The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You (New Edition) [Paperback]

 

 

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Do you remember Barbie? Not the doll, but the creepily perky blonde from "The Doll's House" who had a matching husband named Ken. Well, she's the protagonist of the fifth "Sandman" collection, which is accurately titled "A Game of You" -- a haunting, fairy-tale exploration into a young woman's dreaming imagination, and the friends who are trying to save her.

Having split from Ken, Barbie has since moved to New York and is living in a small apartment building with a lesbian couple named Hazel and Foxglove, a kindly M-to-F transsexual named Wanda, a creepy guy, and a prim mystery woman named Thessaly. She also hasn't dreamed in two years.

But then she has a run-in with an imaginary creature from her childhood, who gives her the magical jewel called the Porpentine with his dying breath. And that night, she goes back into a fantasy world from her childhood -- a place of talking animals, haunted forests, and a mysterious enemy called the Cuckoo.

But as Barbie (aka Princess Barbara) sets out to defeat the Cuckoo, Thessaly wakes Foxglove, Hazel and Wanda, and reveals that Barbie is in desperate need of their help -- and uses her magic to open a gateway to the realm of dreams. But they may not be in time to save Barbie from the machinations of the Cuckoo -- or New York from the destructive magic being stirred.

In most authors' works, supporting characters are just window dressing for the main characters. In Neil Gaiman's works, every character has their own unique backstory and purpose in the plot -- Barbie was just one of the minor background characters in a previous story, but in "A Game of You" we discover her dreams, her past, her fears, and her own connection to the Dream King.

And in turn, the other characters are given well-developed backstories, problems and personalities -- the no-nonsense Thessaly, hinted to be an ancient witch or something; Hazel, who is afraid of what her pregnancy might mean for her relationship, and the sensitive, loyal Wanda who will never let Barbie down. Even the crazy dog-hating lady has a REASON to be here, and a history of her own.

Gaiman's storytelling here mingles an enchanted high fantasy world (reminiscent of Narnia) with a darker, more gruesome story. I mean, there's a skinned face with eyes and tongue NAILED TO THE WALL, having a casual conversation with Wanda. Ew. And even if things are worked out by the end, not everything turns out all right -- there are tragic losses, changes, and Barbie has left behind a part of her life.

And where is Morpheus in all this? He only appears in a few scenes, but his involvement is truly vital to the story. And no, I won't say how.

"Sandman Volume 5: A Game of You" will probably leave you with a little smile, but a tear in your eye. A magnificently powerful, haunting story.

Never content with telling Sandman from one fixed perspective for too long, Gaiman again turns the collection on its head and has yet another character (this time 'Barbie,' a supporting player in the Doll's House), provide the orientation to the text for us. Gaiman seems to be at his best when Morpheus plays more of a supporting role in the narrative. As was the case in the stellar Doll's House, A Game of You focuses on human relationships. Although Morpheus is certainly an interesting character, in the end he is, as his sister Death previously remarked, "an anthropomorphic personification:" an idealized abstraction. Gaiman's human characters, however, are fully rounded: capable of the myriad -and often contradictory- emotions that make us flesh and blood. It's Gaiman's probing exploration of humanity that really sets the series apart from other graphic novels that choose to focus on the wearisome 'superheroes and bad guys' formula. How many other graphic novels, for example, detail the ups and downs of a lesbian couple or the anxieties of transvestism? This is ground breaking stuff, to be sure, and provides much needed realness to the medium.

Barbie's adventures in dreamland bear an eerie resemblance to Frodo's in the Lord of the Rings and Dorothy's in the Wizard of Oz, and for good reason. All three works are manifestations of what Joseph Campbell terms the "hero cycle:" a rite of passage that chronicles the hero's departure and eventual return. The hero cycle is a fundamental aspect of mythology, and Gaiman's skilful usage of it affords the tale a feeling of timelessness, a structural connection to the process of myth making.

The art in this series is fantastic and probably the best in the collection to date. Shawn McManus does a wonderful job of bringing out the mood of the text: note McManus' usage of nearly pure white and black cells in the first chapter to underscore the starkness of Barbie's "dream country." Somewhat jarring, however, is the fact that Colleen Doran drew the art for only the third story. Her less detailed style essentially interrupts the atmosphere created by McManus in the five other stories.

Although this is the fifth text in the Sandman series, Gaiman demonstrates he has plenty of gas left in the tank. His imagination continues to propel him to new and strange places, and I'm more than willing to sit in the passenger's seat and enjoy the view.

No other volume of the magnificent Sandman series so perfectly captures the darkly magical essence as this one. Many people dislike it, and many will say that you should read other tales first, but for me personally, I think that if you like "A Game of You" then you will like all others, and if you dislike it, you probably will dislike many others as well. It is not as important to the story overall as some arcs, and the Sandman himself harldy interacts with the human characters until well into the story. Also absent are most of the Sandman's family, with Death being regelated to a cameo. However, this is what makes the issue so special. It uses the Sandman mileu to create a unique fantasy world of its own, one which uses archtypes to allow readers to identify with it and yet be startled around every turn. If the "death" of the world is not heartrending, then perhaps you lack the imagination that fuels such a world. Read this and enjoy.

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2.0 out of 5 stars great author overrated story
I have never read Sandman before this story but from what I have heard each story can stand alone. I also want to say I read neverwhere and "Sandman: The Dream Hunters"... Read more

Published on Oct 24 2003 by peterschoppe

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally something different
In an age where almost all comics are aimed towards mass media entertainment, such as X MEN and the rest, it's refreshing to read comics with more depth and content to them. Read more

Published on Jun 19 2003 by Steve James

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorites of the series
I really enjoyed this TPB. I've read the first four volumes, and this is right up there with Vol. 1 Preludes and Nocturnes, and Vol. 4 Season of the Mist. Read more

Published on Mar 7 2003 by D. Sippel

5.0 out of 5 stars A primer of dreams, a portent of endings....
This is one of my favorite books from the Sandman series, because it is, in essense, a primer on the nature of dreams. Read more

Published on Sep 13 2002 by OAKSHAMAN

5.0 out of 5 stars serious literature
I'm not a comic book aficionado, but was persuaded to try the Sandman series. They're remarkable, but this one is a real standout -- it's a fine, serious, and at the same time... Read more

Published on Aug 3 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars What can I say that hasn't already been said?
This is simply a great book. Neil Gaiman is a genius, and I have no doubt that he is one of the names of our era that will go down in literary history. Read more

Published on Mar 30 2002 by ishmaela

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best Sandman, but still stellar
This interesting entry in the Sandman canon has great moments, fascinating artwork and the trademark Gaiman inventiveness all his fans have come to enjoy. Read more

Published on Dec 18 2001 by C.B. Derrick

1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful, boring, aweful
This is by far the worst Sandman novel. The story is so utterly boring, the writing is bad. I don't know what happened. Read more

Published on July 28 2001 by asdfasdfasdf

4.0 out of 5 stars The best story/art combo in whole series (IMHO)
Well, lotsa people read the book and felt dissapointed, esp. the ones who loved Seasons of Mist. IMHO, this story is something that should've been published under different title... Read more

Published on April 29 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Where, oh where, has that little girl gone?
I have always found this to be an underappreciated chapter in the Sandman series. I don't think people realize what Gaiman has pulled off here. Read more

Published on July 14 2000 by J. Angus Macdonald

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