I’m already beginning to fail my promise of more regular blogging; I think a pretty good way to break through the activation energy is to have shorter posts about relatively uncontroversial topics.

To that point - The Sandman: Endless Nights. Holy shit, it’s so good. I have no idea how I missed reading this over years of obsession with the Sandman series.

I learned about the Sandman series some time in 2012 and I was instantly hooked - since I was still a grad student living without a lot of (or any?) disposable income, I deferred reading the series. But once I started my first job, collecting the Sandman series was my first true indulgence. I was elated when I finally got myself to purchase all 10 Trade Paperbacks (used, of course), and I still showcase them with pride in all the houses Rishita and I have lived at.

Reading Sandman was always a visceral experience. I didn’t just think about the things Gaiman wrote - I luxuriated in the ideas and feelings. For me, there’s a unique melancholy in all his stories. The idea that there’s so much of our story (and others’ stories) that we just don’t understand resonates deeply.

There’s also Morpheus himself, Dream of the Endless, who is the anchor around whom most stories revolve. Inspite of all the power he has, and his responsibilities (something extremely important to the character himself), there’s so much growth in his personality over the course of the series. He has to contend with bad choices he has made, and genuinely grows and changes as a result. And he pays the price for some of these choices as well.

I could gush about the series for a long time, but suffice it to say that it remains my favorite comic book series of all time.

And then to discover that there’s an entire issue I had missed!! Soaking in the atmosphere of the world after so long was the best reading experience I’ve had in a while. Nostalgic and melancholic, both because of the book, but also because of the memories of my first read through the series from so long ago.. Definitely time to re-read the series from page 1.