Sandman, Band 8 - Worlds' End

Von Neil Gaiman und Michael Allred

SANDMAN ist aus gutem Grund die am häufigsten gelobte und mit Preisen ausgezeichnete Comic-Serie der 90er-Jahre: Die intelligente, tiefgründige Story, elegant geschrieben von Neil Gaiman und abwechselnd illustriert von den gefragtesten Künstlern der Comic-Branche, bietet eine reichhaltige Mischung moderner Mythen und finsterer Fantasy, in der zeitgenössische Literatur, historisches Drama und Legenden nahtlos ineinander übergehen. Die Saga des Sandman enthält eine Reihe von Erzählungen, die in der neunten Kunst einzigartig sind, und die Geschichte als solche wird man nie mehr vergessen. In Worlds' End begegnen sich Reisende aus verschiedenen Zeiten, Mythen und der Fantasie auf der Flucht vor einem Realitätssturm in einem Gasthaus am Ende der Welten. Ganz wie in Chaucers Canterbury Tales erzählen die Reisenden sich Geschichten, während sie auf das Ende des Sturms warten. Sie berichten von Orten, die sie besuchten, und von Dingen, die sie erlebten… und von ihren Träumen. Worlds' End ist das achte Buch aus der 10-bändigen Sandman-Bibliothek. Die SANDMAN-Bücher können sowohl in der Reihenfolge ihres Erscheinens, aber auch einzeln gelesen werden.

• Sprache: Deutsch
• Herausgeber: DC COMICS bei Panini Comics
• Erscheinungsdatum: 28. Jan. 2020
• ISBN: 9783736711662

Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is the New York Times bestselling and multi-award winning author and creator of many beloved books, graphic novels, short stories, film, television and theatre for all ages. He is the recipient of the Newbery and Carnegie Medals, and many Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner Awards. Neil has adapted many of his works to television series, including Good Omens (co-written with Terry Pratchett) and The Sandman. He is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR and Professor in the Arts at Bard College. For a lot more about his work, please visit: https://www.neilgaiman.com/

Buchvorschau

Rezensionen für Sandman, Band 8 - Worlds' End

[juva_3 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

While driving across country, two coworkers are run off the road by a strange beast. Even though it's June, a blizzard blows up making it difficult to find their way back to the road. Lost in the snow, they come upon a strange inn. Within are many people from many worlds who have all taken refuge here from a reality storm. While the thunder rolls outside, these lost sojourners share stories and tall tales from their homelands. The innkeeper does not know how long this storm will last. It's a bad one, caused by some unknown large events occurring in the worlds outside. Yet the travelers are safe here and await the safe conditions for their return.

[tobinelliott · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Not much to say, other than I quite enjoyed this one, both the story and the art.

[elam11 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

This got bumped up as one of my preferred volumes of Sandman. Interesting and slightly haunting framing device; lots of interesting stories in between. Fun, interesting. Nothing outright disturbing like e.g. Dr. Doom's diner hostages way back when.

[pdcread · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

The story begins with Brant Tucker, and his co-worker Charlene Mooney being involved in a car crash. As he staggers out of the car and helps the injured Charlene, he realizes that he is being directed to a building by a hedgehog! This building, rather than being your regular pub, this is one of four inns that travellers are able to take shelter in when there are reality storms in the fabric between worlds.

They are welcomed into the inn, and their injuries are dealt with. Soon after the other guests who have sought shelter, start to tell each other stories. These tales vary from the historic, set in Europe in the past on a cargo ship. The fantastical, a boy who becomes a man who becomes a president, to the unreal with faeries and the macabre with another on a necropolis city that deals with death. Each story is linked by a scene in the inn, before the next character takes up the challenge of a new account.

Brilliantly illustrated as normal, the sandman books are a pleasure to read, whilst being dark and edgy enough to be unsettling too. These collection feel more cohesive too, as it all takes place in the inn, then ranges far and wide with the yarns. What is cleverly done is that each of these separate stories has been illustrated by a different artist, so they feel like they are coming from a different narrator. Quality graphic novel from Gaiman, as ever.

[theboylatham_1 · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

Seven out of ten. CBR format.

A "reality storm" strands travelers from across the cosmos at the "Worlds' End Inn". To pass the time, they exchange stories.

