Sandman is finally on its way to a series adaptation courtesy of Netflix, which very recently completed filming. Despite its enduring popularity, the comic series has long been considered unfilmable and is still deeply ambitious as a project.
Comic book adaptations like Guardians of the Galaxy see praise coupled with raised eyebrows when bringing lesser-known or weirder stories to the screen. Works like Dune famously see brilliant filmmakers either rush sub-par versions into theatres or create bizarre masterpieces left entirely on the cutting room floor. Sandman exists on a fascinating point of confluence of these two phenomena.
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The Sandman is a DC comics series written by the legendary Neil Gaiman from 1989 to 1996. The series has been hugely popular, garnered overwhelming praise, and won dozens of awards. The series is a mythology-infused dark fantasy centering around anthropomorphic representations of ethereal concepts. The main character is Dream Of The Endless, the immortal being who represents the concept of dreaming and of stories. Dream and his siblings, Death, Desire, Delirium, Destiny, Destruction, and Despair, are godlike sapient functions of the universe. The narrative centers around the duties, struggles, and machinations of these characters as they contend with human mystics, dual with demon scoundrels, and do the grim work of their titles.
From the beginning, The Sandman is fantastical, strange and dealing heavily in the world of allusion. The plot deals with traditional depictions of Satan in the same breath as suffering heroin addicts without pause. Superhero media routinely employs allegory and metaphor in its storytelling, a concept that does not always make it to screen unaltered. Superman was devised as an allegory for the immigrant experience, Zack Snyder's Man Of Steel centered his meaning in a more religious concept.
Most every comic book movie is an action blockbuster built around big set pieces and massive scale combat scenes. Unlike most comic book adaptations, this is not really an action story. Dream and his siblings really don't fight, they outwit their opponents and use their absolute authority over their concepts in creative solutions. Sandman does not and cannot fit the mold of the average comic book adaptation. Sandman operates on a huge scale, dealing with deities and fundamental concepts on the level of interpersonal conflict, but its action cannot be comparable to MCU or DCEU films. Each member of the Endless are at once more powerful and more important than any member of the Justice League or Avengers. That level of power and responsibility lends itself to abstract battles of wit to decide the fate of all living things.
Sandman defies genre throughout its run, spreading its themes from philosophical fantasy to magic-tinged comedy to supernatural horror. The protagonists and antagonists commit routinely horrific acts without pause, the heroes are dispassionate forces of reality while the villains are evil beyond reason. Very few adaptations of horror comics have been attempted, last year's Hellstrom marked the MCU's first foray into the genre. Sandman is not horrific in the model of slasher films or ghost stories. It centers its horror in the same heady concepts that it centers everything. The horror of Sandman centers around ultimate power falling into the hands of beings with ill intent, the folly of hubris, and the inherent threat presented by fate.
The structure of Sandman is also more complex, more eclectic than that of the average comic storyline. As their name implies, the Endless are immortal beings who exist in all of known time. Each of the Endless came into existence millennia ago; Death was born alongside the first living things because with life comes death, Dream was born with the creation of the first story, etc. Sandman has an approach to its events that spans the ages, creating a tapestry of stories, some universe-spanning, others interpersonal. A series that varies wildly between clever tricks to decide the fate of all living things to discussions of the feelings of abstract concepts is a magical idea, one that defies expectations for comic book media.
One of the most powerful moments in The Sandman comes in an exchange between Dream and his older sister Death. After watching Death engage in her grim work, Dream remarks on the misguided acts of mortals in trying to evade the end. Death questions the difference between the two of them, pointing out that while the living fear her, they enter Dream's domain night after night without protest, even though he is often cruel to them. The crushing fear of mortality, the warm end of suffering brought by Death's kind embrace, the cruelty of our own minds as we enter the Dreaming. These concepts are fantastical but all too real. This comic book has the feel of a Socratic dialogue or Aesop's fables, making adapting it a greater challenge.
Comic book adaptations vary, but over the years a dominant model has emerged. A dominant model which The Sandman stands in strict defiance to. If done properly, the upcoming Sandman series could break new ground for this massive media phenomenon. MORE: Neil Gaiman Announces American Gods Season 3 Release Date
