Comic book reviews for Sandman: Overture #1, Sandman: Overture #2, and Sandman: Overture #3 by Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams III
Average rating: 4/5 stars
Sandman: Overture #1 by Neil Gaiman
Art: J.H. Williams III
I always enjoy Gaiman’s writing, but he doesn’t always hit it out of the park for me, and I love Williams’ art, but I felt like he was holding back here. Both of creators seemed like they were still getting into the groove; Gaiman reminding himself of the characters and Williams testing the waters. Neither of them blew me away with this opening issues.
So the story is about Dream’s death? I don’t really understand how a character dying while in dreamland with Dream would also cause him to die. I suppose we’ll see exactly what’s happening. (And the answer to why the Corinthian got to roam the world as a serial killer for a while.)
I’m enjoying the period redesign of Death’s costume by Williams. I know the legions of Death fans will want to know exactly how Williams will be portraying her. But it’s been long enough that she does need adaptation of what she wears to bring her up to current times. I’m really hopefully for Williams’ art in general; in that with Sandman, they’ll get to basically do whatever they want.
I feel the various issues with the different art is a little excessive. I’m hoping that they only did this for the kick-off, and they don’t do this with feature issues. Yes, comic books need to sell more, but they don’t need the same fans buying all five issues of the same issue.
Sandman: Overture #2 by Neil Gaiman
Art: J.H. Williams III
Yeah, this book is just not clicking for me. Of course, the original run of Sandman took me quite a while to really get into the story and see where Gaiman was going. And to like any of the characters.
This book is even harder because it assumes that you have an attachment to Dream. That you care about him and his family, if someone’s trying to kill them off. I liked his cat aspect, but that’s about all I can say there.
Williams’ art, while very beautiful, hasn’t really helped bring this story together for me. Maybe I just need to pick this up when they collect it. Especially with the long waits for the book. Yes, I want a beautiful, well-done story, but there is something to be said about the serial story and how it’s released to maintain interest.
Sandman: Overture #3 by Neil Gaiman
Art: J.H. Williams III
This book is very beautiful. I’m loving all the inventive ways in which Williams is assisting in telling the story. Most artists only drawn in a linear fashion, but his art leads the eye. It’s gorgeous and fits this world so well. I can’t imagine anyone else drawing this universe.
The cat is very much a great aspect of Dream, especially a reluctant traveler and companion.
Ugh, I really hope that the old woman saying if she was kind, she would’ve told Dream not to look under the bed. I hope this means Hope won’t die. And somehow I think her name is a bit of obvious symbolism from Gaiman. Like I’m surprised it’s that blatant.
I’m hoping that the slowness of this story pays off as the details build on each other. Gaiman’s writing is sometimes like that. And if this weren’t Sandman, I’d worry about this book being canceled. Though I’m sure there’s a lot of fans waiting for trades who are getting impatient.