[deslni01 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

While some readers may believe Worlds' End may not be as entertaining as other volumes because Dream and the Endless are only briefly shown, Gaiman spins another yarn of a tale and what may not seem to be about Dream actually is. A large collection of characters from different worlds are drawn together at a tavern called Worlds' End. A large "reality" storm brings these travelers together to the tavern, where the many different characters tell tales to pass the time. These tales include "a swashbuckling adventure, a sea story, a gangster story, a grisly boys' funeral story, and even a little ghost story." Each of these tales is unique and a splendid read, but the funeral at the end is big (and explains the reality storm), and it is clear Gaiman has drastically changed the Sandman series and is setting up the reader for a monumental volume to follow.

[roguebelle · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Perhaps best summarised as "Gaiman does 'The Canterbury Tales'". While each of the individual stories here is engaging and entertaining, it's the frame narrative that is the real treat. I also think that Worlds' End has some of the most spectacular artwork out of the entire series -- there are several two-page spreads that you can't help but gawk at, they're so intricate and beautiful.

[zoes_human · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

This one may well be my favorite of the entire series. I love the story-within-a-story trope. The more deeply layered, the greater my adoration. It doesn't hurt that the stories in this are right up my ally as well - with hints of madness and brief glimpses of alternate worlds. One of the stories, "A Tale of Two Cities" is one of my favorite pieces of short fiction.

[cromanelli927 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!So much for quitting Sandman for a while. I was in a weird mood last night, so I picked up World's End, and I finished it today after I exported my grades. I have a bad feeling about this one, and I want to remind myself to talk about the artwork again. But, quite obviously, I still need to finish my blog on Brief Lives, so one thing at a time, eh?Oh the perils of blogging out of order once the plot thickens! My first thought about this book is that it is out of order! Haha, what I mean to say is that the events in this book take place after the events in the next book. One of the introductions mentions that Gaiman is meticulous about time, but I really beg to differ. Perhaps he knows when all the events take place, but it would take a thesis to figure out the timeline for The Sandman. Worlds' End is another collection of stories. I guess it's a function of the medium. They were produced monthly, and every once in a while, it must be nice to buy your comic once a month and have the story actually be self-contained. Dream is in most of the stories, but not all. Still the book is about him, and that becomes clear at the end of The Kindly Ones. No matter. The basic plotline is that a large group of travelers are stuck in an inn at the Worlds' End (a place where all the worlds end) because there is a reality storm. We don't know why there is a reality storm, but if we read Brief Lives (and we did), we can surmise that the reality storm might have something to do with Dream having killed Orpheus. The main characters are: Charlene Mooney, Brant Tucker, Klaproth, Cluracain, Jim (only he's really a girl named Peggy), and Petrefax. I say these are the main characters because we learn their names, but really they are only fleeting characters in the greater drama. In any case, much like The Canterbury Tales, each traveler must tell a tale to pass the time at the inn. Actually I think this makes it more like The Decameron.Mister Gaheris tells a tale of a dreaming city and the man who roamed its streets. Cluracain tells a story of envoy to Aurelian, a city where the position of Lord Carnal and Psychopomp have been usurped by one individual. Cluracain's story is interesting because the climactic moment occurs when he decides to tell the truth about something. He says of his species, "Sometimes we will say true things. And these things we say are neither glamour nor magic, neither prediction nor curse: But sometimes what we say is true." Again, we come back to that recurring theme in Sandman about truth being something other than what has really happened. It's different from reality. Anyway, Jim tells a story titled "Hob's Leviathan," which features our friend Hob Gadling. This story was kind of interesting because of the possibilities for gender analysis. Hob tells Peggy that he is "Old enough to hae learned to keep my mouth shut about seeing a bloody great snake in the middle of the ocean," and somehow this is evidence that Peggy can trust him with her secret as well. The idea of the great submerged snake and the great submerged secret have some possibilities. The next story is told by an unknown slightly Asian looking man, and it is about Prez Rickard, the boy President. There was something very cool about the folding of mythologies, but other than that the story was a little weird. I might have to give it some more thought. The final story was told by Petrefax, and it was about Litharge, the Necropolis. There were a few tales imbedded within this one, and I enjoyed it. There is an interesting foreshadowing/warning about having the tale about the Necropolis in this book. The citizens of the Necropolis are supposed to respect the dead, respect the passing of life, and it is certainly placed so that we heed their beliefs.The ending of the book is the part most worth writing home about, however, at least in terms of the larger Sandman plot. At the end of the book you see a funeral procession where the Endless are pallbearers. I admit to having read the wikipedia page on The Sandman early in the series, so I had a pretty good guess who was in the casket. I won't say more about it now, but it will come up again in The Kindly Ones.

