tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post4938569403627594643..comments2024-03-27T21:12:28.287-05:00Comments on Collected Editions: Review: Sandman: Overture: 30th Anniversary Edition trade paperback (DC Comics)collectededitionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14698269790653953645noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-7643535301328128822022-08-18T10:35:28.471-05:002022-08-18T10:35:28.471-05:00"almost callous toward murder [...] when he k..."almost callous toward murder [...] when he kills his own son Orpheus, blithely setting in motion the events that lead to Dream’s own death"<br /><br />Fascinating reading of Morpheus! I've always taken it that Dream kills Orpheus, both knowing it is something he should have done a long time ago while accepting that it will lead to his own death. If anything, Dream is indifferent to /life/ at the time of Orpheus's wedding; his eulogy for Eurydice to his own son boils down to "Yes, she is dead. And you'll be sad about it, but you'll get over it." <br /><br />In true Neil Gaiman fashion, life is a story, and the point of the story isn't always at the ending. (Every Gaiman story is about storytelling.) Dream doesn't understand it for a long time, but eventually he realizes that his own story has done more harm than good -- and, accepting that he must change or die, makes his decision by killing Orpheus, knowing that it will bring the Kindly Ones to him, knowing he should have spared his son an eternity of suffering, knowing that it will end his story. But I think he also anticipates that his story will continue in the form of Daniel, having chosen him as his successor far in advance.<br /><br />It's really a genius book. The more I reread it, the more I find in it. Stories are like dreams; the longer you spend in them, the more sense they tend to make.Zachary Kinghttp://cinemaking465.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.com