What is The Sandman about?

More than 30 years ago, author Neil Gaiman created a phenomenon with his “Sandman” comics. Between 1989 and 1996 he told the story of Dream, the lord of dreams and nightmares, on a good 2,000 pages and thus created one of the best and most beloved graphic novels in the world. However, anyone who has not yet made acquaintance with the Sandman will ask themselves the question after the trailer for the new Netflix series at the latest: What is it actually about and was it worth waiting more than 30 years for the implementation?

The Story of the Sandman

Netflix: The comic template is 30 years old, now the adventures of The Sandman can be seen on Netflix.

Source: Netflix



When Dream, the lord of dreams, is captured by a magician, chaos erupts not only in his dream realm. The earth also suffers from the fact that one of the most powerful beings in the universe has to live in captivity for decades. And his time in captivity left its mark on Dream, too. In order to rebuild his shattered empire, he must recover the insignia of his reign and grapple with all the dreams and nightmares that crossed over into the real world during his captivity.

In the stories that follow, Neil Gaiman weaves great tales and legends into the personal journey of the Sandman, who finds his kind has made some enemies. Gaiman writes about grand concepts like love, destiny and change that even the lord of dreams cannot escape. It is precisely this mixture of interesting characters and profound stories that still captivates comic readers after more than 30 years.

The main characters from The Sandman

The following characters play a major role in the first season of The Sandman:

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  Netflix: The most human of the Endless, Death talks into her brother’s conscience.
  

  Source: Netflix
  
  
  
  dreams Main character and part of the Endless. These seven beings embody the principles to which the entire universe must adhere. Dream, also known as Morpheus or Sandman, is the master of dreams and nightmares. Even if he has to deal with people all the time, he doesn’t quite understand them.

• Death: Dream’s big sister and second oldest of the Endless. She is Death, but could not be a more kind-hearted and kind entity. So that she never becomes a stranger to humans, it is said that once every 100 years she herself becomes mortal in order to spend a day in the skin of the creatures she accompanies to the other side.
• desire: Dream’s younger sibling (Desire doesn’t need to be reduced to something as simple as gender) and his twin sister, Despair, are always meddling in their big brother’s affairs. Desire in particular seems to take thieving pleasure in playing games with Dream and the mortals.
• Matthew: According to legend, Dream is always accompanied by a raven. Matthew is the newest of Dream’s scouts but has yet to settle into his role. For just before his adventures began, he himself was mortal. That’s why he has to get used to not being human anymore and having wings.
• Lucy: Dream’s right hand and something like his conscience. During the Sandman’s absence, Lucienne has tried to preserve as much of his realm as possible. However, most of it has fallen apart. Lucienne is also something of Dream’s voice of reason when he gets himself into trouble again.
• The Corinthians: An escaped nightmare that has become something of a serial killer’s idol. In the comics, the Corinthians is more of a marginal character at the beginning, in the Netflix series he has a much larger role. Because he does everything to destroy Dream.

Differences between comic and series

Netflix: Old Friends – Dream and the Prince of Hell, Lucifer.

Source: Netflix



With a template as popular as The Sandman, fans naturally remain vigilant about anything that might tarnish the original’s reputation. That’s why there was a big sigh of relief when it became clear that Neil Gaiman would be jointly responsible for the Netflix series. However, there are a few differences: Several characters look different than in the original.

Lucifer, for example, is played by Gwendolyn Christie, known from Game of Thrones, John Constantine was changed to Johanna Constantine for legal reasons. In general, anything that came from the DC Universe in the comics will not appear in the Netflix series, which has a bigger impact, especially in the early episodes. Apart from that, the stories are told very close to the original.

Above all, the mood of the series has changed. Dream and his siblings are more human in the Netflix series, and while the show has retained its grittiness, it’s not nearly as mean. In the very first episode, for example, Dream condemns a character in the comic template to eternal awakening: to the outside world he is asleep, but in his dreams he wakes up again and again – one of the most terrible punishments Dream can impose. In the series, it’s “just” eternal sleep instead.

This is how Netflix’s The Sandman became

Netflix: Dream has to get used to his new raven.

Source: Netflix



We are all the more pleased to be able to say that The Sandman turned out extremely well! You can tell that Neil Gaiman has learned a lot and changed his style in the 30 years since his comic ended. That’s why the Netflix sandman can’t be a one-to-one adaptation.