Sandman: Why is it So Good?

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The Sandman is a critically acclaimed and much beloved comic book. Written by Neil Gaiman from 1989 through 1996 across 75 issues and with interesting artists including Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Charles Vess, and many more, it helped DC Comics establish its successful Vertigo line. But why is the comic so loved and respected? This video analyzes Neil Gaiman's writing techniques used within issue #19 of Sandman, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," to break down what he does that's special.

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26 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 459

@ComicTropes 2 года назад

I know. I said Victorian and it was Elizabethan. Mistakes like that happen when I write a script with an assumption in my head I think is a fact and I don’t have an editor or second set of eyes. Hopefully, my arguments still make sense to you.

@thedukeofchutney468 2 года назад

I personally didn’t notice! Excellent video as always!

@benetedmunds 2 года назад

To err is human... 🙂

@benetedmunds 2 года назад

[Also, the groundlings in Elizabethan theatres didn't have any seats at all! They just stood in the dirt, the original Elizabethan mosh pit, right in front of the stage! At the same time the best and worst "seats" in the theatre!]

@smbcollector 2 года назад

It's all good! One little mistake is bound to make its way into such content-heavy videos.

@markmanhetherington1 2 года назад

I was about to say it but saw you acknowledged it. Good on you!

@RobertJazo 2 года назад

I read an interview with Neil Gaiman where he was asked what the Sandman was about. His answer was, "The King of Dreams learns all things must change or die and makes his choice." What impressed me about that statement is that as diverse as the various stories in The Sandman are, almost all of them tie into that theme in some way.

@sailordaigurren8225 2 года назад

💯

@turtleanton6539 10 месяцев назад

😅

@crithon 2 года назад

I read Sandman during the 90s, I was teenager, I didn't really understand it as much as I just enjoyed it was different than the super hero trends of the 90s. It was poetic, beautiful and full of dreams. "Dream of a Thousand Cats" is a story I can come back to again and again.

@robertsyrett1992 2 года назад

Indeed, I read the graphic novels as a fashion guide when I was a youth. Glad to revisit them now with a fresh eye towards the storytelling.

@KabukiKid 2 года назад

I'm extra curious to see if "Dream of a Thousand Cats" ends up being adapted by the TV show. That will be a tricky episode to do, I'm sure.

@crithon 2 года назад

@@KabukiKid why not do it all stylized animation? They did it before on American Gods ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-670ME0eCGFM.html

@monolith_g 2 года назад

I knew as a teenager that if I wanted to be cool and still read comics it would have to be something like sandman. I always grabbed sandman but always went heavy on marvel from the .50 bins

@crithon 2 года назад

@@monolith_g it's okay to be into Marvel too, aside from Sandman's art being so graphic.... Marvel had some amazing brooding character like Silver Surfer or Adam Warlock. Or the drama of Nightcrawler's deep religious guilt complex while being haunted by his demonic look, even now looking back, those are just so amazing dramatic characters. Nightcrawler, looks like a devil and when he BAMFs it smells of sulfer, but as kids we all knew he was a good guy.

@Tsalviatti 2 года назад

I've read the entire Sandman (plus the follow-ups Gaiman had produced such as The Dream Hunters, Endless Nights and Overture) at least 3 times, and I have to admit I cried at the end of the Kindly Ones every time. It really felt like losing a close friend. For me it still is one of the best comic books of all time.

@kristianwilliamson6527 2 года назад

The Kindly Ones is the best sandman issue in my opinion, the art is surreal and impressionistic and the story is so raw and emotional and vivid. Gaiman at his best

@Nayukhuut 2 года назад

I hear ya. I read the series well over a decade ago, and my heart still hurts a bit when I think of those last few books. It's weird to say that I am both looking forward to, and dreading the end of Netflix series should it get enough seasons. Despite the changes they made, that series is bringing the story to life in a way I never thought I would see. Not sure if my poor heart could take seeing those last few books on the screen. :(

@Hybries 2 года назад

@@kristianwilliamson6527 I always start out not liking the art in The Kindly Ones, and by the end of the story being in complete awe of it. What a masterpiece

@palchristianandersen9086 2 года назад

As comic books have become more like reading tv-shows, I'm starting to appreciate older comics more and more. Sandman often gets criticized for going off on tangents and not having a strong driving plot, but that's one of the aspects I love about it. You can pick up almost any of the TPBs and find a great little 1-4 issue story that just works on its own.

@eddiejoewalt7746 2 года назад

like reading tv-shows = are you that 💩head the boys TV SHOW IMPROVED TO THE COMICS !

@Neutral_Tired 2 года назад

@@eddiejoewalt7746 people usually resort to insults when they have no intelligent arguments to make

@eddiejoewalt7746 2 года назад

@@Neutral_Tired people usually resort to insults when they have no intelligent arguments to make = people like you are only here to comment if "arguments" like this are more in line with Street fighter and you are only the watcher and write something at excuse for your existence!

