Sandman
Amerikansk serie skrevet af Neil Gaiman og tegnet af flere forskellige tegnere.
Indhold
Lidt om serien
Seriens udgangspunkt er troldmageren Roderick Burgess fejlslagne forsøg på at fange Døden. I stedet fængsler han Drømmen. Burgess prøver over de næste mange år at fravriste drømmen sine hemmeligheder, men efter en hel livstid i fangenskab, bryder han ud uden at have ytret så meget som et ord.
Seriens omdrejningspunkt og hovedperson er personificeringen af drømmen - Fyrst Morfeus, Drømmenes Herre, Sandman, Dødens lillebror osv. Neil Gaiman har i forordet til Endless Nights selv opsummeret handlingen som:
Drømmen er en af de syv "uendelige". Syv skabninger som ikke er guder, som eksisterede før guderne og som vil eksistere efter at den sidste gud er død. Syv skabninger som eksistere fordi vi dybt i vores hjerte ved at de eksisterer. De syv uendelige er efter deres alder: Skæbne, Død, Drøm, Ødelæggelse, Begær, Fortvivlelse og Deliriun.
De 7 uendelige
Citater
- It is a fool's prerogative to utter truths that no one else will speak. (Drøm, i Dream Country)
- Our existence deforms the universe. That's responsibility. (Delirium, i The Kindly Ones)
- What power would hell have if those imprisoned there could not dream of heaven? (Drøm, i Preludes & Nocturnes)
- We of the Endless are the servants of the living -- We are NOT their masters. WE exist because they know, deep in their hearts, that we exist. (Drøm, i The Doll's House)
- Drøm: Why did you hunt me? he asked her. Why did you flee?, Nada: I hunted you because I love you more than mortal man has ever been loved by a woman. And I fled you because it is not given to mortals to love the endless. Only disaster can follow from this. (Drøm og Nada, i The Doll's House)
- Anyway: I'm not blessed, or merciful. I'm just me. I've got a job to do, and I do it. Listen: even as we're talking, I'm there for old and young, innocent and guilty, those who die together and those who die alone. I'm in cars and boats and planes; in hospitals and forests and abbatoirs. For some folks death is a release, and for others death is an abomination, a terrible thing. But in the end, I'm there for all of them. (Døden, i Dream Country)
- Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit. Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost. (Romersk soldat oversat af Drøm, i The Wake)
- Liberty is a bitch who must be bedded on a matress of corpses. (Lady Johanna Constantine, i Fables & Reflections)
- You get what anyone gets; you get a lifetime (Døden, i Brief Lives)
- I lost some time. It's always in the last place you look for it. (Delirium, i Season of Mists)
- Dreams. What are Dreams? Dreams are nothing, my brother. Dreams are "nothing," sister? Without dreams there could be no Despair. (Fortvivlelse og Drøm, i Fables and Reflections)
- Is the chemical aftertaste the reason why people eat hot dogs, or is it some kind of bonus? (Døden, i Death: The Hight Cost of Living)
- Drøm: I wanted a tale of graceful ends. I wanted a play about a king who ... leaves his kingdom .... About a man who turns his back on magic .... I am Prince of Stories, Will, but I have no story of my own. Nor shall I ever .... I thank you. Shakespeare: It is over. (Drøm og Shakespeare, i The Wake)
- It is better to rule in hell than serve in heaven. (Lucifer, i Season of Mists (Oprindeligt Lucifer i Paradise Lost af John Milton))
- My sister has a function to perform, even as I do. The Endless have their responsibilities. I have responsibilities. I walk by her side, and the darkness lifts from my soul. I walk with her, and I hear the gentle beating of mighty wings... (Drøm, i Preludes & Nocturnes)
- Love belongs to Desire, and Desire is always cruel. (En gammel mand, i The Doll's House)
- It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes… But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor. (Drøm, i The Kindly Ones)
- Choronzon: I am Anti-Life, the Beast of Judgement. I am the dark at the end of everything. The end of universes, gods, worlds... of everything. Sss. And what will you be then, Dreamlord? Drøm: I am hope. (Drøm og Choronzon i verdens ældste spil, I Preludes & Nocturnes)
Album i serien
Serien er oprindelig udgivet af DC Comics under deres Vertigo brand som 75 hæfter og er senere blevet samlet til 10 hovedalbums plus et ekstra ellevte album med en historie om hver af de syv uendelige. På dansk er der indtil videre kun kommet 3 album fra forlaget G. Floy Studio dog i en lidt anderledes udgivelsesrækkefølge.
Danske udgivelser
Præludier (2004) |
Nocturner (2005) |
Drømmeland (2006) |
Amerikanske udgivelser
Preludes & Nocturnes (1991), hæfte nr. 1-8 |
The Doll's House (1991), hæfte nr. 9-16 |
Dream Country (1991), hæfte nr. 17-20 |
Season of Mists (1992), hæfte nr. 21-28 |
A Game of You (1993), hæfte nr. 32-37 |
Fables and Reflections (1993), hæfte nr. 29-31, 38-40, 50 og Sandman Special #1 |
Brief Lives (1994), hæfte nr. 41-49 |
Worlds' End (1994), hæfte nr. 51-56 |
The Kindly Ones (1996), hæfte nr. 57-69 + Vertigo Jam #1 |
The Wake (1996), hæfte nr. 70-75 |
Endless Nights (2003) |
Absolute Sandman
The Absolute Sandman vol. 1 (2006), hæfte nr. 1-20 |
The Absolute Sandman vol. 2 (2007), hæfte nr. 21-39 |
The Absolute Sandman vol. 3 (2008), hæfte nr. 40-56 |
Spin-Off
Fordi serien blev meget rost og selvfølgelig ikke mindst fordi den også var en stor kommerciel succes er der blevet lavet en del supplerende udgivelser. Der har været en del debat blandt fans om kvaliteten og berettigelsen af disse udgivelser, men de består under alle omstændigheder af:
- Death: The High Cost of Living (1993)
- Sandman Midnight Theatre (1995)
- Death: The Time of Your Life (1996)
- The Sandman: Book of Dreams (1996)
- The Dreaming (1996 - 2001)
- The Sandman Presents (1999-2001)
- Sandman: The Dream Hunters (1999)
- The Sandman Companion by Hy Bender (2000)
- The Little Endless Storybook (2001)
- Lucifer (2001 - 2006)
- Sandman: Endless Nights (2003)
- Death: At Death’s Door (2004)
- The Dead Boy Detectives (2005)