However, I didn’t expect what I got in the sense of storyline. Don’t get me wrong. It was a great story, just not the one that I expected taking in account that it was a prequel to the main series. The Bad Ol' Days -- Sam Keith's terrible art*{See Footnote Below} from the first collected edition: Overture brings Gaiman’s mesmerizing saga of the Sandman full circle, serving as both a prequel and a coda to the groundbreaking original series. Lushly illustrated by acclaimed artist J.H. Williams III, this stunning tale follows the King of Dreams as he travels across the universe–and into realms unbounded by time and space–on a fateful mission to prevent all of reality from unraveling. But I have to be honest with you: visually, I preferred volume 11. They are both gorgeous but that one had more chapters I not only loved but actually adored. This, in turn, had more story (the other was just 7 short ones giving us a closer look at the Endless after all).

So, you won’t know why Delirium passed through such transformation. You won’t know the precise reasons why Destruction left his realm. You won’t know what “endless” was the Second Despair after replacing the First Despair… Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors. He, yet again, has produced a veritable piece of art. It works on many levels- superb artwork, wonderful plot and great dialogue are the cornerstones of this wonderful prelude to his epic classic Sandman series.The story itself is quite successful at what it sets out to do. It sets the scene for the first volume of Sandman, and it sheds a bit more light on the Endless family. We meet their parents, who are about as sane as you might expect. And the story is appropriately big, with the fate of the universe at stake, and deceptively intimate, as its the sort of story that largely takes place with a very small group on stage at any given time. Naturally, I loved the way Gaiman wrote it, and I don't think Sandman fans will be at all disappointed.

Despite this one being one of the most gorgeous artworks in the Sandman library, and despite the fact that it wraps up the complete story of Sandman in a way that is really quite fascinating, it's also ... unutterably sad. On an alien world, an aspect of Dream senses that something is very wrong, and dies in flames. In London 1915, while intending to deal with the troublesome nightmare The Corinthian, Morpheus is alerted to the same wrongness and is summoned to an alien world to investigate. We also see how The Corinthian (Dream’s murderous nightmare) goes rogue and must be hunted down, which we see in The Doll’s House, and The Three make an appearance hinting at events that occur way down the line in, I think, The Wake (the final volume in the series). We also see how the structure of The Dreaming is created and the origin of Morpheus’ war helm. They’re little things but they underline why a prequel like Overture was such a good idea.Originally intended to run bi-monthly, with its first issue published in October 2013. However, The Sandman: Overture was plagued by delays, and the final issue did not come out until 2015. A meeting is held on a distant planet. Aspects of Dream from various sentient species are present and have been awaiting his arrival to investigate. After consulting the oldest Aspect of Dream and another figure known as "Glory of the First Circle" he learns that the cause of the wrongness is the insanity of a star which will spread until the universe itself is destroyed. Glory claims that Dream is at fault for the insanity. The main series left many questions unanswered and having an “untold” story set before the events of the main series, I think that was the perfect place to answer them. What I think, while not necessary, it could be cool, it was to dedicate at least one issue of the six, forming the overture, to have the humans (at least the most relevan tones) here showing how their lives lead to the points where we find them in the main series. But let's not kid ourselves. While you may forget all the intricacies of the story, one thing you will not forget is the art. At this point, this is the most beautiful graphic novel I have ever laid eyes on.