I know. I said Victorian and it was Elizabethan. Mistakes like that happen when I write a script with an assumption in my head I think is a fact and I don’t have an editor or second set of eyes. Hopefully, my arguments still make sense to you.
[Also, the groundlings in Elizabethan theatres didn't have any seats at all! They just stood in the dirt, the original Elizabethan mosh pit, right in front of the stage! At the same time the best and worst "seats" in the theatre!]
I read Sandman during the 90s, I was teenager, I didn't really understand it as much as I just enjoyed it was different than the super hero trends of the 90s. It was poetic, beautiful and full of dreams. "Dream of a Thousand Cats" is a story I can come back to again and again.
I knew as a teenager that if I wanted to be cool and still read comics it would have to be something like sandman. I always grabbed sandman but always went heavy on marvel from the .50 bins
@@monolith_g it's okay to be into Marvel too, aside from Sandman's art being so graphic.... Marvel had some amazing brooding character like Silver Surfer or Adam Warlock. Or the drama of Nightcrawler's deep religious guilt complex while being haunted by his demonic look, even now looking back, those are just so amazing dramatic characters. Nightcrawler, looks like a devil and when he BAMFs it smells of sulfer, but as kids we all knew he was a good guy.
I read an interview with Neil Gaiman where he was asked what the Sandman was about. His answer was, "The King of Dreams learns all things must change or die and makes his choice." What impressed me about that statement is that as diverse as the various stories in The Sandman are, almost all of them tie into that theme in some way.
I've read the entire Sandman (plus the follow-ups Gaiman had produced such as The Dream Hunters, Endless Nights and Overture) at least 3 times, and I have to admit I cried at the end of the Kindly Ones every time. It really felt like losing a close friend. For me it still is one of the best comic books of all time.
The Kindly Ones is the best sandman issue in my opinion, the art is surreal and impressionistic and the story is so raw and emotional and vivid. Gaiman at his best
I hear ya. I read the series well over a decade ago, and my heart still hurts a bit when I think of those last few books. It's weird to say that I am both looking forward to, and dreading the end of Netflix series should it get enough seasons. Despite the changes they made, that series is bringing the story to life in a way I never thought I would see. Not sure if my poor heart could take seeing those last few books on the screen. :(
@@kristianwilliamson6527 I always start out not liking the art in The Kindly Ones, and by the end of the story being in complete awe of it. What a masterpiece
As comic books have become more like reading tv-shows, I'm starting to appreciate older comics more and more. Sandman often gets criticized for going off on tangents and not having a strong driving plot, but that's one of the aspects I love about it. You can pick up almost any of the TPBs and find a great little 1-4 issue story that just works on its own.
@@Neutral_Tired people usually resort to insults when they have no intelligent arguments to make = people like you are only here to comment if "arguments" like this are more in line with Street fighter and you are only the watcher and write something at excuse for your existence!
@@eddiejoewalt7746 The Boys TV show was never as balls to the wall as Ennis’s comic is. Even though The Boys comic is pretty tame compared to Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill’s Marshall Law and Rick Veitch’s The Bratpack and The Maximortal as far as a skewering of the superhero genre goes. Although The Boys and Sandman is an apples and oranges comparison in the first place.
I don't think any comic moment is more memorable than being at my library 20+ years ago and opening the trade to see the Sam Kieth art and Robbie Busch colors.
For me, it was the first time I read a black and white paperback of Asterix in Britain. I was probably about 8. And then discovering they had the full size ones in colour in Barnsley public library. Our parents would eventually just dump us there for an hour or so to go shopping. There was no risk that we were leaving as it was the highlight of the week.
I started reading comics back in the 50s, went into DC about the time the Golden Age heroes were being reconstructed, then discovered Marvel with FF#9 - I would have been 10 or 11 at the time, and collected every Marvel comic I could get my hands on for well over ten years. Then I got bored, and went cold turkey for well over 10 years. One day in the very early 1990s I rummaged through a dumper bin of comics collections and graphic novels in Waterloo Station and came across the first Sandman collection. Intrigued (and because I was slightly acquainted with Neil through SF fandom) I bought it and took it home, along with the first Justice League International collection, because that was hilarious. Within a week I had a large pull list of mainly Vertigo comics (plus a loyalty card) at one of London's comic shops. (Also searching for back issues of JLI, but that's another story.) Even when Vertigo's quality dropped to a level I was no longer interested in, I still bought, and buy, occasional runs that pique my interest. But Sandman remains, quite simply, the most complex, imaginative and meaningful comic I have encountered. I cannot pick a favourite.
Neil gaiman's work is a big inspiration for me. His approach to writing horror/supernatural stuff mixed with comedy was what made me love more macabre works
Probably my favorite stuff in the Graphic Novels was the Dream Country arc. The whole idea of Dream and Delirium going on a road trip was some of my favorite interactions between the Endless.
"Brief Lives," but yes, Gotta love Delirium. I wonder how many pitches Vertigo got to create a series about her, but I can see why it would be a hard character to base a series around.
My favourite story from Sandman would be "Three Septembers and a January" from "Fables and Recollections". Hauntingly beautiful story about Joshua Norton I, his insanity, his pride and the power of dream to carry us through life.
absolutely phenomenal what hes able to accomplish in a single issue. thats literally only one issue and its absolutely powerful. Master storytelling for real.
An issue that fascinates me is from World's End, issue 55 , titled "Cerements." It makes me wonder if Gaiman was just intentionally going crazy with the layering of story-telling. The arc is all about people telling stories. In each issue, a different character tells a different story.It's bookended by the revelation that one of the characters is telling the story of what happened to him to someone else. So, it's a Sandman story, about a man telling a story about people telling stories. Cerements goes either further by having the storyteller telling a story about people telling stories. one of those story tellers, you guessed it, tells a story of someone telling a story he was told. It never breaks down and manages to quickly throw in some important world building about the Endless.
Came here to say that. It's five levels of nested storytelling (and the final one teases looping back to the middle), and it's so effortless that you realise it only afterwards.
I can remember when I read this story that I was worried that I wouldn't be able to follow it. But Gaiman managed to make the story stay traceable. After this issue, I knew that Sandman was, above all, a story about stories and their impact on life.
By the time Gaiman found his voice for the series, The Sandman became an ode to stories and the act of storytelling. It's that simple. That issue and many others reflect this. I fear tho the tv series will skew that concept entirely by focusing either on the fantastical or the horror elements of each story arc.
@@GhostRydr1172 Stardust, Good Omens, and American Gods all show that Gaiman considers film/tv a radically different way to tell a story. I trust that the show will indeed skew the concept, but do so in a good way. Offhand, I can only remember one occasion where Dream is thoroughly stuck in reality, and that's when he's in an airliner seat, seemingly uncomfortably trying to keep his aspect moving along with the human contraption as it travels through the air (come to think of it, the time he feeds the birds, exhausted and listless, might be another). Otherwise, he is arguably never really there in reality: his body language is usually distancing, rebuffing; his size and appearance is variable, like he is slipping in and out of your memory while you talk to him; only when he appears in a retelling of a story, or when he meets Hob, does he take shape the way he does in the Dreaming. I wonder if (and how?) they will realise this in the show...
Never did pick up a Sandman comic, but I did get his sister's book, "Death: The High Cost of Living" and absolutely loved it. I know it's not the same team, but still was a great story.
Well it might as well be, the only 2 things that stayed contestant throughout all of Sandman was the writer and the lettering, both of which are in Death
It's so hard to choose a favorite story. "The Sound of Her Wings" was one of my favorites because it makes Death a friend who loves life and every person. Another favorite is "A Game of You." The value of the individual and our own identity as we define it is such a strong theme. Wanda is a beautiful character and the end of her story makes me cry every time I read it.
i’m reading through it for my first time right now and i love it! i can tell i’m not getting all the layers immediately but vids like these help to deepen the understanding and my love of it. it’s one of those books where you just go “wow” and sit for a minute whenever you finish a volume not knowing exactly why
Thank you for the vid. Emperor Norton I is one of my favorites from Sandman. I actually went and read about the real man afterwards. The idea that you can have literally nothing, die in the gutters and yet still have a dream that you share with the world its beautiful. In most stories this would have been a tale of despair or delirium, just someone to pity, but Gaiman elevated it to new levels.