@eddiejoewalt7746 2 года назад

@@Neutral_Tired plus i didnt know your RU-vid page have porn in it!

@cha5 2 года назад

@@eddiejoewalt7746 The Boys TV show was never as balls to the wall as Ennis’s comic is. Even though The Boys comic is pretty tame compared to Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill’s Marshall Law and Rick Veitch’s The Bratpack and The Maximortal as far as a skewering of the superhero genre goes. Although The Boys and Sandman is an apples and oranges comparison in the first place.

@jearl75290 2 года назад

I don't think any comic moment is more memorable than being at my library 20+ years ago and opening the trade to see the Sam Kieth art and Robbie Busch colors.

@jesse412 2 года назад

Sam Keith's hellscape is so rad!

@whssy 2 года назад

For me, it was the first time I read a black and white paperback of Asterix in Britain. I was probably about 8. And then discovering they had the full size ones in colour in Barnsley public library. Our parents would eventually just dump us there for an hour or so to go shopping. There was no risk that we were leaving as it was the highlight of the week.

@susanbooth6793 2 года назад

I started reading comics back in the 50s, went into DC about the time the Golden Age heroes were being reconstructed, then discovered Marvel with FF#9 - I would have been 10 or 11 at the time, and collected every Marvel comic I could get my hands on for well over ten years. Then I got bored, and went cold turkey for well over 10 years. One day in the very early 1990s I rummaged through a dumper bin of comics collections and graphic novels in Waterloo Station and came across the first Sandman collection. Intrigued (and because I was slightly acquainted with Neil through SF fandom) I bought it and took it home, along with the first Justice League International collection, because that was hilarious. Within a week I had a large pull list of mainly Vertigo comics (plus a loyalty card) at one of London's comic shops. (Also searching for back issues of JLI, but that's another story.) Even when Vertigo's quality dropped to a level I was no longer interested in, I still bought, and buy, occasional runs that pique my interest. But Sandman remains, quite simply, the most complex, imaginative and meaningful comic I have encountered. I cannot pick a favourite.

@leespiderpod 2 года назад

Do you remember when forbidden planet was in Denmark street?

@nonsuchned94 2 года назад

An issue that fascinates me is from World's End, issue 55 , titled "Cerements." It makes me wonder if Gaiman was just intentionally going crazy with the layering of story-telling. The arc is all about people telling stories. In each issue, a different character tells a different story.It's bookended by the revelation that one of the characters is telling the story of what happened to him to someone else. So, it's a Sandman story, about a man telling a story about people telling stories. Cerements goes either further by having the storyteller telling a story about people telling stories. one of those story tellers, you guessed it, tells a story of someone telling a story he was told. It never breaks down and manages to quickly throw in some important world building about the Endless.

@youtubinfool 2 года назад

I kinda wonder if he was inspired by the movie "the saragosa manuscript" for that one. I think he brings it up in American gods.

@peterlewerin4213 2 года назад

Came here to say that. It's five levels of nested storytelling (and the final one teases looping back to the middle), and it's so effortless that you realise it only afterwards.

@AngusJo 2 года назад

I can remember when I read this story that I was worried that I wouldn't be able to follow it. But Gaiman managed to make the story stay traceable. After this issue, I knew that Sandman was, above all, a story about stories and their impact on life.

@GhostRydr1172 2 года назад

By the time Gaiman found his voice for the series, The Sandman became an ode to stories and the act of storytelling. It's that simple. That issue and many others reflect this. I fear tho the tv series will skew that concept entirely by focusing either on the fantastical or the horror elements of each story arc.

@peterlewerin4213 2 года назад

@@GhostRydr1172 Stardust, Good Omens, and American Gods all show that Gaiman considers film/tv a radically different way to tell a story. I trust that the show will indeed skew the concept, but do so in a good way. Offhand, I can only remember one occasion where Dream is thoroughly stuck in reality, and that's when he's in an airliner seat, seemingly uncomfortably trying to keep his aspect moving along with the human contraption as it travels through the air (come to think of it, the time he feeds the birds, exhausted and listless, might be another). Otherwise, he is arguably never really there in reality: his body language is usually distancing, rebuffing; his size and appearance is variable, like he is slipping in and out of your memory while you talk to him; only when he appears in a retelling of a story, or when he meets Hob, does he take shape the way he does in the Dreaming. I wonder if (and how?) they will realise this in the show...

@TimothyCollins 2 года назад

Probably my favorite stuff in the Graphic Novels was the Dream Country arc. The whole idea of Dream and Delirium going on a road trip was some of my favorite interactions between the Endless.

@lakrids-pibe 2 года назад

Delirium is delightful.

@miketheninja13 2 года назад

@@lakrids-pibe I see what you did there 🙃

@nonsuchned94 2 года назад

"Brief Lives," but yes, Gotta love Delirium. I wonder how many pitches Vertigo got to create a series about her, but I can see why it would be a hard character to base a series around.

@theajshow 2 года назад

Never did pick up a Sandman comic, but I did get his sister's book, "Death: The High Cost of Living" and absolutely loved it. I know it's not the same team, but still was a great story.

