Review: The Sandman Overture #4- Nothing is happening here

Writer: Neil Gaiman
Artist: J.H. Williams III
Publisher: Vertigo (DC)
Released: 17th December 2014


I could never completely lose myself in this new version of the Sandman, mainly because the allegorical/metaphorical wall being created by writer Neil Gaiman is a little too thin, too flimsy, too see-through to allow any real emotional engagement or exploration of deeper spiritual/moral truths.

The problem here is that writer Neil Gaiman’s meaning is all too clear, and it’s not very interesting at all. In ‘The Sandman Overture #4 the writer looks at what he has created, at the doors it has opened for him, talks about access to ‘stars’ and decides that his creation will not be killed off, rather he will put it into permanent stasis.

This means that Neil Gaiman is going to write other stuff, and leave his Sandman book in the past, where it probably, and most certainly safely, belongs. There is no deeper meaning here. There are no deeper spiritual or moral truths being explored. This is a book about a writing career. It really is as self-indulgent as that.

Issue #4 of this six issue series feels like the end. It’s strange, because there’s two issues left. If Neil Gaiman is trying to make his readers lose interest in the Sandman character and the universe he inhabits then he’s doing a great job here.

Perhaps that’s the entire point? Perhaps he’s just fed up of it, and this book is a final squeeze of the lemon before a final discard?

It hasn’t been as bad as those instantly forgettable Watchmen prequels of 2012, but after reading this particular issue I got pretty much the same feeling. It’s a book that’s tapping into old memories, but not creating new ones of it’s own.

Give it a few years and Sandman Overture will be regarded as a needless full stop to something that had already ended. It's not bad, but it’s not particularly good either. It’s that awful middle, the lukewarm curse of the world called indifference. If you are new to the Sandman universe then don’t start here. Read and enjoy the old books. Nothing is happening here.

Rating: 4/10