[gillis3sarah · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

I love this story arc. It might be my favorite volume in the series. The way Neil Gaiman manages to connect all of the stories and characters throughout 'Sandman' is really amazing.

[adam.d.woodard · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

This one was really great. A nice stand alone. A collection of stories with stories within stories. A very philosophical discussion buried in it as well. These layer volumes have been getting pretty heady.

[xirxe · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Charlene Mooney and Brant Tucker are going by car from Seattle to Chicago, when in the middle of a night of June they get caught in a snowstorm. The car gets out of the road and crashes into a tree. Brant frees the unconscious Charlene and drags her with his last strength back to the road, as he believes. But he has lost his way completely and they ends up in the inn Worlds End. There, it is been taking care of the injured Charlene, while Brant is supplied with food and drink. It seems to be a strange society whom they meet there: people who appear to come from another century, figures that seem to have sprung from an ancient legend, some creatures seem as if they come from a dream and so on. All they sit together and pass the time by telling stories. Brant joins them and listens ...
The six stories are of very different nature: fairy tales, legends, science fiction, adventure, intrigue - and one amazing than the other. Unlike the previous books of and with Sandman, this time he and his siblings only appear marginally - what the quality of the stories, however, not detract. Nevertheless, I have been missing him (so I award an asterisk less )
The drawings are congenial as before and their style perfectly match to the particular story.
I’m already looking forward for the next part.

[sammii507 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

I loved this volume. I wasn't sure if I'd like it at first, because it didn't seem to have much of the Endless in it, but when I finally got around to reading it, I found it quite enjoyable and quite charming. The stories were interesting, and we did get peeks of the Endless - from the point of view of humans, brief, misunderstood glimpses. Which is a new way to see them.

[xicanti_1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Trapped in a free house called the World's End, travelers from many different lands pass the time by telling stories.The stories in this book are far more connected than those in either of the two previous Sandman short story collections. Diverse as these yarns are, they are all, at heart, stories about stories. Cluracan deals with a dicey political situation by spinning tales. Jim and Hob both come to terms with their place in the world by altering their own stories to suit their needs. Prez's story becomes such a valuable commodity that he attracts interest from several powerful beings. Petrefax honours the dead by listening to three tales. And through it all, the lot of them sit in the midst of a story so large it will change all their worlds forever.It's good stuff... though not, perhaps, one of the stronger Sandman volumes. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it the first time through, but six readings on it's lost a little of its sparkle. It's still damned good, but it pales in comparison to the rest of the series. Still, it makes its contribution, and helps highlight many of the themes that run through Sandman as a whole. If you've enjoyed the rest of the books, you won't want to miss this.

[stipe168 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

a collection of short works set in the Sandman universe, in an Inn at World's End. Right in the thick of it.

[cattylj-1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

When you start having dreams that you're in the world of the book you're reading, the author's doing something right.

[benkline · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

An interesting collection of stories vaguely tied into the Dream/Sandman universe. Dream appears sporadically in it (two obvious instances, a few subtle instances). Death and Destiny appear once as well (as well as Delirum and Despair by appearance).

In a form of Canterbury Tales, a group of travelers are stuck at an inn and most tell stories to pass the time of a 'reality' storm. Most of the stories are entertaining/interesting and reveal different facets, and also in a few of them (the ship tale and the Necropolis one, as well as actually the sleeping city one vaguely) there is a story inside a story (the Necropolis one actually has two or three stories inside of a story). Layers upon layers upon layers of storytelling. Which is ultimately what dreams really. Stories. Stories ontop of stories. Stories within stories.

Stories. And that's what Neil Gaiman does best. Writes stories, and writes them so we find them entertaining, and deep, and enriching, no matter what.

[booksfordinner · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Quite enjoyed this one, one of my favorites so far, maybe my fave. Not very much Morpheus at all, but fun stories, stories within stories, and stories within stories within stories. Very nice artwork also.

[darthdeverell · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

In The Sandman: World's End, Neil Gaiman channels Boccaccio's Decameron with travelers exchanging stories as they wait out a reality storm. The narrative style allows Gaiman and his artists to explore new worlds not tied to the larger Sandman narrative. Even eight volumes in, Gaiman maintains the compelling nature of these stories, raising the bar for the comics medium.