@henrycunningham1960 Год назад

Well it might as well be, the only 2 things that stayed contestant throughout all of Sandman was the writer and the lettering, both of which are in Death

@vikkitaggart7454 2 года назад

It's so hard to choose a favorite story. "The Sound of Her Wings" was one of my favorites because it makes Death a friend who loves life and every person. Another favorite is "A Game of You." The value of the individual and our own identity as we define it is such a strong theme. Wanda is a beautiful character and the end of her story makes me cry every time I read it.

@pinkflame7237 2 года назад

My favorite single issue was "The Sound of Her Wings" and my favorite arch was "Brief Lives".

@MelodyTCG 11 месяцев назад

Neil gaiman's work is a big inspiration for me. His approach to writing horror/supernatural stuff mixed with comedy was what made me love more macabre works

@therussiancomicbookgeek 2 года назад

I actually make motion comics on my channel and I’ve adapted one or two Sandman issues into motion comics with a full profile cast and sound design.

@martyrocks2091 2 года назад

The entire 75 issue run + 1 special is a masterpiece. Very much like the Mona Lisa on your t-shirt 👍

@hectormg9617 2 года назад

Have you listened to the amazon audiobook? I loved it! It's like a radio show I guess, it has actors, sound effects and all that jazz. Highly recommend it!

@cade377 2 года назад

Yep, it is incredibly good!!!!

@JessicaZane4realz 2 года назад

Oh my god, this was the first comic I ever read that got me into comics. I pretty much only bought Vertigo comics as well.

@KabukiKid 2 года назад

Those golden years of Vertigo were quite special. I gobbled them up.

@Panda_Roll 2 года назад

Thank you for the vid. Emperor Norton I is one of my favorites from Sandman. I actually went and read about the real man afterwards. The idea that you can have literally nothing, die in the gutters and yet still have a dream that you share with the world its beautiful. In most stories this would have been a tale of despair or delirium, just someone to pity, but Gaiman elevated it to new levels.

@hotspurre 2 года назад

"Three Septembers and a January" is literally my favorite issue, and one of my favorite short stories period. It's a wonderful story.

@majiceagle183 2 года назад

i’m reading through it for my first time right now and i love it! i can tell i’m not getting all the layers immediately but vids like these help to deepen the understanding and my love of it. it’s one of those books where you just go “wow” and sit for a minute whenever you finish a volume not knowing exactly why

@andrewcabrera505 2 года назад

While I do recommend reading all the TPBs in order, I absolutely love Season of Mists. In my opinion it’s when Dream developed a more fleshed out personality and begins taking responsibility for his actions. He is “humanized” as much as he can be. I originally was gonna go on a tangent about exactly “how” he was humanized, but it’s tough to put into words so instead I’ll recommend “just read it”

@tommasomonaci3381 2 года назад

I've must've red this story a million time since the first time I laid my eyes on it 17 years ago, and still you're video was still able to highlight stuff I didn't notice! What a great story, and a great analysts!

@HamIsDelicious 2 года назад

Your obvious delight in your work creates a contagious enthusiasm for the comics you discuss.

@DementedDistraction 2 года назад

I became good friends with someone during high school back in the 90s over our shared affinity for Sandman, and it's a friendship that has endured to this day. I can also remember introducing Sandman to quite a few of my comic book reading friends during that time - the consensus amongst them was that they never gave Sandman a chance because on the surface it seemed too conceptual and high-brow for them, but once they started reading it they found it surprisingly accessible and they kept wanting to read more.

@Comicbroe405 2 года назад

Personally what captivates me the most from Sandman is just how brilliant it's art is.

@TimothyCollins 2 года назад

This is one of the reasons I have some trepidation about the live action show. The art was so essential to the writing that I am worried the show might lose something in the process of making it live action. That said... Gaiman did well shepherding Good Omens to TV so he has a track record of good translations. So I am cautiously optimistic about this.

@Camoedine 2 года назад

@@TimothyCollins you shouldnt be, the composition in the show is dogshit

@nonsuchned94 2 года назад

it helped that Gaiman wrote his scripts specifically to enhance the talents of the artist he was working with.

@jasongarrett768 2 года назад

Charles Vess is a legend. Overture is packed with beautiful artwork as well; it’s worth looking up.

@tonym.s7988 2 года назад

When beginning to read comics, there were 2 comics I avoided: Watchmen, because as a deconstruction of comic book tropes first I had to learn myself about the world it deconstructs, and Sandman, mostly because I was intimidated by it in some way. Instead, what arguably got me into reading was Mystery Theatre and the meeting of the two Sandmen, Wesley and Morpheus. I wish Gaiman writes someday about the death of Wesley and his final encounter with Dream. I don't know, it could give a certain closure to the Golden Age hero.

@rbourne35 2 года назад

Agree with the Sandman seeming intimidating. Somehow I expected it to be pretentious. Artsy with twists for the sake of twists and any meaning was an excuse instead of the motivation. And maybe I wouldn't have appreciated it at the time anyway. Not the action comic I was used to.

