The Sandman, Vol. 6: Fables & Reflections

This volume really dragged. The stories were completely random and lacked any depth. It jumped around to various pieces of history with little reason. I got the impression that Gaiman's editor said “We need another comic NOW!” to which Gaiman replied “damn. idk yet how I want to procede with the story. Let me open this history book to a random page, pick a character's name (or event), summarize the character and/or the event, then briefly add in some of the main characters in the last 2 pages of each issue.”

I didn't enjoy this volume as much as the rest. It went back down to probably even lower than the first volume. Like volume 3, this volume is a series of short stories, about 8 of them, with the Orpheus arc being the longest. I didn't pick up sort of cohesive theme that ties these together so they're probably just standalone short stories.

The Orpheus arc was interesting in that it shows more of Dream's relationships in a different era (ancient Greece), featuring for the first time the seventh sibling (who wasn't properly named with any “D” word).

There was also a Marco Polo short story that ties back to the very first volume.

Other than that, there's nothing much that stands out to me. Each story is interesting by itself but I guess I was looking for more along the veins of previous volumes. One special mention though, is that I found the artwork to be slightly poorer this time around.

I'm finding that I enjoy Sandman's short stories much more than his longer stories. They all pack so much originality and fun into them, and Gaiman really has a way of telling a tale as if it's a timeless classic from eons ago, and not a comic from the late 80s and early 90s. That's especially the case in this collection, wherein all the stories take place back in time, and with known characters of history and mythology interwoven.
I also just loved that so many different artists were involved in this collection. Almost every story had a different illustrator. It really added to how distinct and unique each story felt from the other.
I was feeling a little let down by the last collection, but this one has really redeemed the series for me.

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.