Book-It 'o11! Book #49
The Fifty Books Challenge, year three! (Years one and two, just in case you're curious.) This was a library request.
Title: The Little Endless Storybook by Jill Thompson
Details: Copyright 2004, DC Comics
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Once Upon a Time...
Little Delirium was lost. Her protector and favorite puppy Barnabas searched the waking world for his tiny princess to no avail. Now, Barnabas must travel to the strange and unlikely realms of each of the Endless to see if Delirium's siblings have seen their missing sister...
For years fans have demanded to see more of Jill Thompson's Little Endless, the diminutive versions of the characters from Neil Gaiman's award-winning SANDMAN series, and now their dreams are answered.
This volume features Jill Thompson's original sketches and the secret history of the Little Endless."
Why I Wanted to Read It: I have loved The Sandman and been immensely inspired by it for a long, long, long time. I saw that the "Little Endless" were apparently now a companion series and I happened to read the second book Thompson produced first, and the first book (this one) second.
How I Liked It: I was disappointed in how unGaimanesque Delirium's Party came across and sadly, this book is no different and far more "pre-fab" in its "storytelling". It's understandable, given that it's the introductory book (Barnabas visiting each realm and thus "introducing" the reader to each miniaturized character) in the series, but you can't help but feel you're looking at a more ambitiously-written merchandise catalog than reading a story, let alone a graphic novel inspired by Gaiman's original characters.
Thompson's illustrations, for the most part, are exquisite, particularly her renderings of Delirium's realm (on one page, Delirium sits atop a large mushroom surrounded by smaller mushrooms whose caps are made of a teacup, a fringed lamp shade, and a jazzy fedora with plumed feather). Her character designs are, for the most part, about right, and Delirium, though still a little off, comes off closer in this first volume than the second. Death is still too fussily girlish, although again not as much as she'd become in the second book.
Thompson's notes and photos in the back are interesting, including the original designs as they appeared in Dream County as well as Thompson's first full family portrait, urged, she insists, by crazily enthusiastic fan demands. More interestingly are the pictures of the Dream and Death dolls she created in 1993 (which now belong to Neil Gaiman). Cringingly (to me, anyway) is the fact that this story grew out of merchandising rather than the other way around (possibly why Gaiman isn't involved with it?). The plush dolls were so demanded by fans Thompson said she told to them to write to DC Comics and ask for they directly (DC acquiesced and also had Thompson design the statues for the full cast version of the Little Endless-- more merchandise!). Perhaps why I find this so irksome is the fact fans weren't asking (at least, by Thompson's recollections in the book) for more stories about the Little Endless, they were asking for stuff with the Little Endless, like plush and "They wanted to see postcards or posters and books that featured the 'little' Endless family."I took books in that context to mean the albeit very pretty journals and notebooks once offered (still offered?) by Hot Topic whose covers are decorated with the likes of Amy Brown's fairies and "Emily the Strange" among other licensed characters that do better on merchandise than in literature. There's also the bit about character continuity; the Little Endless came about due to a character's describing of Dream and Death as "children". Delirium, as any Sandman fan can tell you, used to be Delight (until the burden of enlightenment changed her eyes different colors and altered her dominion). So why is Delirium Little Delirium rather than Little Delight? Marketability. Delight only appeared in one comic and it wasn't even in the "true" pantheon (Endless Nights).
I'm not saying that the Little Endless aren't cute in their own way (although some of the character designs, like I said, would be better much closer to their actual characters), but putting them in book form is clearly stretching their usefulness in the Sandman universe. Frankly, I'm of the belief than anything not Gaiman-penned is stretching its usefulness in the Sandman universe and when you have a franchise that originated from merchandise itself-- well, it's disheartening to a fan of the original series and its dedication to and great reverence for the art of storytelling.
Notable: In the original story that appeared in Dream County ("The Parliament of Rooks"), Thompson reveals that Neil Gaiman actually wanted the design of the characters to be an homage to DC's Sugar and Spike but it was Thompson that "decided to give them more of a Japanese cuteness."
