The Sandman (Vertigo)

Sandman
Cover of The Sandman #1 (January 1989). Art by Dave McKean.
Publication information
Publisher	Vertigo
Schedule	Monthly
Genre	Dark fantasy
Publication date	January 1989 – March 1996
Number of issues	75
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 et al.
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 and published by DC Comics. Beginning with issue #47, it was placed under the imprint Vertigo. It chronicles the adventures of Dream (of the Endless), who rules over the world of dreams. It ran for 75 issues from January 1989 until March 1996. Gaiman's contract stipulated that the series would end when he left it.

The Sandman was one of Vertigo's flagship titles, and is available as a series of ten trade paperbacks. It has also been reprinted in a recolored four-volume Absolute hardcover edition with slipcase. Critically acclaimed, The Sandman is one of the few graphic novels ever to be on the New York Times Best Seller list, along with Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. It was one of five graphic novels to make Entertainment Weekly's "100 best reads from 1983 to 2008", ranking at 46.^[1] Norman Mailer described the series as "a comic strip for intellectuals."^[2]

Publication history

The Sandman was advertised as "a horror-edged fantasy set in the DC Universe" in most of DC's comics dated "Holiday 1988," an extra issue tying in with the Invasion! crossover, which was the last to involve pre-Vertigo characters such as Swamp Thing, Black Orchid, Animal Man, Doom Patrol, and Shade, the Changing Man, save for Worlds' End's loose connection to Zero Hour: Crisis in Time.

The Sandman grew out of a proposal by Neil Gaiman to revive DC's 1974–1976 series The Sandman, illustrated by Jack Kirby and Ernie Chua and written by Joe Simon and Michael Fleisher. Gaiman had considered including characters from the "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 because Roy Thomas was using the characters in Infinity, Inc., 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's 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 Kieth 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 on sale in October 1988 and cover-dated January 1989. Gaiman described the early issues as "awkward", for he, as well as Kieth, Dringenberg, and Busch, had never worked on a regular series before. Kieth quit after the fifth issue; he was replaced by Dringenberg as penciler, who was in turn replaced by Malcolm Jones III as inker.^[4]

The character then appeared in two of DC's "Suggested for Mature Readers" titles. In Swamp Thing #84, written by Rick Veitch, Dream and Eve allow Matthew Cable to live in the Dreaming, because he died there, resurrecting him as a raven. He then meets John Constantine in Hellblazer #19, written by Jamie Delano, leading into the latter's guest appearance in issue #3.

Issue #4 revisited Hell as depicted by Alan Moore in Swamp Thing, beginning with a guest appearance by Kirby's Etrigan the Demon guarding the gates of Hell. The issue introduces Hell's Hierarchy (as their entry is titled in Who's Who in the DC Universe), headed by Lucifer (who would spin off into his own series in 1999), Beelzebub (later adversary to Kid Eternity), and Azazel, whom Dream defeated later in the run.

In issue #5, Dream visited the Justice League International. Although DC superheroes appeared in the series as late as issue #72, this would not be the norm.

By issue #11, Gaiman began incorporating elements of the Kirby Sandman series, including the changes implemented by Thomas. Simon and Fleisher had treated the character, who resembled a superhero, as the "true" Sandman. Between Thomas^[6] and Gaiman, the character's existence was revealed to be a sham created by two nightmares who had escaped to a pocket of the Dreaming, who would later attempt this again on Sanderson Hawkins, sidekick to Wesley Dodds, the Golden Age Sandman (who himself made several appearances in the Gaiman series).^[7] Gaiman gave Jed Walker a surname and made him related to several new characters, and treated his relationship with Uncle Barnaby and Aunt Clarice as abusive rather than Cinderella-esque. The Thomas Sandman was Hector Hall, who married the already-pregnant Fury in the Dreaming in Infinity, Inc. #51. It was explained that Dr. Garrett Sanford, the original Brute/Glob Sandman, had gone insane from the loneliness of the Dream Dimension and taken his own life. Brute and Glob put the spirit of Hector Hall, which had been cast out of his own body by the Silver Scarab, into Sanford's body, and it eventually began to resemble Hall's.^[8] Fury, in her civilian guise as Lyta Hall after these issues, was the only major superhero recurring character in the series. Even at that, her powers had come to her via the Fury Tisiphone,^[9] and the Furies, under the euphemism, "the Kindly Ones" (a translation of "Eumenides", a name they earned during the events of Aeschylus's Oresteia trilogy), are major characters in the series.

