Death: At Death's Door

Why did this have to be done? Jill Thompson could have made perfectly fine goofy big-eyed imitation-manga about whatever, and the parts of this that she wrote from scratch are pretty good for morbid children (I like the slapstick bit about gruesome things happening to a ghost who never complains). But trying to remake Neil Gaiman's [b: Season of Mists|25101|Season of Mists (The Sandman, #4)|Neil Gaiman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327937313l/25101._SY75_.jpg|25854] from another character's point of view, and dropping in huge chunks of the original dialogue, doesn't work at all. Not only is it a very weird style contrast, it literally makes no sense a lot of the time because of the way Thompson show more rushes through it to get to the jokes, and also because in the original book Gaiman was counting on people having already read the previous books. His prose was already a little clunky and flowery sometimes, but Thompson makes it worse by treating it like Shakespeare - in the kind of lousy Shakespeare production where they don't know how to make the meaning clear through action, but they have to say all the words, so you get some goofy stage business over a soundtrack of classy-sounding gibberish. Sure I'm a snob, but I just don't get how this is supposed to be more fun for a kid than something that isn't a cutesified adaptation. I keep meaning to check out Thompson's [b: Scary Godmother|8573653|Scary Godmother Omnibus|Jill Thompson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1550881524l/8573653._SX50_.jpg|15314496], which looks much cooler than this. show less

Next to Morpheus, the most popular cast member of the acclaimed "Sandman" comic book series is his older sister, Death--no hooded grim reaper, but a perky, black-clad Goth chick.

In retelling the series "Season of Mists" story line, writer-artist Thompson depicts Death in manga style, as a button-cute punkette. Similarly, her godlike siblings are given huge eyes and exaggerated expressions, and whole compositions take on the cartoony, freewheeling look of "shoujo", the manga aimed at girls.

The story begins with Destiny's gathering af the Endless and proceeds through the release of the Damned from Hell. Then Thompson's narrative kicks in. Ever wonder what Death was up to when those souls were released? Well, apparently most of them show more showed up in her realm looking for something to do. Delirium and Despair have to keep the lost souls entertained to keep them from wandering off as Death goes scouting for the stragglers. The idea of Edgar Allen Poe falling in love with Despair had me rolling with laughter.

Thompson is one of few American artists to successfully mimic manga, and she imparts a lighthearted tone to an originally somber tale. Her approach will probably attract Sandman fans, who will devour any stories featuring its characters, regardless of style (myself included). If you're a Sandman fan I highly recommend this book. However, those who haven't read "Season of Mists" probably won't have a clue as to what's going on.

Book Details:

Title Death: At Death's Door
Author Jill Thompson; Neil Gaiman (Consultant)
Reviewed By Purplycookie show less

A manga-style comic set in the Sandman universe. This follows the misadventures of Death, Delirium and Despair during the events of Sandman Season of Mists. Lucifer has turned out the demons and the damned from Hell, locked it up and handed the key over to Dream. While Dream ponders what to do with Hell, the formerly dead start wander about without a place to go. Death, Delirium and Despair start gathering them up and depositing the lost souls in Death's apartment, where Delirium hits upon a novel (delirious?) idea to keep them occupied while Dream makes up his mind - to hold a party! Madcap adventures ensue, including Delirium's questionable culinary skills being put to the test, Edgar Allan Poe falling in love with Despair and a group show more of gatecrashing demons determined not to let the damned have a good time just because they aren't in hell anymore. Fans of the original Sandman series may be taken aback or even dismayed by the manga-fication of the original characters and the breathless zany tone of the comic, but for those ready for a somewhat different take on the Endless, this is may be a fun diversion. show less

This is the third volume in the Death series (though it's labeled #1 for some reason), and it sees Jill Thompson taking over for Neil Gaiman, Chris Bachalo, and Mark Buckingham on the series. It's also done in "manga" format; it's digest sized and in black and white. It also jumps backwards: while the previous volumes told stories of Death interacting with Sandman characters after their appearances in The Sandman, this retells a Sandman story (Season of Mists in The Absolute Sandman, Volume Two) from Death's perspective.

Sort of. It opens the same ways as Season of Mists, and it soon gets to the same point, where Lucifer opens the gates of Hell, releasing all its souls back to the mortal world. Only they all invade Death's apartment, show more and with the help of her sisters Delirium and Despair, she has to throw the ultimate party to keep them all distracted!

Sounds fun, right? These bits are fun. This Death isn't Gaiman's all-knowing pleasant sage, but an exasperated fashionable girl-- she's perhaps more human here than she's been in other of her own stories. It's especially nice to see Despair to get to do some stuff, since she's usually one of the least-focused-on Endless. She even gets a quasi-romance here!

But large portions of the book are given over to retelling Season of Mists. And not just from Death's perspective, but from Dream's. Why? I remember the story, and this adds nothing new. It seems to verge on a 50/50 split. Even the scene where Dream is told that the Justice Society of America is trapped in a simulation of Ragnarok is in here, and that was irrelevant to the original comic, much less this one. The constant cutting to the Dreaming really dampened the potential of the book, and it kept the party plot repetitive and linear. (At least I am giving Thompson the benefit of the doubt, and assuming that with more space she could have done more!) At Death's Door is a nice showcase for Thompson's cute art, but it could be more than that.

Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Spin-Offs: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence » show less

This was a creative effort at expanding the Sandman universe by telling a story from Death's perspective during the 'Season of Mists' story arc within the Sandman series. I enjoyed it, it was a fun and quirky tale and one you should enjoy if you're a fan of the Sandman universe and that version of Death.

If you really, really like Neil Gaiman's "Sandman", then you might want to give this a look.

If you don't, this is really not worth your time.

For really big fans, we revisit the story of when Dream went to Hell and received ownership of the place from Lucifer, only this time we get to see it from Death's perspective, with Despair and Delerium in tow. This is a chance to see the story from a different artistic/narrative perspective. It fills in how Death dealt with the fallout from it all. It's interesting.

For fans who get angry when people screw with the source material, do not read this. It will annoy you. There's a sort of profile thing at the beginning of the novel that tells you about the Endless, mimicking the beginning of the Hell show more arc in the "Sandman" comics, except the writers used basically what you should already know, did it poorly, and just told you uninteresting information. Delirium is a really bad shoujo extra and Despair is... probably the best character in the story. Dream is a really stupid mock bishounen.

For people who haven't read the series: DO NOT START HERE. In fact, do NOT pick this up. I've read bad manga before, and this takes the cake. The story is awful. The art makes cheap shoujo look good. The manga conventions used are so terribly warped and ridiculous that you cannot even laugh at any of it.

So, in all honesty, it's an interesting add-on if you want more "Sandman" and you'll take whatever they throw at you. If that's not you... go read something else. show less

Set parallel to The Sandman: Season of Mists, Jill Thompson's Death: At Death's Door focuses on the other Endless while Dream enters Hell and holds judgement over the future of the key to Hell. Thompson retells parts of Morpheus' story when necessary for context, but mostly sticks to Death, Delirium, and Despair. Even then, Delirium and Despair are left holding down the fort in Death's realm while she attends to her never-ending duty. Though not written by Gaiman, and at times overly silly (possibly as a result of the manga style), Thompson ably handles the characters of Death and Delirium. Death: The High Cost of Living and The Time of Your Life remain the two best Death solo books, while the best one-issue stories are collected in The show more Sandman Library. With that in mind, this story is still entertaining and a fun parallel tale. show less