While I do recommend reading all the TPBs in order, I absolutely love Season of Mists. In my opinion it’s when Dream developed a more fleshed out personality and begins taking responsibility for his actions. He is “humanized” as much as he can be. I originally was gonna go on a tangent about exactly “how” he was humanized, but it’s tough to put into words so instead I’ll recommend “just read it”
I became good friends with someone during high school back in the 90s over our shared affinity for Sandman, and it's a friendship that has endured to this day. I can also remember introducing Sandman to quite a few of my comic book reading friends during that time - the consensus amongst them was that they never gave Sandman a chance because on the surface it seemed too conceptual and high-brow for them, but once they started reading it they found it surprisingly accessible and they kept wanting to read more.
This is one of the reasons I have some trepidation about the live action show. The art was so essential to the writing that I am worried the show might lose something in the process of making it live action. That said... Gaiman did well shepherding Good Omens to TV so he has a track record of good translations. So I am cautiously optimistic about this.
I've must've red this story a million time since the first time I laid my eyes on it 17 years ago, and still you're video was still able to highlight stuff I didn't notice! What a great story, and a great analysts!
Season of Mists introduced me to Sandman. Then i went back and started from the beginning. I'm rereading it again after quite a while away and finding all the amazing things i missed the first few times. Storytelling at it's finest.
May be an unpopular opinion but my favorite parts of the Sandman are near the beginning, before the invention of the Vertigo imprint where Morpheus was allowed to be a part of the Wider DCU on a regular basis. Stuff like him interacting with J'onn J'onnz, inspiring the original golden age Sandman or facing off against Doctor Destiny are some of his most memorable moments
yeah it's so funny to me reading later sandman having a mostly grounded story, then I remember that superman exists in this universe (Despite there being like an in universe superman comic called hyperman with its own bizarros called weirdzos)
it started so quietly and gradually become the classic it now is, my first Sandman bought was 18, because i like cats, also it is now the only comic that will win a World Fantasy Award as they have since changed the rules and comics cant be considered
Have you listened to the amazon audiobook? I loved it! It's like a radio show I guess, it has actors, sound effects and all that jazz. Highly recommend it!
I read Sandman earlier this year after I had started watching your channel and getting into comics. I found it to be one of the best things I had ever read. A lot of ideas that are explored in the world of Sandman I found to be very comforting and interesting. There were moments that made me actually laugh and cry. I felt a real attachment to the characters because these gods are written to be so very human. I'm very excited for the Netflix adaptation. I see a lot of people already trashing on it before it has even released, which I think is quite unfair.
My favorite Sandman story isn't a storyline, it's a character arc. About once every year or two, Hob Gadling would show up, and he was a fantastic example of Gaiman illustrating how characters (and by extension, real people) can change and grow. Gaiman comes back to that idea in several stories and with several characters, and it seemed to be heavy on his mind as he wrote this epic tale of a character who held fast to a rigid sense of self, regardless of the circumstances. I always felt that was Gaiman trying (perhaps too hard sometimes) to remind the reader that Morpheus' tenacity was not the only way to live, nor was it necessarily a proper way to live. Gadling's also a great role model for learning to appreciate what makes life worth living, and how that's different for each individual.
I caught on to the fact that Sandman wasn’t actually about characters pretty quickly. Neil Gaiman is amazing writer he’s my favourite writer, but what separates Sandman from any other work that he’s ever done is that it’s about concepts not people.I never viewed Morpheus as a character, I viewed him as dreams. I never viewed death as a character, I interpreted death as death, Hob Gadling wasn’t really a character. He was humanity, growing and changing seeing the best and seeing the worst, but still deciding to progress,to go forward to never let itself die. I viewed John Dee as the unbridled human evil, what you would do if you were able to do anything. that’s far scarier than in the show,I hate how in the show they gave him a motivation. I don’t think all the writers really understood that it wasn’t about characters and motivations rather the human condition, my favourite parts of the book or not the overarching story. My favourite part of the book barely even have a dream in them but it’s when Neil Gaiman explored how dreams are like in the chapter with the captured muse or dream of thousand cats in the most devastating chapter with elemental girl. The Sandman simply is one of the greatest piece of fiction ever written.
Started reading Sandman a bit over a year ago and loved every bit of it, love introspections into it like this because it always gives and excuse to reread it and recommend it to others
When beginning to read comics, there were 2 comics I avoided: Watchmen, because as a deconstruction of comic book tropes first I had to learn myself about the world it deconstructs, and Sandman, mostly because I was intimidated by it in some way. Instead, what arguably got me into reading was Mystery Theatre and the meeting of the two Sandmen, Wesley and Morpheus. I wish Gaiman writes someday about the death of Wesley and his final encounter with Dream. I don't know, it could give a certain closure to the Golden Age hero.
Agree with the Sandman seeming intimidating. Somehow I expected it to be pretentious. Artsy with twists for the sake of twists and any meaning was an excuse instead of the motivation. And maybe I wouldn't have appreciated it at the time anyway. Not the action comic I was used to.
I did my comic reading at college, and we started with Watchmen. That taught us all the comic and superhero tropes even as it exploded them. And then Killing Joke and Dark Knight Returns. Sandman was different. We approached it with care and caution. Crikey! We approached it with reverence!
I'm still a little bit in love with Death, even after all these years. (And I have to say, the clip of Death on from the upcoming series is effortlessly spot on! IMHO, natch.)
I think one of the big points of the comic is that Shakespere became distant to everyone around him - he was viewing the world more as a writer than as a participant. Like Hamnet said, "All that matters to him is his stories." I do think that's kind of what Neil meant when he said "The price of getting what you want is getting what you want." Anyway, though "The Sound of her Wings" was the first issue I ever read, and it utterly blew me away, "A Midsummer's Night Dream" was my favorite until I read "Three Septembers and a January" (the one about Emperor Norton.) That issue became my favorite single comic book ever, and honestly one of my favorite short stories, period.
I don’t have a lot to add. Excellent review of one of my lifetime favorite comics. One thing about Sandman being so accessible for people who’re culturally high brow but not regular comics readers … which is a great thing, I’m not disparaging that at all! … but it did result in one of the least enjoyable letter columns I have ever read. Not just people starting their letters with ”I’m not the kind of person who reads comics, but…” But a lot of letter writers who seemed really desperate to prove that they weren’t ”that kind of person” by throwing in unnecessary literary references, complicated sentence structure and pretentious verbiage. Anyway, absolutely awesome comic. Everybody should read it. And I’m really *freaking* nervous about the adaptation that starts two days from now!
One thing that is worth mentioning about Sandman issue 19 is that it came out at about the same time as the "Dead Poets' Society" movie, which had thrown the role of Puck into the popular spotlight. I am sure Gaiman had already planned out the story before the movie came out, but the timing could not have been better, as the closing speech was fresh in the minds of many readers. I had the reverse experience as I didn't see the movie till later - I was living in France when it came out, not returning till the end of July 1990 (the month issue 19 came out). I also had a year of my brother's Sandman backissues to catch up on...
Sandman is my favorite comic series. I mean there’s Larry Hama’s G.I. Joe, which is monumental to me, as you know; but, there’s also Sandman. I am VERY MUCH looking forward to the Netflix show this Friday. With the Audible audio book, I have gotten Amanda into the series. We listen to the audio book while reading the actual comic online. She is as hooked as anyone can be, so she’s excited for the show. This issue is superb in every way you mentioned, so I won’t reiterate and repeat. With the series, it was criticized as not having a driving plot, meandering on side stories and such, but that’s how dreams are, right? Continuous, ever changing narratives that wander here and there. The thing about it is that story threads, random characters, come back later and are integral to the next stories. Think of Daniel and his being born in The Dreaming in the early issues, and his tremendous importance at the end. That’s one example, but a pivotal one. Neil Gaiman took threads and wove them all into a gorgeous tapestry, and I cannot love it more.
The Kindly Ones is probably my favorite. Lyta Hall is such a tragic character, with her inevitable downward spiral and eventual quest for revenge with the Furies. Also loved the new Corinthian in the arc. Marc Hempel’s art was oddly compelling as well, and is an unexpected match for the story and tone.
Sandman was a great read and opened up comics to new readers. I thoroughly enjoyed the audible series and the Netflix series was great also. I do wish that we saw more DC characters in the TV series as we had in the comics, but I understand why we didn’t see Mr Miracle or the Martian Manhunter.
