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The Sandman (DC Black Label)
The Sandman: Book Three
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 third volume—drawn by artists Jill Thompson, Vince Locke, Bryan Talbot, and P. Craig Russell—Delirium, youngest of the extended family known as the Endless, prevails upon her brother Dream to help find their missing siblin, Destruction, and their quest draws Morpheus into a final, tragic confrontation with his son. Meanwhile, guest artists Michael Allred, Shea Anton Pensa, John Watkiss, Michael Zulli, and more provide the tall tales told on a stormy night at a remarkable the World's End.
Collects stories from The Sandman #38-56 and Vertigo Preview #1, including the story arcs "Brief Lives" and "Worlds' End," among others.
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 third volume—drawn by artists Jill Thompson, Vince Locke, Bryan Talbot, and P. Craig Russell—Delirium, youngest of the extended family known as the Endless, prevails upon her brother Dream to help find their missing siblin, Destruction, and their quest draws Morpheus into a final, tragic confrontation with his son. Meanwhile, guest artists Michael Allred, Shea Anton Pensa, John Watkiss, Michael Zulli, and more provide the tall tales told on a stormy night at a remarkable the World's End.
Collects stories from The Sandman #38-56 and Vertigo Preview #1, including the story arcs "Brief Lives" and "Worlds' End," among others.
528 pages, Paperback
First published November 2, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
August 8, 2022
Sandman is the first thing I've read in a long time that is giving me that "I don't want this to end" feeling. I've talked to others who feel that Sandman doesn't live up to the hype. I feel like it does, but I understand where they're coming from. Sandman is a weird, self-indulgent, borderline-experimental comic about the vague concepts that make up and describe the human experience. You're kind of either fascinated by that or incredibly bored by that.
If you've made it through book 2 (50% of the series), and you haven't liked it then book 3 (and I suspect book 4) is unlikely to change your mind. I think each reader probably knows where they stand at this point in the series.
If you've made it through book 2 (50% of the series), and you haven't liked it then book 3 (and I suspect book 4) is unlikely to change your mind. I think each reader probably knows where they stand at this point in the series.
August 2, 2023
I haven't come across many graphic novels I like. Mostly I miss elements of the story. It's as if my brain isn't triggered by visuals enough to have them fill in the gaps. But the Sandman comics work perfectly. That's firstly because there is a lot of text in the balloons, both speech and thoughts and feelings. That's also because the visuals are that strong that even my brain seems to respond to them. Every installment has its own atmosphere, its own color pattern, its own font. You never know what's waiting for you in the next installment. Of course, some installments speak to me more than others, but I'm still really looking forward to read the rest!
April 15, 2023
Good quality shit as always but I know whose funeral procession that was at the end and like...Neil. Hey, Neil? My good friend Neil? Hi? Neil? Way to fuck me up.
January 22, 2023
This is complicated. As a big collection, it was a mixed experience and I was not always impressed by all the stories and digressions. At the same time, I saw and enjoyed the subtle hints, connections, and references much more clearly than when I read the trade paperbacks. I also appreciate Destruction's story much more than previously. So yes, some parts are a little boring even, but when it is good it is so very good. That is when you like stories - the big, slow, epic, mythical ones, the mundane, anecdotal, the continuous exploration of themes and motives, the stories about stories and story telling and those within stories within stories within stories that inform each other and life while keeping it all and the end(s) at bay turning everything towards endlessness.
December 23, 2023
"It is sometimes a mistake to climb; it is always a mistake never even to make an attempt."
Gaiman is a master at writing real characters who are larger than life and yet, beautifully and humanly flawed. As I am progressing in my literary studies, I notice all the details about Gaiman's work that just scream his love of literary fiction in several fonts and forms. It really adds more layers to the whole work and yet, the comics still hold up without it. Brilliant!
In terms of the plot, it is nice to get to know the other Endless a bit better in this book, just as messed up as their brother. The Sandman comics really are something else... I am flying through these a lot faster than I would like, dreading the time when I will have to go without them. I've resolved to reading one book from the series every year, that keeps the mystery alive as well.
Gaiman is a master at writing real characters who are larger than life and yet, beautifully and humanly flawed. As I am progressing in my literary studies, I notice all the details about Gaiman's work that just scream his love of literary fiction in several fonts and forms. It really adds more layers to the whole work and yet, the comics still hold up without it. Brilliant!
In terms of the plot, it is nice to get to know the other Endless a bit better in this book, just as messed up as their brother. The Sandman comics really are something else... I am flying through these a lot faster than I would like, dreading the time when I will have to go without them. I've resolved to reading one book from the series every year, that keeps the mystery alive as well.
December 23, 2022
Always a pleasure to dip back into Morpheus’ realm.
Book three contains issues 38-56, Vertigo Preview #1, Brief Lives, and Worlds' End.
Book three contains issues 38-56, Vertigo Preview #1, Brief Lives, and Worlds' End.
August 3, 2022
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'm quickly losing interest in this title. Not that there is anything wrong with it, I just think that since there isn't a strong idea or purpose running through this series I'm having difficulty staying focused. If you would like to read a varied collection of stories with different themes and characters then this is the book for you.
