The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House (New Edition): New Edition

by Neil Gaiman

Book Overview

Featuring the popular characters from the award-winning Sandman series by Neil Caiman, THE SANDMAN: ENDLESS NIGHTS reveals the legend of the Endless, a family of magical and mythical beings who exist... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401227996
• ISBN13: 9781401227999
• Release Date: October 2010
• Publisher: Vertigo
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.7" x 10.1"

Customer Reviews

Contains what I find to be The Sandman's best story

Some time ago, I was desperate to get my hands on this particular TPB. It wasn't possible, but, at last, I own my own copy! I had read this some years ago, recommended by a friend really into American comics. Back then, I was not really interested in them, having gotten to a point of extreme boredom over superhero comics, that looked all the same to me, except for this or that good author (like Frank Miller, who penned "Year One" and "The Dark Night Returns"). My friend, however, persuaded me. He told me that not all American comics dealt with superheroes. There was one I'd love, called The Sandman, with dealt with mythology, with magic. Reluctantly, I gave it a try. I read book by book. The first one, I found, was not bad, but the art was too crude for my tastes (I still maintain that point of view). The story, however, was compelling. Now, on the second TPB, things got great. The art was improving, and the stories got better. In here, I found what is, to this day, my favorite Sandman story. Hob Gadling's tale of immortality was a breath of fresh air. Without spoiling it for anyone, it amazed me as I kept turning the pages. This particular story turned Gaiman into a hero for me. From then on, The Sandman had captured me, I was a slave to his magical sand. The serial killer convention was pretty creepy, and the seeds of Desire's plot were in here, but, back then, I paid no heed. Gadling's was my story. Now, after re-reading it, I read into more layers, more texture in the stories, and feel that Gaiman is actually a literary genius. Comic books (or, more recently referred to as "Graphic Novels") may be an artform frowed upon by some, but they can give some of the biggest writers of our time the chance to be known by the public.

My own favorite

The Doll's House is my favorite still out of all the other books in the series, and the first one I read. Gaiman has a way of crafting the human characters so they're unrealistically realistic (simple yet complex, childlike and cynical, insightful and ignorant, with an eternal late '80s - early '90s-ish air). Rose Walker has always been my favorite among those. Also Gilbert and the Corinthian make it more memorable (the serial killers' convention, Zelda and Chantell and the others, etc....) Morpheus never appeared kinder or more human(e?). It means that we're just dolls. We don't have a clue what's really going down, we just kid ourselves that we're in control of our lives while a paper's thickness away things that would drive us mad if we thought about them for too long play with us, and move us around from room to room, and put us away at night when they're tired, or bored. -- Rose Walker, in The Doll's House

The best arc in a great series . . .

This is the best of the Sandman collected volumes. It is frightening, lyrical, and moving all the same time. Gaiman really knows how to tell a story, and the occasional cliched language in some of the other volumes is not apparent here. This is sharp writing--- and gorgeous artwork--- from beginning to end.

...indescribable...

Second in the Sandman comic book series, The Doll's House is much better than its predecessor, Preludes and Nocturnes. I find that with most Sandman stories, you read the whole thing just going "wow, this is really cool"...and then just when you thought it couldn't get better, at the end Neil Gaiman suddenly ties it together and leaves you absolutely breathless. The Doll's House is probably the most disturbing Sandman, along with P & N, but it's also one of the most beautiful, one of the best. It features the first appearance of Dream's sister/brother Desire, and the story of Dream and Nada, and this guy called the Corinthian who's going to a Cereal Convention. There's something kinda weird about his eyes. You'll see...

The best arc of the decade's best series

THE DOLL'S HOUSE is the arc that Gaiman himself says is where he realised what he wanted to do with the characters and where he wanted to go with the SANDMAN story. This edition begins with two stories that both stand apart from the rest of the series, but that also both have significant influence on THE DOLL'S HOUSE storyline and beyond. The first, "The Sound of Her Wings" introduces Dream's big sister in a profound and moving tale about the value of spending a day with Death as she goes about her business sending people to their next life. The next tale introduces Nada, Dream's doomed mortal love, who will play a significant part in a later arc, SEASONS OF MISTS. Then, THE DOLL'S HOUSE begins, a tale involving escaped dreams and nightmares, a human vortex and her granmother who had spent the bulk of her life asleep (see the previous PRELUDES AND NOCTURNS), and Dream's quest to prevent the dissolution of his kingdom. What makes Gaiman's writing so unique is that not only does he reject the comic book obligatory of big fist-fights to SAVE THE WORLD (and all that), but that Dream is not even the central character in these stories. Instead, Rose Walker is. It is she, not Dream, who is threatened and who goes on the emotional roller-coaster and it is to find out what happens to her that the reader keeps reading. In fact, Dream - the "hero" of this title - at what point nearly kills her to save his kingdom! Magnificent writing, magical artistry, this story is an absolute must. Buy it. Buy several. It makes a great gift.