Sandman is one of those books that you know has surpassed just being a great comic by the fact that people still love it today and creators (Including Neil) are constantly trying to recapture that magic, but that main story just stands on it's own and nothing else can quite replace or continue it. Not knocking some of the other stories, such as Dream Hunters, that came after. But that first series was just...Magic! It just works on so many levels that it's hard to find anything that captures that same feeling. If I were to say my favorite issues, they would have to be #4 and #17. When Lucifer threatens to imprison Morpheus and asks for one reason to let him go and Morpheus responds: "Even in Hell they dream of Heaven.", it still gives me chills. And A Dream of Cats is just such a beautiful story that I have to include it. I love cats and that story gets me every time I read it.
I've been listening to the sandman Dramatic audiobook version. It's wonderfully done. neilG lends his voice to be the narrator, along with some star voice actors.
Slight edit needed at 9:18 - Victorian Era should be Elizabethan - Victorian era is 1837-1901, Elizabethan is 1558-1603. Sorry, i'm nitpicking, great essay, i was lucky that i was working at a comic store when the series started so collected from issue 1 - such a fantastic series.
I wish I could give this video more than 1 like...these were my favorite comics growing up, and remain so now! It's so hard to pin down a favorite story or arc, but I think I like Ramadan the best (both the story and the art...P. Craig Russel is just amazing).
I own all 10 volumes of Vertigo's The Sandman collection, and they are the only item I proudly display in my house. Got no posters, statues, game consoles or other books on display. Just those books. They had such a profound effect on me as a teenager that, 10 years later, I still remember every chapter of every book. The Sandman, much like V for Vendetta and Watchmen, is more than a comic book series. *_It is art._*
I remember the first issue of The Sandman I ever read was Calliope, the month it came out. I was also a young teenager, so most of it passed well above my head. The parts that I did get though, hooked me right in, like Despair’s sigil. Soon, I was combing back through the previous issues, it’s immediate popularity made it no easy task, but I eventually got my hands on issues 1-16 as well as devoutly picking up each new issue. I’d not ever read anything like it before. An older schoolmate had introduced me to The Watchmen, and O’Barr’s, The Crow, but those were ultimately still superhero comics. I think that the series holds such a special place in so many people’s hearts because it was so utterly new, and so absolutely progressive, no other series that I knew of (at the time) featured queer and trans folks as full characters, treated with respect and given such agency, and the Netflix series is taking it a few steps further in a positive direction, giving some of the secondary and tertiary characters that felt a little more like plot devices in the original comics even more agency and awareness. I’m glad we have the original series and I’m also glad we have this modern adaption, with modern ideas about characterization and narrative.
I read the first five Sandman collections a couple of years ago. I can see why people like it, but it just isn't my thing. I'm more impressed with Gaiman as a person than as a writer.
Me too. When you really think about it, Chris' summary here is better than reading the comic itself. The reason? Gaiman's good at collecting plot points. But he enacts them clumsily. I _had_ that issue. I was stunned at how clunkily all the plot elements were thrown at each other. The art did _try_ to make it all elegant. But then I started feeling that the art & story weren't working together _because_ of all the inelegance. Like the affair with Titania & Morpheus: they're discussing it _right NEXT TO_ Oberon. If he'd gotten up to get popcorn then sat back down in his "throne drawn to illustrate their separation" *that* would have been clever. Instead, we get him announcing they won't return to this realm *as **_if_* he heard & knows about the affair, is mad, but under-reacts? This is a thing Gaiman does regularly. He gets the plot-point in, but in such a ham-handed way it's like the beginning of that story-line where Destiny gathers the family, then says "this begins here, with this family dinner, then Desire just asks Dream if he'd banished any former lovers to Hell lately. Like... that felt like Desire could have _texted_ that question to him. It's as if Gaiman wanted that setting, a plot-point & so he just put things in that setting. But it had *no further purpose.* Same with Titania & Dream's affair, it doesn't seem to be connected to Oberon's announcement, at least not the way Gaiman frames it (although I hesitate to use this example as someone will say that's Gaiman texturing the dream). In short, while Larry Hama talks about introducing plot points, then allowing the story's characters to determine where he goes with them, Gaiman seems to be the Total Opposite. He does include characters' personalities, but more or less in passing to the Plot Points. They often feel like they don't fit at all & are simply filler.
I was facinated with the universe building of the Sandman. The Endless who all have names starting with D. In the end Dream dies and his son becomes the new Dream. His powers and responsibilities are so large that we often get turned off by his lack of empathy and nurturing towards human beings. All things that dream are his domain. It's awesome and then spawned the whole Lucifer series which is huge. Also the Death series. I'm pretty big on the whole goth music and fashion so having larger than life characters who are gothy does my heart some good. I love that when he tells the woman who was the mother of his son that some day he will return and claim his son, she said something like, "Over my dead body you creapy bastard!", such a reasonable response.
what I love most about sandman is that it's one of my favorite series and I still haven't read the whole thing. I've just read various trades I've picked up. also the first sandman trade I read is the one with this issue
Interesting choice of issue to look at. I must admit the Midsummer Nights Dream issue was quite hard to get my head round as I felt like you needed a half decent grasp of William Shakespeare and that particular play to understand the references and jokes. So good job on analysing it as it makes it easier to understand. In the back of that book (the foreword to the script section) Neil Gaiman does say that Midsummer Night Dream issue was one of the hardest to write as it was so technically intricate. Great video as always.
A very thoughtful and beautiful examination of an exceptional book. I think one of your best videos yet. Really well done. I think this video will inspire people to check out this series if they haven’t yet. This video reminded me how good Sandman is and I’m definitely going to go back and reread these stories.
Like the source material, I think this might be your finest work. Really appreciated how deep you went on the analysis and wish more channels would follow suit. Kudos.
I used to read Sandman during "study" hall in high school. It was kind of my refuge from all the BS of high school. I don't remember reading other comic books, just that one. It captured my imagination. In Fort Wayne, IN, where I live, there's a store called Books, Comics & Things. I asked my cousin to drive me there so I could buy a Sandman comic. She did not have a positive view of comic book aficionados. This was the 90s. I'm sure her view was formed by seeing the Comic Book Guy in The Simpsons. She hemmed and hawed and said, "OK, I'll take you there, but if I see one guy wearing a Superman shirt I'm leaving." I told her don't be silly, comic book fans aren't the uber-nerds you think they are. I tried to convince her of what fine literature Sandman was. She wasn't buying it. So we went to the store, and you know what we saw don't you? From my recollection, it wasn't the Superman shield. It was Superman taking flight, punching the air: "Up, up, and away!" She is standing behind the guy who's wearing the shirt, pointing at him and mouthing, "Oh, my god!" I don't remember seeing anyone there wearing a Superman shirt before or after that time. My cousin left the store, but I was able to purchase my Sandman comic. That was the only time we went to a comic store together. I haven't read my Sandman comics in twenty years. It may be time to revisit them.
Thanks for this. One of amazingly influences series from my formative years. Shocking that it introduced so many new concepts, that were excluded from every other area of my life and media.
Sandman was a real game changer for me. Moore and Miller may have seeded the grim dark in comics but Gaimen's use of horror, non-European mythology and gender was a real eye opener to a younger me. Still have my issue #1 bagged and an exclusive slipcase that held the 1st 2 volumes.
Just so you know, as a 90s comic reader who was too up his own A@@ to read vertigo and regret it to this day, after watching and falling in love with the story, the first singular thing I wanted to do was jump on and see if you had a sandman video. you're a fun guy. keep up the great work :)
Oddly enough, "Season of Mists" was the first Sandman book I read at the advise of a friend who basically said what Chris said "They're not always interconnected stories and can be read in any order." I once read "A Midsummer Night's Dream" while I was watching a live performance of it in a public park! It made the story look more magical to me. "Dream Country" and "Worlds End" were excellent collections of stories but I'll always prefer "Season of Mists" because it looked to me like Neil was starting to gain his footing regarding the characters and the central theme of the series at that point.
I have been waiting for this video for years!! So happy to hear your thoughts on one of my favourite series of all time. Really interesting insights. ngl, I totally missed the Titania/Morpheus affair angle, so I'm glad you pointed that out, adds some really interesting context to that issue.
I've read the full first ten volumes of the Sandman TPBs and by far my favorite story was "Façade" in issue 20 (the one about Element Girl). I haven't read it in quite some time, but it's a beautiful story that really spoke to me, and some the art has made a permanent residence in my mind.
