Neil Gaiman's Sandman revolutionized comics in the 1990s. While it started as part of the regular DCU, it became apparent that Gaiman's story didn't fit in a world where Superman and Wonder Woman are flying around, so along with Doom Patrol, Shade the Changing Man, and a few other titles, Vertigo Comics was born. And while Vertigo would be the home a number of classic series, none have encapsulated what the imprint stood for more than Sandman.
Now, thirty-one years after Gaiman's gothic horror series debuted, the story is bring brought to the masses as a live-action Netflix series. Neil Gaiman and David Goyer are producing the show while Wonder Woman writer Allan Heinberg will act as showrunner. While we're looking forward to seeing Dream, Death, and the rest of the Endless come to our TVs, we're also a little worried. Here are five reasons why we're excited about the Netflix show, and five reasons we're nervous...
10 Excited: The Show Could Be Amazing
Across 75-issues and a number of specials and mini-series, Neil Gaiman, along with a murderers row of artists that included Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, P. Craig Russell, and Michael Zulli created a tale that isn't just one of the best comic stories ever, but one of the greatest pieces of modern literature. The world of Sandman is full of amazing places like the Dreaming, and wonderful characters like Lucien, Corinthian, and Merv Pumpkinhead. Getting a chance to see this world brought to life in love-action is very exciting.
9 Nervous: The Story Is Easy To Screw Up
There's nothing easier to do than to mess up an adaptation of classic work. 2017's adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower is a perfect example of how a complex story can be turned into a bad movie. Sandman is a complex story, and while it will be a series instead of a movie, that doesn't guarantee it won't get messed up. Sandman worked great on the page, but it may not translate well to the screen, and seeing one of the best comics of all time tarnished by a poor adaptation would be a real bummer.
8 Excited: It Could Start The Next Stage Of Comic Adaptations
While it won't be the first non-superhero comic to be made into a TV show or movie, Sandman is the highest-profile one yet. If it's a success, we could see a boom in untraditional comics being brought to the screen. And not just the Marvel and DC books, but more indies like Saga, Sex Criminals, and We Can Never Go Home as well. Most of the world thinks that superheroes are all comics has going for it. Sandman could open the door to showing your average joe just how much more there is to the medium.
7 Nervous: The Budget
Sandman is an incredibly expansive series that spans hundreds of years and countless locations. Along with the scenes that take place in reality, you've got to create the Dreaming, which is no small task. The story also has a large cast. While the focus is on Dream, the recurring characters will need to be properly represented too, and quite a few of them will need some serious make-up or CGI to work.
All of this is to say is that if Sandman doesn't have a big enough budget, it could look terrible. And no matter how good the stories are, if Brute and Glob don't look good, the show won't work. The show could follow the example set by shows like Supernatural and just give every demon and monster a cheap pair of Halloween contact lenses, but all that would do is take away a big part of what makes Sandman so special.
6 Excited: It Will Be Unlike Anything Else On TV
There have been plenty of comics and shows that have been influenced by Sandman, but none of them are Sandman. Locke & Key or The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina may share some of the gothic horror aspects of Gaiman's story, and Doctor Who may spend some time telling stories set during Earth's past, but none of these shows have a story as intricate or epic as Sandman.
Sandman is a tale that explores the meaning of family, questions what reality truly is, and explores the importance of imagination. And it does it all with a cool goth aesthetic.
5 Nervous: Casting
At this point, no one has been cast for the series, or if they have it's being kept quiet. Obviously, the casting of Dream, Delirium, and the other members of the Endless will be dissected by the internet for months before we actually see any footage, and with good reason. Sandman has a loyal fanbase, and every person who loves the comic has versions of these characters swimming around in their heads.
A poor casting choice could throw off the whole show. If a minor character like Mark Twain, who showed up for one issue of the comic, is miscast, everything would be fine, but if Death or Despair don't work, the whole show could fall apart.
4 Excited: It Could Introduce A New Generation To Vertigo Comics
DC may have ended the Vertigo imprint, but plenty of the series have been collected and are still in print. The Sandman show will more than likely lead to more people checking out Gaiman's series, but it could also lead to viewers finding books like Transmetropolitan, The Invisibles, and Sandman Mystery Theater. if interest in past Vertigo titles grows, that can only be a good thing for the comics medium in general.
The more people reading comics means the more chances companies can take on different types of comics. With DC's Black Label seemingly focused on telling more mature stories about superheroes and Young Animal never quite taking off, a revival of Vertigo could bring back the punk rock feeling that DC once had.
3 Nervous: Will Netflix Do The Whole Series?
Netflix has a tendency to cancel shows after three seasons, and three seasons just isn't going to be enough to do Gaiman's story justice. While they don't need to adapt each one of Sandman's 75 issues, it would be a travesty if they cut the story to the bone. Sandman is a story that works best if it isn't rushed, and if Netflix is smart, they'll only do one storyline a season. The full series was collected into ten trades, and each one deserves the space to be told properly. Would Netflix be willing to do ten seasons? We hope so.
2 Excited: The Possibility Of Spinoffs
In what may be a first, Sandman will come to our screens after one of its spin-offs has already had a lengthy run. Lucifer, which started on Fox before moving to Netflix for a final season - that may not actually be the final season - first came to life as a spin-off of the Sandman comics. If Sandman itself is a hit, we could see more spin-offs.
The two Death miniseries could be translated to TV easily enough, and Sandman Mystery Theater is a comic that has long deserved to be brought to the screen. Then there's the current Sandman Universe series that DC is printing; each one could be turned into a new and interesting show for Netflix, HBOMax or any other streaming service that is open to something different.
1 Nervous: Can Sandman Be Modernized?
Word is, the Sandman show will update the story for a modern-day setting, and while it may not seem like moving the date from 1992 to 2022 is a big deal, the world has changed quite a bit in that time. Setting Sandman in the current day brings with it modern technology, and while there's no definitive need to add the internet or smartphones as important pieces of any of the stories in Sandman, there's every reason to worry that the writers will do just that.
As expansive as Sandman is in terms of time and space, the overall story is a small one about a family that has some serious problems they need to work out and a man who isn't sure what his place in the universe is. For all his power, Dream is just an insecure guy who wants to be loved.