[deltaqueen50 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

The eighth volume of The Sandman is called World’s End. It consists of a series of short stories, each told by a different characters, but all blending and weaving together to make this volume very thought provoking. Although Morpheus isn’t a major character in this book, you can feel his touch throughout the stories. In each story we meet someone who has appeared in the series before, at times I felt this was a curtain call for the various personalities.Somewhere where reality meets the imagination lies an inn called Worlds’ End. This inn is the meeting place for creatures from many different worlds that have been caught up in a storm and while they take shelter they pass the time by telling stories. At the climax of the reality storm, the travellers see a change in the sky and then a funeral procession, obviously led by Morpheus goes by. A closed coffin is carried by and many familiar and strange mourners are part of the procession. But who has died? Perhaps it is the knowledge that this the series is turning toward the end, but I felt this volume very much was a harbinger of what is to come in the final volumes. I am very sad that this well crafted series is ending but how Neil Gaiman goes about finishing it has my anticipation level rising.

[akmargie · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

The stories were very typical Gaiman/Sandman. Some I enjoyed more than others. Not my favorite but another solid read.

[krau0098 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

I am a huge Neil Gaiman fan and have been slowly working my way through his Sandman graphic novels. Slowly because I want them to last as long as they can. This book was lots of fun. It was less pilosophical than the last book and more fun; but there are still deep underlying messages woven into the stories that are told.In this book a guy and girl get into a car accident and find themselves taking shelter from a June snowstorm at a strange inn. In the inn a number of fantastical people from various times and realities are waiting out the reality storm. While they wait they tell a number of interesting stories.This story is a bit of a break from the stories about the mythological gods. The gods are still in some of the stories and, in the end, it ends up that even this whole novel is really about them in a very direct way.I enjoyed every bit of this book. It was fun to read about all these different stories. The idea of an Inn at the end of reality is fun and interesting. The artwork throughout the book went through a number of different styles but all of them were fantastic.A wonderful addition to the Sandman series. I can't wait to read the next one!

[iftyzaidi · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Once I realised that this collection was going to be another collection of 'short stories', few of which had anything to do with the Sandman or the other Endless, I was all prepared to be disappointed, particularly coming after the brilliant 'Brief Lives'. But much against my will, something else happened as I read through these stories - I was absolutely captivated. The stories themselves are excellently written and rendered, and the framing device - a diverse array of people and fantastical beings end up at the inn at worlds' end and tell each other stories to while away the time - is also excellently done, in a manner reminiscent of Chaucer. To delve into the various stories and their qualities would only act to spoil the joy of discovering them, so instead I'd just urge fans of the Sandman to put aside their disappointment at not getting more tales of the Endless and enjoy these wonderful, literary, fantastical tales for what they are.

[pokylittlepuppy · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Another 2.5 stars, but I'm kind of getting tired of rounding these up. This book is rather close to the end of the series -- why doesn't it mean anything? There have been so many short stories in this series already.As a framework for the stories it worked ok all together. And Brant's epiphany at the end was really nice, and Charlene's outburst. I even liked the spooky end of the Necropolis story even though the rest of it is all sorts of things I don't like. I actually missed the Dream King.

[bnielsen_30 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

World's End er en kro. Et par kører galt i snevejr om sommeren, fordi manden er for træt til at køre. Han kæmper sig gennem sneen med den bevidstløse pige til han kommer til kroen.Klientellet er lidt mærkeligt. Udenfor blæser en kraftig storm op og gæsterne fordriver tiden med at fortælle historier, lidt i stil med Canterbury Tales. En fortæller historien om en mand, der har været faret vild i en by's drømme og nu er angst for hvad der sker, hvis byerne en dag vågner.Cluracan of Faery har været på diplomatisk mission for Fedronningen. Han fortæller en diktator et par sandheder og kommer derfor i en slem knibe. Hans søster er en skattet tjener for Morpheus, så Cluracan får lidt hjælp til at vinde over diktatoren.En sejlivet mand, Hob Gadling, er ombord et sejlskib, hvor Peggy er sømand (og god til at skjule at hun er pige).Prez Richard og Boss Smiley er en pudsig historie om de mange Amerika'er.Stormen slutter med en begravelsesprocession, hvor de Endless bærer en kiste. Hvem mon der ligger i den? Det mere end antydes at det er Dream.Glimrende fortællinger.

