The Sandman: Book Four

The Sandman (DC Black Label)

by Neil Gaiman, Marc Hempel (Illustrator), Michael Zulli (Illustrator)

From the award-winning writer of American Gods and Coraline , The Sandman is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed graphic novels of all time. Neil Gaimain's award-winning masterpiece set the standard for mature, lyrical fantasy in the modern comics era.

Illustrated by an exemplary selection of the medium's most gifted artists, the series is a rich blend of modern and ancient mythology in which contemporary fiction, historical drama, and legend are seamlessly interwoven. 

In this climactic final volume, drawn by Marc Hempel, Jon J Muth, Charles Vess, and Michael Zulli, with contributions from D'Israeli, Teddy Kristiansen, Kevin Nowlan, and more, Dream becomes the target of the Furies—unstoppable agents of vengeance. Dark forces are at work, and what they set in motion will demand a sacrifice greater than any the Dreaming has yet known. The thrilling conclusion of The Sandman weaves together threads and pieces building since the beginning of the series, collecting issues #57-75 and stories from Vertigo Jam #1 and Dust The Collected Sandman Covers .

Genres: Fantasy, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Horror, Mythology

536 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 1996

Reviews

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sandman at its finest— brilliantly winds the myriad story arcs and characters of previous issues into a deeply poignant and satisfying conclusion. Deftly handles topics of death, grief, and the immortality of ideas and dreams. “The Wake” had some of the best writing and artwork of the series, with Michael Zulli’s style reflecting excellently the ephemeral nature of a story about a funeral service held within a dream. Neil Gaiman’s Morpheus is a character that will continue to live in my mind long after his ending…

“Sometimes, perhaps, one must change or die.”

“Everything changes. And nothing is truly lost.”

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a journey has this been. When I started with these graphic novels I had no idea I would end up loving these stories so incredibly much. These stories have been written and drawn decades ago and still they tell about themes we can all recognize. Sadly also themes that were political issues then and shouldn't still be political issues today. Yet they still are. I'm already really looking forward to the second season on Netflix. I'm even more looking forward to all the people complaining "why all series have to be made woke?" showing that they've never even looked at the source material.

This last book (although I do have a fifth one, so I'm curious what's in there :P) was a bittersweet goodbye to the series though. I've had tears in my eyes and yet I loved each and every installment and story. But maybe I did love the last installment the most. Neil Gaiman is always amazing, but even more amazing when he blurs the line between fact and fiction and makes us wonder how many of his stories are made up and how many of them might hold a sliver, either big or small, of truth.

[Logan Capizzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this series, and I'm a little sad that I finished it.

[Luke Barnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ending to the series

[P S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really stuck the landing Jesus Christ

[Jobheide · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wat.een.finale. Brief Lives (Book Four), The Kindly Ones en The Wake vormen één emotionele, persoonlijke en grootse trilogie die alle eerdere lossere verhalen tot een geheel maakt. Een soort epiloog tussen Shakespeare en Morpheus is zo, zo, zo'n goede afsluiter. Vooral Morpheus en Death zijn zulke geweldige karakter en Neil Gaiman really popped off met zijn creativiteit en verhaalvertelling. Ik stan zo hard.

[Eddie B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

On my birthday I've started reading Sandman Book Four. And in four days only I finished it. I knew it was mainly composed of one arc and I was worried I might not like it. But the art of Marc Hempel had a soothing effect on me and it helped me enjoy that good long arc. But my ultimate favourite issue here had to be The Tempest. I've decided to read the whole play in the morning to be able to read that issue in the evening. And I can't imagine now how much would I have missed if I hadn't read Shakespeare's final play.

