02: Absolute Sandman vol 2/5, by Neil Gaiman.

Absolute Sandman Volume Two contains issues 21-39, and tells a couple of major stories with a few minor story arcs thrown in between. Season of Mists recounts the story of what happens when Lucifer quits his job as Master of Hell and gives the key to the realm away to Dream, who is then beset by envoys from many different realms, all seeking audience to cajole, demand, threaten, or bribe their way to becoming the new keepers of Hell. Dream is unimpressed by their petty manoeuvring, and awards the key as he sees fit, in a move that dismays almost everyone while still following a fairly prescribed 'right thing to do' path. In A Game Of You, Barbie gets unexpectedly sucked back into the dream-world of her childhood, somewhere that got taken away from her by the Cuckoo without her even realizing it. Her friends and neighbours from the real world become increasingly caught up in her events, leading to the introduction of a new (hopefully) repeat character, Thessaly, and a little more knowledge about what Dream's world contains.

I was very impressed with this collection of Sandman. Volume Two has confirmed for me that it is definitely a series that I very much enjoy, and is one that I'm sure I will continue to very much enjoy for some time. It contains a lot of elements that I enjoy, and it is written in a way that I find fascinating. There's fantasy, violence, whimsy, surreality, mystery, horror, and other bits and pieces that are all twined together and threaded through to make the storylines interesting, unique, and enjoyable. It always feels like they run just a little bit out-of-kilter with reality, and that it'd be easy to just...turn that four or five degrees sideways and find yourself in a whole new reality.

I've also found out a few things through these books. Firstly is that I really must make more of an effort to get physical copies of books I really enjoy. It's much more gratifying to read a good story when it's well presented, and the copies I have are hardcover, fake-leather-bound, glossy, and really damn heavy, but it makes it a much more tactile pleasure to read, as well as a mental one. Additionally I just really dislike reading comics on a screen, since they're inevitably portrait styled, and landscape size screens make them difficult to work with. My eventual plan is to have a physical library of my favourite books, and electronic copies of a wider range, and I'm going to start trying to add to that collection now, costly or no. As I get more good books, I'll weed out the ones that I don't read or don't like any more.

Secondly is that I should try to divorce my idea of people from my idea of the value of their recommendations. Several times now, I've had a series or TV show or comic or thing recommended to me by someone I don't care for in some fashion, be that their attitude, or appearance, or a facet of their beliefs,  but I let my distaste for them as a person interfere with my idea of the item they are recommending. Doctor Who was first recommended to me by someone I used to be friends with, and subsequently was not, and so I never tried to watch the series, because I thought it would be boring. Turns out I like it a lot. Same thing with Sandman - someone I used to live with was a huge fan, and said I'd like it, but I ignored the recommendation because deep down, I didn't want to think such a jerk could have good taste. And that was even though I knew that we liked several other similar books! It took recommendations from several other, better, friends, and a bored moment where I flicked through the first issue late at night, for me to take the steps to immerse myself in the comic. I'm sure this has happened to me before (but without the qualifying recommendations from more trusted sources) and as such, I've missed out on books or series or movies or shows that I may have really enjoyed. Problem then comes down to how to balance recommendations from others with the things I stumble across myself, and with the things that I want to rewatch or reread, in order to maximise my output of Good Material. Perhaps I'll come across a way to balance these things eventually. For now, I guess I have to acknowledge that I'm missing out on some good things, whilst trying to keep in mind that the time I spend missing out on some good things is almost always spent on other good things, too.