Sandman Overture #2

Neil Gaiman - Author

J.H. Williams - Artist

Dave Stewart - Colorist

Todd Klein - Letterer

 

Is Sandman Overture a story or an infinite canvas for self expression? It is probably both of those things, which is why the story itself doesn’t merit a whole lot of discussion. For now lets simply state that Neil Gaiman’s writing is inspired and quite wonderful, and that to comment anything more about the tale calls for further discussion about J.H. Williams. As an artist I now understand that as good as Batwoman is, the painter was holding back in that title for better or worse. If his pencils had appeared there in the same way that they do in Overture, it would be one of the most unintelligible superhero comics ever made, but when something like Marvel Knights: Spider-Man exists, there should be space for that story as well. Nonetheless this is Williams at his best and worst at the same time. Each page escapes the ink bottle and is soaked in beautiful magic. The magic comes partially at the price of storytelling, as it is very hard to follow Gaiman’s words. The artist and writer do not wait for the average reader to catch up to their extremely rapid sense of speed.

 

When a book like this is two to three months late, it is difficult to put a work like this in front of an audience and expect them to ‘get it’ automatically. While there are numerous problems with this issue, I wouldn’t dare give it a low score because it will have infinite staying power. The Sandman is a tale fraught with expression, beauty, and wonder. With author Neil Gaiman finding more and more critical praise for his exceptional series, it is hard to imagine that the rest of the series is even slightly going to disappoint other readers. Based on those simple facts, and the artwork which is beautiful time and time again, this review will be extremely high. Yet that does not mean I am recommending people read this series bi-monthly. There were severals interviews leading up to this title which assured readers the delays would not be a factor, when keeping the creative team in mind, it is not shocking that this was still a problem.

 

With so many characters that are familiar this title is very hard to understand without the context of the original series. Without understanding the core of who these people are, Sandman Overture is an exercise in frustration. At the end of the day, issues like the infrequently shipping equate to a series that is extremely limited to only those who are making a concerted effort to seek out everything about the book. This is still a comic book, and the creative team does not seem to be concerned with working in the limitations of the medium, as the series would function infinitely better as a graphic novel.

Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams give incredible work to Sandman Overture that is the epitome of magnificent beauty. With that in mind, it is still disheartening that the duo is refusing to work within the initial medium that this tale is being printed. With such a drastic break in between issues and such a dense literary style populating this book, the initial audience is severely limited. This story will still work beautifully in a collected format.