for Death so it had a "been-there-done-that" feel to it. A big surprise is the Desire story, which reads like an old Norse legend. Great twist ending, too.

Bottom line is this is a must have for all SANDMAN fans. Buy this book now!

And for new readers I wouldn't say Endless NIGHTS is the best jumping off point to the SANDMAN universe (that would be vol 1) as people who've read THE SANDMAN series will get more out of it. However, it's not necessarily a bad starting off point either. If you know Gaiman's work from novels or other comics, ENDLESS NIGHTS will intrigue you as they are stand-alone stories that have aspects that do blend in to other SANDMAN stories. Just be sure to come back to it for a 2nd reading after you've read the other 10 vol. of SANDMAN.