Mark Reads ‘The Sandman’: 2×04 – Playing House

In the twelfth issue of The Sandman, YES GOOD. VERY GOOD. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read The Sandman.

“Playing House”

This Is Everything I Loved About “Playing House”

• The title. That’s essentially what this is, isn’t it? Brute and Glob are playing house with dreams. IT’S SO CLEVER.
• The entire bit of narration framed as Lyta’s thoughts. I think there’s an acquired taste to comic books because the dialogue (even in The Sandman) can be a bit blunt and direct sometimes. It doesn’t operate in the same way a written novel does because thought or third-person narration can’t be used identically. The writer has to come up with new ways to convey information, and sometimes, it’s spelled out through dialogue or thought bubbles on the page. It’s not something I dislike at all, but every so often, it can feel a bit obvious. Here, though, I feel like Gaiman really gets to stretch out his creativity through her thoughts. This might read strange, but I don’t know how else to describe this: it’s the most Gaiman-sounding writing in all of volume two as of this point. I like it.
• Gaiman gave Lyta the potential to reappear in the story again. I love this because I’m so fascinated by what she just went through. She just lived out a dream for years and was devastated by it falling apart. Oh, and she has Dream’s child?!?!?! WHAT THE FUCK HOW.
• It’s always going to be a bit difficult for me to read about abuse in any form because I have such an intensely personal experience with it, but the liberation of Jed is such a rad moment to read. I know that most of his journey will occur in the next volume because of how this ends (WHAT ARE THE FUCKING ODDS THAT HE HITCHHIKED WITH THE CORINTHIAN JESUS WHAT THE HELL), but I can’t help but be happy that Dream freed him.
• You know, I really like that Dream is still impressed with his creations or with his adversaries when they are creative. It kind of reminds me of the Doctor’s fascination with things that might be morbid or disturbing to us.
• The choice to portray Brute and Glob as creatures who know they’ve done wrong instead of having them go up against Dream in some huge battle. From what I can understand of the dynamic between Dream and his creations, Dream is definitely the lord over them, so their reaction to the realization that he’s coming after them is like a child knowing they’re about to be punished. This is very good writing.
• The Corinthian bit off some dude’s fingers with his eyes. I don’t even know how a person comes up with something like that. Help.
• The colors when Dream arrives in the fake Dream world to confront Hector.
• The wonderful I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude of Dream when dealing with all the inhabitants of the world inside Jed’s head. This isn’t even a challenge for him, is it?
• All of the art on the page where Dream finds out that Hector was made The Sandman of Brute and Glob’s world. AHHHH DREAM LOOKS SO AMAZING.
• And look, it’s clear Dream had to send Hector back to the world of the dead because there really wasn’t any other option. I get that. So I like that the issue still acknowledges how hard it is for Lyta to accept what’s just happened to her, losing her husband again while the last few years are taken from her, too.
• HOW IS HER CHILD DREAM’S????
• WHAT ARE THE ODDS? JED AND THE CORINTHIAN. Rose is so close to finding him, damn it!

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