“The Sandman, Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections” is not quite as essential to the main storyline as the other Sandman short story collections.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a spellbinding, haunting series of stories, ranging from whimsical glimpses into the Dreaming to dark stories about the consequences of power. Neil Gaiman imbues every story with a sense of richness, mining mythology and history for the backdrops of his tales — and every single one casts a powerful spell over the readers.

The stories include:
-A theatrical director whose fear is reflected in a nightmare of falling.
-The story of Joshua Abraham Norton, the first and only Emperor of the United States – and the center of a struggle between Morpheus and Desire.
-Lady Johanna Constantine sets out to post-Revolutionary France to retrieve a very unusual severed head for Morpheus, and must fight against the repressive, destructive regime.
-An old legend of a werewolf obsessed with the portrait of a lovely young lady, and the lengths he goes to to find her.
-A Roman Emperor who becomes a beggar for a day, reflecting on his horrendous past and Rome’s bleak future.
-Marco Polo becomes lost in the desert, and stumbles into one of the places where the Dreaming overlaps with the waking world.
-The caliph of Baghdad realizes that for all the beauty and majesty of his city, it will eventually crumble like all other great things. So he seeks out the king of dreams to make a very unusual pact with him.

The two most intriguing stories are “The Song of Orpheus” and “The Parliament of Rooks.” The former is a story of Dream’s legendary son, who loses his true love right after their wedding. Grief-stricken, Orpheus feuds with his powerful father, and calls on his aunt Death to help him get his love back. And the latter is a charming little story about Daniel Hall, a toddler who slips into the Dreaming during his naptime. While there, he is told the story of Adam’s three wives, the tale of Cain and Abel, and the parliament of rooks….

While few of the stories in “Fables and Reflections” are directly tied to the central Sandman storyline, this collection of shorts adds a lot of richness and texture to Morpheus’ world. Witches, gods, emperors, werewolves, severed heads and artists all wend their way through these stories, in a world where magic — often dark, twisted and strange — lurks everywhere.

It also seems to have many meditations on the impermanence of things, and the need to remember the past — “Thermidor” shows us a France where all of the past is repressed and obliterated, including the myths that shaped its culture. Baghdad’s beauty and culture are threatened by time, and Rome begins to crumble out of one man’s terrible secrets.

Morpheus wends through these tales like a dark silk ribbon, subtlely shaping the destinies of those he touches — an emperor, a caliph, an explorer and a little baby boy. We see him sorrowful, majestic, cold-hearted and kind, particularly in the tales involving Orpheus, whom he loves but has still not forgiven. And we have more background on Eve, Cain and Abe, all dwelling in the world of the Dreaming.

“The Sandman, Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections” is a jigsaw puzzle of silken dreams and shadowy memories — a beautiful experience, even in its darker moments.

Approximately 300 years ago, one of the Endless vanished. None of the others have seen him since, nor do they know where he went.

But it was pretty inevitable that one day, somebody would go looking for him. “The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives” finally reveals what happened to the long-lost lord of Destruction, but it’s as the capstone to a bittersweet saga of everyday people, immortals, fallen gods and the most dysfunctional family in the universe.

After having a small meltdown in a gay bar, Delirium decides that she wants to find her older brother Destruction. She tries to enlist Dream to help her, and he decides to accompany his acid-tripping little sister on her quest. He’s already decided that her quest is hopeless, but he has nothing better to do after his latest romance failed.

But as Dream and Delirium make their way through the world, they come into contact with several people — both mortal and supernatural, from bellgirls to goddesses. Soon Dream realizes that they are spreading mayhem to anyone who tries to help them, and that finding his brother will exact a terrible cost from him.

At first, “Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives” felt kind of like a lighter, quirky chapter in the Sandman saga — it’s basically Morpheus and Delirium going on a little road trip to find Destruction. It’s kind of cute at first, especially since any story with Delirium is sure to be fun. Three words: tiny chocolate people.

But Gaiman’s story grows darker and more bittersweet as the the story winds on, especially since he unearths the stories of immortals adrift in a mortal world (think the goddess Ishtar dancing at a strip club). It’s a gritty, grimy world full of little flickers of haunting beauty, and ringed with magical realms.

Morpheus has changed drastically over the course of the Sandman series, growing from a cold arrogant creature to a more compassionate one. He’s still arrogant, but he recognizes it himself here — and in a twist worthy of Greek tragedy, he is forced into actions that will resonate through the rest of the series.

We also see more of Delirium, who has always seemed like a quirkily pathetic figure in a psychedelic sherbet-flavored wonderland. But here we see not only her deep love for her family, but a hint that she’s more powerful and perceptive than we’ve seen. And the people who are struck with misfortune aren’t just random redshirts — Gaiman lovely paints out their hopes, pasts and current lives.

While it seems rather lightweight at first, “The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives” winds itself into a darkly bittersweet masterpiece — and the springboard for the Sandman series’ ending.

