Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You

Neil Gaimen's Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You was very different from what I expected. Truly, I'm not sure what I had really expected...I guess something more superheroey since that's the focus this week? Coming into this comic, it seems to be par to of a series which I am obviously not previously familiar with. We our introduced to a strange line up of characters, jumping back and forth with mysterious "dream land" pages. These characters end up in the dreamland to help save their friend Barbie, despite their own real life problems. Though at first, I am confused by some of the pacing and things shown at the beginning, but quickly find the characters and begin to appreciate it. But then it takes a turn. Everything gets quickly and unexpectedly violent, weird, and then followed by one of the most cliche storylines I've seen. Even after reaching the end of the book, I'm not sure if it was really that bad or if it was supposed to be kind of cliche and stupid? That storyline, of course, is the whole girl is princess of fantasy dream world inside her head. Sure, he throws in more violence than you'd normally see, but the fact that I myself wrote something of nearly the exact same Wizard of Oz-type story in the 2nd grade I think proves it.

Honestly, what I found most interesting in this story were the "kooky" collection of characters, almost too obviously kooky. Still, the author sets up their personalities and you feel for them. That's pretty good to begin with. The characters in the fantasy world, on the other hand, are bland. Even from the beginning, I was not invested in the second part of the story, the one actually about the main character. The idea of the cuckoo was interesting, having a dream entity who preys on the thoughts of others by becoming accepted and loved by it, but the fact is I just didn't care that much. In some places, I wondered if the text was purposely fighting with the drawings, such as when the Dream King's eyes were described as sparkling when in the drawing they were nothing but a black void. The idea behind "girls want to be princesses" is of course a purposely simplified view, but I can't help but feel that the author doesn't even really understand the ramifications of it, much less what it actually feels like to yearn for your own world as a female.

The ending, post dreamland, was maybe what I found the most entertaining. Barbie dealing with the death of her transgender friend in a town that will forever deny her existence how it was, preferring instead to remember her (or him, in their minds) as a good, God-fearing boy.