Enter Sandman!

I had the privilege of reading probably one of the darkest, most amazing set of comics of Neil Gaiman - The Sandman series, thank you tons! Megha(aka The Wannabe Tamil Punkster) for starting me off of these comics, I will probably have to read them a few several times to actually fathom the level of darkness in each context. This, probably stands out as his most famous work with the following list of characters, called the endless (oh, and all of them are related!) :-

Desire is everything you have ever wanted. Whoever you are. Whatever you are. Everything.

Despair, Desire's sister and twin. It is said that scattered through Despair's domain are a many tiny windows, hanging in the void. Each window looks out on a different scene, being, in our world, a mirror.

Delirium is the youngest of the Endless. She smells of sweat, sour wines, late nights, and leather. Her realm is close, and can be visited; however, human minds were not made to comprehend her domain.

Dream accumulates names for himself like others make friends; but he permits himself few friends. If he is closest to anyone, it is to his elder sister, whom he sees but rarely. He heard long ago, in a dream, that one day in evert century Death takes on mortal flesh, better to comprehend what the lives she takes must feel like, to taste the bitter tang of morality: that is the price she must pay for being the divider of the living from all that has gone before, all that must come after. He broods on this tale, but has never questioned her about its truth. Perhaps he fears that she would answer him. Of all the Endless, save perhaps Destiny, he is the most concious of his responsibilities, the most meticulous in there execution. Dream casts a human shadow, when it occurs to him to do so.

Death accompanies each mortal twice in life. At birth, she speaks to them, but since no one remembers what she says, it is not known why. When they die, she guides them to what lies beyond their mortal years.

Destiny is the oldest of the Endless; in the Beginning was the Word, and it was traced by his hand on the first page of his book, before ever it was spoken aloud

Destruction : Approximately 300 years ago, Destruction abandoned his realm., and he can no longer be reached.He is not dead.He simply choose not to be responsible for destruction and all other facets of his domain anymore.

This layout simply does no justice to Gaiman’s Illustrations, and the only way someone can actually feast their eyes on his breathtaking piece of art is to go through the actual comics.

There are so many moments where you would probably relate a dream or a saying to yourself, innumberable situations where i did, and i think darkness prevails in subtlity in every corner, especially in a character like death. There is poetry in everything everyone says or does, it is quite amazing how dark, yet how subtle the emotions are, especially some of the conversations of Dream or Death.

For example Dream on a ruby which holds a part of him – “I made the stone, created it from the fabric of my being long ago. Powered by my spirit, it was made to manipulate the fabric of dreams, of the world I rule”.

Or Death in a conversation with Dream – “Most aren’t too keen to see me. They fear sunless lands. But they enter Your realm each night without fear!”

Anything more would just be me trying to type out the entire series on this itsy blog. As an afterthought, just because I had to talk about Metallica and their song :-

It's up for debate whether Metallica was channeling the comics when they sang Enter Sandman - 'Exit light/Enter night/Take my hand /We're off to never never land'. Either way, it certainly channels the spirit with which Gaiman's readers enter his worlds of forgotten gods and unforgettable dreams.

The characters/pictures in the layout:-

Top - Destiny

Left – an illustration of Dream

Right top – Destiny’s Book which he is chained to.

Right middle – Destiny again

Right Bottom (top) – Dream

Right Bottom (Below) – Death

The pictures(now taken off) are purposely small so they only intrigue, which is the essence of this blog, I guess true exhilaration will probably be found when you actually read the series! Just a couple of covers to show some terrific artwork :)

Layout taken off : can be viewed at
Enter Sandman