Sandman, Arc II

Back again, with a general thought dump on the second arc of Sandman, the Doll's House.

It actually jumps around a bit this time, starting with a tale of the ancient past of a love story between Dream and a human queen. Of course, such things can't happen, so there's a bunch of strife afterwards. I really love the art shifts in this story-- they're very sudden yet fitting to the tale being told.
Anyways, it turns out that that entire event was sparked by Desire, another of the Eternals. Through a conversation with him and another Eternal, Despair, it's revealed that Desire is up to something again as, while this conversation is taking place, Dream is still trapped in that magical sphere from the first arc.
Ah, so at this point in time, readers will know of six out of seven Eternals. Dream, Death, Destiny, Desire, Despair, and Delerium. One's unknown and will remain unknown for a loooooong time, apparently.

We then get to the actual start of the plot with one of Dream's main aid taking a census of the dream realms. With the census completed, it turns out that four dreams are missing. Brute, Glob, Fiddler's Green, and the Corinthian. Keep that last name in mind.... Also, there's a Vortex going on in what I'm guessing is the sea of dreaming, and Dream's keeping an eye on it.
This is shown though this arc's human protagonist, a girl named Rose. She promptly wakes up and mutters about strange dreams to her mother. They're on their way to meet a mysterious benefactor, who turns out to not only be Rose's grandmother, but also one of the minor characters from the first ark, one of those affected greatly by Dream's imprisonment.
Some private conversations between Rose's ancestors and a freaky encounter with the three fates, or three whatever they are-- who warn her about dreams and the Corinthian-- later, Rose is given the quest to find her younger brother, Jeb, who's somewhere over in south-west America. So she gets there, and is lodging in a house with a bunch of strange people. You have the plastic average people, actually named Barbra and Ken (Snigger, snigger.) The strange pair of spider-obsessed women, the hose manager who's also a drag queen, and the man upstairs, Gilbert.

While all this is going on, Dream is trying to find where the four missing dreams have gone in the human world. He starts off with finding Brute and Glob, who were attempting something I shall not spoil here. Jeb is somehow involved, and he escapes the area after Dream states something to another character who showed up. He..... Runs into the Corinthian, however, who appears to be a perfectly normal human aside from wearing shades all the time.

Something I really enjoy about this story is that the minor characters matter. Asides from two of the minor character showing up in one form or another in this arc, a fragment of plot I read in a later arc brings back two characters introduced in this arc. And I have no idea how far in the future that later arc is from where I am now. All this attention to details, no matter how small, really makes me happy. I think I probably picked up my habit of writing all the details I do from the author of this tale.

And I cannot get over the art decisions. There's one scene, where all the residents of the hose complex Rose is staying at are dreaming. All of the dreamers have their own different style of art for their dream, along with their own text font! It just subtly adds so many more details to this tale!
And detail is a critical weakness of mine.

Rose ends up working with Gilbert, the man form upstairs, to find her brother. They become friends over time, working to find Jeb whilst Dream pursues his own goals-- and the two eventually end up at a convention for Serial Killers. Yes, that's right, a convention from and for Serial Killers. It turns out that's what the Corinthian has been doing in his years on Earth. Killing people.

I really want to say what happens next, but I'll restrain myself if only to get y'all to read this story some day. It is mature, so if your parents are those that want to always protect their child-- but you want to grow up-- I'd say look in a library for them and read them in your spare time. Either way, it's a good read.

Also, there's a time-travel story of sorts in the middle of things. It's a one-shot, and has no relevance to the plot, but it's still an impressive read. And I shall probably never stop fangirling over this series.
But yeah.

Good art style, good details, surprising connections from event to event, and just overall a fascinating story to read.
I can't wait 'till I get to read the next arc!