Do you remember Barbie? Not the doll, but the creepily perky blonde from “The Doll’s House” who had a matching husband named Ken. Well, she’s the protagonist of the fifth “Sandman” collection, which is accurately titled “A Game of You” — a haunting, fairy-tale exploration into a young woman’s dreaming imagination, and the friends who are trying to save her.

Having split from Ken, Barbie has since moved to New York and is living in a small apartment building with a lesbian couple named Hazel and Foxglove, a kindly transwoman named Wanda, a creepy guy, and a prim mystery woman named Thessaly. She also hasn’t dreamed in two years.

But then she has a run-in with an imaginary creature from her childhood, who gives her the magical jewel called the Porpentine with his dying breath. And that night, she goes back into a fantasy world from her childhood — a place of talking animals, haunted forests, and a mysterious enemy called the Cuckoo.

But as Barbie (aka Princess Barbara) sets out to defeat the Cuckoo, Thessaly wakes Foxglove, Hazel and Wanda, and reveals that Barbie is in desperate need of their help — and uses her magic to open a gateway to the realm of dreams. But they may not be in time to save Barbie from the machinations of the Cuckoo — or New York from the destructive magic being stirred.

In most authors’ works, supporting characters are just window dressing for the main characters. In Neil Gaiman’s works, every character has their own unique backstory and purpose in the plot — Barbie was just one of the minor background characters in a previous story, but in “A Game of You” we discover her dreams, her past, her fears, and her own connection to the Dream King.

And in turn, the other characters are given well-developed backstories, problems and personalities — the no-nonsense Thessaly, hinted to be an ancient witch or something; Hazel, who is afraid of what her pregnancy might mean for her relationship, and the sensitive, loyal Wanda who will never let Barbie down. Even the crazy dog-hating lady has a REASON to be here, and a history of her own.

Gaiman’s storytelling here mingles an enchanted high fantasy world (reminiscent of Narnia) with a darker, more gruesome story. I mean, there’s a skinned face with eyes and tongue NAILED TO THE WALL, having a casual conversation with Wanda. Ew. And even if things are worked out by the end, not everything turns out all right — there are tragic losses, changes, and Barbie has left behind a part of her life.

And where is Morpheus in all this? He only appears in a few scenes, but his involvement is truly vital to the story. And no, I won’t say how.

“Sandman Volume 5: A Game of You” will probably leave you with a little smile, but a tear in your eye. A magnificently powerful, haunting story.

Morpheus of the Endless has had many trials throughout the ages… but none quite as strange as the one he must face in “The Sandman, Volume Four: Season of Mists.” The fourth collection of Neil Gaiman’s classic Sandman series centers on sudden changes in the world of Hell, and the terrifying choice that the Lord of Dreams must make — who does it go to?

After a disastrous meeting with the other Endless, Morpheus goes to Hell to set free his onetime lover, Nada. But when he gets there, he finds that Lucifer is tired of being the lord of Hell, and is shutting the whole place down — and he gives ownership of it to Morpheus. In the meantime, the souls of the damned are roaming Earth, and the anguished demons have nowhere to go.

Morpheus isn’t interested in ruling Hell, so soon various powers appear to claim Hell — Norse, Japanese and Egyptian gods, a trio of powerful demons, Order, Chaos, a Faerie diplomat, and a pair of angels are sent to watch the proceedings. Threats, bribes and tricks ensue, leaving Morpheus with a seemingly-impossible choice to make.

Just a warning: This comic book, despite its brilliant storytelling, left me with a sort of squirmy feeling, because it bases itself on Christian theology that many people actually believe in (heaven, hell, Satan, angels, God, etc). But it isn’t in line with those beliefs, so some parts of it come across as… uncomfortable.

However, you should always keep in mind that it is merely fiction. “Season of Mists” is epic in scope — it encompasses different worlds, dimensions and lands in a seeemingly endless, wondrously terrifying universe. Gaiman is absolutely brilliant at conjuring the exquisite and the grotesque, the eerie and the strange — and he manages all of those here.

And the art really helps here — the bleak, raw wastes of Hell, the snowflake beauty of the angels, the visceral grotesqueness of the demons (one is a lumpen creature with a melting eyeless head and toothy mouths for nipples), and the twilit, mildly unnerving realm of Dreaming.

As for Morpheus himself, this story is a surprisingly personal one. He’s given a realm he doesn’t want, but doesn’t seem to have any good way of ridding himself of it (at least, not at first). And the Lord of Dream has to face up to his own misdeeds — namely, he FINALLY figures out that he was horrible to Nada, and that his punishment of her was cruel. The way their story is wrapped up is painful, but still very touching.

“The Sandman Volume Four: Season of Mists” made me uncomfortable with some of its handling of Christian theology, but there is no denying that it is a richly-imagined, powerful story by a master storyteller.