Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You
I find it amazing how well Neil Gaiman's writing style has been able to transfer over to several mediums. His TV show Neverwhere, this comic Sandman, the books Coraline and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and of course the film based on the former.
I don't exactly know why, but I really enjoy not starting at the beginning of a story. I feel like there is so much build up and exposition necessary, and origin stories are just kind of boring. Like with the Sam Raimi Spiderman movies, the first one kind of drags on because we are forced to introduce the unknowing audience to a concept they don't know. In Television, I always find that the first few seasons kind of struggle since they try to find their footing. This is true of Futurama, its true of Warehouse 13, etc. Once they find their footing, there is a nice little plateau that contains the best material the show has to offer(hopefully the shows feel when they start to fall off this plateau and end the series there, lest they continue for far to long like The Office, USA version).
I bring this up because normally I feel I should start at the beginning of a story so I don't miss anything. In the case of Sandman Vol. 5 I felt like my not understanding the story actually aided in my enjoyment of the comic. Like Barbara, I was pulled out of my reality and thrust into this world I had no idea about and was forced to learn about the world as I went along. Things that are explained to me are given in small amounts, and things that are not explained are now left up to my imagination.
I felt more intrigued by the story not knowing who Morpheus was, or his significance in the world. I felt more attached to the character because I was literally going through the same thing she was. I didn't know the characters, I didn't know who to trust, I don't know why Maise Hill doesn't like dogs, I don't know what Barbara's ex-husband was really like, etc. I don't know so much but I can fill in the blanks. This lack of understanding really added, for me at least, to the feel of the dream world.
Dreams have always interested me as they seem to have no beginning and no end. We only become aware of the dream when we are in the middle of it, and when we wake up the dream kind of abruptly ends. This story has a clear beginning and end, but its part of a much more vast story I don't know anything about yet(because I'm definitely buying the rest of this comic).
What I think Neil Gaiman did the best with the writing was the way in which Barbara reacts to this world. We get to peek into her mind when she narrates over what's happening. She describes her urges to reach out and grab the guards who walk past them in the snow. She doesn't seem completely fazed at all by the death of her friends, at least not in the long run. A few pages turn and she's not upset too much that they died for her. She just sort of floats around in this world, her emotions being dictated by whatever the situation currently calls for. This comes across in the writing very well, and it seems all the "real people" have the same kind of feeling to their words. The characters in the dreams all have a purpose.
Its sort of like in the remake Alice in Wonderland, Alice doesn't seem to emote at all(which could be attributed to the actress not acting) but to her the world is a dream, she doesn't seem to care about the world and is sort of just a third person to the action. All the characters in the movie besides her have definite purpose with what they do, as in their minds, the world persists after Alice wakes up.
Overall, yet again does Neil Gaiman write an intriguing fantasy that halfway takes place in the real world, and half way in our own. The Dream-King's world seems to be just a dream, but it has effects on reality. It seems our fantasies and our realities are deeply connected.
