Before Reading! Questions for Volume I: Preludes and Nocturnes

MarianCallMarianCall
edited February 2014 in Weekly Questions Before Reading
***This thread is for questions to have in mind before reading Vol. I. Some folks haven't read the book yet, so keep discussion here non-spoilery. Add your own 1st book questions below!**

Questions I have about the first book...

1) I'm not very good at paying attention to the artists because I get so wrapped up in the writing. Who are the artists? How are they different? Do you happen to know some of their other work? Can you help to put them in context for comics generally at the time this book was published? I would love to know more about this, if it happens to be an interest of yours.

2) Who on earth is our narrator? What choices have Gaiman & company made about Voice? Because often the narrator is very nearly invisible, a non-character, but decisions have been made about the narrative perspective nonetheless. Sometimes the narrative Voice is in where we enter and exit scenes and in the order of the storytelling. (Remember that narration is also done through the perspectives chosen for each frame by the artist, by selecting a perspective and omitting all other perspectives.)

Themes to watch for:

Characters stripped of their pretenses and coping mechanisms
Crimes and punishments, whether they match

Ask your own questions below, although try not to be too spoilery -- keep them for pre-book reading!

Marian

Comments

  • whitesummersidewhitesummerside
    Hi. I'll try to help how I can with Point 1.

    Issues 1-5 were done by Sam Kieth, who's more known for his creation The Maxx. His work on The Sandman came first since The Maxx was done in the early 90s and became an that MTV cartoon around the same time.

    The rest of the book was drawn by Mike Dringenberg. I can't recall any of his previous/known works at the moment, but he's the guy who made a lot of the iconic looks in The Sandman series as he'd go on to be the artist in other stories that introduced major characters.
  • Joi_the_ArtistJoi_the_Artist
    A major theme of the whole series is change. People change, the world changes, even the Endless change. What prompts change: is it internal or external to the person?
  • DanielDaniel
    How does the inclusion of the cover art affect the emotion of the story? Does it provide foreshadowing, or is it an artistic interlude, a visual dish of sorbet before the next course?
  • MarianCallMarianCall
    Ooh, glad you brought up the cover art. It really does interrupt the story, but that seems very deliberate...
  • Joi_the_ArtistJoi_the_Artist
    But how much of that is just due to being published in individual issues? It's mostly read as trade paperbacks now, but that's not how it was released. How does the serial nature of the format affect the storytelling?
  • reo_1963reo_1963
    How (and when) is mythology stronger than science?
  • davidnettdavidnett
    The Dave McKean cover art is so glorious - I often think of those covers first when I think of Sandman. His art is what drew me into the series originally, and it is so hard to separate it from the story, for me. He's a master of protean forms - change and illusion seem to be his primary working materials.
  • EdwarticaEdwartica
    Ooh, never thought about who the narrator might be. That's going to be something to determine I'll wait to make any guesses in a thread that allows spoilers. But I already have theories... Mwahahaha
  • MarianCallMarianCall
    New thought, after reading vol. I: Why are Cain & Abel such central characters? They get a lot of book time. What's so key about them?

    Also, a lot of this book is about imprisonment and freedom. And being released from certain kinds of prisons may not be such a good thing...
  • expatministerexpatminister
    I'm interested in the theme of exile: where is the Sandman coming from—where is he going? (Hand-in-hand with the imprisonment questions...) What happens when things get left untended—during the interregnum? What gets lost and gained? Interrupted journeys are game changers...what kind of change happens, and why?
  • jonsagerjonsager
    I'm not sure about Cain and Abel either. I suspect it is reflective of Dream's state of mind prior to being captured. We don't know much about that but I think he may have strayed from his purpose.
  • mjperljammjperljam
    On The Sandman Dave McKean covers:
    Neil has discussed the importance and significance of Dave's covers in many interviews. A different style/motif was used for each collection/series. A book with all of the covers as well as commentary from Dave and Neil was published, but is now out of print. It can often be found on eBay. Dave is looking into updating and re-releasing it this year for the 25th anniversary of The Sandman.
    Dustcovers: The Collected Sandman Covers 1989 - 1997
    http://www.amazon.com/Dustcovers-Collected-Sandman-Covers-1989-1997/dp/1563893878
  • jynxjynx
    edited February 2014

    [edited to add]: link has massive Sandman spoilers. Please beware. Sorry. Thank you, Marian, for pointing that out.

    As for Cain and Abel, from an outside-the-book perspective, Neil mentions them in his proposal (found in The Absolute Sandman as "The Sandman Proposal") as coming from "Alan" who i presume to be Alan Moore. Some quick googling confirms this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain_and_Abel_(comics). From the brief way he mentions it in the proposal, it appears he liked them a lot as a kid and wanted to include them.

    From an inside-the-book perspective, please read the thoughts in this thread (where others are much more eloquent): http://mariancall.com/vanilla/discussion/12/volume-i-main-discussion-thread
  • MarianCallMarianCall
    Whoa! Bringing that link with me over to the main discussion, I had no idea Cain & Abel went back so far in DC land!
  • MarianCallMarianCall

    ****Marian's note: the Cain & Abel link has spoilers.****  Best to avoid if you haven't read the whole Sandman series.
  • mjperljammjperljam
    More about the Dustcovers book:
    I just heard from Dave McKean that at the end of 2014 he will be releasing a new version of his Dustcovers book that has all of The Sandman covers with a new cover as well as a new book called Dream States that will collect all of his covers from Dreaming, Sandman Presents, Sandman: Overture + others. I will post details when they are released.
  • TazorTazor
    Following on from the Dave Mckean info. I'm off shortly to his exhibition: http://www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/residents/news/website-news-articles/2014/january/dave-mckean-a-retrospective

    Hopefully the extra curricular activity will make up for being a bit behind already!
  • mjperljammjperljam
    @Tazor Wish I could go to that exhibit but I am in the US. Let us know what you think.
  • MarianCallMarianCall
    Oh, you're very lucky Tamzin! I wish I could see that!  And don't worry a bit about being behind, today has actually been the busiest day for Book 1 discussion yet.
  • ejr_loejr_lo
    @Tazor Thanks for posting that information. I must try to go before the exhibition ends (30 March).
  • bleucaldwellbleucaldwell
    I LOVE Dave McKean's work, and the covers were one of the things that originally drew me in as well. I'm very excited that they'll be rereleasing Dustcovers! I would love to see a McKean exhibit.. I tried to meet him and get an autograph at a con once -- I don't remember which one -- but he was never at his table when I came by. Enjoy and report back @Tazor!

    I remember wishing that the interior art more closely reflected the covers when I originally read Sandman, but on revisiting Volume I, I feel like they do complement each other. I love the layering that they do behind the panels, and the interesting layouts. I grew up around fantasy art, and I feel like I don't understand comic art as much as I do more traditional drawing and painting, but I'm interested in learning more.
  • MarianCallMarianCall
    I agree, Bleucaldwell, my first reading (I was very very new to comics at all) left me sometimes dissatisfied with the inside artwork compared to the outside.  But now that I've gotten used to it -- and read more comics -- it's settled in nicely.  And I really like how much the artwork begins to stretch and break boundaries more the farther into the series we get.

    Still, the McKean stuff -- so haunting!  And it must have been unlike any other comics covers at the time!
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