All right, I'm halfway through A Doll's House, and I'm loving it more and more. It's becoming a whole lot more epic, with the tale of Nada and the machinations of Desire and Despair and the escape of Dreaming citizens and everything is connected and important!

I wasn't surprised to see Unity Kinkaid again because Gaiman specifically mentions her in his recap of the first volume, so it was like being spoiled by a previously. I think it's amusing thar Rose's hair is about four colors, and depending on what angle you see her, you only see one at a time.

Comic books are such a physical, tangible medium. It's such a strange experience to have to turn the book ninety degrees for four pages.

Dream is kind of a badass ("I don't think you'll enjoy the next few thousand years"), but he's also kind of a jackass. What he did to Nada was asshattery of the highest degree. "You won't marry me, so here's a hot cup of eternal torment"? The hell? That's a new twist on the old "Immortal in love with a mortal" story.

I've decided that the ending of Part Three is a good stopping point until tomorrow. It's when Jed gets picked up by the Corinthian, which made me audibly say, "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck," and, well, I love when stories make me do that.

I will not be surprised if I have nightmares about the Corinthian. Dude has TEETH FOR EYES.

All right, I'm halfway through A Doll's House, and I'm loving it more and more. It's becoming a whole lot more epic, with the tale of Nada and the machinations of Desire and Despair and the escape of Dreaming citizens and everything is connected and important! I wasn't surprised to see Unity Kinkaid again because Gaiman specifically mentions her in his recap of the first volume, so it was like being spoiled by a previously.

Yeah, characters recur from start to finish. Just about everyone who's of any importance appears in more than one story, and occasionally a few incidental characters. Gaiman's got a thing for interwoven character arcs.

Dream is kind of a badass ("I don't think you'll enjoy the next few thousand years"), but he's also kind of a jackass. What he did to Nada was asshattery of the highest degree. "You won't marry me, so here's a hot cup of eternal torment"? The hell? That's a new twist on the old "Immortal in love with a mortal" story.

Makes you feel sympathy for Angel. Immortals? Not so good at personal relationships. You start to wonder if it just comes with the territory.

I will not be surprised if I have nightmares about the Corinthian. Dude has TEETH FOR EYES.

Seriously. I had friends try to get me into Clive Barker for years, but I can't think of anything he ever did that was as menacing as the Corinthian, and 90% of the time he doesn't even get his hands dirty.

Morpheus is my woobie.

Just finished Doll's House, and damn, this is good stuff.

How twisted is Gaiman to come up with a SERIAL KILLER CONVENTION and how dumb am I that it took me half the issue to figure out that's what it was?

I like Gilbert, especially because he can inspire exchanges like "What a wonderful place."/"Yeah. It was a friend of mine."

The ending felt a little deus ex angina, but it worked. And it ties in to the Big Picture of Desire trying to fuck with Dream for...some reason. The Endless are one wacky family. Dream and Death seem to get along, and Desire and Despair are tight, and Destiny seems like he might be the oldest, and there's this D who's disappeared that I don't know. I like how the final panel of Desire with her arms in the air made her look like one of the natives from the first issue.

I'm a sucker for Lost-style random connections like the fact that Rose's best friend was in the diner with John Dee.

I will wait for the time when Robert Gadley becomes important, though there was another instance where Dream acted like an ass, all, "You DARE accuse me of being lonely? I'm ENDLESS, bitch!"

I'm loving the worldview being presented here, just the way the Endless and the living interact, how the anthropomorphic characters really do represent facets of humanity, and thus Gaiman manages to say a lot of interesting things without actually saying them.

PC, just so you know, I'm getting a huge kick out of seeing your unspoiled and utterly fresh reactions to "Sandman."

Me too. I had basically the same reactions. Hob/Robert Gadling is one of my favorite characters, and you get a little more of him. I also don't think it's spoilery to say that we find out why Desire's trying to fuck with Dream the way it is (I also love that Gaiman managed to exactly split the genders among an odd number of siblings).

Did you get "Endless Nights" too?

I'm going to have to go get the rest of the series, aren't I? I've read either 3 or 4, and haven't been willing to drop the cash for the rest, and they aren't at the library here (dammit). I always mean to...maybe after I finish all my homework...

PC, just so you know, I'm getting a huge kick out of seeing your unspoiled and utterly fresh reactions to "Sandman."

Thank you, I'm glad! I really have little to no clue what to expect here; I'm almost entirely in the dark.

Hob/Robert Gadling is one of my favorite characters, and you get a little more of him.

