the Sandman

 

The Sandman
Cover of The Sandman #1, by Dave McKean (January 1989)
Publisher Vertigo Schedule Monthly Publication dates 1989 - 1996 Number of issues 75 issues Main character(s) Dream of The Endless Creative team Writer(s) Neil Gaiman Artist(s) Dave McKean Sam Kieth Mike Dringenberg Malcolm Jones III Kelley Jones Jill Thompson Marc Hempel Michael Zulli Charles Vess and others Letterer(s) Todd Klein Colorist(s) Danny Vozzo Creator(s) Neil Gaiman Mike Dringenberg Sam Kieth

The Sandman is a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman. Published in the United States by the DC Comics imprint Vertigo for 75 issues from 1989 until 1996, the series chronicles the adventures of Dream of The Endless, who rules over the world of dreams.

The Sandman was one of Vertigo's flagship titles, and is currently kept in print as a series of ten trade paperbacks. Critically acclaimed, The Sandman was the only comic to ever win the World Fantasy Award,^[1] and Norman Mailer described the series as "a comic book for intellectuals."^[2]

Summary

The Sandman's main character is Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, who is essentially the anthropomorphic manifestation of dreams. At the start of the series, Morpheus is captured by an occult ritual and held prisoner for 70 years. Morpheus escapes in the modern day and sets about rebuilding his kingdom, which has fallen into disrepair in his absence. Gaiman himself has summarized the plot of the series (in the foreword to Endless Nights) as "The Lord of Dreams learns one must change or die and then makes his decision."

The character's initially haughty and often cruel manner begins to soften after his years of imprisonment at the start of the series, but the challenge of undoing past sins and changing old ways is an enormous one for a being who has been set in his ways for billions of years. Later, the series evolves into an elaborate fantasy series, incorporating elements of classical and contemporary mythology, ultimately placing its protagonist in the role of a tragic hero.

The story-lines primarily take place in the Dreaming, Morpheus's realm, and the waking world, with occasional visits to other domains, such as Hell, Faerie, Asgard, and the domains of the other Endless. Many used the contemporary United States of America and the United Kingdom as a backdrop. The DC Universe was the official setting of the series, but well-known DC characters and places were rarely featured after 1990, with one exception: Lyta Hall, formerly Fury of the 1980s super-team Infinity Inc., figures prominently in the "Kindly Ones" story arc. John Constantine and Doctor Destiny are also key characters in two of the early issues. And in the final volume, Superman, Batman, Darkseid and the Martian Manhunter all have a very brief cameo.

Most of the storylines take place in modern times (presumably the late 1980s and early 1990s), but many short stories are set in the past, taking advantage of the immortal nature of many of the characters, and deal with historical individuals and events.

Publication history

The Sandman grew out of a proposal by Neil Gaiman to revive the 1970s Sandman series by Jack Kirby. Gaiman had considered including characters from DC Comics' "Dream Stream" (including the Kirby Sandman, Brute, Glob, and the brothers Cain and Abel) in a scene for the first issue of his 1988 miniseries Black Orchid. While the scene did not make it into later drafts, Gaiman soon began constructing a treatment for a new series. Gaiman mentioned his treatment in passing to DC editor Karen Berger. While months later Berger offered Gaiman a comic title to work on, he was unsure his Sandman pitch would be accepted. However, weeks later Berger asked Gaiman if he was interested in doing a Sandman series. Gaiman recalled, "I said, 'Um...yes. Yes, definitely. What the catch?' [Berger said] 'There's only one. We'd like a new Sandman. Keep the name. But the rest is up to you.'"^[3]

Gaiman crafted the new character from an initial image of "a man, young, pale and naked, imprisoned in a tiny cell, waiting until his captors passed away [...] deathly thin, with long dark hair, and strange eyes." Gaiman patterned the character's black attire on a print of a Japanese kimono as well as his own wardrobe. Gaiman wrote an eight-issue outline and gave it to Dave McKean and Leigh Baulch, who drew character sketches. Berger reviewed the sketches (along with some drawn by Gaiman) and suggested Sam Keith as the series' artist.^[4] Mike Dringenberg, Todd Klein, Robbie Busch, and Dave McKean were hired as inker, letterer, colorist, and cover artist, respectively. McKean's approach towards comics covers was unconventional, for he convinced Berger that the series' protagonist did not need to appear on every cover.^[5]

The debut issue of The Sandman was cover-dated January 1989. Gaiman described the early issues as "awkward", for he, as well as Keith, Dringenberg and Busch, had never worked on a regular series before. Kieth quit while working on the third issue; he was replaced by Dringenberg as penciler, who was in turn replaced by Malcolm Jones III as inker.^[4]

