Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8163 in Books
• Published on: 1991-10-21
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
"Wake up, sir. We're here". It's a simple enough opening line--although not many would have guessed back in 1991 that this would lead to one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comics of the second half of the century.

In Preludes and Nocturnes, Neil Gaiman weaves the story of a man interested in capturing the physical manifestation of Death but who instead captures the King of Dreams. By Gaiman's own admission there's a lot in this first collection that is awkward and ungainly--which is not to say there are not frequent moments of greatness here. The chapter "24 Hours" is worth the price of the book alone; it stands as one of the most chilling examples of horror in comics. And let's not underestimate Gaiman's achievement of personifying Death as a perky, overly cheery, cute goth girl! All in all, there is a roguish breaking of new ground in this book which is preferable to the often dull precision of the concluding volumes of the Sandman series. --Jim Pascoe

Synopsis
Another in Neil Gaiman's series of award-winning graphic novels. It blends modern myth and dark fantasy, into which historical drama, contemporary fiction and legend are interwoven.

Customer Reviews

Excellent introductory background
My introduction to Sandman began with Endless Nights, which I was given. I was hooked, and decided to read the rest. Having made a start, I was surprised to see negative comments on this book. Certainly, it is not as polished as the later books, but it is invaluable as a background to understanding them. The intro in Dolls House probably does quite well for providing this background, but it cannot possibly do nearly as well as does reading Preludes and Nocturnes. And, whilst it is not as polished, it is still very good indeed. [...]

A Dream Start
The criticism that this is not the best of the sandman series is very much undeserved. Its not, however the comics it contains rate among the most important of the 20th Centuary, and helped to create what would become Vertigo comics, establishing itself in a trend started by Alan Moore on Swamp Thing and Jamie Delanos Hellblazer. Its dated a bit, but then so has Citizen Kane - And that is a worth comparison, because although both creators would do better in their career, their impact at those times would never be better'd.

Those were heady days, when this kind of Comic book was unheard of. This was a risk. Like the Watchmen before it, Preludes is special in that it dared to be different, and it succeded. Its not Gaimans best work on Sandman but it is his first work, and when it appeared it was unprecedented and unheard of. Moore, Miller and Morrison brought Graphic Novels into mainstream Bookshops, but Gaiman brought Book Buyers into the Comic Shops.

Its not something you can judge by comparison to later and now, but for what it was. If this had failed there would have been no later, people put their careers on the line for this.

Take it from someone who was there. This is the birth of the Modern Era of Comic Books. Sandman, Swamp Thing and Hellblazer are British Invasion of US comics.

Very Good
So Sandman, this supposed to be one of the best comics in the world and this is the begging volume. Well this volume has recived some critcism which is upsetting. Not because the volume doesn't deserve the criticism becasue it does, it's not as good as other volumes. However I think this turns people of, of buying the book. I've only read one other Sandman so I can't say how good the rest it is. However I think people are giving this so low marks becasue they are comparing to the rest of the volumes, which are meant to be really good.

I say this because this it's self is a really good read, maybe not as good as the other volumes, I don't know wince I've never read them. It is really good though. I wouldn't say brilliant becasue there are some bits that I didn't care for. Although I liked most bits fine, I won't tell you what they are because I don't want to ruin the plot. I will tell that the imagnation in this book is rivaled by none, never in my life have I read a book that is more imagnative then this one.

The chracters are also very good, you can understand why there feeling as they are, eve though there not they seem to be very human which I like. Another great thing about this is it's not obsessed with violence, I like comics but almost always there resolved with people beating the crap out of each other, not in this one, in this one's diffrences are talked through. Okay I know that sounds boring but it really isn't.

The art annoys me, I've never been a fan of this kind of art, it doesn't have the beuty of Jim Lee's, even so I will say it goes along with the story and fits it well. One other thing is that Neil Gaiman is kind of inbetween worlds when he was writing this. I'm not sure if he thought he was trying to write a horror comic or something more. Since there glimpses into things very in depth, but some of it is just nothing but horror.

These two things knock the comic down, this is a very good read and I can only hope that the next volume entertains me more. Which would be a miracle since this one really did entertain me.