The Sandman, Vol. 2: The Doll's House

Dream is one of the Endless. Picking up after he regained his home and power in the first volume, Gaiman dives deeper into the creepy gothic horror angle as we follow the seemingly-normal Rose, who is in fact a dream vortex, find an unknown grandmother and search for her long-lost younger brother. This was honestly the least intriguing part for me, with the many characters occupying her “doll's house” not being developed enough for me to be interested in them. However, I love how layered the story was, with a larger doll's house being seen from Desire's perspective (hearts pop up a lot in this graphic novel!), dreams themselves being structured as doll's houses, and whether the Endless are puppets of mortals or vice versa. The plot varied in personal interest, with the best issues being the oral tale from the ancient tribe in the prologue, the surprisingly profound century-woven interlude Men of Good Fortune, and the shiver-inducing Cereal Convention in later parts. Despite how trippy everything could be (art was amazing and sometimes flipped 90 degrees), I appreciated Gaiman retaining some structure through Sandman tracing his four missing servants Brute, Glob, Corinthian and Fiddler's Green. Also, loved that Edgar Allan Poe inspired raven/ dude Matthew.