The Sandman: A Game of You

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The Sandman: A Game of You
ISBN 1-56389-089-5
Creative team
Writer(s)Neil Gaiman
Artist(s)Dave McKean
Shawn McManus
Colleen Doran
Bryan Talbot
Dick Giordano
George Pratt
Stan Woch
Daniel Vozzo
Penciller(s)Shawn McManus
Colleen Doran
Bryan Talbot
Inker(s)Dick Giordano
George Pratt
Shawn McManus
Stan Woch
Letterer(s)Todd Klein
Colorist(s)Daniel Vozzo
Editor(s)Karen Berger
Alisa Kwitney

A Game of You (1993) is the fifth collection of issues in the

The Sandman. Written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Shawn McManus, Colleen Doran, Bryan Talbot, George Pratt, Stan Woch and Dick Giordano, and lettered by Todd Klein. The volume's introduction was written by Samuel R. Delany
.

It collects issues #32-37. The issues in the collection first appeared in 1991 and 1992. The collection first appeared in paperback and hardback in 1993.

Barbie, a minor character from The Doll's House, has recently divorced and is trying to rediscover her own identity. At the same time, Barbie's rich but childish fantasy world is threatened by a malevolent creature called the Cuckoo. Her hard-pressed imaginary friends reach out into the real world for help, resulting in blood and death in both worlds.

Gaiman often characterizes Sandman stories as "male" or "female"[citation needed]; A Game of You, dominated by female characters and points of view, is one of his female stories. Gaiman described A Game of You as "probably" his favorite volume in the series, "because it's most people's least favourite volume, and I love it all the more for that."[1]

This fifth collection continues the story of some of the characters of the second, The Doll's House, and is closely linked with the ninth, The Kindly Ones.

Each of the issues in the collection takes its name from a song, including

Velvet Underground song, "Over the Sea to Sky," from a Scottish folk song, and "I Woke Up and One of Us Was Crying" from Elvis Costello's "I Want You
."

It is preceded by Season of Mists and followed by Fables & Reflections.

Plot

The central character of A Game of You is Barbie, introduced as a resident of the house where

Thessaly; and a quiet man named George. Martin Tenbones, a character of Barbie's dreams in The Doll's House, enters into the waking world to give her the Porpentine, a quartz amulet, but is slain by the police. Using the Porpentine, Barbie returns to her fantasy realm, known simply as the Land, where she is required to oppose the mysterious villain called the 'Cuckoo'. Upon returning to the Land she is greeted by Wilkinson the shrew, Prinado the monkey, and Luz the dodo—her allies in the quest. In New York, George, recruited by the Cuckoo, releases a flock of birds to give nightmares to the other apartment residents. Immune to this, Thessaly kills George, and uses George's remains to divine the threat of the Cuckoo. Thessaly then summons the moon
, which offers advice; on which Thessaly, Hazel, and Foxglove travel to the Land to assist Barbie. However, as she is not "a real woman" due to her being biologically male and the Moon only being willing to transport biological females, Wanda is forced to stay behind with the unconscious Barbie and George's still-animated head.

Barbie has several adventures, which involve pursuit, loss of friends, and betrayal, and discovers that the Cuckoo resembles herself as a child, while the Land is identified as part of

Death
, who both wave her goodbye.

Cover art

Dave McKean has explained the origins of the arc's cover art as having "abused a colour photocopier, shone lights into it and moved things around on the surface ".[2]

Issues collected

Issue Title Writer Penciller Inker Colorist Letterer Ast Editor Editor
32 Slaughter on Fifth Avenue Neil Gaiman Shawn McManus Shawn McManus Daniel Vozzo Todd Klein Alisa Kwitney Karen Berger
33 Lullabies of Broadway Neil Gaiman Shawn McManus Shawn McManus Daniel Vozzo Todd Klein Alisa Kwitney Karen Berger
34 Bad Moon Rising Neil Gaiman Colleen Doran George Pratt & Dick Giordano Daniel Vozzo Todd Klein Alisa Kwitney Karen Berger
35 Beginning to See the Light Neil Gaiman Shawn McManus Shawn McManus Daniel Vozzo Todd Klein Alisa Kwitney Karen Berger
36 Over the Sea to Sky Neil Gaiman Shawn McManus & Bryan Talbot Shawn McManus & Stan Woch Daniel Vozzo Todd Klein Alisa Kwitney Karen Berger
37 I Woke Up and One of Us Was Crying Neil Gaiman Shawn McManus Shawn McManus Daniel Vozzo Todd Klein Alisa Kwitney Karen Berger

Colleen Doran redid the inking of issue 34 for the collection The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 2.[3]

References

  1. ^ Q&A with Neil Gaiman: Author, DC Comics Superstar, and Character on "The Simpsons", November 22, 2011, Omnivoracious (Amazon blog).
  2. ^ Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean: how we made The Sandman, interview by Phil Hoad, in the Guardian; published October 22, 2013; retrieved March 7, 2017
  3. ^ Low, Shawn. "Colleen Doran: Sandman #34. Absolute Sandman edition". comicartfans. Retrieved March 10, 2023.

Further reading

External links
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