The Sandman, Vol. 5: A Game Of You

Not perfect, but damn this volume was good. It started off muddled. I didn't really understand what was going on. But that was part of the beauty. It was like being lost in Oz, or on an adventure like Alice in Wonderland. There were strange creatures and beings. Everything was up for grabs. Nothing made sense, yet it all made sense.

Volume 5 is so different I'm having to take a long moment to think about how to review it. This volume sees us zoom all the way in to just a small group of New Yorkers, from Volume 4's huge gathering of a myriad of supernatural, mythological, and religious figures. It's also a volume where Morpheus is actually mostly in the background. It nonetheless draws out the awe in me. This is another great volume from Neil Gaiman. I'm having trouble deciding which I like best now.

The group of New Yorkers this volume focuses on is primarily female, with a cast of characters that would have trouble fitting in. We have a face-painting girl named Barbie, lesbians, a transsexual, and a witch. And these are the “normal” ones; throw in the characters populating an old dream and you have a full set of interesting characters. The feminine definitely gives a different vibe from previous volumes; it's not just a story featuring females.

Barbie was actually a minor character from Volume 2. I had actually completely missed that and had to look it up. It's interesting that just 3 panels from that volume is actually a glimpse into this one. Rose Walker from the same volume is also mentioned here, as being the original creator of the Land of the dream. So there's your tidbit continuity.

A side theme that I actually found very intriguing (as the foreword pointed out) is that of “Who are you”. All the main characters in the book are not what they seem on the surface. As you read and watch their internal conflicts and background, you can feel there's a lot depth and a lot more unsaid. And this is what binds them together, particularly Barbie and Wanda, being able to look past what's just on the surface. The last chapter brings the whole story to a wonderful close, with Death sporting a cameo in the final touching scene. Does Barbie's story end here?

Another great read from Neil Gaiman!! I love how all these “minor” characters from past Sandman issues later become the main character. It's so cool and makes me pay extra close attention to each panel... IDK if it's just me, but this comic series is heavy. I seriously need to read them in doses. I'll binge on an entire story line before going to bed one night, and then I won't be able to pick up another volume for another two weeks or something.

This review is really for the entire Sandman series.
I'm not sure I've ever found it so difficult to review something. I feel like I've been on a long bizarre journey and have just woken up. I'm pretty sure that was what Neil Gaiman was aiming for from the start, the series centering around the Lord of Dreams, Morpheus himself. While we follow Morpheus around and through interweaving tales we get amazing insights about the importance of stories, the human condition, family, mythology, nightmares, dreams, religion, faith, madness, life & death and the list could go on. There is so much packed in this series that I can't even put it into a category, it really is a category all its own. I haven't ever read anything like it and doubt I will ever again. It is fantasy of the highest sense. Poetic, meaningful, dark, funny, sad (okay in the last few there is a lot of sad), but also a lot about hope and new beginnings and changes. I feel like Dream, Destiny, Desire, Delirium, Despair, Death and Destruction are a pantheon of mythos I will never quite shake from my mind. Like the Greek gods, they will forever be apart of a mythology in the fabric of people's consciousness. They live there now in the back of my mind and when I encounter these things in my life, I won't be able to help but think back on Neil Gaiman's amazing story and colourful characters.
The artwork was always great and even surprising sometimes and inventive. I especially loved the Dreaming and it's heart where Morpheus' surreal and ever changing castle was. I feel like now that the journey is over, I need to start it over again, so that I can pick out all the things I missed the first time. See all the hints about where it was headed, to put characters into perspective now that I know their fates. I feel like I missed a lot, because there were stories within stories that I didn't realize were significant until after the fact. I can only marvel at its intricacy.
The imagination on display is vast and mind blowing and the way in which Gaiman can take flawed creatures or humans and give them hearts and voices and emotions that you carry with you through the entire series, is a testament to his character-building. I never thought I'd shed a tear for a pumpkin-head or raven or for a place that doesn't even exist, although I really wish it did.
I could go on and on about this series, but I'll do the only thing I can do and that is to recommend it to everyone, just as the comic book store employee recommended it to me. I have read very few graphic novels, so I can't compare to it to other graphic novels, but as a story completely on its own and of its own merits, I highly, highly recommend you give The Sandman series a read. Even if you only do it once, it will be worth it. You will see storytelling in a different way and it will stick with long after you finish the last volume.