Brief History Of The Franchise:
Comic book series The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, published by DC Comics. Included are the works of Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, Shawn McManus, Marc Hempel, Bryan Talbot, and Michael Zulli, with lettering by Todd Klein and covers by Dave McKean. There were a series of 75 issues published between January 1989 and March 1996. Originally published under DC’s Vertigo imprint, the series was moved to DC’s Black Label imprint beginning with issue #47 after Vertigo’s demise in 2020.
Dream, sometimes known as Morpheus and various aliases, is the protagonist of The Sandman. Dream is one of the seven Endless. Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium (previously Delight), and Destruction (also known as “The Prodigal”) make up the rest of the Endless. The series is well-known for incorporating elements of mythology and history into its horror setting inside the DC Universe and for Gaiman’s signature anthropomorphic personification of various metaphysical entities. Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, is caught in The Sandman and must face the reality that change is sometimes unavoidable. The Sandman was Vertigo’s first major series, and it has been released in a variety of formats, including a set of ten trade paperbacks, a recolored five-volume Absolute hardcover version with slipcase, a three-volume omnibus edition, a black and white Annotated edition, and as a digital download.
The Sandman, along with other notable graphic novels like Maus, Watchmen, and The Dark Knight Returns, was among the first to appear on The New York Times Best Seller list. It was ranked as the 46th best book published between 1983 and 2008 and was one of just five graphic novels to make the list. ‘A comic strip for intellectuals,’ Norman Mailer once referred to the series. Since its release, the series has had widespread impact on the fantasy subgenre and the graphic novel industry at large, earning it widespread recognition as a classic of the form.
Sandman has been adapted for the big and small screen in a number of different ways. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was originally set to feature in a film adaptation of the comic book series written by David S. Goyer, which was to be part of Warner Bros.’s future Vertigo film slate, but Gordon-Levitt left the project in 2016. In 2020, a full-cast audio drama based on the first three volumes of the series, narrated by Gaiman, dramatized and directed by Dirk Maggs, and featuring James McAvoy as Morpheus, was published exclusively through Audible. A Netflix TV series that has been in the works since June 2019 finally premiered in August 2022.
Summary:
Dream, the Sandman, is the protagonist of the series The Sandman. He is also referred to as Morpheus, Oneiros, the Shaper, the Shaper of Form, Lord of the Dreaming, the Dream King, Dream-Sneak, the Cat of Dreams, Murphy, Kai’ckul, and Lord L’Zoril. Morpheus is taken prisoner in the first episode of the series thanks to an occult ritual and kept there for 70 episodes. After exacting his revenge on his captors, Morpheus makes his way to the present day and begins restoring his crumbling realm. The character’s arrogant and vicious demeanor softens after years in prison at the beginning of the series, but for a being with billions of years of habitual behavior, the task of correcting previous mistakes and changing old ways is a huge one. The comic started off as a really grim horror series. At a later point, it transforms into a complex fantasy series that draws from both ancient and modern mythology and features a protagonist cast in the role of a tragic hero.
There are brief excursions to other realms like Hell, Faerie, Asgard, and the domains of the other Endless, but most of the action takes place in the Dreaming, Morpheus’ realm, or the real world. In many cases, modern-day America and Britain serve as settings. Officially taking place in the DC Universe, the series rarely included well-known DC characters or locations after 1990. Lyta Hall, formerly Fury of the 1980s super-team Infinity, Inc., is a significant exception to this rule; she plays a pivotal role in the “Kindly Ones” plot arc and her superhuman talents are not overlooked. The majority of the stories are set in the present day, while many of the short tales are set in the past and focus on historical figures and events such in the short story “ “Men of Good Fortune.”