[Jonah Ableman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leaving this review mostly for the whole series. I think it’s got a lot of ups and downs - but I found it to be pretty enjoyable overall. The highs are really high. These books do a phenomenal job of bringing so much together; to have Batman, Shakespeare, the devil, and a talking jack-o-lantern all appear in the same story while making it feel cohesive is no small feat. At times it felt a little overdramatic for my tastes, and there’s an unfortunate amount of diligence required to fully understand everything, as characters from many many issues ago will show up with no reintroduction and in a new art style which makes it all the more confusing. All that said though, there were many times where I was caught up in the magic and felt touched by Gaiman’s elegant wordsmithing. A comic with this long of a run is tough to make cohesive and not drag at least a little though, and it’s felt here. It felt like all of the longstaying characters I connected far less with, while the ones I was interested in or that won my empathy were not around more than a handful of issues. (Except for Matthew, who’s development I quite enjoyed even if it felt a little rushed) 3.3/5

[J.L. Thornton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok conclusion to the series with some really good issues and some that were pretty meh or honestly kinda bad (why do we have a black woman arguing that slavery wasn't that bad??). I probably should have read this closer to when I read the other so I would have had a better sense of what was happening. There were some great writing and paneling moments, but there were also a lot of weird moments of female characters being overly sexualized or plot points just being sort of lost or dropped off. Overall, just sort of ok for me, but I'm glad I finally finished the series.

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had already read this in other collections, but it was very nice to revisit it. I definitely noticed the artwork this time. The art for The Kindly Ones was bold and abstract, but interesting to look at. The panels for The Wake were richly detailed. It's such a fine ending for this saga.

[AJ Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous end to the series, especially the last 5 or 6 comics/chapters. A fee dragged earlier in. Glad I finally completed the series.

[Emma French · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coolt Sandman slut och ett vackert "extraslut" i mer personlig tappning av Neil Gaiman själv

[Kate Savage · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dream of the Endless is a divorced dad who just needs a G-D minute.

[Hilda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jag älskar drömmar och gudar !

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though there’s 2 more books this is the end of the main series and I thought I should make a review. The sandman is known for its storyteller, but honestly the primary storytelling component is the images. It was a little difficult to read at anything but full attention, and quality definitely suffered because I read it on my phone. THAT BEING SAID, some arcs were so incredibly beautiful: the cuckoo, worlds edge, and the furies in particular.

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s more Sandman. Pretty good!

[Fletcher Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Were I in England now — as once I was — and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver: there would this monster make a man: any strange beast there makes a man: when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic series

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

So... I'm still processing this. But holy hell, what a perfect ending. I knew some of it when I came into it, so I was about as emotionally prepared as I think anyone can get. But even then, I was still torn up, in the best way possible. This is the best ending -- it wraps up many storylines, reminds you of old characters, brings back favourites (The Corinthian, who I'm so happy to have again), and generally leaves you with a sense of completion. It was very full-circle, which is how I prefer my endings. And it didn't feel like an ending, not really. It was more of a beginning -- the end of this tale, but not of everything. Things have changed by the end of the book, but it's comforting. I'm getting all emotional just writing this, and reflecting on what the Sandman has brought to my life and what it means to me now. Just as Dream changed, I feel like I did too. Some stories, some characters, just leave a mark on you.

[Tyler Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a bit mixed on this concluding volume with some stories wowing me, and others feeling unfulfilling. The problem is that Gaiman had spent three volumes pulling so many threads that he then had to attempt to tie together, and it’s just too many characters from too long ago for me to have retained all of their history. It really needed a “previously on” to jog my memory.

Once we move from The Kindly Ones to The Wake, things get a lot more resonant and powerful. I really liked the latter’s issues, especially the epilogue with Robert Gadling. All of the Wake issues have absolutely stunning artwork.

So even though this volume was my least favorite, due to it feeling a bit messy, I still adore the series as a whole. Will definitely spend more time here in the future.

[Colin Post · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gaiman spends ~50 issues creating one of the most marvelous, enthralling comic universes imaginable, and then in the final arcs, he deploys all the characters, themes, motifs, and plot threads to an incredible conclusion. The conclusion has some verve but it is not a climactic fireworks display. Rather, the end of Sandman is something more subtle, more human - grappling with change and mortality. This is still a dream world, though, so there’s a guy with a talking pumpkin for a head.

The last few issues present some really poignant reflections on the major theme of how eternal stories intersect with mortal lives. Dreaming is an eternal constant, but even dreaming has a history, an evolution.

