The Sandman: Volume One Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman

When I first discovered Neil Gaiman I devoured everything I could find, even if it was out of my comfort zone. So one day I found myself reading his Sandman comic series. That was four or five years ago. This week I sat down to reread the first volume Preludes and Nocturnes and was just as in love the second time around.

There are eight stories in this volume that make up the first complete story arc of Sandman. The art done by Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, and Malcolm Jones III is fantastically horrifying. In fact, Sandman overall is fantastically horrifying. There are images and moments and stories from it that have stayed with me and struck me again as I reread. Dave McKean's covers for each story are striking and beautiful.  

Preludes and Nocturnes drew me in. The story "24 Hours" is one of my favorites as the grotesque poetry of it is haunting and thought provoking. It deals with the dark stuff of humanity and storytelling. Morpheus himself is an intriguing character, not just because he is Dream, The Sandman, but because he has existential crises just like humans. He has his own sense of what is just and unjust. And at his heart, Morpheus is the ultimate storyteller.

Overall, the reason why I love this series so much is because it scares me but also makes me think. It is not the most terrifying thing but not the most comfortable. It does what good art and writing is supposed to do, according to me anyway. This first volume really speaks to that and is a wonderful introduction to the series of Sandman. Comics are where Neil Gaiman really began and so as a fan of the author I always love to recommend this graphic novel. Even if you know nothing of Neil Gaiman and you just enjoy comics or horror or good storytelling, then you will enjoy Preludes and Nocturnes.

I Hate Fairyland by Skottie Young

This will be a shorter post, mostly because I read this graphic novel while hyped up on Vicodin after my miscarriage. Although I will say that the Vicodin probably enhanced this gory, fairy filed adventure. But kids, don't try that at home. In fact kids, don't read this graphic novel.

I Hate Fairyland is written and illustrated solely by Skottie Young, so from the get go he got points for being a double threat. This comic follows a girl named Gertrude who at a young age gets whisked off to fairyland...and gets stuck. Her decades spent among these colorful folk has filled her with a deep hatred of all things happy and fun. She gallivants across the land in search of a key to get her home with a fly as her partner. While on this decades-long quest she murders moons and massacres stars. She eats mushroom people and robs banks. It is a highly indecent and entirely hilarious take on the classic fairy tale dilemma of needing to go on a quest to return to one's home.

Even though I did not want to hate fairyland I came to see it through Gert's eyes and enjoyed her bloody romps through the various lands. She reminded me that not everything sugar coated and rainbow filled is fun 24/7 and exemplified the old phrase, "be careful what you wish for". This was the perfect thing for me to read after going through something so deeply horrible. It made me laugh and forget myself for a little while in a world not too dark but full of enough angst and evil to not feel like I was reading a Disney comic. If you like blood and fairies and destruction and comics, then go to the store and buy Volume One of I Hate Fairyland as soon as you can, but skip the Vicodin.

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan (writer) and Fiona Staples (artist)

First, I would like to apologize for not posting last week. I was not having the best time and did not finish any books. (Shocking, I know). But I am back this week in abundance and will be posting at least once, if not twice, more before the week is over! To give you a preview, I am currently reading:

-A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E Schwab
-Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (audiobook)
-The Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

So that is what you have to look forward to, review-wise! Okay, now on to what this post is really about.

I need to begin this by saying that I was never into comics. I mean, never. If anything, I looked down on people who read them. I thought they were childish and for people who could not, or would not, tackle the comprehensive world of fiction. Then when I was 16 my ex-boyfriend gave me The Crow. I read it and, to my surprise, enjoyed it. But I was still naive because it was a "graphic novel" which was, obviously, different from a comic book. (Oh the things we think when we are young!). Fast forward to a few years ago and I discover Neil Gaiman, who I fall madly in love with. I devoured everything he had written that I could get my hands on. And when I ran out of books, I was left with the vast library of comic and graphic novel work he had produced. So I bought the first Sandman graphic novel. I loved it. Now, I have only read two Sandman graphic novels and two of Gaiman's stand alone graphic novels, so I am still very much a beginner, but I was impressed at how rich the storytelling actually was. That combined with the amazing artwork and I was captivated. I don't know that it made me a comic buff necessarily, but it definitely taught me a lesson and gave me an appreciation for this world. Unfortunately, I never dove into anything else in the comic world, until this past weekend.

There had been articles and suggestions made about Saga in my realm of social media and friends since about two years ago. Yet nothing I saw sparked my interest enough to actually pay attention. I had seen the cover of the first comic and enjoyed the evocative nature of it. (Who wouldn't love a bad ass looking winged-lady breastfeeding?) Recently I had been hearing about it again and the cover kept coming to mind. So last week I was at Barnes and Noble with my husband and went to the comic section to check it out. Much to my pleasant surprise, all Image comics, (Image is the publisher), were on sale for "buy 2 get the 3rd free". Then of course I had to buy the first three. This felt like a sign from the reading gods.

I started the first graphic novel the next day and finished it almost faster than you can say "saga". I jumped right into the second one and am only taking a break from going on to the third one so I can write this post. I now own all five available graphic novels (each one contains six comics) and plan to subscribe to the comics once they start up again later this year so that I do not have to wait months between the graphic novel releases. Yep, I have become a comic nerd.

What I love about this series is pretty much everything. The main characters, Marko and Alana, are on this mission to raise their baby Hazel as far from the war between their worlds as possible. At the heart, Saga is all about family. I don't know if it is the fact that I am pregnant for the first time that plays into my love for this story or the fact that it is just a great story, but I feel like it is definitely a bit of both. Brian K. Vaughan's world is weird and inventive and full of the fresh-ness that I appreciate in anything science-fiction. His ability to give even the evil characters an interesting narrative with depth is something else that speaks to his true talent as a storyteller. I feel like I can't turn the pages fast enough and yet I want to turn them all bad and read them all over again.

Alana is my favorite character. Not just because she is a woman, but because she is strong without losing her femininity. I feel like so much of Hollywood and other creative outlets nowadays focus on overly masculine women or overly feminine women. Part of the reason I loved the new Star Wars is that I feel Rey was similar to Alana. These are the women I can most relate to because I have never felt like a girly-girl, but I've never felt like a tom-boy either. So reading Saga and watching Alana be a wife, mother, and a warrior is just all around awesome and inspiring. But all of this is not to say that I do not love Marko and other characters as well, its just that if I could be anyone, right now I would pick her.

Saga also does an amazing job of dealing with gritty topics such as race, sex, and age. There are moral questions raised and eyebrows left un-raised at things other art and literary forms would never even discuss. Or if they did discuss it, it would be in an in-your-face way or with tongue in cheek. I think the fact that this is a rare, if nonexistent, feeling for me when reading these comics says a great deal about the writing and artistry.

Last, but not least, I have to gush over Fiona Staples artwork. It is breathtaking. The scary scenes are horrifying. The awkward scenes of robots sitting on toilets are still asking to be stared at. The loving scenes emanate the emotions off of the page. And the facial expressions of each character seem as real as if they were sitting right across from me. I want to take certain pages out of Saga just to hang them on my wall. Even if you hate good storytelling, you have to read this series for the great artwork.