Just finished Sandman vol 2: the Doll's House. Wow. I think in the accompanying essay to vol. 1, Gaiman talked about how the series really took off with the virtually plotless Dream and Death story that ended the first volume, and now having read vol. 2 I can only agree. Even the serial killer stuff, which I wasn't much expecting to like, ended up paying off. I'm impressed that he was able to get all those Disney references in Funland's backstory published. I was gonna say that I was surprised that Gaiman had been able to just stop his story arc and do entire issues like the Death encounter or the "time-travel" book in vol. 2. But thinking way back to when I read superhero-type books as a kid, I seem to remember that story arcs were sometimes interrupted by stand-alone issues. It's just that those were usually filler and Gaiman's are killer. Another thing I really liked was the way he managed to work the earlier DC Universe Sandmen into his story continuity as delusional victims of plotting dreamworld creatures. And, altho I still can't escape the small twinge of disappointment when the McKean covers are replaced by the more conventionally comix art of the stories, it does seem like Dringenberg and Jones have started to take more risks with their style, esp. in the later books. Part 6, in particular, is quite the tour de force.