The Sandman: Endless Nights

October 6, 2003 | Comics

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The Sandman: Endless Nights
Neil Gaiman, Glen Fabry, Milo Manara, Miguelanxo Prado, Frank Quitely, P. Craig Russell, Bill Sienkiewicz, Barron Storey
Vertigo/DC Comics
$37.95 (Hardcover)
**** 1/2 (out of five)

Sometimes a picture is truly worth a thousand words. Neil Gaiman’s new hardcover graphic novel The Sandman: Endless Nights, is worth a million.
Endless Nights builds on The Sandman mythos, based on Gaiman’s comic series launched by DC Comics in 1989 and now collected in 10 trade paperbacks that have sold millions of copies worldwide and drawn a huge cult following.
Gaiman, the lauded author of best-selling novels American Gods, Coraline and Neverwhere, teams with some of the most talented artists in the comic book genre, including P. Craig Russell, Frank Quitely and Bill Sienkiewicz to bring to life seven short stories. Each story examines a member of The Sandman’s family — The Endless: Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destruction, Destiny and Dream.
Russell and Gaiman craft a delicate and beautifully paced tale of a man whose love of Death draws him back to Venice to follow a childhood memory.
Italian artist Milo Manara draws a story of Desire that is so lovely to look at that even the eventual blood and gore can’t take your eyes off it.
And Gaiman and Barron Storey’s 15 Portraits of Despair is a gripping and sometimes horrifying look into sadness and hopelessness.
For those who have never taken a chance on illustrated books for adults, and this book is most definitely for mature readers, Endless Nights would be a perfect jump on point.
It is smart, dark, elegant and ethereal. Gaiman’s first foray back into The Sandman’s world in seven years was certainly worth the wait.

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