[Blindzider · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I've previously sworn off Gaiman's work, deciding it just wasn't for me, with the exception of the Sandman series. Now I'm finally getting to read it.

I had a very difficult time finishing this. This volume has a 12? part story wherein the Dreaming is attacked, partly as repercussions for previous actions by Morpheus. The story continuously jumps across multiple subplots, a few of which contain characters seen in previous issues. Like most of Gaiman's writing, I found it confusing, with very little connective tissue to keep a main thought and purpose. If I was reading this monthly, I probably would have dropped the book, wondering what the #3!! was going on. On top of all that, the art really turns to crap.

There is another multi-part story which follows up as a result of the previous storyline. It also contains many previously mentioned characters, but I still feel that it was so esoteric and leaves a large amount left for the reader to figure out. While I enjoy thought-provoking work, it takes so much of my brain just to figure out what is going on that I lose all interest much less grasp any particular idea that Gaiman was trying to get across.

Morpheus never really becomes a solid creature that I understand and am willing to root for. He has some dedication to his "job", seems to have some feelings, but it's all so nebulous and few and far between I don't become vested in reading about him. At some point I realized that I would never find out more about him or the Endless and just stopped caring and that's when the stories that were the most fun to me were those that inject the idea of Sandman with historical people. I appreciate the imagination Gaiman has, but I've never felt the stories were clear and understandable enough for me to enjoy. Happy to finally have this under my belt but ready to move on to other things.

[James Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

After finally finishing the main series I will finally write my review. The storytelling obviously was by far the stand-out feature of this graphic novel. So fantastic was the writing and storytelling that I was really captured by it and taken into this world. Such stories influence that still lingers in me include; at world's end, men of good fortune, a midsummer night's dream, and my favorite when Dream and Delirium search for their missing brother. My favorite mostly being the search for the missing sibling. The philosophical approach to the sibling going missing, and the reason for it was truly wonderful and beautifully written, and all along the way, the search for this sibling was filled with adventure, mastery, and comedy thanks to Delirium's unique and goofy character.

The artwork comes next. I feel I was finally starting to get the point of the artwork, and storylines after about a quarter way through the series. I thought it was strange a bit to have different characters drawn in such different ways, not always being 100% sure what was going on in the storyline, and see old characters again and wondering "hey, they seem very familiar." It seems to me the entire strategy through the art and story arcs was to make the novel itself seem like a dream. In this way, you are always wondering what was going on, seeming like you are missing the point. Or maybe I was just missing the point, who knows? But I know I liked this presentation and episodic manner of storytelling where the world and characters in it were just all pieces and there was no main character, but a larger whole they all made up.

I had a real pleasure reading this from issue one. The world really brought me in. I loved seeing mythology being worked into the fantasy. It made the 'universe' really fun to read and experience and the writing made it wonderful to read.

[Chr*s Browning]

And so ends a long dreamt-of reread and herein the things found there: this is a series that really crystallizes here at the end, partly because Hempel’s stylization makes The Kindly Ones the most aesthetically interesting arc, and partly because these two arcs (and their few epilogues, although I really only like the Gadling one; the Shakespeare issues never did much for me) reveal just how small scale of a story this ultimately was. Everyone who’s anyone in the whole series shows up at the end and the fate of the world is really just the fate of one man/incarnation/dream - and wouldn’t that be how it all ended up going not so very long ago. So much of this also reads as dry-run for everything Gaiman did after, from the novels I’ll probably never reread to any time he tossed off half-assed syllogisms about the “power of story” to just being a real Nose mythology guy, but it is good and it is compelling and the way it was used to appeal to certain people would be monstrous and that is all part of it now. In the end, we die or we change or we do both. Gaiman will surely do one, and I will surely have read this again in the autumn of my twenties and that may be the end of a chain begun in middle school. Life such as it is leads us away, we may but follow.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll need to think about this one for a little bit. My initial impression is that I'm a bit underwhelmed. I'm surprised to say that I didn't care very much for the ending. I never minded characters waxing philosophical in flowery prose in these books before, but that was usually because they were speaking with the anthropomorphized concept of Dream, or they were under the affects of supernatural entities. In this last volume Gaiman just throws wall after wall of word bubbles at you, and after a certain point when there is no fantasy to compliment the melodrama you start to go a bit numb to it.

