The Doll's House is a masterpiece. Rose monologue is just ... wow. Still, if you ends up dividing "Sandman" in chapters, you should have found a place for "Brief Lives" too ... Destruction speech under the stars is simply epic ...
@Ifrid87 Brief Lives is a good one. Actually I'm discontent with this top 10 list. When I've reached my 100th video I'll do a redux version of it and perhaps I include Brief Lives.
@cha5 Yeah, it had some nice ideas but it isn't that good. I didn't like the funeral idea with his friends and foes sharing merry anecdotes. Of course Batman's enemies lost with him their meaning of life but I'd have liked it more when they reacted more redeemed.
There was this Dematteis story "Going Sane" were Joker believed Batman to be dead and it was like a real salvation to him and he started a normal life. That was a pretty good death of Batman story.
Me I really loved the recollections of Batman's friends and foes at the funeral,
especially Alfred & Selina's, plus the artistic homages to different eras in Batman's history from the Golden Age to the Animated era and like Batman knowing that he's never going to live to retire and spend the rest of his days playing golf and at some point he will go down
it's just a question of when. Dematteis's "Going Sane" story was really memorable in it's own right though
@cha5 Indeed, to each his own. The homages to the different eras is great. I once saw something similar in a World's Finest comic. Batmite and Mr Mxyzptlk quarreled which hero is the greatest and therefore sent Batman and Supes through all the eras of their existence.
Batman dying in battle and not retiring is indeed honourable but I prefer the idea of an old Batman returning to fight chaos again like in Dark Knight Returns or teaching a successor as in Batman Beyond.
@DrGull1888 Oh yeah the Evan Dorkin/Dave Gibbons Worlds Finest with all those contributing artists is a classic, I loved the Batmite/Mxyzptlk feud at the beginning with the art done in a Curt Swain/Dick Sprang Silver Age style and everything all smiles and good cheer and Batman good naturedly trying to stop their fight and getting blasted and turned into a skeleton (shades of Final Crisis)
My last foray Fables & Reflections was fantastic. Most importantly, the pacing worked in the stories, the characters felt more alive and the historicity was much more believable.
@DrGull1888 Yes, as well as the "emperor" of America, Marco Polo, Augustus, Orpheus, a fabled caliph of Bagdad and others. I read a review recommending it as one of the most convincing ones, and I was interested in the foreword of Gene Wolfe.
I don't understand why Preludes and Nocturnes or generally the first two Sandman issues are always so highly-rated, simply because they're the only ones I own but they left me utterly unimpressed (boring, disgusting, ugly, garish, if you want to know specifically), and it's only logical that there must be better ones, as no writer is at their peak after so short a time. But still, their constant (never quite explained) recommendation makes me hesitant to trying something else by this writer.
Hey I've seen that Sandman story you've listed in Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days. Only it was from his The Sandman Endless Nights when I saw it. Strange...its like Neil's stockfootage then?
@Gjkl345 No, you are right. It was my sloppiness. In the aftermath I'm very discontent with this list since I also forgot to include "Seasons of the Mist". I must overwork this one some day.
Sorry but I disagree with a lot of this list. !"Preludes and nocturnes" and "endless nights" are the two worst Sandman volumes! "Brief lives" is the best sandman volume IMO and his best comic book. "Dolls house" and "coraline" are both amazing but I'd still rank them behing such classics as "Season of mists", "kindly ones" from the sandman series and IMO the underrated "violent cases", one of his earlier works.
It's o.k.. It's my Top 10 List and you don't have to agree for different peoples have different preferences. Seasons of the Mist was an accident. You can read in the comments below, how it happened. I liked "Endless Nights". The Death episode was well executed but perfect were the Despair and Delirium episodes. This is exeactly how people might feel when they are in despair or delirium.
good point. Its just I feel "the kindly ones" was much more of a perfect ending to the sandman series and to me it's always been so. Therefore I already had some distaste for "endless nights" since I'd felt the main storyline throughout the series had been wrapped up.
Decent ranking and yea, Seasons of Mist would have to be top 3(surprising its not listed since you list Lucifer which is what it draws from) , I agree with the #1 choice. I would put in Death : The High Cost of Living and The Sandman: The Dream Hunters.
It was an accident because of carelessness. Furthermore I had to deal with the disadvantage that my German issues which I bought in the 90ies don't mention the original title. I investigated in the net and simply overlooked Seasons of the Mist. Mea Culpa.
The High Cost of Living is a good book but I don't find it special. Death becoming human and falling in love is nothing new in literature. I found The Dream Hunters unbelievable boring. Well drawn, indeed, but valium.