The series follows a tragic course in which Dream, having learned a great deal from his imprisonment, tries to correct the things he has done wrong in the past. Ultimately, this causes him to mercy kill his own son, which leads to his own death at the hands of the Furies. Dream, having found himself a replacement early on in Daniel Hall, dies in issue #69. The remaining issues deal with Dream's funeral, Hob Gadling choosing to remain immortal in spite of Dream's passing, and two stories from the past. The series wraps with the story of William Shakespeare creating his other commission for Dream, The Tempest, his last work not in collaboration with other writers.

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."^[10] By 1994, the book was not quite retaining a monthly schedule, having not released issues dated January, May, or October 1994; February, April, June, or October 1995; or February 1996. The final issue was dated March 1996.

More recently, Dream appeared in a flashback in Green Arrow vol. 3, #9, which takes place at a point during the 70 years of the first issue, as does Sandman Midnight Theatre, a 1995 Gaiman-penned prestige format one-shot in which Dream and Wesley Dodds meet in person some time before Dodds's The Mist storyline.

Summary

The Sandman's main character is Dream, the Lord of Dreams (also known, to various characters throughout the series, as Morpheus, Oneiros, the Shaper, the Shaper of Form, Lord of the Dreaming, the Dream King, Dream-Sneak, Dream Cat, Murphy, Kai'ckul, and Lord L'Zoril), who is essentially the anthropomorphic personification 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, after avenging himself upon his captors, 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 that one must change or die, and makes his decision."

The character's initial 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. In its beginnings, the series is a very dark horror comic. 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 storylines 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 use 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. A notable exception is Lyta Hall, formerly Fury of the 1980s super-team Infinity, Inc., who figures prominently in the "Kindly Ones" story arc, and her superhuman abilities are not ignored.

Most of the storylines take place in modern times, 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 such as in the short story "Men of Good Fortune."

Collected editions

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 trade 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 early editions of The Doll's House and at the end of Preludes and Nocturnes, creating overlap between the first two volumes. This overlap is not 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 an addict to his dream powder, the legions of Hell, and an all-powerful madman (Doctor Destiny) in the process. Guest starring several DC Comics characters including John Constantine, Scott Free, J'onn J'onzz, Scarecrow, Etrigan the Demon, and the original Sandman. It also features the introduction of Lucifer, with cameos by Batman and Martian Manhunter).
• 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. Features Hector Hall as the Bronze Age Sandman.
• 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 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. Wesley Dodds and Hawkman (Carter Hall) appear in one panel.
• A Game of You (collecting The Sandman #32-37, 1991–1992, ISBN 1-56389-089-5): Barbie, a New York divorcée (introduced in The Doll's House), 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, 1991–1993, ISBN 1-56389-105-0): A collection of short stories set throughout Morpheus' history, most of them originally published directly before or directly 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, ISBN 1-85286-577-6): 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, ISBN 1-41768-617-0): A "reality storm" (see Zero Hour: Crisis in Time) strands travelers from across the cosmos at the "Worlds' End Inn". To pass the time, they exchange stories. Guest-starring Prez and Wildcat.
• The Kindly Ones (collecting The Sandman #57-69 and Vertigo Jam #1, 1993–1995, ISBN 1-56389-204-9): 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, ISBN 1-56389-287-1): The conclusion of the series, wrapping up the remaining loose ends in a three-issue "wake" sequence, followed by three self-contained stories. Features a guest appearance by Wesley Dodds, and cameos bhttp://www.dccomics.com/vertigo/graphic_novels/?gn=14398y Batman, J'onn J'onnz, Clark Kent, Darkseid, Phantom Stranger, Doctor Occult, John Constantine, and Black Spider.

