Book: Sandman
Story: Imperfect Hosts

Issue: #2

Neil Gaiman - writer
Sam Kieth - artist
Mike Dringenberg - artist
Todd Klein - letters
Robbie Busch - colours
Art Young - assistant editor
Karen Berger - editor

Story:

Well, Sandman's free from his imprisonment and he's mad. Firstly though he needs to regain his strength and travel back to his world, his long absent kingdom. To this end, Sandman first travels to the limbo home of two mischievous brothers, Cain and Able. Who incidentally look a lot like little trolls to me. Able lives in constant fear of his brother Cain, who it seems, kills him on a regular basis. Anyhow, Sandy travels there and regains some of his strength and then proceeds on his journey homeward. But upon arriving at the gates to his kingdom he is greeted with the disturbing fact that his land is in ruins. His subjects have for the most part scattered, and his great castle is a shambled husk of it's former self. Before Sandman can begin rebuilding his land he must find out where his tools that were stolen from him all those years ago have ended up. His magical pouch of sand, his helm, a mask of sleep, and a gem, the dreamstone amulet. With these returned Sandman will once again have the powers of his birthright. So Sandman conjures the Wyrd sisters, the Oracles, who can prophesise, and see into the dark corners of the world. From them he learns the truth of his possessions' whereabouts and begins on a new quest to take back what was once his.

- The art is really growing on me, very nice work. I especially enjoy the fabulous pannel layout.
- Able's cute little pet dragon, Irving.
- I like the set up of story, Sandman must reclaim his heritage.
- The gates of Horn and Ivory, very cool.
- Those Wyrd Sisters we're pretty interesting. I guess I just like the way this world is populating out. There are some really great characters here.

- What was up with the side story about this Dr Destiny? How does he fit into the picture.
- Does Cain really have to be so mean to Able?

This was I think a better issue than the last. The characters are a bit more defined. The setting is very cool, and we get to see Sandman in action. It's a good set up, and I have no doubt that the story will deliver. The panel layout was stunning, it's really rare to see artwork that pushes theme so strongly as well as the story. I'm very interested to see how this turns out.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Disclaimer - This is a fan website. I'm not out to make any money or infringe on any copyrights The images seen here are there because I think they're good. All the art seen here is the exclusive property of their respective publishers and creators. If you have any problems with the content of this area please contact me by clicking HERE. Thanks.