As my eyes working on the titles, I spotted the greenish cover of Half-Blood Prince, then I remember how horrible the movie was, so I left it untouched.
And here comes, The Endless Nights. Yes, this is perfect; I said and removed it from the shelves.
This copy was my very first Sandman books and not only it’s my first introduction to the colorful Dream’s adventure but this book also has an emotional value. A dear friend gave this book to me when she had her vacation in the Philippines. I was so excited that my hand I think was shaking as she handed me the two hard-bounded cover of Neil Gaiman’s books – the other one is the American Gods.
The Sandman is Neil Gaiman’s critically acclaimed comic book series. It’s a story collected in ten volumes that came out monthly starting at the end of 1988 until 1996 for DC Comics’, Vertigo.
In Endless Nights, Gaiman introduces us the member of the majestic family of the Endless. Started with Death in Chapter I, the second oldest and perhaps the less likely to be with of the Endless siblings. She’s both the end of life and a psychopomp, and unlike any personification of Death, she also visits people as they are born. She’s attractive, with pale skinned woman and dressed in casual, mostly black and jeans. She’s pleasant, down-to-earth, and perky character that makes her one of the most popular characters in Sandman.
In Chapter II, Desire the third youngest of the Endless and twin of Despair. Perhaps the cruelest of the Endless, obsessed with interfering the affairs of its elder siblings, particularly Dream. Strikingly beautiful whose gender is mutable becoming female, male, both or neither as the situation warrants. A medium height, that smells faintly of a summer peaches with pale as smoke skin and has a tawny and sharp as yellow wine eyes.
Chapter III, talks about the Sandman himself, Morpheus or Dream. Inconceivably powerful beings older and greater than gods, he’s a personification of all dreams and stories in short; an illusion and therefore is not real. His appearance changing depends on the person who is seeing him. And although he’s of heroic character, most of the time he is slow in dealing with humor, slightly insensitive, self-obsessed and very slow to forgive and forget.
Despair is the twin sister of Desire, a squat, flabby and pale-skinned with black hair and gray eyes and pointed teeth. Have a voice more little than a whisper and doesn’t wear clothes. Her realm is gray space that floats white fog and countless mirrors that connected to a human world and looks on those who are in despair. Chapter IV is illustrated by Barron Storey.
Chapter V tells about Delirium. The youngest of the Endless yet older than the rest of the existence, usually quite short, thin and look no more than a fourteen year old girl. One of her eyes is blue, the other is green. She smells of sweat, late nights, sour wine and old leather. Her realm is chaotic and constantly changing mass of colors and strange objects and shapes. She travel with her guardian of sort, a German shepherd named Barnabas. She first incarnated as Delight and transformed into Delirium for reasons even Destiny does not know.
Chapter VI is about Destruction, the fourth eldest of the Endless, depicted as big, red haired and bearded man. He abandoned his realm and responsibilities at the turn of seventeenth century, that leads to his siblings Delirium and Dream to track him down, a choice that to some degree infuriates Morpheus. After giving up his responsibilities he concentrates on attempting to learn about his own nature and exert control over it.
And finally the last chapter is about Destiny. He is blind but this doesn’t hinder him and matter-of-factly he sees everything. He is always calm, detached and somber even in extreme situations. Portrayed as a tall figure, obscured within a purple or brown robe and cowl, he does not leave footprints, nor cast a shadow. He reads from a large book, originally known as a Cosmic Log, chained to his right wrist that contains all past, present and future events.
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