» Sandman Comics

Published by DC Comics between 1988 and 1996, The Sandman became a mania and is remembered as one of the best comics ever made.

Morpheus' Quest

The Sandman story starts in 1916, when the wizard Roderick Burgess wants to entrap Death, but instead he manages to capture Dream (a.k.a. Morpheus)and keeps him imprisioned for decades.

Dream is also called The Sandman, one of The Endless, the king of dreams and a characterization of dreams and tales.

His absence from the world, results in a sleeping illness, and when he finally frees himself in 1988, he starts his quest to find 3 artifacts of power the wizard took from him, so that he can rebuild his kingdom. In the meantime, he makes an enemy of none-the-less Lucifer, Lord of Hell.

Death, one of The Sandman's sisters, looks like a traditional goth girl and even wears an ankh. She takes part in some of the adventures, and as said above, she was the main target of the wizard.

For some time, The Sandman needs to fix the problems that happened during his absence, and also he has to go after two of his creatures which made a world of their own, in which they keep a Silver Age Sandman. This Morpheus has a son, called Daniel. After destroying the creatures, the real Sandman takes away Daniel, which enrages his mother, Lyta Hall.

After a re-evaluation of his life, The Sandman decides to go to Hell to rescue a lover, whom he had condemned to that place. He ends up confronting Lucifer and for some time becomes the Hell's Lord.

The story ends when Daniel disappears and Lyta Hall begs the Furies to help her take revenge on The Sandman, as she thinks he killed her son. Daniel is found alive, but the Furies can't be stopped. Death takes her brother to her realm, and Daniel becomes the new Sandman.

The parallel plots are generally as interesting as the main story. Like the one that tells how William Shakespeare made a pact with Dream to inspire him. The Sandman then asks him to write "The Tempest" and when Shakespeare asks him why, he says that that's because he has no history of his own.

This story was created by Neil Gaiman, and its covers were made by his friend David McKean. Before working on The Sandman, Gaiman worked on another series for DC Comics called Black Orchid. He had several projects after that one, like the dark fantasy TV series he wrote for BBC, and has received many awards. 

Several collections and graphic books were released based on The Sandman's world and as a complement, some of them were even done in the manga style.

For more information

Neilgaiman.com

Sandman, Comics

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