{"id":1092,"date":"2012-07-10T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=1092"},"modified":"2012-07-02T12:38:21","modified_gmt":"2012-07-02T19:38:21","slug":"mark-reads-the-sandman-8x02-cluracans-tale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2012\/07\/mark-reads-the-sandman-8x02-cluracans-tale\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Sandman’: 8×02 – Cluracan’s Tale"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifty-second issue of The Sandman<\/em>, Cluracan gets help from an old acquaintance in order to help cause an uprising. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read The Sandman<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“Cluracan’s Tale”<\/strong><\/p>\n

You know, for all my yapping about how the last issue was clearly<\/em> a big reference to H.P. Lovecraft, this issue helped me realize I was missing the bigger<\/em> reference in Worlds’ End<\/em>: Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales<\/em>. A group of strangers swapping stories in an inn while they are all traveling their own separate ways? My god, I seriously miss the obvious all the time<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I like the art in “Cluracan’s Tale.” I like the reasoning for why<\/em> Dream appears to help out Cluracan. It’s clear that this whole volume chronologically takes place after the events in Brief Lives<\/em> because Dream’s behavior has changed. The Dream I knew in the first seven volumes of this series would not have entered the Faerie realm to help anyone<\/em> out unless he benefited from it. He just wouldn’t have! He doesn’t intervene like that. But in this case, he chooses to help Cluracan because he wants to please Nuala. MY GOD, LOOK AT THAT CHARACTER GROWTH. <\/em>I love it so much!<\/p>\n

I even enjoyed the sheer verbose nature of Cluracan’s storytelling. It’s humorous, for the most part, but I must admit that it was incredibly<\/em> hard to read. This isn’t the most exciting tale ever told, and it started to drag quite a bit before Dream showed up. Hell, this honestly isn’t an issue I ever see myself revisiting. It’s neat, but the appeal doesn’t last very long. OH GOSH I SWEAR I STILL LIKE THE SANDMAN<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As consolation for the fact that I really can’t think of much else to say, let’s play a game. Imagine that all of us \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the whole Mark Does Stuff community \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are stuck in a giant room, and we’ve got an unknown number of hours to kill. What story would you choose to tell the group to help pass the time? (PS: I fully plan on participating in this storytelling exercise, so you should read the comments.)<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/strong><\/p>\n

– You can follow me on\u00c2\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0 Facebook<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0for any updates and live commentary on upcoming reviews I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m writing.
\n– If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to support what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m doing, you can click the little Donate button in the right sidebar,\u00c2\u00a0 buy eBooks on MarkDoesStuff<\/a>, or purchase physical books on\u00c2\u00a0 Lulu.com<\/a>.
\n-\u00c2\u00a0 Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0is now on sale for just $3.99!!!<\/a>
\n<\/a>– The third volume of Mark Tells Stories, \u00e2\u20ac\u01531337,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 is now out and available for just $1.00<\/a>!
\n-\u00c2\u00a0 You can purchase your very own Mark Reads video for just $25<\/a>, and I will read ANYTHING you want.
\n– Mark Reads is now on YouTube, and you can watch all my videos\u00c2\u00a0 right here!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"