The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
by Neil Gaiman, Malcolm Jones III, Mike Dringenberg, Michael Zulli, Clive Barker
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Book Summary Information
Author: Clive Barker, Malcolm Jones III, Michael Zulli, Mike Dringenberg, Neil GaimanEdition: Paperback
Published: 1991-09-01
ISBN: 0930289595
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Vertigo
Book Reviews of The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
Book Review: Full of High Highs and Low Lows
Summary: 4 Stars
It's not as great as people are saying, but I've still got my fingers crossed that it will get better. But "The Doll's House" was enjoyable. It had its stronger parts, and it indeed had its weaker parts.
The build-up was great, and had a huge amount of pay-off in the penultimate issue as well as the conclusion. However, I felt that Gaiman took way too long to introduce the idea of a vortex. Even an off-hand comment (in the main narrative of the arc) would have been sufficient, as the introduction of the idea of a vortex took place in the second-to-last issue. It felt like the main plot of the arc was being introduced too late, but I must say that I really enjoyed what Gaiman did with the it when he finally got the ball rolling.
The characterization is great. The quirky good guys leap off the page with their complexities and over-the-topness, and the bad guys evoke true fear deep in the gut. Not all of it is good, though. The initial scene with Desire is really awkward, and not that good a way to start the arc. The first few issues have that feeling that Gaiman is meandering about, devoting three or four issues to plot development he could have done in two, and been the better for it.
Gaiman is at his best here when he strays from the main plot. There is a one-shot issue (called "Doll's House Part Four", which is beyond me, as it has absolutely nothing to do with the main plot and should have been placed after these issues as to not interrupt the flow of the story) called "Men of Good Fortune," in which Dream 'befriends' a man who is intent on not dying. Their conversations span years, and we get to see through Dream how life has been good and bad to this man, all in the context of England's history, which Gaiman masterfully weaves in. From that point on, the book stays consistently enjoyable.
Gaiman is, however, at his worst while writing about Brut, Glob, the dead man who thinks he's a super hero, and his old (alive) wife who doesn't want to lose him. That whole plot-line seems utterly out of place and extremely contrived. It made for unpleasant reading, but thankfully the rest of the book mostly made up for it. Since we're on the subject of the weaker aspects of the Sandman, the art still isn't the best for me. Sometimes it seems like the pages were intended to be sketches, and they decided to color 'em up and use them for the actual comic. The coloring is inconsistent, in that in one panel a guy's moustache is orange, the next panel it's bright yellow, and then for the rest of the comic its orange. This happens more than once. The art, like the story, does begin to click in the final issues, especially during the scene between Dream and Rose when she becomes the vortex. But I hope there will be more consistency and quality next time.
All in all, I'm still waiting for this series to get better, but there was enough quality in this to convince me to buy the third volume.
7/10
Summary of The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
The immense popularity of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series is due in large part to the development of his characters. In The Doll's House, the second book of the Sandman magnum opus, Gaiman continues to build the foundation for the larger story, introducing us to more of the Dream King's family of the Endless.The Sandman returns to his kingdom of the Dreaming after nearly a century of imprisonment, finding several things out of place; most importantly, an anomaly called a dream vortex has manifested itself in the form of a young girl who unknowingly threatens to rip apart the Dreaming. And there's the smaller matter of a few nightmares having escaped. Among them is Gaiman's creepiest creation: the Corinthian, a serial killer with a miniature set of teeth in each eye socket. Because later volumes concentrate so much on human relationships with Gaiman's signature fair for fantasy and mythology, it is sometimes easy to forget that the Sandman series started out as a horror comic. This book grabs you and doesn't let you forget that so easily. --Jim Pascoe
The immense popularity of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series is due in largepart to the development of his characters. In The Doll's House, the second book of the Sandman magnum opus, Gaiman continues to build the foundation for the larger story, introducing us to more of the Dream King's family of the Endless.The Sandman returns to his kingdom of the Dreaming after nearly a century of imprisonment, finding several things out of place; most importantly, an anomaly called a dream vortex has manifested itself in the form of a young girl who unknowingly threatens to rip apart the Dreaming. And there's the smaller matter of a few nightmares having escaped. Among them is Gaiman's creepiest creation: the Corinthian, a serial killer with a miniature set of teeth in each eye socket. Because later volumes concentrate so much on human relationships with Gaiman's signature fair for fantasy and mythology, it is sometimes easy to forget that the Sandman series started out as a horror comic. This book grabs you and doesn't let you forget that so easily. --Jim Pascoe
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