In 2010, Vertigo began releasing a new edition of Sandman books, featuring the improved coloring from the Absolute Editions.^[11]

Absolute Editions

The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1 slip cover.

Neil Gaiman, on his blog, announced plans for an Absolute Sandman that would compile all 10 volumes.^[12] The DC Comics Absolute Edition series are large 8" by 12" prints of a considerably higher quality than the library edition, and include a leather-like cover and a slipcase. Many of the early stories have been extensively retouched and/or recoloured with Gaiman's approval.

• The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1 (collecting The Sandman #1-20), November 2006, ISBN 1-4012-1082-1
• The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 2 (collecting The Sandman #21-39), October 2007, ISBN 1-4012-1083-X
• The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 3 (collecting The Sandman #40-56, along with "Fear of Falling" from the Vertigo Preview, and "The Song of Orpheus" from the Sandman Special), June 2008, ISBN 1-4012-1084-8
• The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 4 (collecting The Sandman #57-75), November 2008, ISBN 1-4012-1085-6

In November 2006, the first volume of The Absolute Sandman was published. It collected the first 20 issues (that is, Preludes and Nocturnes, The Doll's House, and Dream Country). 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".^[13] In celebration of this reissuing, DC also issued a refurbished edition of the first issue of the series. Volume 2 of The Absolute Sandman was officially released October 31, 2007.^[14] The third volume was released on June 11, 2008;^[15] and the fourth (and final) volume was released November 5, 2008.^[16]

With the success of the Absolute Sandman editions, DC has scheduled The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 5, collecting Endless Nights, both the prose and cartoon versions of The Dream Hunters, and the Gaiman/Matt Wagner/Teddy Kristiansen collaboration Sandman Midnight Theatre.^[17]

Additions and coda

In 1998, the cover images from The Sandman were released as one compiled volume titled Dustcovers: The Collected Sandman Covers. 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, there is no trace of it in the primary source he cites,^[18] and when asked, Gaiman has stated that he made up the "legend" out of whole cloth. The novel was later adapted into a 4-issue miniseries by P. Craig Russell.

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.

Spinoffs

Due to critical acclaim and commercial success (at the time of its conclusion, it was DC’s best-selling series), The Sandman spawned a number of spin-off volumes. Subsidiary works include:

• Death: The High Cost of Living (1993): A three-issue, Gaiman-penned limited series starring Morpheus’ older sister Death. Takes place roughly nine months after A Game of You.^[19]
• Sandman Mystery Theatre (1993–1999): A 70-issue series written by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle featuring the Golden Age Sandman Wesley Dodds in a film-noir like setting. The character, who appeared three times in Gaiman's series, was revived due to the popularity of Gaiman's series. The two Sandmen met in Sandman Midnight Theatre (1995), and Dream made a few cameos in Mystery Theatre.
• The Children's Crusade (1993–1994): A seven-part Vertigo crossover starring Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine, the Dead Boy Detectives, which ran through the annuals of the then-Vertigo titles Black Orchid, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Doom Patrol, and Arcana: The Books of Magic.
• Sandman Midnight Theatre (1995): Wesley Dodds, the Golden Age Sandman, meets Lord Morpheus of the Endless, the Modern Age Sandman. It was published between issues #71 and #72 (but took place during the span of issue #1), 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. This one takes place after the end of the series.
• 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, causing a few to withdraw their stories.^{[citation needed]}
• Mythos: The Final Tour (1996): A three-issue mini-series featuring Pain, written by John Ney Rieber and illustrated by Gary Amaro and Peter Gross, Peter Snejbjerg, and Teddy Kristiansen.
• The Dreaming (1996–2001): A monthly series set in Morpheus’s realm, but revolving around the supporting characters with little interaction from the Endless and focused largely on Cain and Abel, who have been DC stalwarts since the late 1960s. It was written and illustrated by a variety of writers and artists; Caitlin R. Kiernan wrote the largest number of scripts for the series.
• Vertigo: Winter's Edge (1997–1999): An annual one-shot issue featuring short stories from multiple Vertigo series, including short stories featuring Desire (twice) and Death by Gaiman with Bolton, Jones, and Zulli respectively.
• The Sandman Presents (1999–2004): A collection of limited series by various authors and illustrators featuring secondary characters from The Sandman.
  • Lucifer (1999, 3 issues)
  • Love Street (1999, 3 issues, featuring John Constantine)
  • Petrefax (2000, 4 issues)
  • Merv Pumpkinhead, Agent of Dream (2000, 1 issue)
  • Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Dreams...But Were Afraid to Ask (2001, 1 issue)
  • Dead Boy Detectives (2001, 4 issues)
  • The Corinthian (2001–2002, 3 issues)
  • The Thessaliad (2002, 4 issues)
  • The Furies (2002, 2 issues)
  • Bast (2003, 3 issues)
  • Thessaly: Witch for Hire (2004, 4 issues)
  • Marquee Moon (written in 1997, published online^[20] in 2007)
• Taller Tales (2003): A reprint trade paperback collecting most of Bill Willingham's Sandman work including Merv Pumpkinhead, The Thessaliad, and his contribution to Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Dreams....
• Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold (1997) by Alisa Kwitney and Kent Williams.
• The 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. Neil Gaiman announced at Comic-Con 2007 that P. Craig Russell will adapt the story into comics form.^[21]
• 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 series. Evolved into a highly successful series paralleling the 75-issue structure of The Sandman.
• The 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 Best Seller list.
• Death: At Death’s Door (2003): A manga-style graphic novel, written and illustrated by Jill Thompson, showcasing Death’s activities during Season of Mists.
• 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 by Ed Brubaker.)
• The Brave and the Bold: The Lords of Luck and The Brave and the Bold: The Book of Destiny (2007–2008): Written by Mark Waid, various DC superheroes try to recapture Destiny's book. Destiny himself makes only minor appearances in the stories (specifically, in issues #4 and #12); although, obviously, he is (behind the scenes) the driving force of the stories. The Lords of Luck collects the first six issues of the series, and The Book of Destiny collects issues #7-12.
• The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (2008–2009): A series of 4 comics based on the novel of the same name. Adapted by P. Craig Russell.
• House of Mystery (2008–present)

Critical reception

The Sandman #19, "A Midsummer Night's Dream", won the World Fantasy Award in 1991 for Best Short Fiction.^[22] Also, The Sandman and its spin-offs have won 26 Eisner Awards,^[23] including three for Best Continuing Series, one for Best Short Story, four for Best Writer (Neil Gaiman), seven for Best Lettering (Todd Klein), and two for Best Penciller/Inker (one each for Charles Vess and P. Craig Russell). The Sandman: The Dream Hunters was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Related Book in 2000.^[24] Both Endless Nights and The Dream Hunters won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Illustrated Narrative in 2004 and 2000, respectively.^[25] Also in 2004, Season of Mists won the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Scenario.^[26] IGN declared The Sandman as the best ever Vertigo comic.^[27]