Title: The Little Endless Storybook by Jill Thompson
Details: Copyright 2004, DC Comics
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Once Upon a Time...
Little Delirium was lost. Her protector and favorite puppy Barnabas searched the waking world for his tiny princess to no avail. Now, Barnabas must travel to the strange and unlikely realms of each of the Endless to see if Delirium's siblings have seen their missing sister...
For years fans have demanded to see more of Jill Thompson's Little Endless, the diminutive versions of the characters from Neil Gaiman's award-winning SANDMAN series, and now their dreams are answered.
This volume features Jill Thompson's original sketches and the secret history of the Little Endless."
Why I Wanted to Read It: I have loved The Sandman and been immensely inspired by it for a long, long, long time. I saw that the "Little Endless" were apparently now a companion series and I happened to read the second book Thompson produced first, and the first book (this one) second.
How I Liked It: I was disappointed in how unGaimanesque Delirium's Party came across and sadly, this book is no different and far more "pre-fab" in its "storytelling". It's understandable, given that it's the introductory book (Barnabas visiting each realm and thus "introducing" the reader to each miniaturized character) in the series, but you can't help but feel you're looking at a more ambitiously-written merchandise catalog than reading a story, let alone a graphic novel inspired by Gaiman's original characters.
Thompson's illustrations, for the most part, are exquisite, particularly her renderings of Delirium's realm (on one page, Delirium sits atop a large mushroom surrounded by smaller mushrooms whose caps are made of a teacup, a fringed lamp shade, and a jazzy fedora with plumed feather). Her character designs are, for the most part, about right, and Delirium, though still a little off, comes off closer in this first volume than the second. Death is still too fussily girlish, although again not as much as she'd become in the second book.
Thompson's notes and photos in the back are interesting, including the original designs as they appeared in Dream County as well as Thompson's first full family portrait, urged, she insists, by crazily enthusiastic fan demands. More interestingly are the pictures of the Dream and Death dolls she created in 1993 (which now belong to Neil Gaiman). Cringingly (to me, anyway) is the fact that this story grew out of merchandising rather than the other way around (possibly why Gaiman isn't involved with it?). The plush dolls were so demanded by fans Thompson said she told to them to write to DC Comics and ask for they directly (DC acquiesced and also had Thompson design the statues for the full cast version of the Little Endless-- more merchandise!). Perhaps why I find this so irksome is the fact fans weren't asking (at least, by Thompson's recollections in the book) for more stories about the Little Endless, they were asking for stuff with the Little Endless, like plush and "They wanted to see postcards or posters and books that featured the 'little' Endless family."I took books in that context to mean the albeit very pretty journals and notebooks once offered (still offered?) by Hot Topic whose covers are decorated with the likes of Amy Brown's fairies and "Emily the Strange" among other licensed characters that do better on merchandise than in literature. There's also the bit about character continuity; the Little Endless came about due to a character's describing of Dream and Death as "children". Delirium, as any Sandman fan can tell you, used to be Delight (until the burden of enlightenment changed her eyes different colors and altered her dominion). So why is Delirium Little Delirium rather than Little Delight? Marketability. Delight only appeared in one comic and it wasn't even in the "true" pantheon (Endless Nights).
I'm not saying that the Little Endless aren't cute in their own way (although some of the character designs, like I said, would be better much closer to their actual characters), but putting them in book form is clearly stretching their usefulness in the Sandman universe. Frankly, I'm of the belief than anything not Gaiman-penned is stretching its usefulness in the Sandman universe and when you have a franchise that originated from merchandise itself-- well, it's disheartening to a fan of the original series and its dedication to and great reverence for the art of storytelling.
Notable: In the original story that appeared in Dream County ("The Parliament of Rooks"), Thompson reveals that Neil Gaiman actually wanted the design of the characters to be an homage to DC's Sugar and Spike but it was Thompson that "decided to give them more of a Japanese cuteness."