The Sandman Papers
edited by Joe Sanders; preface by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman's Sandman was and still is a phenomenon in the Comic Book industry. It caught the publics attention in a way that few Comics had ever done in the past.
It was a mass-circulation comic book that came to the attention of "serious" readers. You know, the type you always see in the movies sitting in the comfy chair, bookshelves surrounding them, maybe a pipe of glass of brandy next to them.
Once they got on the band-wagon, it was all chips and salsa for The Sandman after that. New York Times lists, best seller lists, Barnes and Nobles placing the books in the Literature section and not with the regular Comics.
And the high-brows who got interested? Students and teachers from all categories have written analysis and discussion groups about Gaiman and The Sandman.
So, Joe Sanders decided to gather some of these articles and criticism and bring them to us, the reader in plain, simple terms, I guess so that us regular Comic book people can understand them. Yes, that was sarcastic. I sometimes think the more 'intellectual' of our species still thinks those of us who read the spandex books can't follow 'smart talk'.
But, I will say that Sanders has done a pretty good job with this task. Yes, the essays are all pretty easy to follow, giving insight and looking at some of the deeper meanings of Gaiman's work.
The essays range from criticism to thankfulness. Taking a look at the character in a more or less order of their publication the first section of individual essays takes particular episodes and story arcs, and looks at them, such as Midsummer Nights Dream, The Endless Ones, etc.
The second half of the book will examine Gaiman's stories next to his and compare it to other works dealing with myth, truth, lies and dreams, as well as how our modern society might look at them. It also tries to look at how his stories compare with horror or our culture and how it looks at various ethnic, gender and sexual stereotypes
The Sandman series set the mark and opened the door for a different form of Comic book; one that had a definite ending, but was written almost in the style of a 'main-stream' book. Here we had a single story, over seventy-some boos with a starting point, mid section, and definitive, final ending. Also, like a novel, the book also placed stories throughout that, while still moving toward a resolution, offered a look at the characters and sometimes motives, as well as the mythology, of the story.
Imagine a Shell Scott novel; along the way you have a start in a certain story line. A few chapters in, you suddenly notice that instead of Shell talking we now have one of his girlfriends telling the mobster her story and how she got involved with Shell. Or Shell will go off on a discussion of his new Caddy, or his experience in the Military.
But, all of these still move the story forward to it's inevitable ending.
It is thanks to the Sandman that some of the more impressive books from the Vertigo line have come out; books like Preacher, Y-The Last Man, 100 Bullets and more.
With The Sandman Papers, we who take our Comic books on a more intense level can see others like us writing about them. While Comics are like horse races, we all have our favorites, it is still a nice thing to see any of them earning some serious respect in the world.
Knowing that at least some people understand that Comic books are a lot more then 'BAM' or "Wacko" keeps the hope alive that someday the rest of the world will see the value of Comics.