The Sandman became a cult success for DC Comics and attracted an audience unlike that of mainstream comics: half the readership was female, many were in their twenties, and many read no other comics at all. By the time the series concluded in 1996, it was outselling the titles of DC's flagship character Superman. Gaiman had a finite run in mind for the series, and it concluded with issue 75. Gaiman said in 1996, "Could I do another five issues of Sandman? Well, damn right. And would I be able to look at myself in the mirror happily? No. Is it time to stop because I've reached the end, yes, and I think I'd rather leave while I'm in love."^[6]

Collections

The Sandman was initially published as a monthly serial, in 32-page comic books (with some exceptions to this pattern). As the series quickly increased in popularity, DC Comics began to reprint them in hardcover and paperback editions, each representing either a complete novel or a collection of related short stories.

DC first published "The Doll's House" storyline in a collection called simply The Sandman. Shortly thereafter, the first three volumes were published and named independently and also collected in an eponymous boxed set. (Death's debut story, "The Sound of Her Wings" from issue #8, appeared both at the beginning of The Doll's House and at the end of early editions of Preludes and Nocturnes, creating overlap between the first two volumes. This overlap isn't present in newer editions.) Further collections would then be released shortly after their completion in serial form.

The Sandman Library

A total of ten collections contain the full run of the series, and have all been kept in print. They are as follows:

• Preludes and Nocturnes (collecting The Sandman #1-8, 1988-1989, ISBN 1-56389-011-9): Dream is imprisoned for decades by an occultist seeking immortality. Upon escaping, he must reclaim his objects of power while still in a weakened state, confronting a dream junkie, the legions of Hell, and an all-powerful madman in the process. Guest starring several DC Universe characters including John Constantine, Scott Free, J'onn J'onzz, Scarecrow and Doctor Destiny.
• The Doll's House (collecting The Sandman #9-16, 1989-1990, ISBN 0-930289-59-5): Morpheus tracks down rogue dreams that escaped the Dreaming during his absence. In the process, he must shatter the illusions of a family living in dreams, disband a convention of serial killers, and deal with a "dream vortex" that threatens the existence of the entire Dreaming.
• Dream Country (collecting The Sandman #17-20, 1990, ISBN 1-56389-016-X): This volume contains four independent stories. The imprisoned muse Calliope is forced to provide story ideas, a cat seeks to change the world with dreams, Shakespeare puts on a play for an unearthly audience, and a shape-shifting immortal (obscure DC comics character Element Girl) longs for death.
• Season of Mists (collecting The Sandman #21-28, 1990-1991, ISBN 1-56389-041-0): Dream travels to Hell to free a former lover, Nada, whom he condemned to torment thousands of years ago. There, Dream learns that Lucifer has abandoned his domain. When Lucifer gives the Hell's key (and therefore, the ownership of Hell) to the Sandman, Morpheus himself becomes trapped in a tangled network of threats, promises, and lies as gods and demons from various pantheons seek ownership of Hell.
• A Game of You (collecting The Sandman #32-37, 1991-1992): Barbie, a New York divorcée, travels to the magical realm that she once inhabited in her dreams, only to find that it is being threatened by the forces of the Cuckoo. This series introduces the character of Thessaly, who will play a key role in Morpheus' eventual fate.
• Fables and Reflections (collecting The Sandman #29-31, 38-40, 50, Sandman Special #1 and Vertigo Preview #1, 1991, 1992, 1993): A collection of short stories set throughout Morpheus' history, most of them originally published both before and after the "Game of You" story arc. Four issues dealing with kings and rulers, were originally published under the label Distant Mirrors, while three others, detailing the meetings of various characters, were published as the Convergences arc. Fables and Reflections also includes the Sandman Special, originally published as a stand-alone issue, which assimilates the myth of Orpheus into the Sandman mythos as well as a very short Sandman story from the Vertigo Preview promotional comic.
• Brief Lives (collecting The Sandman #41-49, 1992-1993): Dream's erratic younger sister Delirium convinces him to help her search for their missing brother, the former Endless Destruction, who left his place among the "family" three hundred years before. However, their quest is marred by the death of all around them, and eventually Morpheus must turn to his son Orpheus to find the truth, and undo an ancient sin.
• Worlds' End (collecting The Sandman #51-56, 1993): A "reality storm" strands travelers from across the cosmos at the "Worlds' End Inn". To pass the time, they exchange stories.
• The Kindly Ones (collecting The Sandman #57-69 and Vertigo Jam #1, 1994-1995): In the longest Sandman story, Morpheus becomes the prey of the Furies, avenging spirits who torment those who spill family blood.
• The Wake (collecting The Sandman #70-75, 1995-1996): The conclusion of the series, wrapping up the remaining loose ends in a three-issue "wake" sequence, followed by three self-contained stories.

