I've already had a little bit of time to stand on my soap box and talk about The Sandman, but to me this is completely different. In the mainline The Sandman stories, it is difficult to find a comic that is illustrated as beautifully as other well-written stories like The Watchmen or Batman: Year One. This is the exception. Yoshitaka Amano illustrates this book, which has more like an illustrated children's book in appearance than it is a comic book. The art is fantastic, and if you recognize this particular style, that's because you probably used to play Final Fantasy games or read the Nintendo Power issues that featured his art among their Final Fantasy III (VI in Japan) walkthroughs. I've seen many a Moogle drawn by Amano. I credit Neil Gaiman in this volume because of his research and dedication to Japanese and East Asian storytelling. It reminded me of a lot of the works of Japanese and Chinese greats from my study of East Asian philosophy. Pick up this book. It's not part of the serial The Sandman stories and can be read completely separately or at any time during the normal continuity. It doesn't matter when you read it. Just read it.
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