Re: "It's about family," I feel very much that "Brief Lives" is more about change than family. "You can stop being anything." Destruction is change, so he changes and stops being Destruction. This to be contrasted with Dream's resistance to change in himself, though he's already undergone some of it despite this. Delirium having such a large role points at this further. Together they are, in order, one who has changed and become something other, one who has neither changed (much) nor left the Endless, and one who has changed and stayed Endless. They almost describe a cycle in three persons.

Oh, very nice. I do agree that change is a major theme as well.

(I'm reading along at this point. Damn you.)

Hee. Nice. I'm finishing The Kindly Ones tonight. It may be a very long post.

The Secret Society of Super-Villains. Which was AWESOME.

Thank YOU! I probably still have the issue or two that I picked up of that (also in tragic shape I'm sure). I can't remember if I missed an issue and just stopped buying it or what, but I remember enjoying what I'd read. Anyone know how long it lasted?

Anyone know how long it lasted?

15 issues, which was a pretty good run back then.

Hee. Nice. I'm finishing The Kindly Ones tonight. It may be a very long post.

I have just finished The Kindly Ones.

Holy motherfucking Jesus Christ on a stick wow.

I'm not sure I should even try to write a coherent post about everything because it's so frickin' long. But let me first try a list of all that is awesome.

The hot blonde Fate. Lucifer as a nightclub singer. The framing of Lyta's half-crazed wanderings through the city and other realms. The pretty colors and sharp, chiaroscuro-tastic artwork. The very first panel we see of Dream remaking the Corinthian. Matthew. The Corinthina. Matthew and the Corinthina. Lucien. That Lucien was the first Raven. That Delirium's entire plotline is searching for her doggie. Rose Walker. Nuala. That Puck, of course, stole the baby. The old woman's story that ends with a giant worm eating a man's face. The structure of Part Eight, which spans one week in the life of Dream. That the Corinthian cuts Loki's fucking eyes out. Merv Pumpkinhead's last stand. The visual shock of seeing Dream bleed. Matthew, again. Death. That Daniel becomes Dream. The framing device...that ends in cleavage.

No one I've talked to has listed this one as a favorite, which frightened me at first because I thought, well, if the series peaks at Brief Lives and Kindly Ones is ginormous, um. This is definitely one of my favorites; it's so damn epic. It's the culmination of so much that's gone on in the last eight books.

You know, looking back, Rose's storyline didn't seem to serve a larger purpose, especially because the whole thing with Desire leaving her realm was never explained. I mean, I like Rose, so I didn't mind, but it's only now that I realize it never connected to the main plot. Oh, wait, she was the babysitter, but that was in the first couple issues, and she didn't have to go on her big journey to England and be taking care of Zelda and all that. Although her little fling with Jack was one bit of relationshipness that actually worked for me.

But the main plot, geez. You've got Lyta wandering around and joining the Furies, Matthew and the Corinthian searching for a baby, Loki setting people on fire, the Furies rampaging through the Dreaming and killing people who shouldn't be killed, and Dream going out in one big self-flagellating flash of glory.

We harken back to Brief Lives, and Dream finally admits he has changed. As you may well know, one of my pet themes is identity issues, and Kindly Ones hits it much better than A Game of You tried to. You've got the Corinthian trying to come to terms with his own new existence despite having shades of his old self still around. Matthew struggles to understand his past to better understand his future. Nuala chooses to be without her glamour because she feels more comfortable as her true self. Thessaly has changed her name but not her game. And Dream, Dream contends with the age-old notion that it is our actions that define us. He has certain responsibilities; he does what he must do. (A slight tangent: this is a being who has put parts of himself into precious stones, so does he even feel complete?)

It's a fabulous tragedy, this. Dream kills his own son, and despite the fact that he did it on his son's wish, he is prepared to accept the natural consequences of that action. Those years of imprisonment really fucked him up good. He is so tied to his responsibilities that he cannot abandon his realm like Destruction did; he finds another way out. It's all so complicated and complex and depressing.

And of course, it all comes back to stories, even in this installment. It was Orpheus' stories that made the Furies cry, that brought about his death. The Fates spin the tale enclosed between the covers. Destiny carries around the story of existence. Stories and songs abound, shaping the fabric of the universe.

As I move on to The Wake, I still have so many questions. Why did Desire want Death to shed family blood, and why did she leave her realm? Who manipulated Loki and Puck into stealing Daniel? Who is the other inhabitant of the Dreaming who was once a Raven? Shit, Desire didn't fuck Rose in her sleep and impregnate her, did it? And other questions I'm forgetting right now.

Very clever, Gaiman. Dream is dead, and thus now it is time to Wake.

I told you it would be a long post.

That one's actually my favorite single arc, P-C, but what are you going to say about it beforehand that isn't going to spoil the fun?

HAPPY FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!!!

The first time I read Kindly Ones, I stalled out before the end because I didn't want to read what was coming.

You can kill characters. You can fuck with continuity. But when you do both at the same time you piss people off.

Yup. Just read IC#7. What a mess, both in concept and execution.