Customer Reviews

The Sandman Vol. 8: Worlds' End

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Brant Tucker and Charlene Mooney are two travellers making their way cross-country, when a snowstorm (in June, no less!) and an otherworldly animal-beast in the middle of a highway interrupts their travel, and the car crashes. Lost in the blizzard, Brant stumbles upon The World's End Inn, a free house. A tavern populated by people and creatures from different worlds and times, displaced from their homes by a `reality storm', an event so cosmically huge, it resonates across time and space.

So, to kill time until the storm passes, they tell stories. The art in theWorld's End framing sequences is top-notch stuff by Bryan Talbot and Mark Buckingham. Very tight, its realism contrasting nicely against the art in some of the other stories.

The first story, "A Tale of Two Cities", the story of a man (literally) lost in the dreams of his city. While a favorite of Sandman editor Karen Berger, I must confess I found it a little puzzling and indecipherable. And this is no fault of the artist, because the separation of text and art works very well. The format almost makes up for the lame story. My least favorite in the book.

Cluracan's Tale was much more enjoyable, starring and narrated by the lovable, oft-inebriated, arrogant emmisary of Queen Titania of Faerie. Cluracan is sent to a city-state run by a corrupt, piggish king, who is, by a quirk of politics and bloodlines, is also the city's spiritual leader. What follows is an adventurous story of murder, family helping family, and political sabotage. The art's very nice here, conveying a very interesting fairy-tale look, although Cluracan, Titania, and Nuala look nothing at all like they do in this or any of the other books.

Hob's Leviathan, a story of the immortal Hob Gadling (my favorite Sandman character, bar none) told by Jim, a young man who met Hob on a Ship in 1914. A stowaway is discoverd, whom Hob knows as a fellow immortal (in case you didn't know, he's the king in the story of the fruit of eternal life). Jim's fascination with the sailboats becomes the readers own. The crew of the Sea Witch are given real personalities here, and are shown to be real people. After the ship is nearly capsized by a sea serpent, every one of these grown men cry. This was my favorite story in the novel, mostly because of Michael Zulli's wonderful art. While sketchy and bland compared to his work in The Wake, it's still beautiful and works with the story wonderfully to convey the wonder and grandeur of those ships.

In The Golden Boy, the story of cheesy 70's comic character Prez Rickard, the teenage president, is updated courtesy Gaiman and Madman Comics creator Mike Allred. Given a Christ-like sensibilty, Prez becomes not only the hippest president of all time, appearing on Saturday Night Live skits with John Belushi, but also the best. He disarms the country's nuclear and biological weapons, and puts education back as the #1 priority. And he does it on his own, despite the evil Boss Smiley's offers. Both Death and Dream put in welcome appearances here, after Prez's passing on. Mike Allred's work in always a welcome sight, and I doubt that his ironically animated style would have looked half as good on any other Sandman project.

Cerements, a story of a young apprentice in the necropolis Litharge, a city whose chief industry is the `funerary arts'. After performing a disposal of a corpse, young Petrefax and his disposal party share tales, one of which Destruction pops up in, to give a little history of the previous necropolis, and the death of his sister, the first Despair. Lots of threads of started here which re-appear when members of the Endless return to Litharge in The Wake. Despite the EC-Comics-like horror-style in which it's drawn, the story holds a lot of emotion and warmth.

The final story is Charlene's. Maybe not a story, but as Stephen King puts it, in his introduction, "a scathing soliloquy." Finally, a funeral in the sky is witnessed. No one in the tavern knows whose it is, but all are agreed, it is the cause of the reality storm. Afterwards, some leave, some stay.

Don't be deceived. Ignore the title. Despite what your senses are telling you, this is NOT a Sandman book. Morpheus shows up on maybe a half-dozen pages. And that's what's so cool about it. There's very little of the grand, and at-times head-swelling epic of Morpheus stuff in here. This was my introduction into the world of Sandman, and a very gentle introduction it is. With some of the best stories in the series to boot.

Travelers all converge at a Tavern at the end of the world to sit out a snowstorm. They pass the time by telling stories. The stories make up each issue and quite often the stories are inseparable from their narrators. Many familiar Sandman characters pop up such as Hob Gadlin and Cluaracan of faerie in the most entertaining of the stories. Even though the Sandman barely figures into the stories, his presence is felt; but what makes everything work is that different artists do the different stories in their own styles. In the case of Mike Allred (the creator of Madman one of the funnest super hero books in recent years) his style works perfectly with the tale of Prez. The last issue is a foreshadowing of things to come... Brace yourself for "The Kindly Ones."

These are good stories. Properly speaking, they are barely 'Sandman' stories: I think the Sandman makes just one cameo appearance. They're still good stories.

The format is familiar: strangers wait out a storm at an inn unfamiliar to all of them. They pass the time exchanging stories. OK, it's an old bottle, but Gaiman fills it with new wine. The stories range from the biographical to the fantastic and satiric.

The most mythic story, I think, takes place in the politics of a world much like modern America, or maybe 70s America. Mythology isn't about distant times, it's about grand heroes and their quests - I like to be reminded of that occasionally.

