[.ca] Sandman, The: A Game of You - Book V (ISBN 1563890895)

From Amazon.com:
You may have heard somewhere that Neil Gaiman's Sandman series consisted of cool, hip, edgy, smart comic books. And you may have thought, "What the hell does that mean?" Enter A Game of You to confound the issue even more, while at the same time standing as a fine example of such a description. This is not an easy book. The characters are dense and unique, while their observations are, as always with Gaiman, refreshingly familiar. Then there's the plot, which grinds along like a coffee mill, in the process breaking down the two worlds of this series, that of the dream and that of the dreamer. Gaiman pushes these worlds to their very extremes--one is a fantasy world with talking animals, a missing princess, and a mysterious villain called the Cuckoo; the other is an urban microcosm inhabited by a drag queen, a punk lesbian couple, and a New York doll named Barbie. In almost every way this book sits at 180 degrees from the earlier four volumes of the Sandman series--although the less it seems to belong to the series, the more it shows its heart. --Jim Pascoe

great author overrated story:
I have never read Sandman before this story but from what I have heard each story can stand alone. I also want to say I read neverwhere and "Sandman: The Dream Hunters" and loved them. This story though just wasn't his best work or really that good. This is my problem with the story. A lady has dreams that continue every single night like an unending story. Suddenly, one of the animals in her dreams finds her in real life. Creative? Original? This idea is all of those things? However, by the end of her story, every single one of her characters in her dreams that she likes die, you are left to wonder, what is the point??? She lost her battle to keep the creaturs in her dream to stay alive and you aren't sure if you care because they are only creatures in a dream. On another note, although I don't like this story I have a feeling this sandman series gets better as it goes along, however this one just wasnt good, might want to skip it and read a different book in this series

The best of the Sandman:
No other volume of the magnificent Sandman series so perfectly captures the darkly magical essence as this one. Many people dislike it, and many will say that you should read other tales first, but for me personally, I think that if you like "A Game of You" then you will like all others, and if you dislike it, you probably will dislike many others as well. It is not as important to the story overall as some arcs, and the Sandman himself harldy interacts with the human characters until well into the story. Also absent are most of the Sandman's family, with Death being regelated to a cameo. However, this is what makes the issue so special. It uses the Sandman mileu to create a unique fantasy world of its own, one which uses archtypes to allow readers to identify with it and yet be startled around every turn. If the "death" of the world is not heartrending, then perhaps you lack the imagination that fuels such a world. Read this and enjoy.

Pure Magic:
Never content with telling Sandman from one fixed perspective for too long, Gaiman again turns the collection on its head and has yet another character (this time 'Barbie,' a supporting player in the Doll's House), provide the orientation to the text for us. Gaiman seems to be at his best when Morpheus plays more of a supporting role in the narrative. As was the case in the stellar Doll's House, A Game of You focuses on human relationships. Although Morpheus is certainly an interesting character, in the end he is, as his sister Death previously remarked, "an anthropomorphic personification:" an idealized abstraction. Gaiman's human characters, however, are fully rounded: capable of the myriad -and often contradictory- emotions that make us flesh and blood. It's Gaiman's probing exploration of humanity that really sets the series apart from other graphic novels that choose to focus on the wearisome 'superheroes and bad guys' formula. How many other graphic novels, for example, detail the ups and downs of a lesbian couple or the anxieties of transvestism? This is ground breaking stuff, to be sure, and provides much needed realness to the medium. Barbie's adventures in dreamland bear an eerie resemblance to Frodo's in the Lord of the Rings and Dorothy's in the Wizard of Oz, and for good reason. All three works are manifestations of what Joseph Campbell terms the "hero cycle:" a rite of passage that chronicles the hero's departure and eventual return. The hero cycle is a fundamental aspect of mythology, and Gaiman's skilful usage of it affords the tale a feeling of timelessness, a structural connection to the process of myth making. The art in this series is fantastic and probably the best in the collection to date. Shawn McManus does a wonderful job of bringing out the mood of the text: note McManus' usage of nearly pure white and black cells in the first chapter to underscore the starkness of Barbie's "dream country." Somewhat jarring, however, is the fact that Colleen Doran drew the art for only the third story. Her less detailed style essentially interrupts the atmosphere created by McManus in the five other stories. Although this is the fifth text in the Sandman series, Gaiman demonstrates he has plenty of gas left in the tank. His imagination continues to propel him to new and strange places, and I'm more than willing to sit in the passenger's seat and enjoy the view.

One of my favorites of the series:
I really enjoyed this TPB. I've read the first four volumes, and this is right up there with Vol. 1 Preludes and Nocturnes, and Vol. 4 Season of the Mist. The defining strength of A Game Of You lies within the distinctive, well developed cast of characters. Because I cared about each of these characters in turn, the mildly epic storyline captivated me as it effortlessly moved along. The whole nature of the journey reminded me in some ways of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, albeit on a smaller scale. The art always varies throughout the Sandman series because of the use of different artists, and A Game of You continues that practice, with some consistency, thanks to Shawn McManus. McManus contributes the majority of the art here, and his style is perfectly suited to this tale. The guest artists are competent, but not quite as masterful as McManus. A Game of You is a fine tale, and a great addition to the Sandman series. It certainly makes me look forward to reading the next volume.

Finally something different:
In an age where almost all comics are aimed towards mass media entertainment, such as X MEN and the rest, it's refreshing to read comics with more depth and content to them. A Game Of You is one of my favorite books in the Sandman series. It showcases amazing characters, great storytelling, and a main character who is almost not in the book at all, which I enjoyed because the King of Dreams has always personally annoyed me with his pride and arrogance. However, on a lighter note, this book is amazing, but I would not recommend it as the first book for one to read in the Sandman series.