In addition, the cover images from The Sandman have been compiled into one volume:

• (1998): Dave McKean's covers use techniques such as painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, and computer manipulation.

In 1999, some years after Gaiman completed The Sandman, he wrote a lavishly illustrated Sandman novel, Sandman: The Dream Hunters with art by Yoshitaka Amano. Like many of the single-issue stories throughout The Sandman, Morpheus appears in Dream Hunters, but is a supporting character at best. In Gaiman's afterword to the book, it is claimed that the story was a retelling of an existing Japanese legend. However, the books he cites as sources for it do not exist, and when asked Gaiman has stated that he made up the "legend" out of whole cloth.

As the 10th anniversary arrived, Gaiman wrote several new stories about Morpheus and his siblings, one story for each, which were published in 2003 as the Endless Nights anthology.

Neil Gaiman, on his blog, announced plans for an Absolute Sandman, a new set of oversized editions with slipcases which would compile all 10 volumes.^[7] In October 2006, the first of four volumes of the Absolute Edition Sandman was published; it collected the first 20 issues (that is, Preludes and Nocturnes, The Doll's House, and Dream Country). The issues in the first volume of Absolute Sandman have been recolored with reference to the original prints. The volume also features a copy of the original series outline and other bonus features, such as a new introduction by the president of DC Comics, a new afterword, and a reproduction of the original comic draft and notes for A Midsummer Night's Dream.^[8] In celebration of this reissuing DC also issued a refurbished edition of the first issue of the series. Volume 2 of The Absolute Sandman is scheduled for release October 31, 2007[3].

Spinoffs

Because of the amount of critical acclaim Sandman received and because of its commercial viability (at the time of its conclusion, it was DC’s best-selling series), a number of spin-off volumes have been produced. Subsidiary works include:

• Death: The High Cost of Living (1993), a three-issue, Gaiman-penned limited series starring Morpheus’ older sister.
• Sandman Midnight Theatre (1995), in which Wesley Dodds, the Golden Age Sandman, meets Lord Morpheus of The Endless, the Modern Age Sandman. Published between issues #71 and #72, the latter of which showed Dodds out of costume.
• Death: The Time of Your Life (1996): another three-issue, Gaiman-penned Death limited series, also featuring supporting characters from A Game of You.
• The Sandman: Book of Dreams (1996), an original anthology of prose short stories co-edited with Ed Kramer, featuring the world of The Sandman in some way. It contains work from some notable contributors, among them Caitlin R. Kiernan, Tad Williams, Gene Wolfe, Tori Amos and Colin Greenland. Publisher DC Comics imposed restrictive copyright terms on contributing authors, leading to a few withdrawing their stories.
• The Dreaming (1996 - 2001), a monthly series set in Morpheus’ realm but revolving around the supporting characters with little or no interaction from the Endless. It was written and illustrated by a variety of writers and artists; Caitlin R. Kiernan wrote the largest number of scripts for the series.
• The Sandman Presents (1999-2004): a collection of limited series by various authors and illustrators featuring secondary characters from The Sandman.

1. Lucifer (1999) (3 issues)
2. Love Street (1999) (3 issues)
3. Petrefax (2000) (4 issues)
4. Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Dreams...But Were Afraid To Ask (2001) (1 issue)
5. The Deadboy Detectives (2001) (4 issues)
6. The Corinthian (2001-2002) (3 issues)
7. The Thessaliad (2002) (4 issues)
8. The Furies (2002) (2 issues)
9. Bast (2003) (3 issues)
10. Taller Tales (2003) (1 issue)
11. Thessaly: Witch for Hire (2004) (4 issues)
12. Marquee Moon (written in 1997, published online in 2007)