This Netflix adaptation is a terrific version of The Sandman. Not only that, it’s one of the best adaptations I’ve seen in my entire life (I am 54 so that’s saying something). It manages to be remarkably faithful to the source, while still making it work in the new medium, AND also updating and revising dialogue, characters and plot to be in line with changes to the cultural zeitgeist, and also just to make things better. The only thing one could critique about it is that it may be hard to follow for brand new viewers who aren’t literature nerds. Gaiman’s work never holds the reader’s hand…he has expectations of who his audience is and what they know and understand. While the show does considerable work to smooth the edges and explain or simplify things, it’s still a rich, layered and complex work. So some may be confused. But I still think it’s marvelous!
I have the Absolute Editions of Sandman. $150AU each at the time but worth every cent. Absolutely adore the series and I've reread it several times. Not just one of the best comics ever, but one of the best stories period!
You've motivated me again to take a deep dive into some excellent comics material. Your analysis is so literary, I will try to share this topic with my favorite book club. They dabble in graphic novels thanks to my efforts, and hopefully Sandman will pique them to enjoy our beloved media format on this same elevated level. Bravo, great review, Chris! 👏👏👏
The beat of the story is that each of the major characters has their head full of their own thoughts and at some point fail to hear when another character says something that they should have heard. And it comes back to haunt them in later episodes.
I can't pick a favorite arc! They're all so good! If I had to choose, I'd go with World's End. I could practically smell the ending coming, but when *that* moment happened, when I read it during some free time at a competition, I fell silent. I think I cried. The rest of the run became a slow inevitability as I read through the next several volumes. But it wasn't just the ending, I loved the whole volume. The funeral story was so much fun because of the story in a story in a story in a story in story in a story. Hob's Leviathan and Golden Boy were some of my personal favorites.
I came to The Sandman in my forties, and I'm grateful for that. I see it through different eyes than if I had read it when it came out when I was in high school. The Sandman is an important part of the late Bronze/early Copper Age in the 1980s, when arguably all of the greatest comic writing appeared. I look forward to watching Netflix's Sandman when it drops tomorrow and understand that it must be something different than the original comic to work in the medium of streaming television. Cheers to you for your thoughtful analysis of this important series. 👍🏻👍🏻
I had read bits and pieces of Sandman over the years, but this year I decided to read it end to end. I'm through Volume 5 so far. I love how each arc feels like a self-contained story. In today's comic world, they'd probably make a new No. 1 after each time a new one started. I love the experimentation and the different feel each artist brings to the story. I wasn't really looking forward to the Netflix show in any way, but I'm curious to see how they approach the adaptation. Great video!
Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comic series was great...I saw the Netflix version which is a dream come true and my dreams almost shattered. I can't wait to see Season of Mists, it is my favorite among the series
Very cool analysis. Good job! My favorite story arc is precisely Season of Mists, love the mythological dips Gaiman takes, his interpretations and the predicament Dream finds himself in. I do agree with you that the art can be spotty at times (I think that is kinda the only complaint I've gotten from a couple of friends that I have gotten to read Sandman), so art-wise my favorite arc is by far "Overture"; JHWilliams III is fan-freakin-tastic and every panel of it is mind blowing.
I generally enjoyed the TV series (so far) - my sense is that they have a much better idea of where they're going with it - it feels like the original comics figured out where they were going as they went (though they do an excellent job of weaving earlier threads back into the tapestry later). The one thing that stood out to me as a bad change was the very beginning - the reason Burgess was able to capture Dream in the first place - comic Dream was vulnerable because he was returning, depleted, from an errand in a distant place, leaving him uniquely vulnerable. TV Dream was vulnerable because he came to Earth to hunt the Corinthian. That just raises questions about every other time Morpheus visits Earth during the series. Also, in the comics, there's an eventual prequel (Overture) which ties together ideas from the original comic run (the idea of a dream vortex, and the Dream of a Thousand Cats) to explain Dream's quest that left him vulnerable, and the TV series not having the opportunity to include that story is a loss.
Do you guys remember *The Books of Magic* with Timothy Hunter, the boy with glasses who is learning to be a wizard? I wish there was more stories in that series. But people kept confusing him with that other boy wizard.
There are a lot of stories in that series. At least 100 issues across different volumes. They recently put out two omnibus volumes of it. I think a third volume is forthcoming.
@@lakrids-pibe Omnibus volume 1 contains: The Books of Magic (Series 1) #1-4 Mister E #1-4 The Children's Crusade #1-2 Arcana: The Books of Magic Annual #1 Vertigo Visions: Doctor Occult #1 "The Lot" from Vertigo Rave #1 The Books of Magic (Series 2) #1-32 The Books of Fairie: Auberon's Tale #1-3 Omnibus volume 2 contains: The Books of Magic (Series 2) #33-75 The Books of Magic Annual #1-3 The Books of Faerie #1-3 The Books of Faerie: Molly's Story #1-4 Hellblazer: Books of Magic #1-2 Vertigo: Winter's Edge #1-3 Apparently, volume 3 will contain: THE TRENCHCOAT BRIGADE #1-4 THE NAMES OF MAGIC #1-5 HUNTER: THE AGE OF MAGIC #1-25 and BOOKS OF MAGICK: LIFE DURING WARTIME #1-15 So this is probably around 150 issues total. There’s a more recent series that ran from 2018 -2020 that ran for another 23 issues. So yeah, around 175 maybe after all is said and done.
I really really enjoyed the Netflix show. I thought over all, it was a fantastic adaptation. My one real issue being I wish the series leaned a little more into the horror aspects of Sandman. They got the epic fantasy down perfectly, but much of the horror was seemingly abandoned for the show.
I feel it was most blunted in Dee's Diner Disaster, but that was a bit more welcome for me. Gaiman himself wasn't too fond of that issue, and was mostly just floundering to find his authorial voice until he wrote about Death. And personally, I found it a bit too gruesome and edgy without narrative stakes to the or real connective tissue to Dream and his business, despite Dee's presence. So the show actually connecting everything together and not making me feel absolutely miserable for watching it feels like an absolute win for me. So now the
I know. I said Victorian and it was Elizabethan. Mistakes like that happen when I write a script with an assumption in my head I think is a fact and I don’t have an editor or second set of eyes. Hopefully, my arguments still make sense to you.
I personally didn’t notice! Excellent video as always!
To err is human... 🙂
[Also, the groundlings in Elizabethan theatres didn't have any seats at all! They just stood in the dirt, the original Elizabethan mosh pit, right in front of the stage! At the same time the best and worst "seats" in the theatre!]
It's all good! One little mistake is bound to make its way into such content-heavy videos.
I was about to say it but saw you acknowledged it. Good on you!
I read Sandman during the 90s, I was teenager, I didn't really understand it as much as I just enjoyed it was different than the super hero trends of the 90s. It was poetic, beautiful and full of dreams. "Dream of a Thousand Cats" is a story I can come back to again and again.
Indeed, I read the graphic novels as a fashion guide when I was a youth. Glad to revisit them now with a fresh eye towards the storytelling.
I'm extra curious to see if "Dream of a Thousand Cats" ends up being adapted by the TV show. That will be a tricky episode to do, I'm sure.
@@KabukiKid why not do it all stylized animation? They did it before on American Gods ua-cam.com/video/670ME0eCGFM/v-deo.html
I knew as a teenager that if I wanted to be cool and still read comics it would have to be something like sandman. I always grabbed sandman but always went heavy on marvel from the .50 bins
@@monolith_g it's okay to be into Marvel too, aside from Sandman's art being so graphic.... Marvel had some amazing brooding character like Silver Surfer or Adam Warlock. Or the drama of Nightcrawler's deep religious guilt complex while being haunted by his demonic look, even now looking back, those are just so amazing dramatic characters. Nightcrawler, looks like a devil and when he BAMFs it smells of sulfer, but as kids we all knew he was a good guy.
I read an interview with Neil Gaiman where he was asked what the Sandman was about. His answer was, "The King of Dreams learns all things must change or die and makes his choice." What impressed me about that statement is that as diverse as the various stories in The Sandman are, almost all of them tie into that theme in some way.
💯
😅
I've read the entire Sandman (plus the follow-ups Gaiman had produced such as The Dream Hunters, Endless Nights and Overture) at least 3 times, and I have to admit I cried at the end of the Kindly Ones every time.
It really felt like losing a close friend. For me it still is one of the best comic books of all time.
