This article is an homage to The Sandman comic book anthology; it is in anticipation for the upcoming series which I sincerely hope will somehow make justice to the source material. Admittedly, it will be hard to adapt such a brilliant work and I do not believe that even my own words could hope to make others understand how well it is written. I will concentrate mostly on the first volume and try not to spoil too many things for those who want to read it or watch the adaptation.
The Sandman, as previously mentioned, is a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman; it ran 75 issues, collected within 11 volumes, and was published by DC comics. The first volume, Preludes and Nocturnes, came out in 1989 and in my opinion, to this day, it remains amongst the best works of fiction written within the comic book world.
The premise and worldbuilding
The main character of the series is Dream (also known as Morpheus), one of the Eternals, a family of powerful beings probably more ancient than many gods. He is the ruler of the Dreamworld, but we will get to than in a moment. From a graphic perspective, Dream is a very slender and extremely pale character and has this gothic look about him (he almost reminds me of Brandon Lee’s The Crow character, but with more bristling hair).
To briefly summarize the plot of the first volume, Dream has been captured by a cult (by mistake I might add since the sect was aiming to ensnare Death); stoically Dream sits in his prismatic cell for seventy years, without ever uttering a single word. Although he grows weak and weary, he keeps his composure and waits for his chance to escape. When he will eventually take advantage of a mistake on behalf of his capturers and escapes, he will have to retrieve his powers from the three artefacts that were stolen from him: a helm, a ruby and his sand pouch.
As far as the worldbuilding goes, there would be many various aspects to analyse, but I will concentrate on one in particular: the Dreamworld, the realm of which Morpheus is king. To quote Dream himself:
“The Dreamworld, the dreamtime, the unconscious – call it what you will – is as much part of me as I am part of it”
This space between dimensions takes other different names, from ‘dream-space’ to ‘shifting zones’, they all refer to something unstable, something that is constantly changing; although Dream himself has control over these fringes of dreamtime, they are also equally created by all of those who sleep and dream. There is an interesting dynamic that is created between Morpheus and mortals: he uses their dreams to take for himself what he needs or wants. Not only is his real ever-changing, there is also a certain degree of decay. Since he has been gone for almost a century, upon his return he notices how the passage of time has affected his own palace. To underline Gaiman’s ability to write and introduce the second part of this article, I will quote Dream’s description upon traveling towards his castle:
“Beyond, outside my dreamworld there is infinite dust, infinite dark. And the dreamworld is infinite, although it is bounded on every side. The way to the center is a slow spiral. One passes the houses of a mystery and secrets – old way stations on the frontiers of Nightmare. From there one charts a course nightward until one reaches the Gates of Horn and Ivory. I carved them myself, when the world was younger, and order was needed. I hasten to the Gates. The dreams that pass through the gates of Ivory are lies, figments and deceptions. The other admits the truth. No one guards the horned gate anymore. I remember the way of old. Once through it I can see my castle.”
The inspiration and the writing
One of the first things to note is Gaiman’s ability to intertwine characters and their stories, drawing inspiration from a vast array of sources and demonstrating his spectrum of knowledge. From myth to literature, from comic books to life, everything resonates within his work. It is just as easy to find within The Sandman quotes from Shakespeare (and even the figure of the bard himself) as it is to encounter protagonists from the DC universe. To give you an idea, these are just some of the characters he introduces in the first volume: Cain and Abel (“victim of the first story”) as Dream’s servants, Lucifer Morningstar (also from the TV series based on Gaiman’s character), the three Hecateae, John Constantine and even several members of the Justice League. Gaiman will also introduce further on gods from the Egyptian and Norse pantheons, as well as other deities and mythologies; these characters however never feel forced within the story because of the way he portrays the Endless family.
The quality of his writing in my opinion is fairly evident when considering the previously quoted passages. Not only is Gaiman capable of weaving a story that is worth reading and inventing characters at their best potential as well as using other previously existing ones, but he does so with an immersive narration. He uses a metaphorical language and induces in the reader a palpable interest for his work. Even a simple description as “the smell of lost dreams” that is just left there with no further explanation creates a certain degree of fascination.
Some notes on the Endless
The Endless family is comprised by seven members: Dream, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destiny and Destruction. Although they are brothers/sisters, there is a certain affinity between some of them more than others: for instance Dream and Death seem to have a special bond (and if you consider the Greek myth it fits perfectly) and Desire and Despair are twins (which in my opinion is excruciatingly perfect). All of them have a domain in which they live, their kingdom so to speak, and the portrayal of that space outside of space is fascinating. Despair’s domain for example is a world of mirrors, each reflecting mortals in their anguish; Desire’s kingdom on the other hand, although boundless, is shaped as their own body and of course Desire resides within the heart of that gargantuan construction.
There would be so much more to be said, so many details that are worth considering and sharing, the simple fact for instance that Delirium was actually Delight (a dichotomy between the forms of pleasure, from pure bliss to ecstasy and excess), but I fear that these would lengthen the article excessively.
One last thing that I would like to add concerns the characterization of Dream and his family. Although superior to a gods, the Endless still feel somewhat humane for certain aspects. This is especially the case for Dream as he is shown having appetites, suffering from fatigue and even demonstrating compassion. From one point of view, as readers, we perceive the Endless as mere symbols, but they succeed in going beyond that simple trait that they embody; we are reminded of this by Despair (an entity that we would expect to take joy in the suffering of others) who says “I am neither pleased nor displeased, I simply am”. There are always interesting dichotomies that Gaiman subtly portrays through his work: for commodity let’s call this the theory of opposites. The Endless seem to be bound to their counterpart as much as they are bound to mortals: there would be no Death without life, no Despair without hope, no Destiny without freedom. These concepts that I briefly mentioned are intertwined with Dream’s stories and in my opinion they are well worth the read for there will always be something to be found in Gaiman’s words, worlds and characters.
I will end this article with one simple phrase that Morpheus states and that implies many different meanings within the story as well as possibly resounding deeply within readers: “It is never only a dream”.