• Sandman: The Dream Hunters (1999): a prose novella that incorporates a so-called Japanese folk tale into the Sandman mythos, written by Gaiman and featuring illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano. It is not actually based on any existing Japanese folklore, but rather incorporates elements of Chinese and Japanese folklore and mythology into a new "myth". It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Related Book in 2000.
• The Sandman Companion by Hy Bender (2000), a non-fiction work providing extra information about the series. Its first section discusses the ten Sandman collections sequentially, analyzing their meaning, explaining some of Gaiman's myriad references and sometimes providing information on the writing of the comics. It also features a lengthy interview about the series with Gaiman himself.
• The Little Endless Storybook (2001), a one-shot comic/story book which depicts The Endless as toddlers and follows Delirium's dog Barnabas as he attempts to find the missing Delirium, written and illustrated by Jill Thompson.
• Lucifer (2001 - 2006): a monthly series written by Mike Carey continuing the story of Lucifer following the events of the fourth collection, Season of Mists.
• Sandman: Endless Nights (2003): a graphic novel with one story for each of the Endless. They are set throughout history but two take place after the final events of the monthly series. It was written by Gaiman and featured a different illustrator for each story. This collection is notable as it is the first hardcover graphic novel ever to appear on the New York Times Hardcover Bestseller list.
• Death: At Death’s Door (2004): a manga-style graphic novel, written and illustrated by Jill Thompson, showcasing Death’s activities during Season of Mists. This may become part of a series of manga novels starring Death.
• The Dead Boy Detectives (2005): a sequel to Death: At Death's Door, also by Jill Thompson, featuring the two young ghosts from Season of Mists. (The title was previously used for a The Sandman Presents limited series about the same characters.)

Awards and recognition

The Sandman issue #19 "A Midsummer Night's Dream" won the World Fantasy Award in 1991 for Best Short Fiction. The following morning, the rules of the award were changed to ensure no other comics could get that award. As a result, it is the only comic that will ever win a World Fantasy Award, unless the rules are again changed. Also, Sandman and its spin-offs have won eighteen Eisner Awards, including three for Best Continuing Series, one for Best Short Story, four for Best Writer (Neil Gaiman), seven for Best Lettering (Todd Klein) and one for Best Graphic Album:Reprint. The Sandman: The Dream Hunters was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Related Book in 2000.

Movie

Throughout the late 1990s, a movie adaption of Preludes and Nocturnes was sporadically planned. Roger Avary was originally attached to direct, but was fired after the project went through three writers (including Terry Rossio) and eight scripts. It was due to their meeting for the Sandman movie that Avary and Gaiman later collaborated on Beowulf. A later script, released onto the Internet, met with wide scorn from fans, with Gaiman calling it "not only the worst Sandman script I've ever seen, but quite easily the worst script I've ever read." Gaiman also has said that his dissatisfaction with how his characters were being treated dissuaded him from writing any more stories involving the Endless (although he has since written Endless Nights). By 2001 the project had become stranded in "development hell".^[9]

See also

• List of characters in The Sandman (Vertigo)

References

• Bender, Hy (2000). The Sandman Companion : A Dreamer's Guide to the Award-Winning Comic Series. DC Comics. 1-56-389644-3. 
• Gaiman, Neil; Sam Kieth (Illustrator), Mike Dringenberg (Illustrator), Charles Vess (Illustrator), Michael Zulli (Illustrator), Kelley Jones (Illustrator), Chris Bachalo (Illustrator), Malcolm Jones (Illustrator), Danny Vozzo (Illustrator) (November 1, 2006). The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1 (in English). Vertigo Comics -(imprint of DC Comics). ISBN 1-4012-1082-1. 
• Stephen Rauch, Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and Joseph Campbell: In Search of the Modern Myth (2003) Holicong, PA : Wildside Press; ISBN 1-592-24212-X.
• The Sandman Papers: An Exploration of the Sandman Mythology, edited by Joe Sanders, preface by Neil Gaiman (2006). ISBN 1-560-97748-5. Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics.
• Sandman at the Comic Book DB

Footnotes

External links

• Video Interview with Neil Gaiman on the origins of Sandman at Spacecast.com
• A short summary of the main Sandman series
• Summaries of many issues of the Sandman
• The Annotated Sandman
• Gaiman's thoughts on a Sandman movie

The Sandman (Vertigo)
The Sandman Library	1: Preludes and Nocturnes • 2: The Doll's House • 3: Dream Country • 4: Season of Mists • 5: A Game of You 6: Fables and Reflections • 7: Brief Lives • 8: Worlds' End • 9: The Kindly Ones • 10: The Wake • 11: Endless Nights
from the World of The Sandman	The Sandman: The Dream Hunters • Death: The High Cost of Living • Death: The Time of Your Life • Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold • The Little Endless Storybook • Death: At Death's Door • Dust Covers - The Collected Sandman Covers 1989-1997 • The Quotable Sandman • The Sandman Companion • The Dreaming
Characters of The Sandman	The Endless: Destiny • Death • Dream • Destruction • Desire • Despair • Delirium
	Dreams and nightmares • Gods, demigods, and major personifications Angels, fallen angels, and devils • Immortals, witches, and long-lived humans • Fair folk • Mortals • Superheroes
Other topics
Neil Gaiman • Other books and series

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