@benetedmunds 2 года назад

I did my comic reading at college, and we started with Watchmen. That taught us all the comic and superhero tropes even as it exploded them. And then Killing Joke and Dark Knight Returns. Sandman was different. We approached it with care and caution. Crikey! We approached it with reverence!

@benetedmunds 2 года назад

I'm still a little bit in love with Death, even after all these years. (And I have to say, the clip of Death on from the upcoming series is effortlessly spot on! IMHO, natch.)

@samwill7259 2 года назад

May be an unpopular opinion but my favorite parts of the Sandman are near the beginning, before the invention of the Vertigo imprint where Morpheus was allowed to be a part of the Wider DCU on a regular basis. Stuff like him interacting with J'onn J'onnz, inspiring the original golden age Sandman or facing off against Doctor Destiny are some of his most memorable moments

@inchantor1536 Год назад

His interactions with John Constantine and confusion about the Justice Society are also pretty interesting

@gaebril131 10 месяцев назад

He was heavily borrowing from Alan Moore's Swamp Thing in those early issues. It's very well loved as well - check it out if you haven't!

@goblinsinc.8274 8 месяцев назад

yeah it's so funny to me reading later sandman having a mostly grounded story, then I remember that superman exists in this universe (Despite there being like an in universe superman comic called hyperman with its own bizarros called weirdzos)

@sandnewts 2 года назад

I read Sandman earlier this year after I had started watching your channel and getting into comics. I found it to be one of the best things I had ever read. A lot of ideas that are explored in the world of Sandman I found to be very comforting and interesting. There were moments that made me actually laugh and cry. I felt a real attachment to the characters because these gods are written to be so very human. I'm very excited for the Netflix adaptation. I see a lot of people already trashing on it before it has even released, which I think is quite unfair.

@merk638 2 года назад

Season of Mists introduced me to Sandman. Then i went back and started from the beginning. I'm rereading it again after quite a while away and finding all the amazing things i missed the first few times. Storytelling at it's finest.

@Stephen09479 2 года назад

The best ‘Oh hi’ introduction yet. Brilliant!!!

@danguillou713 2 года назад

I don’t have a lot to add. Excellent review of one of my lifetime favorite comics. One thing about Sandman being so accessible for people who’re culturally high brow but not regular comics readers … which is a great thing, I’m not disparaging that at all! … but it did result in one of the least enjoyable letter columns I have ever read. Not just people starting their letters with ”I’m not the kind of person who reads comics, but…” But a lot of letter writers who seemed really desperate to prove that they weren’t ”that kind of person” by throwing in unnecessary literary references, complicated sentence structure and pretentious verbiage. Anyway, absolutely awesome comic. Everybody should read it. And I’m really *freaking* nervous about the adaptation that starts two days from now!

@robynvorsa9283 2 года назад

I love The Sandman series for it's gorgeous art and timeless storytelling

@bronzevillecomics2581 2 года назад

Sandman was a great read and opened up comics to new readers. I thoroughly enjoyed the audible series and the Netflix series was great also. I do wish that we saw more DC characters in the TV series as we had in the comics, but I understand why we didn’t see Mr Miracle or the Martian Manhunter.

@chrisgay4786 2 года назад

I've been listening to the sandman Dramatic audiobook version. It's wonderfully done. neilG lends his voice to be the narrator, along with some star voice actors.

@double0gold82 2 года назад

I wish I could give this video more than 1 like...these were my favorite comics growing up, and remain so now! It's so hard to pin down a favorite story or arc, but I think I like Ramadan the best (both the story and the art...P. Craig Russel is just amazing).

@themonsterundermystairs4272 2 года назад

i saw the notification and thought it said sandwichman

@UrbanDragon 2 года назад

Slight edit needed at 9:18 - Victorian Era should be Elizabethan - Victorian era is 1837-1901, Elizabethan is 1558-1603. Sorry, i'm nitpicking, great essay, i was lucky that i was working at a comic store when the series started so collected from issue 1 - such a fantastic series.

@lakrids-pibe 2 года назад

Do you guys remember *The Books of Magic* with Timothy Hunter, the boy with glasses who is learning to be a wizard? I wish there was more stories in that series. But people kept confusing him with that other boy wizard.

@essaywhu 2 года назад

There are a lot of stories in that series. At least 100 issues across different volumes. They recently put out two omnibus volumes of it. I think a third volume is forthcoming.

@JasonBeam7 2 года назад

One of my favorite comics

@lakrids-pibe 2 года назад

@@essaywhu Whaaa...? My local library must be holding out on me.

