Another collection of beautifully illustrated Sandman stories. All great stories, too. There's one which tells stories within stories within stories and thus becomes a discussion on story-telling itself. Another features lots of time with the delightful Delirium. It also includes a gallery of fantastic Sandman art at the end. The highlight of the whole book, though, is the rightfully acclaimed Arabian Nights inspired Ramadan. A perfect story and fabulously illustrated. Sumptuous.

Somehow Sandman continues to get better and better as the series goes on. The first long arc is a beautiful exploration of family ties and dynamics; why we mostly love them, sometimes hate them, but can never let go of them. After that comes Ramadan, probably my favorite single issue short story that I read in Sandman up until now. Then follows another big arc compromised of several short stories tied together by an overarching narrative and mystery. The way it then ties back into the first arc by its finale is truly beautiful.

So lovely to come back to these comics, including Brief Lives, which is one of my favourite arcs, and Ramadan, which is one of my favourite single issues, and of course it looks totally spectacular at this size.

I really should be rating these by their original volumes instead of by these four monster compilations. Oh well . . .

LOVED "Brief Lives" and "World's End." I want to spend my days looking up all of the myths and fairy tales this series covers, but I suppose that would take a lifetime. It's refreshing to feel so inspired, though. P. Craig Russell's artwork for "Ramadan" is by far some of the best in the series so far. I'll be kind of sad to finish this collection. It's been a wonderful ride.

Another flawless addition to the Sandman universe. I absolutely adored getting to see more about the Endless family in this one:

I love Destruction so much and it pains me that he’s not a more regularly occurring character, but I’m happy we finally learned what was up with him and why he left.

It was also fun (and heartbreaking) to get the Sandman version of the Tale of Orpheus, and to get a resolution to Orpheus’s arc.

Seeing Morpheus and Delirium’s relationship explored and improve was also unexpectedly delightful. All the Endless have such typical sibling relationships despite not being human.

But now I’m left with the burning question of what happened to Despair? If they’re endless, then how was she destroyed and replaced?

Some stories were more memorable than others (I enjoyed the middle part the most this time, the last part was a bit text-heavy). Still a beautiful thing to look at, such clever panelling, the imagination really runs wild.

If nothing else, maybe the story of Baghdad is a must-read.