A Day With Death

So while The Sandman is still fresh in our minds, as well as after being introduced to the other members of the Endless in my previous post, I figured it would be appropriate to review a spin-off from the series next.

In Neil Gaiman’s Death: The High Cost of Living, we follow Death through New York as she becomes human for a day in the form of a girl named Didi. As she explains to Sexton Furnival, the 16 year old suicidal boy she befriends…

“One day in every century Death takes on human flesh, better to comprehend what the lives she takes must feel like, to taste the bitter tang of mortality.”

“This is the price she must pay for being the divider of the living from all that has gone before, all that must come after.”

In The Sandman, Death’s perkiness and sense of humour quickly made her a fan favourite, and some even go as far as to say she’s become more popular than her younger brother, Dream. But readers never actually got to know Death personally until 1993, when Death: The High Cost of Living was first published.

The story is a real treat for fans of this Endless who dresses like a rock star/goth, and who looks nothing like the grim reaper we see on television (nope she doesn’t even carry a scythe). As a human this time round, Death and Sexton spend the day together after she saves him in a garbage dump and pretty soon, they find themselves on a quest to find an old witch’s lost heart.

This story is a treat because we get a better sense of who and how Death really is. Readers who love her already will love her even more. And readers who hadn’t met her before this, will find themselves won over by her charm. I mean, we already get the idea from The Sandman, but somehow I think her personality shines through a lot more in this. Her fascination at something so  mundane – like how you get juice in your mouth after crunching an apple and the lingering taste of a hot dog – and her willingness to save a thug who had the intention of harming her don’t just reveal her soft side. What they do is show more of just how much she appreciates life. Some of the stuff she says might even make you think about what it means to be alive (Well, I did anyway).

Gaiman includes some familiar characters in this like Hazel and Foxglove who first appeared in The Sandman: A Game of You. The familiar characters establishes a sort of link to the original series, but you don’t have to have read The Sandman first before reading this. You could start with this and still be able to follow. Ain’t that great? Gaiman’s writing is as usual superb, and so is the story’s artwork by Chris Buchalo, Mark Buckingham and of course, Gaiman’s long time friend and collaborator, Dave Mckean.

By the way, did anybody notice the print on Sexton’s shirt?

Anyway, read it. It’s pretty light and definitely enjoyable.

I should also say that after Dream, Death would be my next favourite character from the series. Because besides being arguably the most powerful of all the seven Endless, as well as being the most fun and approachable, she’s also a woman. And yeah, she definitely gets points for that…

The Summer I Realized My Life Is Mediocre

Last summer, I hardly set foot outside my house. I hardly saw the sun, didn’t hang out as much with my friends, didn’t see much of my parents (even though we live under the same roof) and sorta forgot how it was to have conversations with real people.

Okay fine I’m exaggerating a little… Okay fine a lot…

But I really was in a world of my own. Or more like in the world of The Sandman.

Yes. I spent my long break with some friends who don’t really exist (Ugh it upsets me to say that). I read several graphic novels, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series among them, and I can now say that it is definitely my favourite comic book series of all time.

The series originally ran from 1989 to 1996 and is to this day one of Gaiman’s best works (in my opinion). The story chronicles the adventures of the series’ protagonist, Dream, or Morpheus as he is otherwise known (he never actually gets called ‘The Sandman’ in the stories by the way, and no he does not sprinkle sand in people’s eyes to make them sleep). Dream is one of the seven Endless, the other Endless being Destiny, Death, Destruction, Despair, Desire and Delirium. They aren’t Gods, but are rather the personification of the things themselves. That’s called anthropomorphism, isn’t it? Well, all seven are siblings and though they each have their own role to play in the series, their roles most often centre around the The Dream King’s quests.

The Sandman is a great fantasy series for anyone who wants to transport themselves into another universe, where there is no limit to the imagination and where dreams are powerful enough to affect reality. I think that’s the core essence of Sandman. It just takes you anywhere you wanna go. And if you find it hard living in the real world, like I do most of the time sometimes, Sandman allows you an escape.

To me, Sandman is not just a comic book. It’s literature as well. Gaiman, with all his brilliant knowledge in the art of storytelling, brings diversity to the stories by adding characters that might be familiar to us, and having them interact with the Endless. Picture Shakespeare in a tavern, as he strikes a bargain with Dream. Even Lucifer is featured in several story arcs. The stories are rich because Gaiman incorporates myths into Sandman, but doesn’t fail to somehow make them his own. Norse Gods like Loki and Odin, the Egyptian Goddess, Bast, and Orpheus, who within Sandman is Dream’s son, are among the many characters who appear in the series. A certain caped crusader (one that I like very much) even makes an appearance albeit briefly.

There are a total of ten books in the Sandman library (excluding the spin-offs) and as a side note, I’m really happy that my collection is finally complete. Wanna see? Sure you do.

From the first book, Preludes and Nocturnes, we sort of already get a glimpse of Dream’s role as a tragic hero even though that role is not fully established until later on. He is stubborn, and sometimes cruel – he sends a woman to hell for eternity for rejecting him in Season of Mist – but we also see his softer side, like when he rescues a former lover from years of captivity in the short story Calliope in Dream Country. We also occasionally get a glimpse of his dry sense of humour. Dream may be the prince of stories, and you would think that someone with that title would be fun and carefree but that’s far from how Dream really is. He takes his responsibility as an Endless very seriously and would sacrifice anything for the dreaming (his domain). I think by allowing Dream to make mistakes, Gaiman has made him a character that’s not perfect and therefore more human. But it is also the ramifications of his mistakes and his inability to change that ultimately seal his fate.

One of the many things I love about Neil Gaiman, is the way he pays attention to detail. He adds layers and sub-plots within Sandman that tie back to the central theme, and there are many references throughout the series to things that seem to have been set up from the very beginning. He does this so well, it makes me wonder if he knew all along exactly how he wanted the series to end. If he did, wow… what a writer… The layers within the story arcs add to the complexity of the plot and definitely give the series more depth.

I was pretty sad after I’d finished The Wake. Because after reading Sandman and after going on a long journey with Dream (who I actually have a crush on but shhh don’t tell anybody it’s a secret), I suddenly realized just how mediocre my life is. Yeah, Sandman is that good. Reality suddenly seemed boring and colourless. Ah well. I’ll get over it one day. At least I have dreams, and dreams make me happy.

Another thing that makes me happy! The possibility of Sandman coming to the small screen! Neil Gaiman himself thinks it’s a good idea. Watch the short interview with him here.