Unusual request for fans of Gaiman's SANDMAN - DREAM HUNTERS (1 Viewer)

[Rob Gardiner]

Hello everybody,

I have started collecting comics again after an 8 year absence from the hobby. I've been catching up on new works by my favorite creators, including SANDMAN spin-offs that were released after the monthly series concluded.

A couple months ago, I bought a used copy of SANDMAN - THE DREAM HUNTERS, but only got around to reading it this weekend. (Dream Hunters is a work of illustrated prose, rather than a traditional comic book -- alternating pages contain Neil Gaiman's prose, and painted illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano). Unfortunately, my copy contains a misprint. Page 68 is blank on the left half, making the page unreadable.

Would someone who has a copy of DREAM HUNTERS be willing to either scan or type the contents of that page (68) for me? Since this is a brief portion of a much larger work, I can't imagine there is any copyright issue. The print is rather large, so there isn't a huge quantity of text there. I would be forever in your debt, and would happily treat you to a sushi dinner on your next trip to Seattle. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for another copy of the book, but I am very impatient and would love the chance to continue reading the story right away.

Many thanks!
-Rob

 

[Chris Bardon]

Check your email-anything to help more people enjoy Sandman. Dream Hunters isn't the best sandman GN: that honour goes to vol 4-Season of Mists (I think). There are so many great single stories in that series though that it's a great read start to finish.

Glad to see more people getting back into comics though. You'll find that a lot has changed in the last 8 years, most notably an increase in the overall quality of comics writing, and the abundance of TPB collections (as I'm sure you've already noticed).

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Thanks for your help, Chris! If there is any way I can make it up to you, let me know. Any time you are in Seattle, I would be happy to take you out for sushi.

I agree, Sandman Vol. 4 SEASON OF MISTS is the finest story in the saga. There are so many great individual issues as well: #1 is still a classic, #4 (Morpheus' first visit to Hell) is great, #6 (24 hours in the diner) still stands as the most horrifying issue, #8 (first appearance of DEATH), #9 (Nada's story), Hob Gadling's story, the "cereal" convention, the MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM issue, the cat issue, the Emperor Norton story, RAMADAN, I could go on and on... . . .

So many great artists worked on this series: Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg (who I still think of as the definitive Sandman artist), Kelly Jones, Charles Vess, P. Craig Russell, Marc Hempel, Michael Zulli, and I'm sure there are several others that I'm forgetting.

 

[Paul D G]

Sandman was an excellent comic. I love Gaiman's writing style. I used to get such crap reading comics and it's hard to convince people that they're not like the 60s Batman tv show. I had to start listing movies that are based on comic books.

Did you see Road to Perdition?
Yes.
Like it?
Yes.
Comic book.

-paul

 

[Chris Bardon]

OK, check your email for a transcript.

The funny thing about sandman is that I've never really liked any of Gaiman's novels. American Gods was OK, and I just couldn't get into Neverwhere, but I thought that Sandman was brilliant.

If you're looking for quality comics though, there are plenty to choose from these days. Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan is a personal favourite, and it's all been collected in trades by vertigo at this point. If you like the art of Sandman, expecially the Dave McKean covers, you should also check out anything by David Mack, especially the six Kabuki trades, and his "Echo" storyline in Daredevil.

As for currently running stuff, if you want recommendations, let me know what you're interested in.

 

[Ruz-El]

I've been into comics since the big "Death Of Superman", "Azbats" runs in the 90's. And those TPB collection that keep coming out are killing me!

Nice thread! It reminds me that I have to get the rest of Gaiman's run on this. I only have up to the one-shoit (Orpheus ??) when DC re-issued the single issues (up to 36 i think) in the 90's as "Essential Vertigo" (picked up all the re-issues for $20 cdn when my local comic shoip went broke. Sad circumstances, but I got some sweet deals!:b )

 

[Chris Bardon]

Yeah, I remember those (still have all the singles). I actually got in when Jim Lee's X-Men #1 came out, and haven't stopped since. I know what you mean about TPB collections being a killer. I'd actaully written off the whole Ultimate Marvel line when it first came out, since I didn't see the need to rewrite marvel canon to make it more "hip". Then I read a couple of USM arcs that I downloaded, and immediately bought all 15 or so (at the time) Ultimate Spider-Man, X-Men, and Ultimates trades. A very expensive comic store run. Also got all 10 sandman trades in about a six week period. That's all starting to seem really quaint now though, since my monthly comics order has climbed over $250 regularly for the past few months-and that's with a very sweet discount package!

Still, it's a great hobby, and I justify it at least partially by the fact that my wife reads the books too, so really it's like each of us spending $125 a month

Oh, and if you're looking for a new comic store, check out www.bigbcomics.com. Best subscription deal I've ever seen. You can probably also get a great deal if you just want to do a one time order.

 

[Ruz-El]

Nice to know I'm not the only one racking up $200 a month!

I ignored the "Ulitmate" line as well for the same reasons, and because I had kinda drifted from superheros. "The Ultimates" got me back in a big way. I'm curently getting that, "Ultimate Iron Man" and "Ultimate Secrete". That comic shop that went under, that I mentioned earlier, I Actually still get my comics from the guy. He kept some regulars on and does it out of his house for extra money. He just hands us a previews and we order what ever we want. The idscount is sick, he told us he tries to make 15% mark up, I;ve gotten stuff for over 50% off cover.

Fans of Sandman might appreciate Alan Moores "Promethia", my vote for Alan Moores best comic series ever. It starts out as a kinda Wonder Woman knock off, and turns into a history of magic, both concious and subconcious through myth and the imagination, while deconstructing the way comic stories are told, and exploring the intmacy of the author/reader relationship. The final issue is designed to be pulled apart and read in any order, or layed out to be read as a giant 2-sided poster that can be read from top to bottom, or bottom to top. NOw as gimiky as that sounds, it happens to also be the most touching series final issue I've ever read. And despite all the heady things going on in the series, you never feel left out. Another highlight was an issue that told the history of the world up to modern times, using the first 22 cards of the tarrot, in rhyme. Really great stuff.

 

[Chris Bardon]

I've actually stuck to buying all of the Ultimate line in trade, so I get a volume every couple of months. Just finished the Ultimates 2 v.1 the other day, and I have to say that Mark Millar has that book down. Anyone who can actually make Captain America into an interesting character has to be doing something right.

Promethea is probably Alan Moore's finest longform work, and really explains why he quit comics to become a full time wizard. I still have to go back and re-read the series from end to end, since by the end (when it was bimonthly at best) it was getting a little harder to follow if you didn't remember what happened in the last issue. The whole kaballah/tarot journey storyline really defined the series though, and you could tell that this was the reason that he started it. I still have 2 extra copies of the final issue that I want to mount, but can't find a low cost frame big enough for it. Had I known about what else was included, I probably would have dropped the $45 for the poster variant. I'm still absolutely amazed that he could craft an issue that could be read with the pages in different orders (poster vs book).

Never managed a 50% off cover discount myself, but I get 25% off US cover, and I pay in US dollars on paypal (which is uaually good for another 5-10% depending on the actual exchange). I've also found that getting a previews catalog is both a blessing and a curse, since it means that I can find out about everything that's coming out, but it also means that my orders have gotten a lot larger since I started getting it. There are too many books that look interesting!