Curling Up With Sandman Preludes & Nocturnes

Sandman isn’t necessarily your typical horror comic, but when I think of Halloween comics, I always wander back into the Dreaming.

The first collection of Sandman evokes a very specific time and place for me. I read it in early October 1991, in the parlor of a former Victorian-era school house my husband and I rented a floor of as tenants at will during a more bohemian period of our lives. It was an abode at times both charming and creepy—sometimes you’d hear drumming and howling from behind a close door (one of the owners was part of the men’s movement and was getting his ya-yas out).

So yeah, it was the perfect kind of place to be properly introduced to the work of Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III and Todd Klein, whose beautiful lettering helps bring the story to life.

Today, as I flip through that yellowed paperback in a our decidedly more modern home, I’m instantly taken back. I’m fighting a strong urge to put aside all of the adult things I’m supposed to be doing today to curl up and reread this yet again. Perhaps later, when the sun has set.

Sandman as a whole is one of those comic tales that has taken up permanent residence in my brain. Neil Gaiman created a world that in my heart I know exists just beyond the corner of my mind’s eye. This collection is obviously just the start of the story, and if you haven’t read it, yes, it does live up to the hype. Sweet dreams.

Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes
Written by Neil Gaiman
Art by Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, and Malcolm Jones III
Letters by Todd Klein
Published by DC Comics