It's probably one of the most disturbing things in the whole series. It's generally acknowledged that the series really finds its footing at the end of the first "book", which is "The Sound of Her Wings."

So...I don't think it's traumatizing, but you could skim it.

"24 Hours" is disturbing, but I wouldn't say traumatizing.

Ooooh, just wait until he gets to the serial killer convention in "A Doll's House"!

You know, now that I think about it—and maybe I will come to a different conclusion after I read it again—that issue may be a Michael Haneke film as done by Neil Gaiman.

I love that part so much, Jilli! And of course THE CORINTHIAN.

I'm kind of envious of the people who are reading The Sandman for the first time, because now there are the collections. You can wallow in a story arc, instead of these tiny nibbles of an issue, and then having to wait for the next month.

I should check my carefully-stored box of issues because I know I'm missing a few, and The Sandman is pretty much the only series I care about owning the complete run. (I know some of my issues were "lost" by former housemates. Grrr.)

Maybe I should wear my sterling silver key to Hell tomorrow. (I bet you thought I was going to say "ankh". No, I wear one of those every day.)

Ha, that IS what I thought you were going to say.

I've told you of how I got lured into reading The Sandman, right? One of my friends brought his newly-purchased copy of issue 8 and waved it at me, demanding to know why I was in it. Yes, I wore an ankh necklace and swirly eyeliner every day back then.

Hee! Someone on Mark Reads posted about how she got into it because she was adopted by the Goths at college, even though she didn't really consider herself a Goth. But she wanted to fit in, so she ran with it, even pretending to be familiar with Sandman. The next year she went to a Neil Gaiman signing with a bunch of Goths, bought some books, fell in love with his writing, and then finally read Sandman for real.

Sandman is on my list of "Things all Goths need to read". Not because I expect everyone who is gothy to love it, but it's become such a subcultural touchstone. I also expect all gothy types to have read Dracula, The Gashleycrumb Tinies, and the original 4 issues of The Crow.

Sandman is on my list of "things all humans need to read".

Jilli! Did you know there are two OVA episodes of Black Butler where the characters play out Alice in Wonderland? Called Ciel in Wonderland?

For those of you who're thinking, A gothy anime Alice in Wonderland? I'd like to see that...