Sandman, Arc V

Alright, so this arc is similar to one of the earlier arcs, as in it's a collection of one-shots. So, I'll be fawning over each in their own aspects for a while, while trying not to spoil anything.

First One-Shot
Okay, so this one starts off pure gold. It's a grandfather and his granddaughter bickering over a story being told. This is pretty much a universal conversation, and if you replace TV with Facebook, then hey, the tale's set in the modern era. Things I liked in this tale-- holy hell the tiny details are glorious again. Freakin' Baba Yaga shows up. And, if you read things carefully, that ending packs a punch. But seriously, the details in the story are really fun to notice.

Second One-Shot
First of all, young Marco Polo in the desert heading back to the current leader of the Khans. Second of all, holy crap that world mechanic. Imma borrow it for the novel-thing I'm writing. But yeah, Marco Polo gets lost in the desert and runs into his future companion and Fiddler's Green (Yay he showed up again~!) in the middle of the desert. They have a chat, and then the dream ends. But oh man, the characters. They all had their own personality to them, despite this being the first time most of them have shown up. And then the actual time this tale happened in-- in the very beginning of arc I! Also, damn that art style. I hadn't though of using thick lines to produce shadows like that.

Third One-Shot
So, this brings back Daniel, the child born in dreams that Dream himself claimed as his own. He's dreaming, and somehow his dreams places him on the outskirts of Dreams realm, where he runs into a Gargoyle, Matthias the Raven, Cain, Able, and I think it's Eve of all people. So, the child and the group of story tellers enjoy tea-time in Able's house of Mysteries. (Complete with Matthias getting a rat instead of crackers.) They each tell a tale, Cain speaks of a mystery of crows, Eve speaks of the story of Adam and his three wives, and Able, well.... He tells a child-friendly version of how he and Cain ended up working for Dream. And oh my god my heart at his imagining of a much younger Dream and Death. Oh my god they're so cute and I probably shouldn't say that but eh. Freaking adorable tiny Dream and Death. But still--! Throughout each tale, you can hear the voice of the story-teller behind them. Cain's seems harsh, Eve's is slightly meandering, and Abel's is a soft tale that children can hear and not realize it's about him being the first murder victim.

That's what I've got for now. For any new person reading this blog, I do ask that you at least skim the older posts.