R. G. Taylor

Wesley Dodds is my favorite kind of comics super-hero: he isn't. Zero superpowers, not even the "power to cloud mens' minds" like The Shadow. All he has is a trench-coat, a fedora, a gas gun, and a WWI gas mask. Which means, when he goes to work, just like Super Man or the Green Lantern, he's about as inconspicuous as a cockroach on a wedding cake, only unlike them, no powers, like I said.

Don't expect to find Morpheus here except when Mr. Dodds uses his not-so magic gun on you. And death show more isn't some cute chick either. Its a brutal kick in the throat. Wesley Dodds's Sandman is a resurrection of the real DC Sandman from the 1940s. He likes to leave bits of poetry on pieces of origami. I like that.

The artwork is updated old school comic style. The story is pretty much straight 1940s noir which isn't effective all the time, but pretty fun nonetheless. Like all good noir (as opposed to mystery) nobody really cares about the plot but instead the characters, the setting, the ambiance of quiet anxiety and despair, are what matters. There is a lot of incest, bondage, torture, and murder for those who like that sort of thing, so don't leave it around for the kiddies to read. show less

The second volume of Sandman Mystery Theatre is decidedly weaker than the first. The first story, "The Face," sees a series of brutal murders in Chinatown escalating tensions between rival gangs to the point of war as the Sandman tries to find the murderer before that happens. Unfortunately, though the story often criticizes many of its characters for racist thinking, the story still falls victim to many Orientalist tropes itself, especially in John Watkiss's artwork, where the Chinese show more characters are so slanty-eyed they don't have any pupils. "The Face" of the title (again, not the same Face as in the Golden Age Sandman stuff, though quite similar) barely has any interaction with the Sandman, and the resolution of the mystery is a bit underwhelming. As in the first volume, Dian Belmont was probably the best thing about this story, especially the part where she takes matters into her own hands and steals her father's gun.

The second story, "The Brute," is a bit better still not as successful as The Tarantula. The Sandman himself feels lost here, doing little actual investigation until things suddenly fall into place for him at the end of the story. The focus on Dian's growing conscience works well, though, as does her growing relationship(s) with Wesley Dodds and the Sandman. A lot of the story is taken up by the travails of a boxer and his daughter that, though gripping, keep the focus solidly off the Sandman himself. And the "Brute" of the title is kind of random and pointless; I'm not sure why each Sandman Mystery Theatre story has to have a gimmicky villain when the series is otherwise uninteresting in the conventions of superhero comics. R. G. Taylor's art is too stiff, and his Wesley looks too middle-aged. Overall, The Face and The Brute fails to follow up the strong beginning of the series, though it's entertaining enough on its own merits, mostly for Dian Belmont's continued growth and presence.

Sandman Mystery Theatre: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence » show less

A bit of a mixed bag. The first story, The Tarantula, is really excellent - Guy Davis's style is kind of unusual compared to other comics I've read (it reminds me more of the cartoons you'd see in The New Yorker or something), but it fits the story really well. Matt Wagner's switching between the perspective of Dian, The Sandman, and Dodds (who really feel like two different characters despite being the same person) works really well.

The later stories are a bit of a mixed bag. The Face has a show more great concept for a villain, but sticks him in a plot about Chinatown gang wars that's not very interesting and often feels like it's walking the line between a period piece and another yellow peril story. The Brute just turns up the dials on all the worst parts of The Face, and that's all I'll say about it. An interesting start based on the strength of the first story alone, but there's a lot of room for improvement. show less

Not as good as the first volume but I will continue on with the series. Two stories in this one. One called the Face where the bad buy can alter his appearance and the second one is called the Brute. My favorite of the two was the Brute. Good graphics. The reason why I took a half star off was due to the extreme amount of racism, especially in the first story. I get it that happened a lot in the past but it was a little too much for me to enjoy the story.