Title: The Sandman, Vol 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
Author: Neil Gaiman
Illustrators: Sam Keith, Mike Dringenberg
On a dark night, a group of crooked men attempt to summon Death to learn the secrets to immortality. Only instead of Death they manage to kidnap her brother Dream. Not realizing their mistake, Dream is left imprisoned for decades. Although Dream eventually escapes from his cell, he finds himself far less powerful than he was before. In order to regain his strength, he must collect the tools of his trade, a task that will bring him face to face to dreamers, madmen, demons and heroes.

I have been meaning to read The Sandman by Neil Gaiman for a long time. With the prequel series coming out later this year, I figured that now was as good a time as any delve into the original comics. Interestingly, despite being warned that Preludes and Nocturnes was not necessarily indicative of the quality of the series as a whole, I was a little thrown by the first issue, where Dream (also known as Morpheus) is first imprisoned. Although the concept was interesting, I found the execution to be overly wordy, and really didn’t care about any of its characters. The artwork didn’t exactly grab me either. Because I connected so poorly with the first issue, I actually considered putting the first collection down and moving on to something else. It’s a good thing that I kept with it.

After the first issue where Dream is captured, Preludes and Nocturnes contain six issues where Morpheus must find his missing tools to regain his power. The collection then ends with a one shot called “The Sound of her Wings” which introduces the character of Death. When it comes to the main arc, some issues are stronger than others (I found both "Imperfect Hosts" and "Passengers" to be uneven) but others are really good. My favorite out of the five would have to be the horrific "24 Hours," which focuses on the villain as he traps a group of normal people in a diner and forces them to do his will. The final issue of this arc, "Sound and Fury," where the villain and Morpheus finally clash, is also pretty strong. But the best issue by far would have to be “The Sound of Her Wings.” A welcome reprieve after the high drama of the rest of the collection, "The Sound of Her Wings is beautiful in its simplicity." It focuses on the role of Death and the brother-sister relationship between Dream and Death as Death attempts to cheer Dream up. This is where Gaiman really shines as a writer, as Morpheus's reflections can be quite beautiful. As far as the artwork goes, I found that it grew on me during the collection, despite my initial issues with it. The covers on the other hand, drawn by Dave McKean, are really something special.

Final Thoughts: If you’re anything like me, Preludes and Nocturnes will not grab you right away. But despite a weak start, I urge you to stick with it. There are some really interesting characters and adventures to be found in Preludes and Nocturnes, and I’m really glad that I read it. I already have the second volume of the series from my library. Four Stars

Next I will be Reviewing The Shadowed Sun by NK Jemisin