Overthinking Comics

We continue our ongoing discussion of Sandman with volume 3, Dream Country. In particular, we are discussing issues 17-20 of The Sandman. This volume consists of individual one-shot stories.

Calliope is a very uncomfortable story to read now. It depicts a particular kind of violence against women in a brutal way that is truthful to how bad it is. Still, this story was included in this series, so what can it tell us about the growth of the main character of the series, and the themes of Sandman?

A Dream of A Thousand Cats condemns keeping cats as pets. Beyond that though, it is a delightful cat fairy tail. It also serves as a metaphor for another kind of dream, the kind that actually can change the world.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a bit of a slog for us. We appreciate the merits of this story, but still find it difficult to really engage with the dense Shakespeare contained within. Still, this touches on some central themes of Sandman, so we explore those in our conversation.

Facade tells the story about the internal damage we can do to ourselves by telling us about Element Girl, and her desire to die. We both have very different interpretations of the meaning of this story, so we investigate that.

We round out the conversation with a discussion that these one-shot stories play within the greater Sandman story. What do they add? What do we like about them, in the context of the whole?