Wednesday - May 27, 2009

The Absolute Sandman, Vol. I 

A hardcover collector's edition (thanks Jon!) of Sandman comics 1 - 20, plus bonus goodies.

Not much to say- most of this was rereading, filling in gaps.  I have a bunch of assorted Sandman books, but never a complete collection until some serious gifting recently by my generous brother-in-law.

What better way to drift off to sleep each night than with a brain full of Endless bizarreness?

The golden bookmark stays on #4, my eternal favorite, in which  Dream (aka Morpheus) must descend to hell to battle a demon.  

The battle takes the form of a verbal, philosophical war; a classic game of one-upmanship beginning with "I am... " statements and that overpower the previous statement of being.  

It begins innocently with spiders and snakes and builds until Dream declares "I am the universe -- All things encompassing, all life-embracing."  

To which the demon replies "I am anti-life, the beast of judgement.  I am the dark at the end of everything.  The end of universes, gods, worlds... of everything."

Dream then ends the game with three words.  

Can you guess what could possibly be more powerful than every imaginable evil and the emptiness beyond it?

Oh, Dream.  My hero.  He states, quite simply,

"I am hope."

Game over.

It doesn't get any better than that.