The Sandman Vol. 1 by Neil Gaiman

The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman 235 pgs. 1991 4.25/5 I had forgotten just how much I love this series. I hadn't forgotten that I loved it, but just how much is what was lost. Mind you, this is probably my least favorite book in the series, but it still brought back floods of memories meeting Dream and Death for the first time again and recalling how wonderful that feeling was when I first discovered The Sandman. In Volume 1, Preludes and Nocturnes, a group of men involved with the occult have gathered together to try to summon and capture Death. They succeed in summoning one of the Endless, a group of beings that control the lives of humans from the backdrop, but it is not Death...it's her little brother who goes by many names - Morpheus, The Sandman, Dream. In capturing Dream, they take three of his belongings as well: a mask, a ruby, and a bag of sand. Dream far outlives the humans who capture him, all the time trapped in a glass bubble. While he waits in the bubble, chaos has been released upon the world. But when he gets out, it is his mission to take back the possessions which are rightfully his and can be very dangerous in the wrong hands. But they won't be so easy to get and all of humanity is faced with danger as he tries. Perhaps my favorite story of all in the compilation, and one of my favorite stories because of it's sentimentality is the last one in the book when we first meet Dream's older sister, Death. Death has to be one of the best characters ever created in comic book history. She's an optimistic little goth girl who's full of cheer...not what you'd expect of death. But she's truly wonderful and meeting her for the first time again was amazing. What I had forgotten about this first book is how dark it was and how disturbing it was. That kind of stuff doesn't bother me, but if you read this series and it does bother you, don't let it stop you from continuing on with it. They're not all this disturbing. This is an important book though, and I would recommend reading it if you plan on reading the whole series. So much fun to spend time with this one again...can't wait to get my hands on book 2! Other Views and Opinions: Rhinoa's Ramblings Bold.Blue.Adventure. (Absolute Sandman Vol. 1) Tripping Towards Lucidity The Hidden Side of a Leaf Nothing of Importance A Striped Armchair Let me know if I missed yours!