The Kindly Ones is the best sandman issue in my opinion, the art is surreal and impressionistic and the story is so raw and emotional and vivid. Gaiman at his best
I hear ya. I read the series well over a decade ago, and my heart still hurts a bit when I think of those last few books. It's weird to say that I am both looking forward to, and dreading the end of Netflix series should it get enough seasons. Despite the changes they made, that series is bringing the story to life in a way I never thought I would see. Not sure if my poor heart could take seeing those last few books on the screen. :(
@@kristianwilliamson6527 I always start out not liking the art in The Kindly Ones, and by the end of the story being in complete awe of it. What a masterpiece
As comic books have become more like reading tv-shows, I'm starting to appreciate older comics more and more. Sandman often gets criticized for going off on tangents and not having a strong driving plot, but that's one of the aspects I love about it. You can pick up almost any of the TPBs and find a great little 1-4 issue story that just works on its own.
like reading tv-shows = are you that 💩head
the boys TV SHOW IMPROVED TO THE COMICS !
@@eddiejoewalt7746 people usually resort to insults when they have no intelligent arguments to make
@@Neutral_Tired people usually resort to insults when they have no intelligent arguments to make = people like you are only here to comment if "arguments" like this are more in line with Street fighter and you are only the watcher and write something at excuse for your existence!
@@Neutral_Tired plus i didnt know your UA-cam page have porn in it!
@@eddiejoewalt7746 The Boys TV show was never as balls to the wall as Ennis’s comic is. Even though The Boys comic is pretty tame compared to Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill’s Marshall Law and Rick Veitch’s The Bratpack and The Maximortal as far as a skewering of the superhero genre goes. Although The Boys and Sandman is an apples and oranges comparison in the first place.
I don't think any comic moment is more memorable than being at my library 20+ years ago and opening the trade to see the Sam Kieth art and Robbie Busch colors.
Sam Keith's hellscape is so rad!
For me, it was the first time I read a black and white paperback of Asterix in Britain. I was probably about 8. And then discovering they had the full size ones in colour in Barnsley public library. Our parents would eventually just dump us there for an hour or so to go shopping. There was no risk that we were leaving as it was the highlight of the week.
I started reading comics back in the 50s, went into DC about the time the Golden Age heroes were being reconstructed, then discovered Marvel with FF#9 - I would have been 10 or 11 at the time, and collected every Marvel comic I could get my hands on for well over ten years. Then I got bored, and went cold turkey for well over 10 years. One day in the very early 1990s I rummaged through a dumper bin of comics collections and graphic novels in Waterloo Station and came across the first Sandman collection. Intrigued (and because I was slightly acquainted with Neil through SF fandom) I bought it and took it home, along with the first Justice League International collection, because that was hilarious. Within a week I had a large pull list of mainly Vertigo comics (plus a loyalty card) at one of London's comic shops. (Also searching for back issues of JLI, but that's another story.) Even when Vertigo's quality dropped to a level I was no longer interested in, I still bought, and buy, occasional runs that pique my interest. But Sandman remains, quite simply, the most complex, imaginative and meaningful comic I have encountered. I cannot pick a favourite.
Do you remember when forbidden planet was in Denmark street?
Neil gaiman's work is a big inspiration for me. His approach to writing horror/supernatural stuff mixed with comedy was what made me love more macabre works
Probably my favorite stuff in the Graphic Novels was the Dream Country arc. The whole idea of Dream and Delirium going on a road trip was some of my favorite interactions between the Endless.
Delirium is delightful.
@@lakrids-pibe I see what you did there 🙃
"Brief Lives," but yes, Gotta love Delirium. I wonder how many pitches Vertigo got to create a series about her, but I can see why it would be a hard character to base a series around.
My favourite story from Sandman would be "Three Septembers and a January" from "Fables and Recollections". Hauntingly beautiful story about Joshua Norton I, his insanity, his pride and the power of dream to carry us through life.
absolutely phenomenal what hes able to accomplish in a single issue. thats literally only one issue and its absolutely powerful. Master storytelling for real.
An issue that fascinates me is from World's End, issue 55 , titled "Cerements." It makes me wonder if Gaiman was just intentionally going crazy with the layering of story-telling. The arc is all about people telling stories. In each issue, a different character tells a different story.It's bookended by the revelation that one of the characters is telling the story of what happened to him to someone else. So, it's a Sandman story, about a man telling a story about people telling stories. Cerements goes either further by having the storyteller telling a story about people telling stories. one of those story tellers, you guessed it, tells a story of someone telling a story he was told. It never breaks down and manages to quickly throw in some important world building about the Endless.
I kinda wonder if he was inspired by the movie "the saragosa manuscript" for that one. I think he brings it up in American gods.
Came here to say that. It's five levels of nested storytelling (and the final one teases looping back to the middle), and it's so effortless that you realise it only afterwards.
I can remember when I read this story that I was worried that I wouldn't be able to follow it. But Gaiman managed to make the story stay traceable. After this issue, I knew that Sandman was, above all, a story about stories and their impact on life.
By the time Gaiman found his voice for the series, The Sandman became an ode to stories and the act of storytelling. It's that simple. That issue and many others reflect this.
I fear tho the tv series will skew that concept entirely by focusing either on the fantastical or the horror elements of each story arc.
@@GhostRydr1172 Stardust, Good Omens, and American Gods all show that Gaiman considers film/tv a radically different way to tell a story. I trust that the show will indeed skew the concept, but do so in a good way.
Offhand, I can only remember one occasion where Dream is thoroughly stuck in reality, and that's when he's in an airliner seat, seemingly uncomfortably trying to keep his aspect moving along with the human contraption as it travels through the air (come to think of it, the time he feeds the birds, exhausted and listless, might be another). Otherwise, he is arguably never really there in reality: his body language is usually distancing, rebuffing; his size and appearance is variable, like he is slipping in and out of your memory while you talk to him; only when he appears in a retelling of a story, or when he meets Hob, does he take shape the way he does in the Dreaming. I wonder if (and how?) they will realise this in the show...
Never did pick up a Sandman comic, but I did get his sister's book, "Death: The High Cost of Living" and absolutely loved it. I know it's not the same team, but still was a great story.
Well it might as well be, the only 2 things that stayed contestant throughout all of Sandman was the writer and the lettering, both of which are in Death
It's so hard to choose a favorite story. "The Sound of Her Wings" was one of my favorites because it makes Death a friend who loves life and every person. Another favorite is "A Game of You." The value of the individual and our own identity as we define it is such a strong theme. Wanda is a beautiful character and the end of her story makes me cry every time I read it.
i’m reading through it for my first time right now and i love it! i can tell i’m not getting all the layers immediately but vids like these help to deepen the understanding and my love of it. it’s one of those books where you just go “wow” and sit for a minute whenever you finish a volume not knowing exactly why
Your obvious delight in your work creates a contagious enthusiasm for the comics you discuss.
Thank you for the vid.
Emperor Norton I is one of my favorites from Sandman. I actually went and read about the real man afterwards. The idea that you can have literally nothing, die in the gutters and yet still have a dream that you share with the world its beautiful. In most stories this would have been a tale of despair or delirium, just someone to pity, but Gaiman elevated it to new levels.
"Three Septembers and a January" is literally my favorite issue, and one of my favorite short stories period. It's a wonderful story.
My favorite single issue was "The Sound of Her Wings" and my favorite arch was "Brief Lives".
The entire 75 issue run + 1 special is a masterpiece.
Very much like the Mona Lisa on your t-shirt 👍
While I do recommend reading all the TPBs in order, I absolutely love Season of Mists. In my opinion it’s when Dream developed a more fleshed out personality and begins taking responsibility for his actions. He is “humanized” as much as he can be. I originally was gonna go on a tangent about exactly “how” he was humanized, but it’s tough to put into words so instead I’ll recommend “just read it”
I became good friends with someone during high school back in the 90s over our shared affinity for Sandman, and it's a friendship that has endured to this day.
I can also remember introducing Sandman to quite a few of my comic book reading friends during that time - the consensus amongst them was that they never gave Sandman a chance because on the surface it seemed too conceptual and high-brow for them, but once they started reading it they found it surprisingly accessible and they kept wanting to read more.
Personally what captivates me the most from Sandman is just how brilliant it's art is.
This is one of the reasons I have some trepidation about the live action show. The art was so essential to the writing that I am worried the show might lose something in the process of making it live action.
That said... Gaiman did well shepherding Good Omens to TV so he has a track record of good translations. So I am cautiously optimistic about this.
@@TimothyCollins you shouldnt be, the composition in the show is dogshit
it helped that Gaiman wrote his scripts specifically to enhance the talents of the artist he was working with.