On The Dream Hunters being boring, I guess if you need action or horror to keep you entertained then yea I could see that. The story was a great in its use of perspective and the way it explores the subjective way that memory works. I thought it was brilliant in how ambiguous it was depending on whos viewpoint was being explored. The ending also was not clear because the fox spirit and the monk had two different perspectives. It it won a Bram Stoker award and was nominated for a Hugo.
No, I don't need action nor horror to be entertained - not solely. But nevertheless I was bored during reading. The awards are subordinate to me because if I wanted to do a top 10 list with the most decorated comics, I would do that and not a list with my favourites. But it is absolutely ok when you treasure this comic and it is also ok when you have other preferences than me.
As for The High Cost of Living being nothing new. You're right but the character is so compelling. Afterall, 1602 is nothing new either having Elsewhere already done it and not to mention Stan Lee's Just Imagine... and What If... . Also, 1602 would have been better if he used Elizabethan language to make it a bit more authentic. 8/10 Eternals is also nothing new, I preferred Kirby's run, the characters were flat and the story was a rip off of Nine Princes of Amber. The artwork was fantastic.
You are right, 1602 and Eternals didn't bring much new. Gaiman is perhaps overrated? Kidding aside, what annoys me about High Cost of Living is that Gaiman reuses ideas and problems he already used throughout the complete Sandman series. Mere mortals always have an unforfilled love or at least a certain desire for this gothic embodiment of death, although their time hasn't come yet. In many cases Gaiman let the story end bittersweet like here with the death of Didi.
Lucifer is more a spin-off. Gaiman wrote "Sandman:Seasons of Mist" where Lucifer abandonned Hell. Then he wrote issue 1 of "Lucifer" and handed over the writing to Mike Carey. The same thing with "The Books of Magic" by the way. Gaiman wrote the first four issues and handed the writing over.
Nice video of Neil Gaiman s work. I agree that you separated Sandman Story Arcs , and not put the ehtire collection such as one work, because it isn t . It is like a series of novels. Personally my Favotite is Season Of Mists, which you didnt include. well, I liked these as my favorite among Sandmasn stories because it stans on it s own , and never made me lose interest,. Preludes ans Nocturnes for example has a sloppy chapter in which Martiian Manhunter and MR mIracle appear.
You're right. I don't know what I was thinknig when I ignorred Seasons of Mist. The story is far superrior to Preludes and Nocturnes. Perhaps I was distracted by the nice artwork. But that's no excuse. Seasons of Mist is better.
I am interested in reading some of Gaiman's works, mainly Sandman; but I am confused as to what the order of the graphic novels is. Am I correct in that "Preludes and Nocturnes" is a good place to start as an introduction to Sandman?
The ones I've seen have numbers on the spine, so I think there is a certain chronology with them. For example, Preludes and Nocturnes is #1. Is Doll's House the second one?
I bought paperbacks. Preludes and Nocturnes contains Sandman No 1-8, while Doll's House proceeds with 9-16. Those two paperbacks are connected. The following "Dream Country" is a collection of short stories while the next one Season of Mist loosely connects with Doll's House.
The Doll's House is a masterpiece. Rose monologue is just ... wow. Still, if you ends up dividing "Sandman" in chapters, you should have found a place for "Brief Lives" too ... Destruction speech under the stars is simply epic ...
Ifrid87 3 days ago
@Ifrid87 Brief Lives is a good one. Actually I'm discontent with this top 10 list. When I've reached my 100th video I'll do a redux version of it and perhaps I include Brief Lives.
DrGull1888 2 days ago
Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader is also my favourite of his as well as His take on the Jack Kirby classic characters...Eternals!
johnnyscifi 4 months ago
while it did get turnd into a graphic novlie it, coraline was a book furst. but enver the less it was good both ways
redrasegarden 5 months ago
Marvel 1602 is really underrated, I find. I loved it.
BLACKMAGICMETALMAN12 1 year ago
Dr Gull did you ever read Gaiman's 'Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader?'
myself I liked it although I've read of several comics fans bashing it saying Gaiman's Batman Black & White story
or the Batman Secret Origins story
were better,
I just really liked how Gaiman handled his 'Death of Batman' storyline myself,
I had thought it might have Death showing up at the end,
but the 'Goodnight Moon' ending was really done nicely IMHO.
cha5 1 year ago
@cha5 Yeah, it had some nice ideas but it isn't that good. I didn't like the funeral idea with his friends and foes sharing merry anecdotes. Of course Batman's enemies lost with him their meaning of life but I'd have liked it more when they reacted more redeemed.
There was this Dematteis story "Going Sane" were Joker believed Batman to be dead and it was like a real salvation to him and he started a normal life. That was a pretty good death of Batman story.
