SuperHeroBooks - The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists
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List Price: $19.99
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Manufacturer: Vertigo
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9781563890413
ISBN: 1563890410
Label: Vertigo
Manufacturer: Vertigo
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 1994-01-04
Publisher: Vertigo
Release Date: 1994-01-04
Studio: Vertigo
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: A splendid story about Hell
Comment: The fourth Sandman collection finally follows up on the promise that Lucifer made to destroy Morpheus back in the opening collection. Destiny summons the Endless to a meeting, where we meet Delirium (who used to be Delight) for the first time and get some more information about the missing brother of the Endless. During the meeting Desire baits Dream about the treatment of his lover Nada, whom he banished to Hell for spurning him. Dream realises he/she is right, and resolves to travel to Hell and rescue his former lover, despite Lucifer's vow.
Season of Mists takes Dream on a journey into Hell and a confrontation with the Morningstar...but not the type of confrontation he was expecting. Dream ends up, slightly bemused, as the keeper of the key to Hell, and is soon being petitioned by gods and representatives from many pantheons (including the gods of Chaos and Order, and deities from the Egyptian, Norse and Japanese pantheons) anxious to get their hands on the finest plot of real estate in the multiverse, at the same time as he is also trying to find his missing love, and Death is attempting to repair the damage caused by countless legions of the dead suddenly being released back into the mortal world.
After the short story interlude of Dream Country, it's good to be back to a solid, long story arc. Although it's a reasonably long tale it's not the most dynamic story in the Sandman canon, and unusually most of it takes place in the Dreaming with only a few scenes set in the real world, and a longer chunk set in Hell. This allows us to see a bit more of the Dreaming and its inhabitants, but the meat of the story is seeing how the different pantheons interact together and who actually has the best claim on Hell.
As usual, Gaiman fills the story with neat little details and touches. The notion of there being a library in the Dreaming where all the books writers dreamed of writing but never got round to it is a fascinating one, and it's amusing to see books there such as Tolkien's The Lost Road (which was supposed to be a big story about his island kingdom of Numenor, but he abandoned it after a few pages). Elsewhere there are nods back to earlier stories: when Dream fears he may be destroyed in Hell, he decides to make time for a brief drink with his friend Hob Gadling, although they are not due to meet for another ninety-nine years. He also looks in on the newly-born son of Hector and Lyta Hall and gives him a name, Daniel, to Lyta's rage and horror. Elsewhere there's nice touches about the various gods, such as Chaos being personified as a young girl and Order as a carboard box, and Thor trying to impress some of the female deities present with his hammer, which gets bigger if you rub it (which is mythologically accurate)! Finally, we get a glimpse into the Sandman's collection of artefacts he has accumulated over the years, and see the skull of the Corinthian, a city trapped in a bottle and an old pocket watch, all of which are explored in future stories, in some cases years down the line.
As with previous collections, Gaiman interrupts the linear narrative of the story to give us a self-contained story in the middle of the collection which nevertheless comments on the action around it. A young boy left alone at boarding school for the holidays (after his father is among the hostages taken by Saddam Hussein in the build-up to the Gulf War) is suddenly joined by all those who died in the school over the previous century or so. It's a rather grim story, but ends on an interesting, optimistic note.
Season of Mists (****) isn't quite up there with the best of the Sandman collections. It is a tad overlong given its relative lack of actual incident, but for expanding our knowledge and understanding about Hell and the Dreaming, for introducing important new characters (particularly Daniel, Cluracan and Nuala) and for resolving the Nada storyline, it does a great job. The graphic novel is available from Titan in the UK and Vertigo in the USA, and forms the opening part of The Absolute Sandman, Volume II, available from Vertigo in the UK and USA.
Customer Rating:
Summary: THIS IS THE REAL DEAL
Comment: This is my favorite comic book story. I was already a Gaiman fan, having read "Good Omens". But the intense intelligence and respect for the form of mythology in particular and story-telling in general, not to mention one of the all time great jumping off points (Lucifer's abdication of Hell), create a story that is breathtaking in it's scope and imagination.
AMAZING!
And I haven't even mentioned the stunning artwork, just beautiful, iconic and evocative.