Charles Vess is a legend. Overture is packed with beautiful artwork as well; it’s worth looking up.
I've must've red this story a million time since the first time I laid my eyes on it 17 years ago, and still you're video was still able to highlight stuff I didn't notice! What a great story, and a great analysts!
Season of Mists introduced me to Sandman. Then i went back and started from the beginning. I'm rereading it again after quite a while away and finding all the amazing things i missed the first few times. Storytelling at it's finest.
May be an unpopular opinion but my favorite parts of the Sandman are near the beginning, before the invention of the Vertigo imprint where Morpheus was allowed to be a part of the Wider DCU on a regular basis. Stuff like him interacting with J'onn J'onnz, inspiring the original golden age Sandman or facing off against Doctor Destiny are some of his most memorable moments
His interactions with John Constantine and confusion about the Justice Society are also pretty interesting
He was heavily borrowing from Alan Moore's Swamp Thing in those early issues. It's very well loved as well - check it out if you haven't!
yeah it's so funny to me reading later sandman having a mostly grounded story, then I remember that superman exists in this universe (Despite there being like an in universe superman comic called hyperman with its own bizarros called weirdzos)
I actually make motion comics on my channel and I’ve adapted one or two Sandman issues into motion comics with a full profile cast and sound design.
Oh my god, this was the first comic I ever read that got me into comics. I pretty much only bought Vertigo comics as well.
Those golden years of Vertigo were quite special. I gobbled them up.
it started so quietly and gradually become the classic it now is, my first Sandman bought was 18, because i like cats, also it is now the only comic that will win a World Fantasy Award as they have since changed the rules and comics cant be considered
Have you listened to the amazon audiobook? I loved it! It's like a radio show I guess, it has actors, sound effects and all that jazz. Highly recommend it!
Yep, it is incredibly good!!!!
I read Sandman earlier this year after I had started watching your channel and getting into comics. I found it to be one of the best things I had ever read. A lot of ideas that are explored in the world of Sandman I found to be very comforting and interesting. There were moments that made me actually laugh and cry. I felt a real attachment to the characters because these gods are written to be so very human. I'm very excited for the Netflix adaptation. I see a lot of people already trashing on it before it has even released, which I think is quite unfair.
As an aspiring writer, Midsummer's night dream was simply inspiring and beautiful to read about.
My favorite Sandman story isn't a storyline, it's a character arc. About once every year or two, Hob Gadling would show up, and he was a fantastic example of Gaiman illustrating how characters (and by extension, real people) can change and grow. Gaiman comes back to that idea in several stories and with several characters, and it seemed to be heavy on his mind as he wrote this epic tale of a character who held fast to a rigid sense of self, regardless of the circumstances. I always felt that was Gaiman trying (perhaps too hard sometimes) to remind the reader that Morpheus' tenacity was not the only way to live, nor was it necessarily a proper way to live.
Gadling's also a great role model for learning to appreciate what makes life worth living, and how that's different for each individual.
I caught on to the fact that Sandman wasn’t actually about characters pretty quickly. Neil Gaiman is amazing writer he’s my favourite writer, but what separates Sandman from any other work that he’s ever done is that it’s about concepts not people.I never viewed Morpheus as a character, I viewed him as dreams. I never viewed death as a character, I interpreted death as death, Hob Gadling wasn’t really a character. He was humanity, growing and changing seeing the best and seeing the worst, but still deciding to progress,to go forward to never let itself die. I viewed John Dee as the unbridled human evil, what you would do if you were able to do anything. that’s far scarier than in the show,I hate how in the show they gave him a motivation. I don’t think all the writers really understood that it wasn’t about characters and motivations rather the human condition, my favourite parts of the book or not the overarching story. My favourite part of the book barely even have a dream in them but it’s when Neil Gaiman explored how dreams are like in the chapter with the captured muse or dream of thousand cats in the most devastating chapter with elemental girl. The Sandman simply is one of the greatest piece of fiction ever written.
The best ‘Oh hi’ introduction yet. Brilliant!!!
Started reading Sandman a bit over a year ago and loved every bit of it, love introspections into it like this because it always gives and excuse to reread it and recommend it to others
When beginning to read comics, there were 2 comics I avoided: Watchmen, because as a deconstruction of comic book tropes first I had to learn myself about the world it deconstructs, and Sandman, mostly because I was intimidated by it in some way.
Instead, what arguably got me into reading was Mystery Theatre and the meeting of the two Sandmen, Wesley and Morpheus. I wish Gaiman writes someday about the death of Wesley and his final encounter with Dream. I don't know, it could give a certain closure to the Golden Age hero.
Agree with the Sandman seeming intimidating. Somehow I expected it to be pretentious. Artsy with twists for the sake of twists and any meaning was an excuse instead of the motivation. And maybe I wouldn't have appreciated it at the time anyway. Not the action comic I was used to.
I did my comic reading at college, and we started with Watchmen. That taught us all the comic and superhero tropes even as it exploded them. And then Killing Joke and Dark Knight Returns. Sandman was different. We approached it with care and caution. Crikey! We approached it with reverence!
I'm still a little bit in love with Death, even after all these years. (And I have to say, the clip of Death on from the upcoming series is effortlessly spot on! IMHO, natch.)
I love The Sandman series for it's gorgeous art and timeless storytelling
I think one of the big points of the comic is that Shakespere became distant to everyone around him - he was viewing the world more as a writer than as a participant. Like Hamnet said, "All that matters to him is his stories." I do think that's kind of what Neil meant when he said "The price of getting what you want is getting what you want."
Anyway, though "The Sound of her Wings" was the first issue I ever read, and it utterly blew me away, "A Midsummer's Night Dream" was my favorite until I read "Three Septembers and a January" (the one about Emperor Norton.) That issue became my favorite single comic book ever, and honestly one of my favorite short stories, period.
I always knew OF Sandman but hearing the audiobooks on Audible REALLY put it on a pedestal for me, great work from everyone involved.
Indeed😊
I don’t have a lot to add. Excellent review of one of my lifetime favorite comics.
One thing about Sandman being so accessible for people who’re culturally high brow but not regular comics readers … which is a great thing, I’m not disparaging that at all! … but it did result in one of the least enjoyable letter columns I have ever read. Not just people starting their letters with ”I’m not the kind of person who reads comics, but…” But a lot of letter writers who seemed really desperate to prove that they weren’t ”that kind of person” by throwing in unnecessary literary references, complicated sentence structure and pretentious verbiage.
Anyway, absolutely awesome comic. Everybody should read it.
And I’m really *freaking* nervous about the adaptation that starts two days from now!
One thing that is worth mentioning about Sandman issue 19 is that it came out at about the same time as the "Dead Poets' Society" movie, which had thrown the role of Puck into the popular spotlight. I am sure Gaiman had already planned out the story before the movie came out, but the timing could not have been better, as the closing speech was fresh in the minds of many readers.
I had the reverse experience as I didn't see the movie till later - I was living in France when it came out, not returning till the end of July 1990 (the month issue 19 came out). I also had a year of my brother's Sandman backissues to catch up on...
I'm only 15 seconds in and I'm already glad I chose this video. Great work Chris.
Sandman is my favorite comic series. I mean there’s Larry Hama’s G.I. Joe, which is monumental to me, as you know; but, there’s also Sandman.
I am VERY MUCH looking forward to the Netflix show this Friday. With the Audible audio book, I have gotten Amanda into the series. We listen to the audio book while reading the actual comic online. She is as hooked as anyone can be, so she’s excited for the show.
This issue is superb in every way you mentioned, so I won’t reiterate and repeat.
With the series, it was criticized as not having a driving plot, meandering on side stories and such, but that’s how dreams are, right? Continuous, ever changing narratives that wander here and there.
The thing about it is that story threads, random characters, come back later and are integral to the next stories.
Think of Daniel and his being born in The Dreaming in the early issues, and his tremendous importance at the end. That’s one example, but a pivotal one. Neil Gaiman took threads and wove them all into a gorgeous tapestry, and I cannot love it more.
The Kindly Ones is probably my favorite. Lyta Hall is such a tragic character, with her inevitable downward spiral and eventual quest for revenge with the Furies. Also loved the new Corinthian in the arc. Marc Hempel’s art was oddly compelling as well, and is an unexpected match for the story and tone.
Sandman was a great read and opened up comics to new readers. I thoroughly enjoyed the audible series and the Netflix series was great also. I do wish that we saw more DC characters in the TV series as we had in the comics, but I understand why we didn’t see Mr Miracle or the Martian Manhunter.