I usually read comics for the artwork first and writing second. The various artists in this book are all capable enough, but that's not what carries the book. I was quite happy to be pulled along by the story-telling.

This is not a Dream-centered books, you crazy women who are, admit it, a little stuck on the Sandman. This is a book about dreams...the lives, in essence, that he touches. He pops up in various places along the way, but this is more a collection of short stories. Two travelers get lost in a snowstorm in June and find their way to an inn of all worlds. Creatures from various times and places, caught up in the "reality storm" have come to this place for food and drink and rest from the icy storm, including Clurachan (sp?), a favorite faerie hedonist from other installments in the Sandman series.

My favorite story is inarguable "A Tale of Two Cities" when a very average man with a very normal job and a great love of his city finds himself, after falling asleep in the subway (see if you can't connect to an interest in subways overall by Gaiman in his book "Neverwhere"), that he has fallen into a dream of the city. Cities dream as do people...anyone who has traveled extensively knows that cities do have their own personalities. New Orleans feels nothing like New York, etcetera. He searches for months trying to find an exit from the dream of the city, only to find temptation to stay.

All of the stories are entertaining, but this one sticks out the most in my mind. I have a great love of cities, especially New York, and I can only imagine what she dreams.

A dark shadow plagues the end of "World's End"...a funeral procession...who this funeral procession is for, well...call it foreshadowing.

In this collection of the individual stories of some visitors at the Worlds' End Inn, we see the impact of the Sandman on the lives of those around him. We also get hints of what's to come in the next book, The Kindly Ones. The art is widely diverse and consistently beautiful, and the stories span genre, time, and space, fitting together like the pieces of a puzzle. Here's to comics!

In which Gaiman takes a breath before entering the inevitable final act of The Sandman. At first glance, World's End is another series of short stories, a la The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country and The Sandman Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections, albeit one with a stronger framework to it that reminded this English major of Canterbury Tales. But there's more going on here than meets the eye, and the final chapter culminates in an astonishing visual image that clearly foreshadows what's to come. Still, the stories are the main attraction here, and this collection is every bit the equal of Dream Country, with a stronger focus this time on the way that our reality often hides something far stranger underneath. From the dreams of cities to an ocean encounter (depicted here in a two-page spread that literally made me gasp a little) to a journey through the Necropolis, Gaiman's wondrous imagination is as alive here as ever. If there's a downside to World's End, it's the realization that I'm almost finished with this incredible series.

Rather than a continuous narrative, this volume is a collection of short pieces with distinctly different artistic treatments. The frame story is that there's an inn just outside space and time, where travelers just might find themselves marooned for awhile when a reality story hits. There not being much else to do, they take turns telling stories, Canterbury-style. Some, like "Cluracan's Tale" and "The Golden Boy," are quite good. Others, like "Hob's Leviathan," are just kind of pointless. For me, this is one of the less satisfying entries in an excellent series.

_There is an inn at worlds' end. It is a place beyond space and time where all realms, all planes, intersect. Some travelers between the worlds come there willingly, but others find themselves driven there by reality storms- storms caused by events that disturb the very fabric of the cosmos itself. That is the case with the guests on this night. They find themselves trapped, and by immortal custom, obliged to pay for their keep with their best stories.

_The first of these stories is "A Tale of Two Cities." It deals with a man trapped in a dream city- or is it the dream of a sleeping city?

_The second story "Cluracan's Tale" tells of the mission of Cluracan, Ambassador of the Queen of Faery to the mortal world. It teaches why it is both unwise to attempt to combine temporal and spiritual power- and to offer disrespect to the Fair Folk.

_Tale three "Hob's Leviathan" is from the last days of working sail upon the high seas- and of those who walk among us who are not what they seem.

_The fourth "The Golden Boy" is the myth of Prez Rickard- born to be America's greatest president. His nemesis is "Boss Smiley" (interesting that this symbol of corruption and evil is based on the symbol of Wal-Mart....)

_Finally, there is the story "Cerements", of the great necropolis Litharge. This is a city whose entire reason for existance is to render respectful last rites to the dead. Even the Endless trust their cerements to the inhabitants of this city.

_And after all the tales are told the guests at the inn are granted a vision of the event that is powerful enough to create a storm to shake all their worlds....

This is a book for those long winter nights, when you just need to curl up by the fire (or the lamp) and escape into the realm of stories. The collection is similar to the Arabian Nights in it's story within a story structure and it will not disappoint. Definitely a must have for all Sandman buffs as well as for lovers of good storytelling. This and the entire Sandman series is comic book literature at it's best.

Before you condemn comic books, you must read Sandman. Even my mother likes this series! As for me, I think Worlds' End is one of the best of the Sandman story arcs (closely rivalled by Brief Lives) simply because the characters are so extraordinary - and yet so human. From the envoy of the fairies to a girl masquerading as a boy in the last days before the steamship, every protagonist in this collection of tales is engaging beyond superficial levels. The artwork is as varied and delightful as the stories themselves. Newcomers to Sandman may find this collection somewhat harder going than the others; Worlds' End is rather more abstract in making its point than are the other collections. Definitely, however, worth reading.