Hm, I wouldn't put him as one of my favorite characters right now, but I do want to see how he figures in later.

I also don't think it's spoilery to say that we find out why Desire's trying to fuck with Dream the way it is

You bitch! I mean...well, I would hope so.

Did you get "Endless Nights" too?

Not yet, but I think the library does have it, so I will grab it when I'm done.

Just finished Dream Country (what, it's four issues, why put it off till tomorrow?). Good stuff, though obviously not as compelling as the last series, what with the four isolated tales.

It's hard to sympathize with the main character in "Calliope," and I don't think Gaiman expects us to. Still, the plight hits home for writers, and Dream has a very sadistic streak when it comes to punishment (I still love Eternal Waking, which I first interpreted to mean Never Sleeping before I discovered it was something more clever).

"Dream of a Thousand Cats" is very cute, and it's a neat way of taking the cliché of "Dreams can change the world" and...interpreting it literally.

"Midsummer Night's Dream" is all right. I feel like it doesn't really rise above its premise. Yes, it's clever to have the characters represented in the play watch the play being performed, but the actual story doesn't have much going for it. I liked the backseat comments from the peanut gallery ("But issa love story. Not dinner."). Puck's taking over Puck didn't really lead to anything. I like it for continuing the Shakespeare plot from the Gadling story, and I find it interesting that Faerie is a world all to itself, distinct from the Dreaming. I begin to wonder how many different realities are meant to interact with the mortal plane. Also, I can understand why Gaiman ended up writing American Gods, because he clearly has a fascination with the interplay between immortals and mortals. Finally, this story and "Calliope" are signs that he also has a fascination with the nature of stories and storytelling, and for that, I love him.

"Facade" may have been better if I had any idea who Element Girl was. But I liked that Death was "just passing through," and I was very amused that right after I had the thought, "You know, Death can't go around taking everyone's soul personally. People are dying all the time, all around the world. She can't be everywhere at once," she said, "I can be everywhere at once, so suck it, Sunil."

The included script for "Calliope" was very enjoyable. Gaiman has all these random comments about what he's watching on TV and what the weather's like, and the descriptions are very casual, beginning with "Okay" and "Right."

Tomorrow, Season of Mists. This better be as good as everyone says!

How twisted is Gaiman to come up with a SERIAL KILLER CONVENTION and how dumb am I that it took me half the issue to figure out that's what it was?

In a neat little bit, that story also subtley tied in to "Swamp Thing" and "Hellblazer."

It's hard to sympathize with the main character in "Calliope," and I don't think Gaiman expects us to.

Eh, Gaiman manages to elicit a modicum of sympathy for even his most wretched characters. But then, "Calliope" is my favorite single issue. ("Season of Mists" being my favorite arc, with "Brief Lives a close second.)

In a neat little bit, that story also subtley tied in to "Swamp Thing" and "Hellblazer."

Heh, yeah. Someone told me that Swampy killed the Bogeyman. How did it tie into Hellblazer ?

Eh, Gaiman manages to elicit a modicum of sympathy for even his most wretched characters.

Yeah, maybe a modicum. And Gaiman seems to love writing about wretched characters.

I'm halfway through SOM now, and I see why everyone loves it. This is some crazy cool shit going down here. First, it's great to get all the remaining Endless (I still can't figure out who the missing D is...Darkness? Dumbledore?) in one place, and it's rather telling that ten thousand years have gone by, and Dream never even gave a second thought to what he did to Nada (and what an ironic name, huh?). Also, I think the brother/sister relationship between Dream and Death is really cute. Especially because he's the little brother.

Dream is such a drama queen! "Bye, everyone. I might never come back. Just so you know. Here I go to Hell. Remember, you might never see me again. Because I'm going to Hell. Did I mention I might never come back?" And yet, I still don't have a sense of why he was so afraid; we haven't really seen an example of Lucifer's power, per se. What makes him the second-most powerful being in the universe.

Of course, there are other kinds of power. I enjoy Lucifer's characterization, the way he's so resentful of mankind. And I would never, ever have predicted his little gambit. The whole issue I was thinking, "This can't be for real. There has to be an ulterior motive. How is he going to screw Dream over?" And then it comes. All it takes is a key. It's a constant theme in this book, masking punishments in things that don't look like punishments.

And now everyone wants a piece of Hell. So cool! Dream should set up time-shares or something. Plus, the dead are returning! Zombies everywhere! I'm halfway through the zombie issue, and I hope it gets better than little dead schoolchildren running around.