All the "old gods" are represented and much intrigue and deal-brokering ensue.
These themes (the meaning and relevance of mythology) are further explored in at least 2 of his subsequent novels and many of his short stories.
This is still the definitive statement. Check it out, you will not be disappointed!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Season of Mists Is The First To Astound Me
Comment: I've heard much about The Sandman series for many years, and so last summer I finally decided to experience it for myself. The first volume was adequate, but it didn't "wow" me as much as I expected. Probably because, by this point in time, Gaiman's concepts had been copied and recopied so many times by so many other writers that the original held little distinction.
I took solace in the fact that Volume III of the series was to be the one that set The Sandman beyond anything else in the comic book medium that came before or after. Sadly--for me--it didn't electrify. Good? Certainly. Great? No.
So, believing the opinions of several friends can't be wrong, I still pressed on. Volume IV, Season of Mists, proved to be the one. This is the volume that completely and utterly "wowed" me. From the beginning to the end, this was a tightly woven story packing emotional, philosophical, intellectual, and conceptual punches that did not fail to capture both my imagination and respect. The character of Morpheus is visually interesting, but it was not until this volume that he began to fascinate me as a well-rounded character.
The premise is simple in Season of Mists. Morpheus realizes he long ago made a mistake for which he must atone. It is how he deals with coming to this decision and the ramifications of going about executing it that astonished me. Gaiman's imagination is limitless in Season of Mists, pulling from established myths and legends as well as creating his own.
The art, like all of the volumes, is rather hit or miss. Luckily, the image of Morpheus is so striking and the stories so good that the art is easy to overlook.
Finally, I wouldn't consider myself a fan of Harlan Ellison by any stretch of the imagination, but his introduction to this volume is delightful and is alone worth the price of the entire book.
~Scott William Foley, author of Dr. Nekros: The Tragedian (Volume I, Episode I)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Graphic SF Reader
Comment: Spurred by the three Fates, Destiny calls a meeting of the Endless. This ends in Dream taking crud for getting pissed at an ex-girlfriend and sending her to Hell.
Spurred by the three Fates, Destiny calls a meeting of the Endless. This ends in Dream taking crap for getting pissed at an ex-girlfriend and sending her to Hell.
His older sister tells him off, so he goes to rescue her, knowing that Lucifer is likely to slay him. A bit nastier than that though, Lucifer abandons Hell and gives it to him, instead, without the old girlfriend.
Dream has to deal with all the mythologies that want this funky piece of supernatural real estate, while Lucifer gets to go and be a beach slacker.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I always suspected Thor had no manners . . .
Comment: As everyone knows who reads his stuff, Gaiman is as original as. In this installment, the Lord of Dreams (one of the Endless, all of whom begin with a "D") goes to Hell prepared to do battle with Lucifer in order to obtain the release of an ex-lover he condemned there some ten thousand years ago. But Lucifer surprises him by evicting everyone from the underworld, shutting the place down, locking it up tight, and handing the Dreamer the key. What happens in a Creation with no functioning Hell? For one thing, the dead come back (not "to life" -- just back). For another, a great many deities from an assortment of pantheons, not to mention the evicted demonic tormentors, want to get their hands on the vacant property for their own reasons. As I said: Extremely original. And very well worked out, too. Another strong hit from a true Big Leaguer.
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Editorial Reviews:
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In many ways, Season of Mists is the pinnacle of the Sandmanexperience. After a brief intermission of four short stories (collected as Dream Country) Gaiman continued the story of the Dream King that he began in the first two volumes. Here in volume 4, we find out about the rest of Dream's Endless family (Desire, Despair, Destiny, Delirium, Death, and a seventh missing sibling). We find out the story behind Nada, Dream's first love, whom we met only in passing during Dream's visit to hell in the first book. When Dream goes back to hell to resolve unfinished business with Nada, he finds her missing along with all of the other dead souls. The answer to this mystery lies in Lucifer's most uncharacteristic decision--a delicious surprise.There is something grandiose about this story, in which each chapter ends withsuch suspense and drive to read the next. This book is best summed up by a toasttaken from the second chapter: "To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and theseason of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil hisdue." --Jim Pascoe
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