[5eva5 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

In which Morpheus, the Dream King, the Sandman, or rather something that's about to happen to him, causes a reality storm and gathers together creatures of all nations to share themselves with each other. Another collection of stories where the Endless only appear peripherally, and only at highly critical moments. This is a little bit like the first installment in the series, Preludes and Nocturnes in that it deals mainly with stories (and the stories within them) and how they affect those to whom they are told. In the frame story, a storm causes the inn Worlds' End to open up its doors to travelers escaping from a horrendous storm, the reason for which is only revealed at the end, and it turns out to be a great and immensely sad precursor to what's to come."A Tale of Two Cities" - A Lovecraft/Twilight Zone type story where the main character finds out that even cities dream and, when, after being stuck in that dream from a long time, he finds his way out, he is forever haunted by the possibility of all cities waking up and attacking reality."Cluracan's Tale" - A fairy/political tale about how a government or ruler can be brought down by words - a very nice illustration of the adage "the pen is mightier than the sword." It's also a pleasant reminder of how Dream has changed along the course of the series when he shows willingness to break a rule to do a favor for someone he likes."Hob's Leviathan" - A sea story, featuring Hob Gadling in which we also meet the other character who Death doesn't take, an Indian king who has eaten fruit from the Tree of Life, the very same tree which is the cause of Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden - God sends them away so that they won't eat of it and become immortal."The Golden Boy" - A Messianic story about the American dream with quite a few nods to Alan Moore's Watchmen. This is my least favorite story in the collection, mainly because it's such a directly religious story - the parallels between Prez and Jesus are not exactly subtle."Cerements" - A story about various burial-rites (all of which are, or have been, used somewhere in the world) and the people who has as their calling to perform them. Since this whole installment is very much story-within-a-story territory, it is notable that this story contains a point where not two stories are inside each other, but as many as five stories exist within one another at the same time: Mistress Veltis tells her story to Hermas who tells the story to Petrefax who tells the story at the inn and, at the end, the whole story of the stories is told by Brant to a barmaid (who looks very much like Thessaly, right?). Talk about pushing story-telling to its limits.As usual, various little jokes are scattered throughout the narrative, like having a Buddy Holly song playing on the radio when the characters are almost killed in a snowstorm in Iowa, or Scutt's family hanging him about the chest to save him from being hung from the neck, or when an unseen creature (who sounds like Master Redlaw from Books of Magic) tells Brant that "That red stuff, that's BLOOD that is. BAD sign if it's not on the inside, that's what I says." There is also some fantastic art in this installment and especially the funeral procession at the end stands out as particularly magnificent.

[gingerbreadman_1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

A large group of people, from different times, places and realities, find themselves caught up in storms and disasters. They each find a refuge in the inn at the World’s End. Here they swap stories to pass the time until the weather clears. But what sort of event could create a storm all across reality?I remember this as one of the weaker volumes – I think I’ve only read it once before, even. Rereading it now I can’t quite understand why. Possible because the book is a pause in the big story arc of Sandman (even though there are, as usual, important pieces to the big story here too), or because I read it out of order. Or perhaps, and this is more important, for being a book about storytelling, it has a rather irreverend way of looking at them. Most of these tales don’t end with bangs or final twists, but kind of halt at a point where they point forward. Their stories aren’t ended, merely halted, like their lives, and like the role of the inn itself this stormy night. And indeed, like the role of this book, an intermission in the big arc of Morpheus. I think I felt, the first time around, that many of these stories could’ve been better. Now I kind of enjoy how they fizzle out.This is still not one of my absolute favorites of the series, but it’s pretty damn impressive as a structure, with it’s Russian doll theme of stories within stories, and it’s playing on it’s theme of the halt, the wait, the pause for thought. It’s also the best looking Sandman book yet!

[anniik_1 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

I loved this volume. I wasn't sure if I'd like it at first, because it didn't seem to have much of the Endless in it, but when I finally got around to reading it, I found it quite enjoyable and quite charming. The stories were interesting, and we did get peeks of the Endless - from the point of view of humans, brief, misunderstood glimpses. Which is a new way to see them.

[shanaqui_1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Worlds' End is an interesting collection of stories, not quite in the vein of Dream Country or Fables & Reflections. A "reality storm" has occured, for some reason, and people end up all together in an inn called Worlds' End. They all tell stories, to pass the time. The stories are interesting enough, although I wanted them to be more connected to the series. Characters from other volumes did appear, which is to be expected from something that ties its threads as neatly as The Sandman does, but the Endless didn't really feature until the very end.

I'm assuming the ending is foreshadowing of something, and I'm interested to see what's going to happen.

[ninjoblio · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

This was one of my favorites in this series so far. I think I have a soft spot for stories about people telling stories. Because this is largely a collection of standalone short stories, I think this volume fares better than some of the longer tales in the other volumes that sometimes over-stay their welcome.