@essaywhu 2 года назад

@@lakrids-pibe Omnibus volume 1 contains: The Books of Magic (Series 1) #1-4 Mister E #1-4 The Children's Crusade #1-2 Arcana: The Books of Magic Annual #1 Vertigo Visions: Doctor Occult #1 "The Lot" from Vertigo Rave #1 The Books of Magic (Series 2) #1-32 The Books of Fairie: Auberon's Tale #1-3 Omnibus volume 2 contains: The Books of Magic (Series 2) #33-75 The Books of Magic Annual #1-3 The Books of Faerie #1-3 The Books of Faerie: Molly's Story #1-4 Hellblazer: Books of Magic #1-2 Vertigo: Winter's Edge #1-3 Apparently, volume 3 will contain: THE TRENCHCOAT BRIGADE #1-4 THE NAMES OF MAGIC #1-5 HUNTER: THE AGE OF MAGIC #1-25 and BOOKS OF MAGICK: LIFE DURING WARTIME #1-15 So this is probably around 150 issues total. There’s a more recent series that ran from 2018 -2020 that ran for another 23 issues. So yeah, around 175 maybe after all is said and done.

@ZillMob 2 месяца назад

That other wizard super ripped off tim hunter

@TumiBoy 2 года назад

My favourite story from Sandman would be "Three Septembers and a January" from "Fables and Recollections". Hauntingly beautiful story about Joshua Norton I, his insanity, his pride and the power of dream to carry us through life.

@ThaKid14 2 месяца назад

absolutely phenomenal what hes able to accomplish in a single issue. thats literally only one issue and its absolutely powerful. Master storytelling for real.

@timvanboening9432 2 года назад

Sandman is my favorite comic series. I mean there’s Larry Hama’s G.I. Joe, which is monumental to me, as you know; but, there’s also Sandman. I am VERY MUCH looking forward to the Netflix show this Friday. With the Audible audio book, I have gotten Amanda into the series. We listen to the audio book while reading the actual comic online. She is as hooked as anyone can be, so she’s excited for the show. This issue is superb in every way you mentioned, so I won’t reiterate and repeat. With the series, it was criticized as not having a driving plot, meandering on side stories and such, but that’s how dreams are, right? Continuous, ever changing narratives that wander here and there. The thing about it is that story threads, random characters, come back later and are integral to the next stories. Think of Daniel and his being born in The Dreaming in the early issues, and his tremendous importance at the end. That’s one example, but a pivotal one. Neil Gaiman took threads and wove them all into a gorgeous tapestry, and I cannot love it more.

@paulbrown6464 2 года назад

it started so quietly and gradually become the classic it now is, my first Sandman bought was 18, because i like cats, also it is now the only comic that will win a World Fantasy Award as they have since changed the rules and comics cant be considered

@adriancarlpescador2587 2 года назад

The Kindly Ones is probably my favorite. Lyta Hall is such a tragic character, with her inevitable downward spiral and eventual quest for revenge with the Furies. Also loved the new Corinthian in the arc. Marc Hempel’s art was oddly compelling as well, and is an unexpected match for the story and tone.

@jimgillespie6109 2 года назад

I read the first five Sandman collections a couple of years ago. I can see why people like it, but it just isn't my thing. I'm more impressed with Gaiman as a person than as a writer.

@choosecarefully408 2 года назад

Me too. When you really think about it, Chris' summary here is better than reading the comic itself. The reason? Gaiman's good at collecting plot points. But he enacts them clumsily. I _had_ that issue. I was stunned at how clunkily all the plot elements were thrown at each other. The art did _try_ to make it all elegant. But then I started feeling that the art & story weren't working together _because_ of all the inelegance. Like the affair with Titania & Morpheus: they're discussing it _right NEXT TO_ Oberon. If he'd gotten up to get popcorn then sat back down in his "throne drawn to illustrate their separation" *that* would have been clever. Instead, we get him announcing they won't return to this realm *as **_if_* he heard & knows about the affair, is mad, but under-reacts? This is a thing Gaiman does regularly. He gets the plot-point in, but in such a ham-handed way it's like the beginning of that story-line where Destiny gathers the family, then says "this begins here, with this family dinner, then Desire just asks Dream if he'd banished any former lovers to Hell lately. Like... that felt like Desire could have _texted_ that question to him. It's as if Gaiman wanted that setting, a plot-point & so he just put things in that setting. But it had *no further purpose.* Same with Titania & Dream's affair, it doesn't seem to be connected to Oberon's announcement, at least not the way Gaiman frames it (although I hesitate to use this example as someone will say that's Gaiman texturing the dream). In short, while Larry Hama talks about introducing plot points, then allowing the story's characters to determine where he goes with them, Gaiman seems to be the Total Opposite. He does include characters' personalities, but more or less in passing to the Plot Points. They often feel like they don't fit at all & are simply filler.

@kylecarter1599 2 года назад

I'm only 15 seconds in and I'm already glad I chose this video. Great work Chris.

@ShockWithoutFear 2 года назад

Started reading Sandman a bit over a year ago and loved every bit of it, love introspections into it like this because it always gives and excuse to reread it and recommend it to others

@JoeDouglas 2 года назад

I have the Absolute Editions of Sandman. $150AU each at the time but worth every cent. Absolutely adore the series and I've reread it several times. Not just one of the best comics ever, but one of the best stories period!

