Vertigo, $3.50
Short Review: Almost certainly worth the money.
Having given us galleries for Dream, Death and Dream again, the Vertigo Marketing Board have decided, now that time is running short, to gather together any remaining artists who wanted to do stuff that didn't fit into the previous volumes, and pick an identifiable subset of subject matters, such as the Endless, to gather together and put out. Even so, there's still two solo Death pictures, although no solo Dream pictures. On the subject of the Death pictures, I wish to assert my right as a member of the whistle-blowers guild, and point out that although Peter Kuper's picture has a definite beauty, it's central idea is much similar to the one he used for the cover of Animal Man 78. So there.
The pictures vary, from the beautiful (Sherilyn Van Valkenburgh, Greg Spalenka, Al Davison, Bonnie To, Kent Williams, Paul Lee, and two mind-staggeringly wonderful pictures from John Totleben and Bill Sienkiewicz), to the ill-suited (Christian Alamy, Alison Seiffer, and Greg Capullo, whose is the other Death picture, and good reason for Mr. Capullo to go back to Image where Neil Gaiman found him). That said, there is many more in the first section than the second, and many of the pictures are worthwhile if only for alternate versions of the characters. The Endless en masse seem to be the favourite targets for producing great visual jokes. And Jill Thompson finally expands the range of Li'l Endless from just Death and Dream, seen in Sandman 40. All in all, well worth the money.
Andrew These reviews are copyright the authors