The Sandman is an amazing comic published by DC Vertigo that is loved by goths, women, and other ‘‘unlikely’’ comic book fans - I myself one of them! It made comics more popular, with unique artwork and Gaiman’s writing brought him into the limelight - and as probably everyone knows now, he’s become a very successful writer. The Sandman ran for 75 issues from January 1989 (actually November 29, 1988) to March 1996, and is now available in volumes of different sizes. It has won many awards, and while there has been talk about a movie and TV series, so far we only have the show Lucifer.
The main character is Dream, who is the master of dreams. When we meet him, he has been captured by an occultist (who wanted to catch Death, Dream’s sister). He escapes after 70 years, collects his stolen objects and rebuilds his kingdom. He’s kind of a tragic hero, and he has faults, makes mistakes and learns from them, which I think is amazing. We also meet tons of other characters: Humans, gods from mythology and other mythical creatures, and of course, Dream’s siblings: Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium and Destruction. Gaiman has really built amazing worlds and characters that are very complete. That’s what he’s good at, making fantasy seem real and believable!
The character Death is a huge favorite, especially among goths, and she was modeled by Cinamon ‘‘Sin’’ Hadley. She was only 19, and sadly died of cancer at only 48 last year. Gaiman’s original idea was to have Death look like Nico, but Mike Dringenberg knew Cinamon and sent Gaiman a drawing of her. Death’s goth look became a huge inspiration for goth girls everywhere, and is now a pretty classic look - But not as frowned upon as people looking like The Crow, haha. She also appeared in a short comic called Death Talks About Life, raising awareness of HIV and promoting safe sex. It’s amazing, you can read it here!
For this post I will not be doing a story re-cap of all 10 volumes, but I will give you a short note about each, so that this post doesn’t get too long.
Preludes & Nocturnes: Issues 1-8, great art by Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III and Dave McKean. Captivating, dark, and wonderful.
The Doll’s House: Issues 9-16, art by Mike Dringenberg, Malcom Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli, Steve Parkhouse and Dave McKean. Wonderful, action-filled, deep and mysterious. Truly amazing!
Dream Country: Issues 17-20, art by Kelley Jones, Charles Vess, Colleen Doran, Dave McKean, Malcolm Jones III, Robbie Busch and Steve Oliff. Kind of random stories in this one, but it’s still good and has well-written characters. It also includes the script and notes for one of the issues, which was an insightful read.
Season Of Mists: Issues 21-28, art by Dave McKean, Kelley Jones, Mike Dringenberg, Matt Wagner, Malcolm Jones III, P. Craig Russell, Dick Giordano, George Pratt, Steve Oliff and Daniel Vozzo. Great story that keeps you engaged throughout the whole thing. Interesting worlds, and it’s really fun to see all the gods in this one! This also has really funny biographies at the end.
A Game Of You: Issues 32-37, art by Dave McKean, Shawn McManus, Colleen Doran, Bryan Talbot, Dick Giordano, George Pratt, Stan Woch and Daniel Vozzo. A single long story featuring previously mentioned characters. Very deep and sad in the end.
Fables & Reflections: Issues 29-31, 38-40, 50, Sandman Special #1 and Vertigo Preview #1, art by Dave McKean, Stan Woch, Dick Giordano, Bryan Talbot, Shawn McManus, Duncan Eagleson, Vince Locke, John Watkiss, Jill Thompson, P. Craig Russell, Mark Buckingham and Kent Williams. I did like it better than the first time I read it, but I still like the other volumes better. This has a lot of stories about real historical people, as well as famous people from religious myth (Orpheus here being Dream / Morpheus and Calliope's son). A lot of different drawing styles in this volume, some I didn't like, some I loved (like the scenes of Orpheus and Eurydice's wedding, and Dream, Death, Cain and Abel as children).
Brief Lives: Issues 41-49, art by Jill Thompson, Vince Locke and Dick Giordano. Dream and Delirium search for their long-lost brother Destruction and finally finds him.
World’s End: Issues 51-56, art by Alec Stevens, Bryan Talbot, Mark Buckingham, John Watkiss, Michael Zulli, David Giordano, Michael Allred, Shea Anton Pensa, Vince Locke, Gary Amaro, Dick Giordano, Steve Leialoha and Tony Harris. Foreword by Stephen King. A very short volume, containing several random shorter stories. The endless barely make an appearance in these stories.
A Game Of You: Issues 32-37, art by Dave McKean, Shawn McManus, Colleen Doran, Bryan Talbot, Dick Giordano, George Pratt, Stan Woch and Daniel Vozzo. A single long story featuring previously mentioned characters. Very deep and sad in the end.
“I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing.”
Fables & Reflections: Issues 29-31, 38-40, 50, Sandman Special #1 and Vertigo Preview #1, art by Dave McKean, Stan Woch, Dick Giordano, Bryan Talbot, Shawn McManus, Duncan Eagleson, Vince Locke, John Watkiss, Jill Thompson, P. Craig Russell, Mark Buckingham and Kent Williams. I did like it better than the first time I read it, but I still like the other volumes better. This has a lot of stories about real historical people, as well as famous people from religious myth (Orpheus here being Dream / Morpheus and Calliope's son). A lot of different drawing styles in this volume, some I didn't like, some I loved (like the scenes of Orpheus and Eurydice's wedding, and Dream, Death, Cain and Abel as children).
Brief Lives: Issues 41-49, art by Jill Thompson, Vince Locke and Dick Giordano. Dream and Delirium search for their long-lost brother Destruction and finally finds him.
World’s End: Issues 51-56, art by Alec Stevens, Bryan Talbot, Mark Buckingham, John Watkiss, Michael Zulli, David Giordano, Michael Allred, Shea Anton Pensa, Vince Locke, Gary Amaro, Dick Giordano, Steve Leialoha and Tony Harris. Foreword by Stephen King. A very short volume, containing several random shorter stories. The endless barely make an appearance in these stories.
The Kindly Ones: Issues 57-69, art by Dave McKean, Kevin Nowlan, Marc Hempel, Glyn Dillon, Charles Vess, Dean Ormston, Teddy Kristiansen and Richard Case. This makes up for the last one by being extra long and amazing. It continues a lot of the stories from earlier in the series, and a bunch of characters who have grudges against Dream go after him, so it’s very dramatic and suspenseful. It really sucks you in and makes you want more!
The Wake: Issues 70-75, art by Dave McKean, Michael Zulli, Charles Vess, Bryan Talbot, John Ridgway, Jon J. Muth and Daniel Vozzo. The final goodbye - to Morpheus and the series.
Even if you aren’t a comic book person, I would still recommend this. I’m not really into comics (except for Nemi, that I’ve read all my life - I even have the same tattoo as her!), and I still loved it. There were a couple of issues I just liked, but my favorites are The Kindly Ones and The Doll’s House. You really get sucked into the stories, and there are so many wonderful characters. I love that many of them that seem insignificant show up or are mentioned later, and have connections to other characters. So I say you should give it a go! There are physical copies as well as online copies - I read them on Read DC, I love their guided view.
My overall rating of the entire series is 4/5. Which here means one closed coffin, haha!
Next month I will be taking on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley! Feel free to read along with me this month! You can get the book on Amazon here. And same time next month I will be back with another post! Check back then to see if I think it’s better than Dracula, maybe some talk about movie adaptions and more!
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