Adaptations into other media

Film

Throughout the late 1990s, a movie adaptation of the comic was periodically planned by Warner Bros., parent company of DC Comics. Roger Avary was originally attached to direct after the success of Pulp Fiction, collaborating with Pirates of the Caribbean screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio in 1996 on a revision of their first script draft, which merged the "Preludes and Nocturnes" storyline with that of "The Doll's House". Avary intended the film to be in part visually inspired by animator Jan Švankmajer's work. Avary was fired after disagreements over the creative direction with executive producer Jon Peters, best known for Batman and Superman Lives. It was due to their meeting on the Sandman movie project that Avary and Gaiman collaborated one year later on the script for Beowulf. The project carried on through several more writers and scripts. A later draft by William Farmer, reviewed on the internet at Ain't It Cool News,^[28] was met with scorn from fans. Gaiman called the last screenplay that Warner Bros. would send him "not only the worst Sandman script I've ever seen, but quite easily the worst script I've ever read."^[29] Gaiman has also said that his dissatisfaction with how his characters were being treated had 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. In a Q&A panel at Comic-Con 2007, Gaiman remarked, "I'd rather see no Sandman movie made than a bad Sandman movie. But I feel like the time for a Sandman movie is coming soon. We need someone who has the same obsession with the source material as Peter Jackson had with Lord of the Rings or Sam Raimi had with Spider-Man."^[30]

Television

Due to the prolonged development period of the film, in 2010 DC Entertainment shifted focus onto developing a television series adaptation. Film director James Mangold pitched a series concept to cable channel HBO, whilst consulting with Gaiman himself on an unofficial basis, but this proved to be unsuccessful. It was reported in September 2010 that Warner Bros. Television were licensing the rights to produce a TV series, and that Supernatural creator Eric Kripke was their preferred candidate to adapt the saga.^[31]

See also

	Comics portal
	Speculative fiction portal

• List of The Sandman characters
• Sandman (Wesley Dodds), the Golden Age DC character
• Sandman (Garrett Sanford/Hector Hall), the Bronze Age DC character

