52° and Overcast
Image
Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman stands to this day as one of the best written comics of all time, alongside titles like Watchmen, Daredevil: Man Without Fear, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. The original run of the series ran for 75 issues from 1989 until 1996 and blended horror, fantasy, and science fiction in a way that has not since been recreated. Netflix’s adaptation of the series manages to capture the identity of the original, while also making changes to the material that elevate it beyond what was done in the original.
The Sandman tells the story of Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), the living embodiment of dreams, who is accidentally captured by a magician who is trying to capture Morpheus’s sister Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste). After being held for 70 years, Morpheus has to go out and find his artifacts that contain his power and find the Nightmares (mostly The Corinthian played by Boyd Holbrook) that escaped from his realm during his imprisonment. He interacts with a large array of interesting characters including the occult detective Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman), Lucifer Morningstar (Gwendoline Christie) and John Dee (David Thewlis).
One of the first things that viewers who read the comic will notice is that, while the adaptation is incredibly faithful, Gaiman uses the benefit of hindsight to change some aspects for the television adaptation. Of note, the inclusion of The Corinthian from almost the get-go creates a longer arc that connects Preludes and Nocturnes (the comics that the first six episodes are based on) and The Doll’s House (the comics that the last four episodes are based on) in a more concrete way, especially considering how much Morpheus is sidelined in the latter arc. The removal of the story of Dream and Queen Nada from season one and relocating it into season two makes a lot of sense from a narrative perspective, considering that relationship does not exactly come into play until Season of Mists, which will likely be the back half of season two.
The other major change is the near total removal of characters and locations related to the DC Universe. The Sandman in its original run was based in the DC Universe with characters like Scott Free, Martian Manhunter, John Constantine, Doctor Destiny, Scarecrow, and Batman having supporting roles. In this show, John Constantine is gender swapped and is Johanna Constantine in both past and present iterations instead of John and Johanna both being present in the story. Beyond Johanna and Lucifer Morningstar, the rest of the references are omitted to mixed results. The whole issue where Morpheus teams up with Scott Free/Mister Miracle of the New Gods and Martian Manhunter would end up as a side quest that adds very little to the story so removing that makes sense. That said, changing John Dee so he is just a descendent of Roderick Burgess and not Doctor Destiny does require a good amount of time to be devoted to explaining who he is and why he has Morpheus’s ruby that allows him to manipulate people instead of a conversation in Arkham Asylum where he talks to Scarecrow for a bit and then escapes. All of that said, this show is definitely seeped deep enough in fantasy where adding in that this is the DC Universe with aliens and supervillains would muddy the waters too much, however the small inclusion of the Silver Age Sandman is a nice touch.
Anyone who enjoys fantasy and horror will find something to enjoy in this show, the same way that those same people would have found something to love in the comic. If someone does not want to commit the full 10 hours required to watch the whole show in one sitting, the episode “The Sound of Her Wings” about Dream and Death’s time together and the bet they make about allowing a man to live forever is largely stand alone and is the best episode of the season. “24/7” (John Dee in a diner using the ruby to control people) and “Dream a Little Dream of Me” (the Johanna Constantine episode) also stand out as smaller episodes that largely stand alone and are fantastic as well. That said, this whole show is worth a watch and is the best comic book show in recent history.
Final Rating: 10/10
