Review - Preludes and Nocturnes (The Sandman)

I thought at first I wasn't going to be able to get into the art. Most of my experience with reading graphic novels comes from manga, with pretty boys and pretty art all the time, not like this. Which isn't to say that I didn't see the value of this art, I'm just a sucker for pretty things. Now I've actually read this first volume and I'm used to the art style, I can see how perfect it is and I'm quite enjoying it. I like Dream's character design, but so far his sister, Death, is my favourite in terms of design. And she's pretty awesome: "You are utterly the stupidest, most self-centered, appallingest excuse for an anthropomorphic personification on this or any other plane!"

The story in this feels very much like an introduction. Here is Dream, here are his things, here is Dream going on a quest to regain his power, here is Dream with all his power. I think it was quite a good way to introduce us to a main character, and the final story -- "The Sound of Her Wings" -- is a nice way to wrap up the volume.

You can definitely see the "pushing and pulling" Gaiman mentions in the afterword, and the exploration of different genres, but it more or less comes together into a whole, and he definitely does find his voice with the last story. Hopefully from here on it'll all be... not like that, but settled into the right voice for it.