DrGull1888 1 year ago
@DrGull1888 To each their own,
Me I really loved the recollections of Batman's friends and foes at the funeral,
especially Alfred & Selina's, plus the artistic homages to different eras in Batman's history from the Golden Age to the Animated era and like Batman knowing that he's never going to live to retire and spend the rest of his days playing golf and at some point he will go down
it's just a question of when. Dematteis's "Going Sane" story was really memorable in it's own right though
cha5 1 year ago
@cha5 Indeed, to each his own. The homages to the different eras is great. I once saw something similar in a World's Finest comic. Batmite and Mr Mxyzptlk quarreled which hero is the greatest and therefore sent Batman and Supes through all the eras of their existence.
Batman dying in battle and not retiring is indeed honourable but I prefer the idea of an old Batman returning to fight chaos again like in Dark Knight Returns or teaching a successor as in Batman Beyond.
DrGull1888 1 year ago
@DrGull1888 Oh yeah the Evan Dorkin/Dave Gibbons Worlds Finest with all those contributing artists is a classic, I loved the Batmite/Mxyzptlk feud at the beginning with the art done in a Curt Swain/Dick Sprang Silver Age style and everything all smiles and good cheer and Batman good naturedly trying to stop their fight and getting blasted and turned into a skeleton (shades of Final Crisis)
Batmite with a horrified look
"B-Batman? c-c'mon you-you can't be dead,"
Batman's skull crumples
cha5 1 year ago
@cha5 I realy loved the two pages by Ross. But the book in general is comedy gold. I must do a World's Finest Top 10 list.
DrGull1888 1 year ago
My last foray Fables & Reflections was fantastic. Most importantly, the pacing worked in the stories, the characters felt more alive and the historicity was much more believable.
Drerark 1 year ago
@Drerark Long time ago I read that one. That's the one with Morpheus and Lady Constantine, right?
DrGull1888 1 year ago
@DrGull1888 Yes, as well as the "emperor" of America, Marco Polo, Augustus, Orpheus, a fabled caliph of Bagdad and others. I read a review recommending it as one of the most convincing ones, and I was interested in the foreword of Gene Wolfe.
Drerark 1 year ago
I don't understand why Preludes and Nocturnes or generally the first two Sandman issues are always so highly-rated, simply because they're the only ones I own but they left me utterly unimpressed (boring, disgusting, ugly, garish, if you want to know specifically), and it's only logical that there must be better ones, as no writer is at their peak after so short a time. But still, their constant (never quite explained) recommendation makes me hesitant to trying something else by this writer.
Drerark 1 year ago
Hey I've seen that Sandman story you've listed in Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days. Only it was from his The Sandman Endless Nights when I saw it. Strange...its like Neil's stockfootage then?
Gjkl345 1 year ago
@Gjkl345 No, you are right. It was my sloppiness. In the aftermath I'm very discontent with this list since I also forgot to include "Seasons of the Mist". I must overwork this one some day.
DrGull1888 1 year ago
Not a bad list : )
DaddyWalrusguy 2 years ago
Sorry but I disagree with a lot of this list. !"Preludes and nocturnes" and "endless nights" are the two worst Sandman volumes! "Brief lives" is the best sandman volume IMO and his best comic book. "Dolls house" and "coraline" are both amazing but I'd still rank them behing such classics as "Season of mists", "kindly ones" from the sandman series and IMO the underrated "violent cases", one of his earlier works.
DakeyrastheSlayer 2 years ago
It's o.k.. It's my Top 10 List and you don't have to agree for different peoples have different preferences. Seasons of the Mist was an accident. You can read in the comments below, how it happened. I liked "Endless Nights". The Death episode was well executed but perfect were the Despair and Delirium episodes. This is exeactly how people might feel when they are in despair or delirium.
DrGull1888 2 years ago
good point. Its just I feel "the kindly ones" was much more of a perfect ending to the sandman series and to me it's always been so. Therefore I already had some distaste for "endless nights" since I'd felt the main storyline throughout the series had been wrapped up.
DakeyrastheSlayer 2 years ago
You are right. The same problem is with Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Harry Potter. The story is told and everything new is just an addition.
DrGull1888 2 years ago
Decent ranking and yea, Seasons of Mist would have to be top 3(surprising its not listed since you list Lucifer which is what it draws from) , I agree with the #1 choice. I would put in Death : The High Cost of Living and The Sandman: The Dream Hunters.
iCipher 2 years ago
It was an accident because of carelessness. Furthermore I had to deal with the disadvantage that my German issues which I bought in the 90ies don't mention the original title. I investigated in the net and simply overlooked Seasons of the Mist. Mea Culpa.
