In 1989, the world of comics will change forever, Neil Gaiman published a comic book very different from what was known until then. He will talk about depressing and mature subjects and present a hero who does not have superpowers. The idea is not to deal exclusively with one dimension but to turn the comic into something more realistic, dark, and scary. Gaiman became a sought-after writer and one of the most successful people in the industry who was also involved in the creation of the series.
Sandman is one of the Eternals, a group of gods who are responsible for a field related to humans such as desire, death and more. A dream is Morpheus, the lord of dreams who is responsible for good dreams and nightmares. An amateur sorcerer tries to bring his son back to life, but the magic goes wrong, and he captures Dream. For a hundred years he remained imprisoned and neglected the dreams of humans, after he managed to escape, he regained his powers.
The comic itself is extreme in its violence, it contains extreme graphic expressions that did not make it to Netflix. Not that the adaptation is without brutality, but it is much more subtle than the original. There's the Dark Spirit of Sandman here, but it seems like they went halfway and weren't bold enough in the streaming adaptation.
There is a huge abundance of characters, most of them colourful and interesting. Actually, the main character is a bit anemic and boring, she doesn't really manage to convince as the huge and unstoppable force that is Morpheus. For centuries what is important is the spectacular design of the world and the fascinating stories and storylines that diverge into so many magical worlds.
The characters are round and complex, like humanity itself. No character is bad without a reason and the contexts that develop as the plot progresses give the real power to Sandman's narratives. There's a lot of richness to the world that unfolds before us, fun storylines and dark characters with fascinating motivations. It's enough to enjoy a few fun hours of nightly binges, but not enough to give up the original graphics.