References

1. ^ "The New Classics: Books". Entertainment Weekly. June 18, 2007. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20207349,00.html. Retrieved 2011-04-20. 
2. ^ Anderson, Porter (July 30, 2001). "Neil Gaiman: 'I enjoy not being famous'". CNN.com. http://archives.cnn.com/2001/CAREER/jobenvy/07/29/neil.gaiman.focus/. Retrieved 2007-10-09. 
3. ^ Gaiman, Neil (w). "The Origin of the Comic You Are Now Holding (What It Is and How It Came to Be" The Sandman 4 (April 1989), DC Comics
4. ^ ^{a b} Gaiman, Neil (1995). "Afterword". The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes. DC Comics. ISBN 1-56389-011-9. 
5. ^ Berger, Karen (1995). "Introduction". The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes. DC Comics. ISBN 1-56389-011-9. 
6. ^ Wonder Woman #300 (February 1983); Infinity, Inc. #49-51 (April–June 1988)
7. ^ JSA #63-64 (September–October 2004) by Geoff Johns
8. ^ Infinity, Inc. #50 (May 1988)
9. ^ Secret Origins vol. 3, #12 (March 1987) — Note that in Wonder Woman #300, prior to the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Fury was depicted as the daughter of the Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor of Earth-Two.
10. ^ Hasted, Nick (September 5, 1996). "Bring Me a Dream". The Independent. 
11. ^ "Vertigo listing of The Sandman Volume 1: New Edition". http://www.dccomics.com/vertigo/graphic_novels/?gn=14398. Retrieved 2011-11-01. 
12. ^ "Neil Gaiman's Journal: Absolute Sandman Request". February 15, 2006. http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2006/02/absolute-sandman-request.html. Retrieved 2008-12-23. 
13. ^ "Neil's Work: The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1". http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Comics/The+Absolute+Sandman%2C+Vol.+1/. Retrieved 2008-12-23. 
14. ^ "The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 2". DC Comics.com. http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=7881. 
15. ^ "The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 3". DC Comics.com. http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=9050. 
16. ^ "The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 4". DC Comics.com. http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=10248. 
17. ^ "The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 5". DC Comics.com. http://dccomics.com/vertigo/comics/?cm=18385. 
18. ^ Ozaki, Yei Theodora. Japanese Fairy Tales. Plain Label Books. ISBN 1603035087. http://books.google.com/books?id=Spf8731Qb2cC. 
19. ^ Irvine, Alex (2008). "Death". In Dougall, Alastair. The Vertigo Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. pp. 54–56. ISBN 0-7566-4122-5. OCLC 213309015. 
20. ^ Handley, Rich. "The Sandman Presents: Marquee Moon". Roots of the Swamp Thing. http://www.swampthingroots.com/marquee.html. 
21. ^ Parkin, JK (July 28, 2007). "SDCC '07: The Neil Gaiman Panel". Newsarama. http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=123005. Retrieved 2007-08-01. ^{[dead link]}
22. ^ "1991 World Fantasy Award Winners and Nominees". WorldFantasy.org. http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/1991.html. Retrieved 2006-01-26. 
23. ^ "The Eisner Awards: Complete List of Past Winners". Comic-Con. http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_pastwinners.php. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
24. ^ "The Hugo Awards: 2000 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2000-hugo-awards/. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
25. ^ "Horror Writers Association: Past Stoker Award Nominees and Winners". Horror Writers Association. http://www.horror.org/stokerwinnom.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
26. ^ Gaiman, Neil. "Fred the Unlucky Black Cat". Neil Gaiman's Journal. http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2004/01/fred-unlucky-black-cat.asp. Retrieved 29 August 2011. 
27. ^ "The 25 Best Vertigo Books". IGN. http://comics.ign.com/articles/677/677353p5.html. Retrieved 2011-04-17. 
28. ^ "Moriarty takes a look at what Jon Peters has done with Neil Gaiman's 'Sandman' property". Ain't It Cool News. November 29, 1998. http://www.aintitcool.com/node/2571. 
29. ^ Wood, Gerard (September 9, 2010). "Neil Gaiman's The Sandman escapes development Hell?". Science Fiction World. http://sciencefictionworld.com/tv/fantasy-tv/575-neil-gaimans-the-sandman-escapes-development-hell.html. Retrieved 2011-04-20. 
30. ^ Ellison, Laura (August 7, 2007). "Gaiman on 'Stardust', 'Beowulf' and 'Sandman'". Mania.com. http://www.comics2film.com/index.php?a=story&b=28447. Retrieved 2008-12-23. 
31. ^ Hibberd, James (November 30, 2010). "Comic icon 'The Sandman' TV series in works". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/live-feed/comic-icon-sandman-tv-series-54387. Retrieved 2011-04-20. 

Further reading

• Parker, Sabadino (2007). Dream's Odyssey: A Jungian Analysis of Neil Gaiman's 'Sandman'. Hartford, Connecticut: Trinity College. 
• Bender, Hy (2000). The Sandman Companion: A Dreamer's Guide to the Award-Winning Comic Series. DC Comics. ISBN 1-56-389644-3. 
• Rauch, Stephen (2003). Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and Joseph Campbell: In Search of the Modern Myth. Holicong, PA: Wildside Press. ISBN 1-58715-789-6  (HC). ISBN 1-59224-212-X (TPB).
• Gaiman, Neil (2006). "Preface". In Sanders, Joe. The Sandman Papers: An Exploration of the Sandman Mythology. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics. ISBN 1-56097-748-5. 

External links

• The Sandman at the Comic Book DB
• "The Sandman Summary" Hosted on NeilGaiman.com
• The Annotated Sandman
• Gaiman's thoughts on a Sandman movie
• Re-reading The Sandman Issue-by-issue commentary by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Audio/Video

• Video interview with Neil Gaiman on the origins of Sandman at Spacecast.com
• Neil Gaiman and Chip Kidd: 20th Anniversary of Sandman, 92nd Street Y, June 25, 2009