The High Cost of Living is a good book but I don't find it special. Death becoming human and falling in love is nothing new in literature. I found The Dream Hunters unbelievable boring. Well drawn, indeed, but valium.
DrGull1888 2 years ago
On The Dream Hunters being boring, I guess if you need action or horror to keep you entertained then yea I could see that. The story was a great in its use of perspective and the way it explores the subjective way that memory works. I thought it was brilliant in how ambiguous it was depending on whos viewpoint was being explored. The ending also was not clear because the fox spirit and the monk had two different perspectives. It it won a Bram Stoker award and was nominated for a Hugo.
iCipher 2 years ago
No, I don't need action nor horror to be entertained - not solely. But nevertheless I was bored during reading. The awards are subordinate to me because if I wanted to do a top 10 list with the most decorated comics, I would do that and not a list with my favourites. But it is absolutely ok when you treasure this comic and it is also ok when you have other preferences than me.
DrGull1888 2 years ago
As for The High Cost of Living being nothing new. You're right but the character is so compelling. Afterall, 1602 is nothing new either having Elsewhere already done it and not to mention Stan Lee's Just Imagine... and What If... . Also, 1602 would have been better if he used Elizabethan language to make it a bit more authentic. 8/10 Eternals is also nothing new, I preferred Kirby's run, the characters were flat and the story was a rip off of Nine Princes of Amber. The artwork was fantastic.
iCipher 2 years ago
You are right, 1602 and Eternals didn't bring much new. Gaiman is perhaps overrated? Kidding aside, what annoys me about High Cost of Living is that Gaiman reuses ideas and problems he already used throughout the complete Sandman series. Mere mortals always have an unforfilled love or at least a certain desire for this gothic embodiment of death, although their time hasn't come yet. In many cases Gaiman let the story end bittersweet like here with the death of Didi.
DrGull1888 2 years ago
Nice pics. I would have included "Neverwhere", but different tastes for different people...
indigosow 2 years ago
The Doll's House is great. 'Collectors' took comics to a VERY dark place. But I would have put Season of Mists as number one.
HackneyShark 2 years ago
Season of Mist is the one I simply forgot. Stupid me. Actually I'd have kicked out Midnight Days and put Seasons of Mist on rank three.
DrGull1888 2 years ago
How does externals end??>??
onikjohn3 2 years ago
I presume you mean "Eternals", don't you? If so, the comic ends with a giant in Golden Gate Park.
DrGull1888 2 years ago
i have lucifer vol 2 but it was written by mike carey and not neil gaiman.
lucifer is a sequel of sandman right.
he did create the world and the carater of it.
xihangyang 2 years ago
Lucifer is more a spin-off. Gaiman wrote "Sandman:Seasons of Mist" where Lucifer abandonned Hell. Then he wrote issue 1 of "Lucifer" and handed over the writing to Mike Carey. The same thing with "The Books of Magic" by the way. Gaiman wrote the first four issues and handed the writing over.
DrGull1888 2 years ago
Thank DR gul keeep teh excellent videos coming.
museothyssen 2 years ago
Nice video of Neil Gaiman s work. I agree that you separated Sandman Story Arcs , and not put the ehtire collection such as one work, because it isn t . It is like a series of novels. Personally my Favotite is Season Of Mists, which you didnt include. well, I liked these as my favorite among Sandmasn stories because it stans on it s own , and never made me lose interest,. Preludes ans Nocturnes for example has a sloppy chapter in which Martiian Manhunter and MR mIracle appear.
museothyssen 2 years ago
You're right. I don't know what I was thinknig when I ignorred Seasons of Mist. The story is far superrior to Preludes and Nocturnes. Perhaps I was distracted by the nice artwork. But that's no excuse. Seasons of Mist is better.
DrGull1888 2 years ago
I am interested in reading some of Gaiman's works, mainly Sandman; but I am confused as to what the order of the graphic novels is. Am I correct in that "Preludes and Nocturnes" is a good place to start as an introduction to Sandman?
OkashaSH5 2 years ago
Yes, Preludes and Nocturnes is a good place to start. Then proceed with Doll's House, my favourite.
DrGull1888 2 years ago
The ones I've seen have numbers on the spine, so I think there is a certain chronology with them. For example, Preludes and Nocturnes is #1. Is Doll's House the second one?
OkashaSH5 2 years ago
I bought paperbacks. Preludes and Nocturnes contains Sandman No 1-8, while Doll's House proceeds with 9-16. Those two paperbacks are connected. The following "Dream Country" is a collection of short stories while the next one Season of Mist loosely connects with Doll's House.
DrGull1888 2 years ago
Good! We have somewhat similar taste hehehe...
makidtrej 2 years ago
That much is certain :)
DrGull1888 2 years ago