@turtleanton6539 10 месяцев назад

Omg😊

@Taalsman 2 года назад

I always knew OF Sandman but hearing the audiobooks on Audible REALLY put it on a pedestal for me, great work from everyone involved.

@turtleanton6539 10 месяцев назад

Indeed😊

@TheJohno95 2 года назад

Sandman is one of those books that you know has surpassed just being a great comic by the fact that people still love it today and creators (Including Neil) are constantly trying to recapture that magic, but that main story just stands on it's own and nothing else can quite replace or continue it. Not knocking some of the other stories, such as Dream Hunters, that came after. But that first series was just...Magic! It just works on so many levels that it's hard to find anything that captures that same feeling. If I were to say my favorite issues, they would have to be #4 and #17. When Lucifer threatens to imprison Morpheus and asks for one reason to let him go and Morpheus responds: "Even in Hell they dream of Heaven.", it still gives me chills. And A Dream of Cats is just such a beautiful story that I have to include it. I love cats and that story gets me every time I read it.

@turtleanton6539 10 месяцев назад

Yes indeed 😊

@xXFaZe_DoNgLeXx 2 года назад

what I love most about sandman is that it's one of my favorite series and I still haven't read the whole thing. I've just read various trades I've picked up. also the first sandman trade I read is the one with this issue

@TWH442 2 года назад

Interesting choice of issue to look at. I must admit the Midsummer Nights Dream issue was quite hard to get my head round as I felt like you needed a half decent grasp of William Shakespeare and that particular play to understand the references and jokes. So good job on analysing it as it makes it easier to understand. In the back of that book (the foreword to the script section) Neil Gaiman does say that Midsummer Night Dream issue was one of the hardest to write as it was so technically intricate. Great video as always.

@Doctor-Shoebill 2 года назад

Another excellent episode, Chris. Perhaps one of your best.

@josephhirning2642 Год назад

As an aspiring writer, Midsummer's night dream was simply inspiring and beautiful to read about.

@cmdrhatchy9611 2 года назад

I think this was one of your best synopsis, if not your best. Good job!

@TheArcSet 2 года назад

Thanks for this. One of amazingly influences series from my formative years. Shocking that it introduced so many new concepts, that were excluded from every other area of my life and media.

@t-vann48 2 года назад

I really really enjoyed the Netflix show. I thought over all, it was a fantastic adaptation. My one real issue being I wish the series leaned a little more into the horror aspects of Sandman. They got the epic fantasy down perfectly, but much of the horror was seemingly abandoned for the show.

@fluidthought42 2 года назад

I feel it was most blunted in Dee's Diner Disaster, but that was a bit more welcome for me. Gaiman himself wasn't too fond of that issue, and was mostly just floundering to find his authorial voice until he wrote about Death. And personally, I found it a bit too gruesome and edgy without narrative stakes to the or real connective tissue to Dream and his business, despite Dee's presence. So the show actually connecting everything together and not making me feel absolutely miserable for watching it feels like an absolute win for me. So now the

@smbcollector 2 года назад

I've read the full first ten volumes of the Sandman TPBs and by far my favorite story was "Façade" in issue 20 (the one about Element Girl). I haven't read it in quite some time, but it's a beautiful story that really spoke to me, and some the art has made a permanent residence in my mind.

@turtleanton6539 10 месяцев назад

Indeed😊

@jackhalsey242 2 года назад

A very thoughtful and beautiful examination of an exceptional book. I think one of your best videos yet. Really well done. I think this video will inspire people to check out this series if they haven’t yet. This video reminded me how good Sandman is and I’m definitely going to go back and reread these stories.

@paultapping9510 2 года назад

I have been waiting for this video for years!! So happy to hear your thoughts on one of my favourite series of all time. Really interesting insights. ngl, I totally missed the Titania/Morpheus affair angle, so I'm glad you pointed that out, adds some really interesting context to that issue.

@binitshah8465 2 года назад

My favorite Sandman story is A Game of You... kills me emotionally every time...

@KPx-ke8bg 2 года назад

Thanks for the new video Chris!

@totorod 2 года назад

I remember the first issue of The Sandman I ever read was Calliope, the month it came out. I was also a young teenager, so most of it passed well above my head. The parts that I did get though, hooked me right in, like Despair’s sigil. Soon, I was combing back through the previous issues, it’s immediate popularity made it no easy task, but I eventually got my hands on issues 1-16 as well as devoutly picking up each new issue. I’d not ever read anything like it before. An older schoolmate had introduced me to The Watchmen, and O’Barr’s, The Crow, but those were ultimately still superhero comics. I think that the series holds such a special place in so many people’s hearts because it was so utterly new, and so absolutely progressive, no other series that I knew of (at the time) featured queer and trans folks as full characters, treated with respect and given such agency, and the Netflix series is taking it a few steps further in a positive direction, giving some of the secondary and tertiary characters that felt a little more like plot devices in the original comics even more agency and awareness. I’m glad we have the original series and I’m also glad we have this modern adaption, with modern ideas about characterization and narrative.

