Fables and Reflections (The Sandman, #6)

by Neil Gaiman

Bryan Talbot (Illustrator)

Fables & Reflections (1993) is the sixth collection of issues in the DC Comics series, The Sandman. It was written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Bryan Talbot, Stan Woch, P. Craig Russell, Shawn McManus, John Watkiss, Jill Thompson, Duncan Eagleson, Kent Williams, Mark Buckingham, Vince Locke and Dick Giordano, coloured by Danny Vozzo and Lovern Kindzierski/Digital Chameleon, and lettered by Todd Klein. The introduction is written by Gene Wolfe.

The issues in the collection first appeared in 1991, 1992 and 1993. The collection first appeared in paperback and hardback in 1993.

The book contains four tales under the banner of "Distant Mirrors", containing Issue #29 "Thermidor", #30 "August", #31 "Three Septembers and a January" and #50 "Ramadan". Three of the issues making up the "Distant Mirrors" group were published between the "Season of Mists" and "A Game of You" story arcs. The last, "Ramadan", was written contemporaneously, but because of art delays DC published it as Issue #50, after the "Brief Lives" arc.

Three other issues appearing in Fables & Reflections, published as the Convergence story "arc", are also single-issue short stories. "Convergence" appeared between the "A Game of You" and "Brief Lives" story arcs. It contains Issues #38 "The Hunt", #39 "Soft Places" and #40 "The Parliament of Rooks".

The collection also includes the Sandman Special "The Song of Orpheus", retelling the Greek myth of Orpheus, and a brief piece from a Vertigo promotional comic.

• ISBN10: 1852864974
• ISBN13: 9781852864972
• Publish Date: 20 January 1994 (first published 4 January 1994)
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Out of Print: 6 March 2013
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Titan Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 264
• Language: English

Reviews

[adastra]

A wonderful collection of short stories that are only loosely connected to the overall narrative, but give a lot of depth to it.

[empressbrooke]

Fables & Reflections was probably my least favorite Sandman volume so far. While I delighted in the single-issue stories in Dream Country, the ones contained in this one didn't thrill me as much. I lost my focus a few times and wished there weren't so many grouped together without a common theme. Dream Country, on the other hand, was the perfect taste of outside-the-plot mini tales.

The stories about Orpheus were the most interesting, being the most relevant to Dream, and I found myself wishing more issues were devoted to his story.