the sandman vol 6 fables and reflections

'August' - Emperor Augustus hides from the gods in order to plan the future of Rome. Are you sure this is really a story from the old country?').

The format is great in this - old-fashioned grandfather versus modern grand-daughter ('It all sounds suspiciously post-modern to me, grandpa. 'The Hunt' - An 'Old Country' proper folktale about the reality of dreams - and as a proper folktale, it has a direct correlation in real life, exceedingly real in this case. I adore the art of this story as well - Orpheus singing with his 'comrades' is amazingly moving, considering what they all are. 'Thermidor' - Regardless of your personal feelings about Robespierre, Lady Constantine is fantastic and her wonderful plot to save Orpheus is a great homage to the Scarlet Pimpernel. I love this story - Emperor Norton is an historical character that has intrigued me since I read about him as a child in an old Lucky Luke comic. 'Three Septembers and a January' - Great retelling of the story of Joshua Norton, the first and only Emperor of the United States of America. 'Fear of Falling' - A story merged from a nightmare Gaiman had as a child and his adulthood realization that success is equally as scary as failure. Show More possibilities for many characters in the Sandman universe and what a great collection of stories it is. Then again: this is a comic book mixing Marco Polo, Augustus, Hades, Emperor Norton I of America (I love that fact that he was real!), werewolves and Goldie the baby gargoyle witout it feeling the least bit strained. Stopping me from naming this voulme one of my real favorites, however, is that at times Gaiman seems to be more about flaunting knowledge than telling tales here (as in Thermidor, for instance, much more a brief portrait of Robespierre than anything else), and quite a few of the chapters are predictable, if well told (I like the banter in ”The Hunt” a lot, but come on, who doesn’t see the final twist a mile away?). All of these stories are good – the enigmatic ”Ramadan” and the very ambitious ”August” (offering a new possible explanation for the downfall of Rome, even!) being my favorites, and the artwork is quite nice and diverse this time. In one we find out about Desire’s plan to make Dream spill his own blood, in another we learn about Dream as a parent, in a third hints are made of a new love story, and in a fourth baby Daniel (still just any kid) visits the Dreaming. Show More last century, and often featuring Dream only as a bit player, these shorts are not just intermission pieces.

The sandman vol 6 fables and reflections