@gabrieljimenez9762 2 года назад

Very cool analysis. Good job! My favorite story arc is precisely Season of Mists, love the mythological dips Gaiman takes, his interpretations and the predicament Dream finds himself in. I do agree with you that the art can be spotty at times (I think that is kinda the only complaint I've gotten from a couple of friends that I have gotten to read Sandman), so art-wise my favorite arc is by far "Overture"; JHWilliams III is fan-freakin-tastic and every panel of it is mind blowing.

@romanlewandowski5027 2 года назад

I used to read Sandman during "study" hall in high school. It was kind of my refuge from all the BS of high school. I don't remember reading other comic books, just that one. It captured my imagination. In Fort Wayne, IN, where I live, there's a store called Books, Comics & Things. I asked my cousin to drive me there so I could buy a Sandman comic. She did not have a positive view of comic book aficionados. This was the 90s. I'm sure her view was formed by seeing the Comic Book Guy in The Simpsons. She hemmed and hawed and said, "OK, I'll take you there, but if I see one guy wearing a Superman shirt I'm leaving." I told her don't be silly, comic book fans aren't the uber-nerds you think they are. I tried to convince her of what fine literature Sandman was. She wasn't buying it. So we went to the store, and you know what we saw don't you? From my recollection, it wasn't the Superman shield. It was Superman taking flight, punching the air: "Up, up, and away!" She is standing behind the guy who's wearing the shirt, pointing at him and mouthing, "Oh, my god!" I don't remember seeing anyone there wearing a Superman shirt before or after that time. My cousin left the store, but I was able to purchase my Sandman comic. That was the only time we went to a comic store together. I haven't read my Sandman comics in twenty years. It may be time to revisit them.

@thewyldness 2 года назад

Like the source material, I think this might be your finest work. Really appreciated how deep you went on the analysis and wish more channels would follow suit. Kudos.

@turtleanton6539 10 месяцев назад

Yes

@ChrisHoppe-wordmeme 2 года назад

You've motivated me again to take a deep dive into some excellent comics material. Your analysis is so literary, I will try to share this topic with my favorite book club. They dabble in graphic novels thanks to my efforts, and hopefully Sandman will pique them to enjoy our beloved media format on this same elevated level. Bravo, great review, Chris! 👏👏👏

@saturncrush 2 года назад

Men of good fortune is my favorite! And I actual that you would speak on it, it is that memorable and that good.

@tonybell2801 2 года назад

I’ve read this a few times and must have missed the bit with the actors turning into their characters. How cool!

@monkeymanbob 2 года назад

Sandman was a real game changer for me. Moore and Miller may have seeded the grim dark in comics but Gaimen's use of horror, non-European mythology and gender was a real eye opener to a younger me. Still have my issue #1 bagged and an exclusive slipcase that held the 1st 2 volumes.

@mavrog 2 года назад

Amazing work done for the video. Very detailed and explainatory! Keep up the good work :)

@RafaelThorazines 2 года назад

Chris has been on a non-stop banger roll!! So many great vids recently

@squashchefan 2 года назад

I was cynical about this Netflix release then I saw Mark Hamill is playing Pumpkinhead. Now I'm intrigued

@sheridanwilde 2 года назад

I'd agree that most of the collections are self-contained, though I wouldn't recommend going in to Brief Lives, The Kindly Ones or The Wake cold.

@ganjjabarsmedium2347 2 года назад

Fantastic breakdown Chris, you are the best in the comic game! 👏 And yet another hilarious opening 😂

@karllomibao 2 года назад

The "sound of her wings" was the best issue for me. I highly recommend people to read it (ir reread it 😀).

@davidbooks.and.comics 2 года назад

Great show...like Allan Moore, the comic book media is a unique medium...the movies are movies.

@BknMoonStudios 2 года назад

I own all 10 volumes of Vertigo's The Sandman collection, and they are the only item I proudly display in my house. Got no posters, statues, game consoles or other books on display. Just those books. They had such a profound effect on me as a teenager that, 10 years later, I still remember every chapter of every book. The Sandman, much like V for Vendetta and Watchmen, is more than a comic book series. *_It is art._*

@velvetelvis999 2 года назад

Your videos are awesome! I am actively sharing these with more people! Great job!

@erinhollow773 10 месяцев назад

I can't pick a favorite arc! They're all so good! If I had to choose, I'd go with World's End. I could practically smell the ending coming, but when *that* moment happened, when I read it during some free time at a competition, I fell silent. I think I cried. The rest of the run became a slow inevitability as I read through the next several volumes. But it wasn't just the ending, I loved the whole volume. The funeral story was so much fun because of the story in a story in a story in a story in story in a story. Hob's Leviathan and Golden Boy were some of my personal favorites.

@victorcabanelas 2 года назад

I still have to re-read it. Amazing book! And great work as always!!

