Short and sweet, also an award winner.
This is the smallest of the Sandman trades. At times I feel its only really for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the famed award winning issue. This one issue alone has done something no comic will ever do again. It won the World Fantasy Award in the 'Best Short Fiction' category, forcing the rules of that award to be changed.
Don't get me wrong the other stories are good in this trade, but they are personally not my favorites. These stories feel like random one-shot stories, bidding time for Neil Gaiman to sort out this new Universe he is creating. He taps a lot of other peoples ideas, such as Shakespeare in A Midsummer's Night's Dream and the Element Girl in the Facade issue feels like an Alan Moore story, where he reworks the character by dismantling first to assemble again later.
Vertigo is currently reissuing these older Sandman Trades with the Absolute Sandman recoloring. If you have not read this books yet, you can wait for the new coloring or find this one cheap. Don't pay full price for it right now, as good as it is, it isn't worth it knowing that somewhere they are being liquidated.
I gave this books a 4/5. Its not my fave Sandman Trade, but its Short and sweet, also an award winner.
Cheers!
- Silkcuts
