NUMBER: 31TITLE: The Sandman: The Wake
AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman
STARTED: March 19, 2006
FINISHED: March 20, 2006
PAGES: 184
GENRE: Graphic Novel
FIRST SENTENCE: And it came to pass that a messenger was sent out to each member of the family.
SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] Sandman: The Wake is comprised of the last six issues of the regular Sandman comic book series. The first three cover the actual wake of Morpheus, King of Dreams. In this story within a story characters from the series meet to remember and pay their respects to the fallen immortal. In eulogies which alternate between respect, praise and villification, the Dream Lord's character is summed up and his flaws laid bare to, literally, all the world.
In the final chapter of The Wake the reader is returned to an earlier time in the saga of the Sandman, when an aging "William Shekespeare" having just completed his final play "The Tempest," commissioned at the bequest of the Dream Lord, reflects on his life, his struggles, tragedies and a bargain for greatness he made with Morpheus many years earlier. In perhaps the series' most poignant line, a statement which ironically becomes the Sandman's own epitaph, Morpheus reveals that he made the bargain because
"...I am the King of Stories, but I have no story of my own."
Carefully balancing melancholy and tragedy with hope and determination the beautifully illustrated and even more beautifully written Sandman: The Wake stands counter to Morpheus' own words and serves as an extraodinary ending to one of the most incredible stories in the history of comics.
REASON FOR READING: It's almost the end. *tear*
THOUGHTS: I felt like this book helped me (and the author) say goodbye to Morpheus. There was a sorrowful and, yet, rejoiceful tone to this installment of the series. I enjoyed how Gaiman incorporated so many forms of mourning into this work. The last chapter was perfect. For a book about stories within stories, it was nice to see it end in that same trend.
MISCELLANEOUS: The art for this book was quite different from the rest of the series.
KEEP/SHARE/CRINGE(?): Back to Pete
RATING: 6/10 [Good]
CR: The Devil's Waltz by Anne Stuart
RN: Not a clue.
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