@blackphoenix77 2 года назад

I read the first volume of the Sandman over a decade ago; I need to read more. And I'm definitely going to check out the show.

@theglobestudios 5 месяцев назад

Dude, your intro is amazing. Love it !

@tompuce84 2 года назад

Hey, love the shoooow! And since I statrted watching thereis that editor's name, Karen Berger, that keeps coming up! It seems she has had her hands in every book I encounter lately, how about an episode on her?

@ComicTropes 2 года назад

Maybe. She had great taste.

@scaressell6880 2 года назад

I’ve been waiting for you to finally talk about sandman !!

@lakrids-pibe 2 года назад

09:10 Christopher Marlowe was a popular contemporary playwright in *Elizabethan* era England. Not Victorian. A minor mistake in an otherwise very good video about a very good comic series. I didn't know there was a TV adaption of The Sandman on the way. I'm not sure what I think about that. I have mixed feelings about American Gods. I mean, I really liked parts of it.

@cassiemoyles4177 2 года назад

That issue with Death walking around the city with the teen who wanted to commit suicide.... yeah I'll never forget that one EVER.

@hotsaucekiddo 2 года назад

Happy birthday @comictropes!

@bernardozamichiei6010 2 года назад

Great analysis! Thanks for this video!

@BobsiPringlez 2 года назад

Your channel is glorious. That opening is beautiful haha

@laverdadescatolica5 Год назад

Your videos are awesome. Please continue to do what you do, Sir!

@kalebproductions9316 2 года назад

I was facinated with the universe building of the Sandman. The Endless who all have names starting with D. In the end Dream dies and his son becomes the new Dream. His powers and responsibilities are so large that we often get turned off by his lack of empathy and nurturing towards human beings. All things that dream are his domain. It's awesome and then spawned the whole Lucifer series which is huge. Also the Death series. I'm pretty big on the whole goth music and fashion so having larger than life characters who are gothy does my heart some good. I love that when he tells the woman who was the mother of his son that some day he will return and claim his son, she said something like, "Over my dead body you creapy bastard!", such a reasonable response.

@logan2b 2 года назад

I love this series but the Shakespeare issues have always been the issues I connect with the least, this is probably due to being unfamiliar with Shakespeare’s works, my personal favorite sandman story arc is brief lives

@cthulhupthagn5771 2 года назад

I think I probably have a pretty unique take on sandman. I like his work, so when I saw the DC Comics was putting out absolute additions of the series I decided to collect them and then read them once I had a complete set. As a result I have a complete absolute addition of Sandman as well as the death absolute edition. What makes it unique, is I still have yet to read them. I didn't want to start them until I had all of them, and there were multiple delays when the volumes came out so by the time I got the last volume, death was solicited. By the time death came out, I had reorganized my house and they weren't within visual citing. So it is among some other sets including trans Metropolitan that have yet to be read or even opened

@IzzysIssues 2 года назад

first new episode I watched after finishing your entire backlog. Great stuff 🔥⏳

@DavidTSmith-jn5bs 2 года назад

Oddly enough, "Season of Mists" was the first Sandman book I read at the advise of a friend who basically said what Chris said "They're not always interconnected stories and can be read in any order." I once read "A Midsummer Night's Dream" while I was watching a live performance of it in a public park! It made the story look more magical to me. "Dream Country" and "Worlds End" were excellent collections of stories but I'll always prefer "Season of Mists" because it looked to me like Neil was starting to gain his footing regarding the characters and the central theme of the series at that point.

@dougbratton7309 2 года назад

I came to The Sandman in my forties, and I'm grateful for that. I see it through different eyes than if I had read it when it came out when I was in high school. The Sandman is an important part of the late Bronze/early Copper Age in the 1980s, when arguably all of the greatest comic writing appeared. I look forward to watching Netflix's Sandman when it drops tomorrow and understand that it must be something different than the original comic to work in the medium of streaming television. Cheers to you for your thoughtful analysis of this important series. 👍🏻👍🏻

@turtleanton6539 10 месяцев назад

Yes indeed 😊

@jmace2424 Год назад

Fun Fact: At the Globe Theatre today you can see Shakespeare plays from the ground, which are the best seats, for just £5

@Frst2nxt 2 года назад

It's funny that this occurred instead of the proposed revisiting of Wesley Dodds the golden aged Sandman. I realize it included him at first in at least one of its arcs, but....

@Spectralhyena 2 года назад

If I’m late and you’re already done this great! I’m watching it now. Have you covered the incal? Especially with the fact they are making a movie of it and it’s one of the MOST copied comics and stories ever?

@tonybaggett1984 2 года назад

Coming in hard with that “Oh hi”. Love it!

@blackstreek 2 года назад

'Dream of a Thousand Cats' is so wonderfully complete.

@andrewgrant2990 2 года назад

This was a great video sir- thanks for doing it! I haven't followed Sandman, but as you were describing some of the stories, I remember reading them (maybe when it 1st came out). Keep up the great work sir!