This volume starts off with a couple one-offs like the previous volume contained, wherein each story has some type of connection to Dream. The reader learns a little more about him or his past and gets a peek into either his personality or existence. These, I liked.
Next is a very long (10 parts IIRC) story in which Dream accompanies Delirium on a quest to find their brother Destruction. You do get to understand the three of them a little better, but it seems longer than necessary, meandering a little in the middle.
After that is a multiple issue arc which wraps up more random stories underneath another umbrella, an Inn at World's End; Lost travelers end up there and share stories while they wait. In some of those stories, the characters tell their own stories. Clever writing? I guess everyone has to decide for themselves. Each story has its own uniqueness, drifting along the edges of history, fantasy, death. These have even less of a connection to Dream and don't add anything really to the larger tapestry of the character. This is where I felt a little cheated in that I thought I was reading a book about the Sandman.
Will push through the last volume to finish it out but think I'm done with this Universe.
I'm quickly losing interest in this title. Not that there is anything wrong with it, I just think that since there isn't a strong idea or purpose running through this series I'm having difficulty staying focused. If you would like to read a varied collection of stories with different themes and characters then this is the book for you.
This volume starts off with a couple one-offs like the previous volume contained, wherein each story has some type of connection to Dream. The reader learns a little more about him or his past and gets a peek into either his personality or existence. These, I liked.
Next is a very long (10 parts IIRC) story in which Dream accompanies Delirium on a quest to find their brother Destruction. You do get to understand the three of them a little better, but it seems longer than necessary, meandering a little in the middle.
After that is a multiple issue arc which wraps up more random stories underneath another umbrella, an Inn at World's End; Lost travelers end up there and share stories while they wait. In some of those stories, the characters tell their own stories. Clever writing? I guess everyone has to decide for themselves. Each story has its own uniqueness, drifting along the edges of history, fantasy, death. These have even less of a connection to Dream and don't add anything really to the larger tapestry of the character. This is where I felt a little cheated in that I thought I was reading a book about the Sandman.
Will push through the last volume to finish it out but think I'm done with this Universe.
May 23, 2024
I'm a fan of the Sandman and I've already this in different volumes. It was nice to revisit this though. Part of this story is about creating a mythology, and the one-off stories really help to build out the world and how the Endless play a part in that. I could see how some people might check out around this part of the series because there are a bunch of side stories that don't necessarily affect the main plot, but I think it adds to the lore.
September 16, 2022
Blown away. De lange en korte verhalen zijn beide marvels in storytelling. Creatief, oprecht, emotioneel - Neil Gaiman's vertellerschap op zijn best and then some.
November 23, 2023
The collection is still very impressive in its imaginative ideas put into paper, but in terms of having some coherent arc plot it fell a bit short for me. Bringing things more into the realms of dreams and delirium {Tori Amos} is a double edged sword. It holds many artistic styles, which in part did not fully sync with me and left me a bit lost in translation..
March 19, 2024
The inn at the end of the world arc almost understands the weird gender dynamic I feel reading these stories (women passively receiving the lads' big tales) but then reifies the whole thing into some kind of cosmic dynamic. Increasingly concluding Gaiman is a vapid person's idea of a clever person.
June 21, 2025
This is probably as good as a graphic novel gets. by this volume the storytelling is excellent and the artwork is detailed and magical. characters are reappearring. I can see what the fuss was about.
February 25, 2023
⭐️4.5 stars⭐️
Absolutely loved the main story with Delirium and Dream, but didn't like the last installment "World's End" which knocked it down a small bit.
Absolutely loved the main story with Delirium and Dream, but didn't like the last installment "World's End" which knocked it down a small bit.
January 17, 2023
One of the things I love most about Sandman is how, even on re-read, you really have to work to process the implications of the larger story beats. The full series arc is dizzyingly simple, but often hard to discern as it's formed out of (and informed by) so many smaller stories within stories—and driven by hundreds of different narrative perspectives, characters who don't or can't see the bigger picture. Which makes perfect sense, of course, because it's all the people in the world whose subconscious, inner worlds constitute Dream—so it's only through capturing a multitude of POVs that the story of how he changed can be told.
That means it's up to you, dear reader, to remember there is a bigger picture at all times. But in the moments when you inevitably forget, as Gaiman clearly wants you to (these things are not for mortals to know, after all), the smaller tales that sweep you along in their current each reflect a facet of the Big One, so you're always intuitively feeling and experiencing what's happening to Dream, no matter the circumstance. In that sense, the shape of Sandman's story-labyrinth feels (surprisingly) a lot like life: grasping larger meaning only in fleeting instants; knowing you're part of a collective, a shared story, but only able to truly access and understand your own tiny corner of it (yet still, that corner is unspeakably vast). For me, these comics function like a collection of funhouse mirrors that draw out—and underline—the deep strangeness of ordinary living, the undercurrent of the uncanny that we've relegated to the language of myth and fairy tales because it's impossible to parse rationally. They're a special kind of magic.
