The Dreaming: A Retrospective

-A Tale of Two Houses-

Authors: Various | Illustrators: Various | Issues: 60

'This dark night is full of spirits, bad dreams and old harm dressed up in the deceitful skins of men.'

A Sandman spin-off that lasted an impressive 60 issues (June 1996 to May 2001). It began life as a monthly anthology, telling both single issue and multipart stories that took place either within the Dreaming itself or had the Dreaming play a pivotal role in the telling.

Initially, the various dreamers had little or no connection to each other, but the format changed to an ongoing story arc about a third of the way through its run.

Various secondary characters from The Sandman featured from time to time — most frequently Cain and Abel, Lucien, and Matthew the Raven — but they weren't always the main focus and weren't always named.

It seems to have been assumed that most readers would be able to recognise such characters themselves, and tough shit to anyone that didn't already know. That's the nature of some spin-offs, I suppose.

The Sandman: 20th Anniversary Poster and Key (2008)

The Sandman: 20th Anniversary Poster and Key (2008)

Illustrators: Various

Dead Boy Detectives: Collected Comic Book Covers

DBD: Collected Comic Book Covers

Related to the Dead Boy Detectives: Vols 01+02 post on The 7th and Last.

ABANDONED POST: The Sandman (2022)

The Sandman (2022)

Dirs. Various | 10 episodes, approx 45 mins each + 01 'bonus' episode [1]

I've often thought that if Sandman were to be adapted for the screen, then it'd work best as animation; having now watched the live action version, my feelings on that haven't changed.

All responses to the series that I've read thus far have been positive and complimentary. That isn't surprising, in today's world, but I felt it was almost as shit as every other Netflix Original Series that I've tried to watch over the years.

I've covered the original TPBs briefly on The 7th and Last. A number of significant changes and additions were made in the live action series, but generally it adapts the first two TPBs, namely Volume I: Preludes and Nocturnes (1991) and Volume II: The Doll's House (1991).

Of course, if reading doesn't appeal to you and you enjoy (or can tolerate) modern filmmaking techniques, then maybe you'll feel differently. I certainly seem to be in the minority this time.

Lucifer: Collected TPB Covers

Lucifer: TPB Covers

Related to the Lucifer posts on The 7th and Last.

The covers of the Lucifer TPBs were pretty bland — in comparison to the Sandman ones, at any rate — but I love the series and want to feature it on this blog somehow, so the post is made.

The Dreaming: Collected Covers (1996-2001)

The Dreaming: Collected Covers (1996-2001)

Related to The Sandman Library posts on The 7th and Last.

The Sandman: Collected Comic Book Covers (Clean)

The Sandman: Comic Book Covers (Clean)

Related to The Sandman Library posts on The 7th and Last.