Taking almost two years from start to finish, Neil Gaiman’s prequel to one of the greatest comic series of all time finally reaches its end. Boosted by staggering artwork from J. H. Williams III and his crew of Dave Stewart and Todd Klein, “Sandman Overture” has been something really cool to see. Everyone involved obviously wanted to do their best with this series, and the end result is a nice testament to an outstanding series.
Written by Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by J.H. Williams III and Dave StewartThe final issue of the Eisner Award-nominated series is a sweep of science fictional beauty and madness. Featuring cameos by some of Morpheus’s favorite siblings, the grand finale of OVERTURE dovetails into the start of The Sandman’s first journey, providing new insight into THE SANDMAN VOL. 1: PRELUDES AND NOCTURNES.
We all knew how this series was going to end.
That’s part of the problem with prequels: since they’re created after the main story, there’s only that inevitable end. The most successful prequels don’t create tension through putting the characters in harrowing danger, but by sort of exploiting the clockwork nature of their fate. You shouldn’t read prequels before you read the main series: they rely a lot on previous familiarity with the source material to function. And this is totally true of “Sandman Overture.” Yet, because they chronologically take place before, there’s the instinct to want to lead into it, to go in order. I think the best way I’ve found to approach prequels is to treat them like massive flashbacks. I wouldn’t recommend reading “Sandman Overture” before you start “Sandman” or after you finish it, but rather somewhere in the middle, maybe right before diving into ‘Brief Lives.’
Now that it’s all said and done, the big question is: did “Sandman Overture” work? Did it work as a prequel? Did it work as its own story? It’s own part of the Sandman mythos? Does this sixth chapter deliver a fulfilling conclusion to the series as a whole as well as satisfyingly bridge the two narratives?
When it starts, the stakes are high and there’s a götterdämmerung mood to the situation. The Cat Dream has gathered heroes and survivors from across the universe and boarded them on a ship stranded in Destiny’s realm, and Morpheus has finally stopped trying to get everyone else to fix his problems and face this insane star head-on. I’ll admit here that it’s difficult to talk about “Sandman Overture” on a spoiler-free platform. The book remains as cerebral as ever and the last few pages, with their last few twists and revelations, have a huge impact on the ambitions of the story, enough so you go back and experience the whole series in an entirely new context.
Morpheus’s character and true exploration of his character came out of the main series, so Gaiman’s only able to steer Dream into a place to prepare him to learn his eventual lessons. He does have a character arc through this series, and we see it come to fruition nicely in “Sandman Overture” #6, but it’s like him going from being a major asshole to less of an asshole. Gaiman, though, is a master storyteller and his slights of hand and grand gestures more often than not help hide these characterization limitations.
One of the most interesting elements of this series has been watching how J. H. Williams III delivered the story. The long delays between issues, if nothing else, have been beneficial for producing some extravagant visuals. “Sandman Overture” #6 is filled with gorgeously realized double-page spreads that help capture the circus of this war. Augmented by Dave Stewart’s colors, which give the book this psychedelic freak-out, this issue is an immersive experience. The rest of the world drops out and you can’t even focus on anything else. This is definitely the work of a strong collaborative team. The imprisonment of Morpheus sequence, especially, stands out in a book with already a lot of standout sequences. Williams fractures the page, drawing with a loose and fluid hand. Todd Klein’s letters break in and out of the art. Stewart’s colors explode in a supernova of hues and vibrancies before toning down into black and white. Gaiman manages to conjure some unsettling narration, and you can feel like you’re being pulled, tugged into entrapment.
Continued belowThe ending, from the resolution of the star battle to Morpheus’s capture, is obviously one of those things that’s been kicking around under Gaiman’s mop of hair for years and years. I’m sure that now we’ve finally been able to learn what happened to Morpheus to get him trapped by Roderick Burgess and his Order, we can go back to the main “Sandman” series and understand so much more of Dream’s motivations and behavior.
The ending fits for what the story is, I think. Gaiman, Williams, and company take a lot of the themes about life and death, the shaping of the world, and personal responsibility and use it to deliver their denouement. In staying consistent with the tone of the rest of “Sandman Overture,” I felt this issue overall worked. It was a glorious freak-out and it’s own bizarre experience that fit the Sandman mythos. But I don’t know if I would go so far as to call it a satisfying ending. Even now, if I’m being honest, I’m torn between calling the resolution of the star war brilliant or a bit of a cop-out. My reaction wasn’t so much mind-exploding as it was going, “Huh. So that’s how they’re handling this.”
As a whole, “Sandman Overture” probably stands out as the most stunning “Sandman” story. The original series is filled with plenty of gorgeous visuals and clever distortions of objects for The Dreaming, but Williams & company turned in some truly memorable images. Some of the story choices in “Sandman Overture” #6 aren’t as effective or resonate as emotionally (especially if you compare it to, like, ‘Brief Lives’), but overall, it’s a nice addition to the Sandman universe.
Final Verdict: 7.7 – beautifully realized but still with a resolution that has me going, “Hm. Okay.”