I also feel like there were a number of dangling plot threads left unresolved. I think Gaiman was a lot more in love with some of his human characters than I ever was. I know they are what grounds the series, and ultimately the story is about people and the supernatural creatures are devices for exploring humanity. But maybe the humanity could have been represented by a little less of a stone-cold bummer inducing wall of text. Or maybe some of those walls of text could have revealed something about the world or The Endless.

[Jessica Patzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did I procrastinate the heck outta reading this one: Yes. Was It really Good: Yes. Did it get me through a rough couple of work days: Also yes. This collection is largely about endings and it does definitely invoke the feeling of a proper end.

The Castle: I like it a lot. Reintroduction to the “main” characters from The Dreaming.

The Kindly Ones: Interesting for Loki and Robin Goodfellow to be teaming up. I feel like a lot of this was interesting. There’s some closure for some long-running storylines. There’s plenty of action. I feel like Lyta’s story was a but confusing, to be completely honest. But yeah… otherwise pretty good.

The Wake: Beautiful art. Love it. Pretty awesome wrap-up of the series.

Exiles: Interesting art style. The brushy-ness of it definitely brings and other-worldly feel. I’m really not sure what to make of the story. It’s very philosophical.

The Tempest: I think it’s interesting that this story was in the collection after “The Kindly Ones” and “The Wake.” Almost like a meditation on the ends of things, featuring Dream 1.

The Last Sandman Story: Wildly different and evocative art than the rest of this collection. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

[Lewis Szymanski · Rating 5 out of 5]

The conclusion of the original run of The Sandman. If you want to read volume 11 or volume ∞, (I do), you'll have to get them separately. I may also read some of the other related materials.

The Sandman is, by far, the best graphic novel/ comic series I've ever read. I'm surprised I've found something I like more than Vaughan's Saga.

The Sandman is a masterpiece, but flawed masterpiece. The flaws are minor, and not worth talking about, but easy to talk about. What makes it great is not so easy to talk about. The Sandman is a weird, self-indulgent, experimental comic about the vague concepts that make up and describe the human experience. Gaiman creates a new mythology out of pieces scavenged from other mythologies, including the DC comic universe.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took a great big break from these and glad I did--fresh eyes made this more enjoyable. Can't remember when I read American Gods but there's so much delightful thematic overlap--I'm inclined to read Gaiman's Norse mythology book now, just for kicks, though it'll likely remind me I much prefer my Gaiman with pictures.

Loved the illustrations distinctive styles in the two main arcs, The Kindly Ones and The Wake. Sorta skimmed the last 3 shorts.

After finishing the series I'm most curious as to how I encountered these at all in 2001/02--library browsing? AOL chatrooms on the toddler internet? We may never know, but I'm awful glad I did.

First comic allowance of the Short Stack Read-Your-Own-Books OR ELSE 2023 challenge but it's at least an inch so we'll allow it ;).

[Taylor G · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5

The story was hard to follow at times because I had difficulties with the font stylization. I ended up needing to reread whole pages to understand what was going on which dramatically slowed my ability to process the story and it took me several months to be able to read this book when traditional fonts take far less time for me to process.

Aside from the accessibility issues, 2,500 pages later and I lost track of the characters. I did end up pulling up the Wikipedia article for several characters to try to are you familiarize myself with who was who again after reading all four books over the last 2 years. The overarching story of the siblings was great but I felt like there were too many side plots to keep track of overall for the series.

[Davidg · Rating 4 out of 5]

My main gripe with this series of books has been the different art styles. The opening story series in this last volume is let down by the artwork. It brings together the different strands of the previous volumes into one climactic story. Unfortunately, it isn’t always possible to recognise the characters that are brought back as they don’t look like anything like they did before. It didn’t help me understand a complicated plot line. The second storyline has a single artistic style and shows what the first could have been.

Despite my issues with the artwork, it is a very powerful and moving conclusion to the series.

4.5 stars. I just wish I could have given the whole 5.