Sandman is one of those books that you know has surpassed just being a great comic by the fact that people still love it today and creators (Including Neil) are constantly trying to recapture that magic, but that main story just stands on it's own and nothing else can quite replace or continue it. Not knocking some of the other stories, such as Dream Hunters, that came after. But that first series was just...Magic! It just works on so many levels that it's hard to find anything that captures that same feeling.
If I were to say my favorite issues, they would have to be #4 and #17. When Lucifer threatens to imprison Morpheus and asks for one reason to let him go and Morpheus responds: "Even in Hell they dream of Heaven.", it still gives me chills. And A Dream of Cats is just such a beautiful story that I have to include it. I love cats and that story gets me every time I read it.
Yes indeed 😊
I've been listening to the sandman Dramatic audiobook version. It's wonderfully done. neilG lends his voice to be the narrator, along with some star voice actors.
Slight edit needed at 9:18 - Victorian Era should be Elizabethan - Victorian era is 1837-1901, Elizabethan is 1558-1603. Sorry, i'm nitpicking, great essay, i was lucky that i was working at a comic store when the series started so collected from issue 1 - such a fantastic series.
Thanks!
I think this was one of your best synopsis, if not your best. Good job!
"The Wake" issue is one of my favourites. A wonderful sendoff. Hob Gadling attending a renaissance fair is just one memorably touching story.
I’ve read this a few times and must have missed the bit with the actors turning into their characters. How cool!
I wish I could give this video more than 1 like...these were my favorite comics growing up, and remain so now! It's so hard to pin down a favorite story or arc, but I think I like Ramadan the best (both the story and the art...P. Craig Russel is just amazing).
I own all 10 volumes of Vertigo's The Sandman collection, and they are the only item I proudly display in my house.
Got no posters, statues, game consoles or other books on display. Just those books.
They had such a profound effect on me as a teenager that, 10 years later, I still remember every chapter of every book.
The Sandman, much like V for Vendetta and Watchmen, is more than a comic book series. *_It is art._*
I remember the first issue of The Sandman I ever read was Calliope, the month it came out. I was also a young teenager, so most of it passed well above my head. The parts that I did get though, hooked me right in, like Despair’s sigil. Soon, I was combing back through the previous issues, it’s immediate popularity made it no easy task, but I eventually got my hands on issues 1-16 as well as devoutly picking up each new issue. I’d not ever read anything like it before. An older schoolmate had introduced me to The Watchmen, and O’Barr’s, The Crow, but those were ultimately still superhero comics. I think that the series holds such a special place in so many people’s hearts because it was so utterly new, and so absolutely progressive, no other series that I knew of (at the time) featured queer and trans folks as full characters, treated with respect and given such agency, and the Netflix series is taking it a few steps further in a positive direction, giving some of the secondary and tertiary characters that felt a little more like plot devices in the original comics even more agency and awareness. I’m glad we have the original series and I’m also glad we have this modern adaption, with modern ideas about characterization and narrative.
I read the first five Sandman collections a couple of years ago. I can see why people like it, but it just isn't my thing. I'm more impressed with Gaiman as a person than as a writer.
Me too. When you really think about it, Chris' summary here is better than reading the comic itself. The reason? Gaiman's good at collecting plot points. But he enacts them clumsily.
I _had_ that issue. I was stunned at how clunkily all the plot elements were thrown at each other. The art did _try_ to make it all elegant. But then I started feeling that the art & story weren't working together _because_ of all the inelegance.
Like the affair with Titania & Morpheus: they're discussing it _right NEXT TO_ Oberon. If he'd gotten up to get popcorn then sat back down in his "throne drawn to illustrate their separation" *that* would have been clever. Instead, we get him announcing they won't return to this realm *as **_if_* he heard & knows about the affair, is mad, but under-reacts?
This is a thing Gaiman does regularly. He gets the plot-point in, but in such a ham-handed way it's like the beginning of that story-line where Destiny gathers the family, then says "this begins here, with this family dinner, then Desire just asks Dream if he'd banished any former lovers to Hell lately.
Like... that felt like Desire could have _texted_ that question to him.
It's as if Gaiman wanted that setting, a plot-point & so he just put things in that setting. But it had *no further purpose.* Same with Titania & Dream's affair, it doesn't seem to be connected to Oberon's announcement, at least not the way Gaiman frames it (although I hesitate to use this example as someone will say that's Gaiman texturing the dream).
In short, while Larry Hama talks about introducing plot points, then allowing the story's characters to determine where he goes with them, Gaiman seems to be the Total Opposite. He does include characters' personalities, but more or less in passing to the Plot Points.
They often feel like they don't fit at all & are simply filler.
I was facinated with the universe building of the Sandman. The Endless who all have names starting with D. In the end Dream dies and his son becomes the new Dream. His powers and responsibilities are so large that we often get turned off by his lack of empathy and nurturing towards human beings. All things that dream are his domain. It's awesome and then spawned the whole Lucifer series which is huge. Also the Death series. I'm pretty big on the whole goth music and fashion so having larger than life characters who are gothy does my heart some good.
I love that when he tells the woman who was the mother of his son that some day he will return and claim his son, she said something like, "Over my dead body you creapy bastard!", such a reasonable response.
what I love most about sandman is that it's one of my favorite series and I still haven't read the whole thing. I've just read various trades I've picked up. also the first sandman trade I read is the one with this issue
Interesting choice of issue to look at. I must admit the Midsummer Nights Dream issue was quite hard to get my head round as I felt like you needed a half decent grasp of William Shakespeare and that particular play to understand the references and jokes. So good job on analysing it as it makes it easier to understand.
In the back of that book (the foreword to the script section) Neil Gaiman does say that Midsummer Night Dream issue was one of the hardest to write as it was so technically intricate.
Great video as always.
A very thoughtful and beautiful examination of an exceptional book. I think one of your best videos yet. Really well done. I think this video will inspire people to check out this series if they haven’t yet. This video reminded me how good Sandman is and I’m definitely going to go back and reread these stories.
Like the source material, I think this might be your finest work. Really appreciated how deep you went on the analysis and wish more channels would follow suit. Kudos.
Yes
I used to read Sandman during "study" hall in high school. It was kind of my refuge from all the BS of high school. I don't remember reading other comic books, just that one. It captured my imagination.
In Fort Wayne, IN, where I live, there's a store called Books, Comics & Things. I asked my cousin to drive me there so I could buy a Sandman comic. She did not have a positive view of comic book aficionados. This was the 90s. I'm sure her view was formed by seeing the Comic Book Guy in The Simpsons. She hemmed and hawed and said, "OK, I'll take you there, but if I see one guy wearing a Superman shirt I'm leaving."
I told her don't be silly, comic book fans aren't the uber-nerds you think they are. I tried to convince her of what fine literature Sandman was. She wasn't buying it.
So we went to the store, and you know what we saw don't you? From my recollection, it wasn't the Superman shield. It was Superman taking flight, punching the air: "Up, up, and away!"
She is standing behind the guy who's wearing the shirt, pointing at him and mouthing, "Oh, my god!" I don't remember seeing anyone there wearing a Superman shirt before or after that time.
My cousin left the store, but I was able to purchase my Sandman comic. That was the only time we went to a comic store together.
I haven't read my Sandman comics in twenty years. It may be time to revisit them.
Thanks for this.
One of amazingly influences series from my formative years. Shocking that it introduced so many new concepts, that were excluded from every other area of my life and media.
Another excellent episode, Chris. Perhaps one of your best.
I’ve been waiting for you to finally talk about sandman !!
Chris has been on a non-stop banger roll!! So many great vids recently
Sandman was a real game changer for me. Moore and Miller may have seeded the grim dark in comics but Gaimen's use of horror, non-European mythology and gender was a real eye opener to a younger me.
Still have my issue #1 bagged and an exclusive slipcase that held the 1st 2 volumes.
Just so you know, as a 90s comic reader who was too up his own A@@ to read vertigo and regret it to this day, after watching and falling in love with the story, the first singular thing I wanted to do was jump on and see if you had a sandman video.
you're a fun guy. keep up the great work :)
Oddly enough, "Season of Mists" was the first Sandman book I read at the advise of a friend who basically said what Chris said "They're not always interconnected stories and can be read in any order." I once read "A Midsummer Night's Dream" while I was watching a live performance of it in a public park! It made the story look more magical to me. "Dream Country" and "Worlds End" were excellent collections of stories but I'll always prefer "Season of Mists" because it looked to me like Neil was starting to gain his footing regarding the characters and the central theme of the series at that point.
i saw the notification and thought it said sandwichman
I have been waiting for this video for years!! So happy to hear your thoughts on one of my favourite series of all time. Really interesting insights. ngl, I totally missed the Titania/Morpheus affair angle, so I'm glad you pointed that out, adds some really interesting context to that issue.
