The Sandman: Overture

Title: The Sandman: Overture (The Sandman 0)
Author: Neil Gaiman
Illustrators: J. H. Williams III and Dave Stewart
Genre: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novel
Publisher: DC Comics (10th November 2015)
Blurb:

He is known throughout Creation by countless names. Anywhere that life exists, he and his seven ageless siblings guide the forces that shape it.

He is Dream of the Endless. The year is 1915. And the universe is about to end.

With THE SANDMAN: OVERTURE, New York Times bestselling author and master of modern fantasy Neil Gaiman returns for his first full-length story of the Dream King in nearly 20 years – a stunning prequel to the original SANDMAN saga, illustrated by critically acclaimed artist J. H. Williams III and colorist Dave Stewart. This deluxe hardcover edition collects all six issues of the landmark VERTIGO series and includes more than 40 pages of special behind-the-scenes features, as well as an all-new sketchbook section from Williams.

Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Review:

THE SANDMAN: OVERTURE written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by J. H. Williams III and Dave Stewart, is both the first and last story of Dream of the Endless. The story is set before the first part of the Sandman saga, THE SANDMAN: PRELUDES AND NOCTURNES, and explains the series of events that lead to that book’s beginning.

I don’t often review comics, but as Neil Gaiman’s Sandman saga is one of my favourites when I came across the deluxe hardcover edition, which is a bind-up of the six original issues, I couldn’t resist. This book is as beautiful, and complex, and alive as I have come to expect from all the bind-ups of the Sandman Saga.

OVERTURE is a beautifully crafted book. The illustrations are brilliantly rendered, and Williams and Stewart really bring Gaiman’s world alive on the page. There are some exquisite pieces; there are some beautiful illustrations by Williams, and some sublime colours by Stewart.

OVERTURE is Gaiman at his best. The story is brilliantly crafted, and it keeps you turning the page desperate to know what happens next. Dream of the Endless is one of my favourite characters written by Gaiman, and I think OVERTURE is both a brilliant beginning and ending to his story. The plot itself is beautifully complex and well thought.

If you are a fan of Gaiman’s writing, then you will surely enjoy this. OVERTURE is both an introduction and a conclusion to a brilliant, complex, very real world. Don’t be afraid to give it a try if you’ve never read comics before, if you’re a Gaiman fan then you won’t be disappointed. If you’ve never read any of Gaiman’s work before then this series is a good place to start.