The Sandman: The Kindly Ones - Book IX (Hardcover)

As Mikal Gilmore notes in this insightful Introduction to "The Wake," the title not only points to those 'kindly' ladies, the Furies, but others whose acts of kindness (Hippolyta, Thessaly, even Morpheus) similarly precipitate Morpheus' fall, either purposely or not. It is remarkable Gaiman has constructed a character whose humanization and kindness eventually destroys him. You certainly won't find this level of psychological sophistication in your average run-of-the-mill comic title or novel.

This volume gets my vote for the pick of the series; not an easy task when you consider the immense quality of its predecessors. But there's a sense of urgency in the unfolding of the plot, a self-awareness that things are coming to an end, leading to the inescapable conclusion that this title is the crescendo of the Sandman library. All the unresolved plotlines in the earlier volumes flourish here and result in the climactic conclusion. We learn that the fate of Morpheus is intertwined with the fate of the series itself, and I for one can't think of a more appropriate ending.

This is quite possibly the worst Sandman to begin on, and is about the only Sandman work which really requires complete reading of earlier volumes. There is little in the way of character exploration itself, and background knowledge is certainly assumed.

However, there is such beauty in the sheer magnificence of the artwork, the intensity of the plot and the wonderful way in which eight volumes worth of characters are brought back to life.

'The Kindly Ones' is an integral part in any Sandman library, and is both a superb read and a marvellous conclusion to an simply amazing series.

The Kindly Ones features sub plots galore. But the main story concerns the abduction of three-year old Daniel Hall. Daniel is the child of Lyta and the late Hector Hall, who as The Fury and The Silver Scarab, respectively, were part of the superhero team Infinity Inc. In a series of events too complicated to recount here (see The Doll's House), the Halls were swept-up into the Dream World for most of Lyta's pregnancy. Because of this, Morpheus considers Daniel "his" and when the child is kidnapped, Lyta believes the Dream King the culprit. After the real captors trick her into believing that Daniel has been killed, Lyta seeks out the Kindly Ones, avenging spirits who torment and slay those who have killed their kin. Because he committed the mercy killing of his own son (see Brief Lives), Morpheus has little defense against the Kindly Ones as they ravage through the dream world.

Meanwhile, Nuala, a faerie princess who was made a "gift" to Morpheus (see Season of Mists) reluctantly returns to her homeland; Delirium, Morpheus' loopy kid sister who governs the realm of insanity, searches for her lost pet dog; Lucifer, who renounced the throne of Hell (also in Season of Mists), opens an LA nightclub and Rose Walker, the young American woman who was once a "dream vortex" (see The Doll's House) trots across the Atlantic.

One can surely deduce from the above recap that The Kindly Ones is a sprawling and ambitious opus (at 13 issues it is the longest Sandman story arc). And it works. Gaiman masterfully weaves together each facet of the tale, leading to a conclusion that does not disappoint. Marc Hempel's super-cartoony art is controversial among Sandman fans, but he has won me over. His images are bright, alluring and strangely conducive to the matter-of-fact manor in which Gaiman tells of fantastic creatures and events. The Kindly Ones was obviously meant to be the grand finale that capstones the Sandman experience and it succeeds on every level.