I've read the full first ten volumes of the Sandman TPBs and by far my favorite story was "Façade" in issue 20 (the one about Element Girl). I haven't read it in quite some time, but it's a beautiful story that really spoke to me, and some the art has made a permanent residence in my mind.
Indeed😊
Thanks for the new video Chris!
Dude, your intro is amazing. Love it !
This Netflix adaptation is a terrific version of The Sandman. Not only that, it’s one of the best adaptations I’ve seen in my entire life (I am 54 so that’s saying something). It manages to be remarkably faithful to the source, while still making it work in the new medium, AND also updating and revising dialogue, characters and plot to be in line with changes to the cultural zeitgeist, and also just to make things better. The only thing one could critique about it is that it may be hard to follow for brand new viewers who aren’t literature nerds. Gaiman’s work never holds the reader’s hand…he has expectations of who his audience is and what they know and understand. While the show does considerable work to smooth the edges and explain or simplify things, it’s still a rich, layered and complex work. So some may be confused. But I still think it’s marvelous!
I have the Absolute Editions of Sandman. $150AU each at the time but worth every cent. Absolutely adore the series and I've reread it several times. Not just one of the best comics ever, but one of the best stories period!
Omg😊
You've motivated me again to take a deep dive into some excellent comics material. Your analysis is so literary, I will try to share this topic with my favorite book club. They dabble in graphic novels thanks to my efforts, and hopefully Sandman will pique them to enjoy our beloved media format on this same elevated level. Bravo, great review, Chris! 👏👏👏
I just finished The Sandman last night and the end of Kindly Ones and the epilogue made me cry. What a wonderful piece of fiction
The beat of the story is that each of the major characters has their head full of their own thoughts and at some point fail to hear when another character says something that they should have heard. And it comes back to haunt them in later episodes.
Your channel is glorious. That opening is beautiful haha
Your videos are awesome! I am actively sharing these with more people! Great job!
Amazing work done for the video. Very detailed and explainatory! Keep up the good work :)
I can't pick a favorite arc! They're all so good! If I had to choose, I'd go with World's End. I could practically smell the ending coming, but when *that* moment happened, when I read it during some free time at a competition, I fell silent. I think I cried. The rest of the run became a slow inevitability as I read through the next several volumes.
But it wasn't just the ending, I loved the whole volume. The funeral story was so much fun because of the story in a story in a story in a story in story in a story. Hob's Leviathan and Golden Boy were some of my personal favorites.
I came to The Sandman in my forties, and I'm grateful for that. I see it through different eyes than if I had read it when it came out when I was in high school. The Sandman is an important part of the late Bronze/early Copper Age in the 1980s, when arguably all of the greatest comic writing appeared. I look forward to watching Netflix's Sandman when it drops tomorrow and understand that it must be something different than the original comic to work in the medium of streaming television. Cheers to you for your thoughtful analysis of this important series. 👍🏻👍🏻
Yes indeed 😊
I had read bits and pieces of Sandman over the years, but this year I decided to read it end to end. I'm through Volume 5 so far. I love how each arc feels like a self-contained story. In today's comic world, they'd probably make a new No. 1 after each time a new one started. I love the experimentation and the different feel each artist brings to the story. I wasn't really looking forward to the Netflix show in any way, but I'm curious to see how they approach the adaptation. Great video!
Issue 19 is part of the inspiration for my username. I've loved The Sandman since the early '90s and I think the Netflix adaptation is pretty spot on.
My favorite Sandman story is A Game of You... kills me emotionally every time...
Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comic series was great...I saw the Netflix version which is a dream come true and my dreams almost shattered.
I can't wait to see Season of Mists, it is my favorite among the series
Favorite story? Has to be the "Sound of Her Wings". It never fails to be both uplifting and make me cry.
Very cool analysis. Good job!
My favorite story arc is precisely Season of Mists, love the mythological dips Gaiman takes, his interpretations and the predicament Dream finds himself in.
I do agree with you that the art can be spotty at times (I think that is kinda the only complaint I've gotten from a couple of friends that I have gotten to read Sandman), so art-wise my favorite arc is by far "Overture"; JHWilliams III is fan-freakin-tastic and every panel of it is mind blowing.
Two great creators brought together by a third great creator. Must be a dream within a dream within a dream.
Well done, Chris!
Fun Fact: At the Globe Theatre today you can see Shakespeare plays from the ground, which are the best seats, for just £5
I still have to re-read it. Amazing book! And great work as always!!
Great video, I always appreciate your insight. And man...I love Charles Vess' artwork.
Fantastic breakdown Chris, you are the best in the comic game! 👏
And yet another hilarious opening 😂
I generally enjoyed the TV series (so far) - my sense is that they have a much better idea of where they're going with it - it feels like the original comics figured out where they were going as they went (though they do an excellent job of weaving earlier threads back into the tapestry later).
The one thing that stood out to me as a bad change was the very beginning - the reason Burgess was able to capture Dream in the first place - comic Dream was vulnerable because he was returning, depleted, from an errand in a distant place, leaving him uniquely vulnerable. TV Dream was vulnerable because he came to Earth to hunt the Corinthian. That just raises questions about every other time Morpheus visits Earth during the series.
Also, in the comics, there's an eventual prequel (Overture) which ties together ideas from the original comic run (the idea of a dream vortex, and the Dream of a Thousand Cats) to explain Dream's quest that left him vulnerable, and the TV series not having the opportunity to include that story is a loss.
I been watching this channel forever. I can't believe it's coming up on the 200k
This man is doing God's work.
Do you guys remember *The Books of Magic* with Timothy Hunter, the boy with glasses who is learning to be a wizard? I wish there was more stories in that series. But people kept confusing him with that other boy wizard.
There are a lot of stories in that series. At least 100 issues across different volumes. They recently put out two omnibus volumes of it. I think a third volume is forthcoming.
One of my favorite comics
@@essaywhu Whaaa...? My local library must be holding out on me.
@@lakrids-pibe Omnibus volume 1 contains:
The Books of Magic (Series 1) #1-4
Mister E #1-4
The Children's Crusade #1-2
Arcana: The Books of Magic Annual #1
Vertigo Visions: Doctor Occult #1
"The Lot" from Vertigo Rave #1
The Books of Magic (Series 2) #1-32
The Books of Fairie: Auberon's Tale #1-3
Omnibus volume 2 contains:
The Books of Magic (Series 2) #33-75
The Books of Magic Annual #1-3
The Books of Faerie #1-3
The Books of Faerie: Molly's Story #1-4
Hellblazer: Books of Magic #1-2
Vertigo: Winter's Edge #1-3
Apparently, volume 3 will contain:
THE TRENCHCOAT BRIGADE #1-4
THE NAMES OF MAGIC #1-5
HUNTER: THE AGE OF MAGIC #1-25
and BOOKS OF MAGICK: LIFE DURING WARTIME #1-15
So this is probably around 150 issues total. There’s a more recent series that ran from 2018 -2020 that ran for another 23 issues. So yeah, around 175 maybe after all is said and done.
That other wizard super ripped off tim hunter
Nice choice for the video, the Midsummer bit is my favorite part of Sandman. I also would say to check out the bit about Emperor Norton.
I really really enjoyed the Netflix show. I thought over all, it was a fantastic adaptation. My one real issue being I wish the series leaned a little more into the horror aspects of Sandman. They got the epic fantasy down perfectly, but much of the horror was seemingly abandoned for the show.
I feel it was most blunted in Dee's Diner Disaster, but that was a bit more welcome for me. Gaiman himself wasn't too fond of that issue, and was mostly just floundering to find his authorial voice until he wrote about Death. And personally, I found it a bit too gruesome and edgy without narrative stakes to the or real connective tissue to Dream and his business, despite Dee's presence.
So the show actually connecting everything together and not making me feel absolutely miserable for watching it feels like an absolute win for me.
So now the
first new episode I watched after finishing your entire backlog. Great stuff 🔥⏳
The "sound of her wings" was the best issue for me. I highly recommend people to read it (ir reread it 😀).