Absolute Sandman, Volumes 2 and 3.

[seishonagon]

After reading volume 2, my impressions were very strong, but I wanted to see if they would last through volume 3 before posting them. Which they did, so here they are.

New Impressions of Old Material:
I'd never read the issues in order before - I first read Sandman in the order it was first reprinted. Now I see why they were published in the order

Comments

[skaly2]

Obama reminded me of the Prez story too. I guess it just shows how much we've idealized him. Next comes the part where we find out he's only human.

Gaiman's philosophy of hell, portraying it as a place people choose to be, intrigued me. It was an early instance of the ongoing theme that we can shape our own realities in similar ways as we can shape our own dreams. There's just something difficult to reconcile about religion and free will. But I happen to like the idea that though hell might be real, it doesn't have to last forever. (As a Jew, I'm not technically supposed to believe in hell, but it has left such a strong imprint on our culture.)

So apparently Diggle is ending his Hellblazer run. Seemed a bit short, didn't it? Know anything about the new writer?

[seishonagon]

Obama reminded me of the Prez story too. I guess it just shows how much we've idealized him. Next comes the part where we find out he's only human.

Exactly - and what intrigued me particularly is that the Prez story has always struck me as one of the weaker ones in the series as a whole, because the character doesn't ring true to me. And yet, comparing it with the way people - including, on occasion, myself - talk and write about Obama, there are a lot of similarities.

Gaiman's philosophy of hell, portraying it as a place people choose to be, intrigued me.

It's not Gaiman's philosophy. That has always been true of the Vertigo hell, with a couple of exceptions (people who make bargains that send them there, that kind of thing).

And while I agree that it's appealing, it doesn't lend itself well to philosophical discussion.

So apparently Diggle is ending his Hellblazer run. Seemed a bit short, didn't it? Know anything about the new writer?Diggle has been doing a sort of on-again-off-again thing on Hellblazer. I don't like the new

[mneme]

Mnn. I've flipped through my AS's, but alas, I haven't had time to give them a good re-read (partially because they're Friggin' Heavy). Should; will, sometime, too.