That means it's up to you, dear reader, to remember there is a bigger picture at all times. But in the moments when you inevitably forget, as Gaiman clearly wants you to (these things are not for mortals to know, after all), the smaller tales that sweep you along in their current each reflect a facet of the Big One, so you're always intuitively feeling and experiencing what's happening to Dream, no matter the circumstance. In that sense, the shape of Sandman's story-labyrinth feels (surprisingly) a lot like life: grasping larger meaning only in fleeting instants; knowing you're part of a collective, a shared story, but only able to truly access and understand your own tiny corner of it (yet still, that corner is unspeakably vast). For me, these comics function like a collection of funhouse mirrors that draw out—and underline—the deep strangeness of ordinary living, the undercurrent of the uncanny that we've relegated to the language of myth and fairy tales because it's impossible to parse rationally. They're a special kind of magic.
October 5, 2024
"It is sometimes a mistake to climb; it is always a mistake never even to make the attempt. If you do not climb you will not fall. This is true. But is it that bad to fail, that hard to fall?"
these books take me forever to finish bc i read them between other books and between the events of my life. but every time i come back to the world of the sandman, i always feel so comforted by the stories.
i will definitely need to revisit the sandman at some pt but more continuously...
on the book/plot itself: i honestly loved how many side stories were in this one; they're each so vastly different in atmosphere that it feels like ur reading something totally separate from the sandman universe which made reading them an exciting time!
**spoilers**
the main story with finding destruction was also so lovely! i love that man with my whole heart :) and the story made me fall in love with delirium's character!! she's constantly in her own mind's world, and she's so relatable for it. <33
these books take me forever to finish bc i read them between other books and between the events of my life. but every time i come back to the world of the sandman, i always feel so comforted by the stories.
i will definitely need to revisit the sandman at some pt but more continuously...
on the book/plot itself: i honestly loved how many side stories were in this one; they're each so vastly different in atmosphere that it feels like ur reading something totally separate from the sandman universe which made reading them an exciting time!
**spoilers**
the main story with finding destruction was also so lovely! i love that man with my whole heart :) and the story made me fall in love with delirium's character!! she's constantly in her own mind's world, and she's so relatable for it. <33
April 11, 2024
At the end of all worlds there is an inn where we may stop and rest awhile. Stories are exchanged and dreams are recounted; we know not how we first found ourselves here and yet we desire never to leave. But we wake, walk out the door, and continue our lives…
Sandman brings us to places ethereal and terrifying, real and impossible, and dares us to melt myths with our realities, sublimating our irrepressible passions into deep purpose. We see ourselves in prodigal Destruction, wanting to abdicate responsibility for a world beyond our control. We love Delirium, guided by intuition and loyal to family. We weep for Dream, heartbroken and burdened to impending doom.
We are told we each get a lifetime. How best do we dream it?
Sandman brings us to places ethereal and terrifying, real and impossible, and dares us to melt myths with our realities, sublimating our irrepressible passions into deep purpose. We see ourselves in prodigal Destruction, wanting to abdicate responsibility for a world beyond our control. We love Delirium, guided by intuition and loyal to family. We weep for Dream, heartbroken and burdened to impending doom.
We are told we each get a lifetime. How best do we dream it?
October 2, 2022
Brief lives was probably my favourite story arc until now... I fell in love with Delirium and the Dream/Delirium combination. I loved Parliament of Rook so much!! It was great reading more about Orpheus. The only stories that didn't appeal to me that much was World's End (probably not enough Dream for my taste), but I still really enjoyed them.
July 28, 2023
Fortfarande älskar jag sandman och världen och språket! Jag älskade den längre historien väldigt mycket, men det var lite väl stand alones och den längre i slutet hade jag svårt att fastna i, trots att idén var väldigt smart och cool! Älskar Morpheus men nu tar jag nog en liten paus tror jag, måste läsa böcker istället !
January 11, 2024
Gaiman continues to amaze in this volume, by giving me exactly what I didn't know I wanted. I love a story that keeps me guessing, and I can always count on the unexpected with Sandman. I especially loved the first story arc, which followed Dream and Delirium searching for their brother, Destruction. The second story arc was also fascinating, and beautifully poetic.
October 6, 2022
I loved the first half, and struggled a bit with World's End.
October 9, 2023
Boss smiley n shit man, where's my dawwwgs at
October 26, 2023
AHHHHhhhhHhhhhHhhhHhhh what more can I say?
January 28, 2024
Favorite so far, it meandered in such an interesting way.
July 20, 2024
This did not keep my attention as the other volumes did.
September 18, 2024
The story in the story in the story in the story killed me :D
December 18, 2025
This book mainly contains two arcs. The first was my biggest disappointment in this magnificent series so far. But the second I now consider my favourite arc. What a mixed bag of sand!
April 23, 2023
Quite tough to review separate from the bigger storylines and with so many individual stories in this, but safe to say my Sandman obsession is still strong.
September 14, 2025
I don’t understand how every page of this is so… good.
August 29, 2024
4/5
I still had issues reading some of the don't in areas. Delirium & Dream's story was excellent. World's End was so so.
I still had issues reading some of the don't in areas. Delirium & Dream's story was excellent. World's End was so so.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews