The Sandman: Fables & Reflections

The 6th Volume of The Sandman series, Fables & Reflections is a collection of assorted stories in which Morpheus makes an appearance. Some of the stories delve into his history and his siblings also show up in a random fashion. All these stories show a different side of Morpheus’ nature and this volume does much to advance the series in various directions. Some familiar character make an appearance and some new ones, most notably, Morpheus’s son, the tragic Orpheus are revealed.

There are nine separate stories in this issue and I am sure everyone has their own particular favourites. I loved “Three Septembers and a January”, featuring Emperor Norton I, and the “Parliament of Rooks” with Eve, Cain and Abel sharing stories with Matthew and Baby Daniel. The last story, “Ramadan” had a very different look with it’s colourful artwork and intriguing storyline. Truly I enjoyed each story although for me, “Soft Places” and “The Hunt” didn’t captivate my interest as strongly as most of the others.

Fables and Reflections is a wonderful addition to the Sandman series and it is beguiling to see the craft and imagination that Neil Gaiman and his crew has put into each volume of this series. ( )

Again, one of the neat things that strike me as I re-read this whole series, is that Gaiman uses the short stories as part of the big arc too. Despite hopping back and forth in time, taking us from the French revolution to Greek Mythology, from Biblical creation stories to USA at the turn of the last century, and often featuring Dream only as a bit player, these shorts are not just intermission pieces. In one we find out about Desire’s plan to make Dream spill his own blood, in another we learn about Dream as a parent, in a third hints are made of a new love story, and in a fourth baby Daniel (still just any kid) visits the Dreaming. All of these stories are good – the enigmatic ”Ramadan” and the very ambitious ”August” (offering a new possible explanation for the downfall of Rome, even!) being my favorites, and the artwork is quite nice and diverse this time.

Stopping me from naming this voulme one of my real favorites, however, is that at times Gaiman seems to be more about flaunting knowledge than telling tales here (as in Thermidor, for instance, much more a brief portrait of Robespierre than anything else), and quite a few of the chapters are predictable, if well told (I like the banter in ”The Hunt” a lot, but come on, who doesn’t see the final twist a mile away?). Then again: this is a comic book mixing Marco Polo, Augustus, Hades, Emperor Norton I of America (I love that fact that he was real!), werewolves and Goldie the baby gargoyle witout it feeling the least bit strained. Gaiman has clearly spoiled me. ( )

Fables & Reflections is another volume that instead of having a story running through it, collects nine different stories. I didn't like this as much as I do the ones that have a whole story running through the whole volume -- which doesn't mean it's bad, that's just my preference.

The stories are interesting, in themselves. I particularly liked the one about Orpheus -- Calliope! -- and the last one in the volume, Ramadan. I really liked the art in both of those, as well, although the art in general in this volume is quite nice (where it isn't all gory). ( )

Fun book surrounding dreams of several interesting characters and legends. Collection of Fables. Very nice introductory comic about a budding playwright and his dream.

Story of Orpheus (son of Morpheus and Calliope) and Eurydice. I loved the fact we have read about Calliope before. Aristaeus. (My favorite story was this one.)
Lady Johanna Constantine (a previous character. Mark Twain is another character in the story.
Caius Augustus, Emperor Augustus. Suggestion that Julius Caesar raped Augustus when he was 18. Need to check this more.
Harun Al-Rashid (Aaron the Upright), King of Baghdad in a story called Ramadhan.
Fable of Marco Polo.
Cain and Abel. Again.

We learn the other names of the members of the family - Teleute (End), Aponia (Inaction), Mania (Madness), Epithumia (Desire), Oleothros (Destruction) and Potmos (Destiny).


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This was a tough read because it was a jumble of different stories that were not very interesting. ( )