Review: Fables & Reflections

Series: The Sandman: #6

Death was a little older than Dream. Things had the potential to die before they had the potential to dream.

The Endless are so fascinating. As it this story.

It’s rather a grabbag, somewhat less directly related than preious compilations, but really, that works as well. Especially in such a broad universe as is Sandman.

Of particular interest, we have an Emperor spending a day as a common man, Marco Polo in a desert of dreams, another Emperor–this time of the United States1, and another take on the myth of Orpheus2.

A fun read.

Many many spoilery pictures;

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The changes of the art style are odd sometimes. And the idea of falling in dream.

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Joshua Norton, EMPEROR OF THE UNITED STATES.

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You know. It works. It’s sort of like a few in the Bible and otherwise, with various temptations. But he’s Emperor–and a pretty good one, all things considered.

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You know, I fully expected to see said 36 after this. That’s quite the closeup of Death.

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Ah Death. She’s got a light touch and seems pretty good at the whole job. I guess she’s been doing it for a very long time…

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A head. That is all.

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Listen, blood of my blood. Although I’m a hard man to anger, and I love you deeply, if you interrupt me again so help me I’ll rip out your throat with my teeth.

You know… I feel that sometimes.

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The Emperor spending time as a begger and learning about family. It’s quite a story.

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All because of a dream.

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Trying to figure out exactly who’s real and who’s a dream–and if a dream, just how self aware are they anyways–is a fun job in these stories. Especially when they get all timeywimey and circular.

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Heh. Fiddler’s Green is weird but a lot of fun. And a few ‘soft places’. A neat idea, worth exploring just for that.

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Son of Morpheus, son of Dream. I don’t think that’s how it worked in the myths I’m familiar with, but it fits.

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Hilarious. Just… hilarious.


  1. I lived in the Bay Area for a few years. We learned all about this wonderful man and his story. It’s fun to hear it done well. ↩︎

  2. I’ve been playing a lot of Hades. Another interesting take on a story I once knew. I don’t think he’ll be getting ahead in this one though. ↩︎