These days, I ararely take the time to review any of my viewings on IMDB, since it's filled with triggered trolls aiming to bash anything they can that hints at progress. How we came to that is baffling, but still sad.
Anyways.
I started reading the serialized Sandman in 1990, and it instantly changed my views on what comic books could achieve, in terms of literary quality. It opened me to the worlds of Alan Moore, Peter Milligan, Jamie Delano, John Wagner, etc.
I already loved comic books, but this felt I had graduated 10 classes in one go. I was not alone in that thought, as Sandman grew from obscurity to being a massive seller and critical darling. It was the herald of the Vertigo publishing banner, that sadly folded a few years ago.
Since the initial run, Sandman has.had numerous incarnations and sequels, few by Gaiman himself. We take those for what they are, good or lackluster stories, but they don't change a thing as of what the original story is.
I approached this TV series the same way. No expectations, hoping for at least some mild entertainement.
I didn't think it would be an impossible to addapt affair, but I never felt the need for such a venture.
Now that I've seen it all, I can say that I was at first getting what I was hoping for - mild entertainement - and then much more..
Let me be clear about this being an outstanding success, from the perspective of alover of the original work.
This 10 episodes series manages to adapt about a fourth of the whole series, with ease, which is very promissing for the future. I expected this to drag on like American Gods did, and it was the exact oposite, as it moved along at a great pace.
The first episode adapts the first issue, which made me fear I was going to get one episode for each of the 80 issues or so of the series, but thankfully, hte writers were honest with themselves about what was worth to extend, and what needed less space to develop. So we get about 20 issues worth of Sandman in a 10 episode season, PLUS, quite some Hellblazer.
Yes, Hellblazer, Constantine, John Constantine. My other favorite comic from DC Vertigo, which kinda ran parallel to Sandman, and was never done justice outside of the original 300 ssue run, appart from in the recent Spurrier run, connected to Sandman.
Some of it is pure easter egg, some of it runs deeper, but either way, it is quite ambitious to do so, and I felt rewarded by the storie's unfolding.
Other aspects connects this to the DC mythos, mostly with obscure character's being cleverly used, as in the comic. This just adds depth to the whole affair, but not getting it shouldn't really impair the enjoyement. It's just quite fun to see how they managed to connect many dots, in a way that works, even if no one would have complained if they didn't go that extra step.
Episode 6 was for me the highlights, after episodes 4 and 5 really already convincing me that this was a successful project. In that episode, the writers combien 3-4 different plots, in an even more intricate fashion than the comic book didand finally manage to actually move you, really expanding some characters beyond their comic book version.
After that, we get a whole storyline told in four episodes, quite faithfully so, leading us to a season ending that is an ending, and that shows you clearly what the matter is about. Us who know what is coming can only rejoice at how misleading the final words might be, for the new audience.
Now, nothing is perfect, and this series is attracting legions of critiques, mostly focusing on the gender/race swapping, and LGBTQ+ depictions.
Most of the critiques stating the series is boring and predictable also feature the race/gender/lgbtq agenda attacks, which should be telling.
That's your first clue about how disingenious most of those attacks are, since the original Sandman already has a strong cast of LGBTQ characters, and the sandman himself is pansexual.
As for the first critique, the comic book series had a prelude, and then started right away, in 1989, when the series was published. The authors chose for this to not be a period piece - which Sandman never was intended to be - and to start the story now, in 2022. This robbs us of a couple of great lines from the first issue, but makes up with added relevancy, that is more than welcome.
So, case by case :
- White Lucien becoming black Lucienne, why should I care about the change? I don't, nothing is lost there
- John Constantine becoming Joanna Constantine is a non issue, since Lady Joanna Constantine is the character that actually appears in ths past, in Sandman. As for hte modern cunterpart, again, this is not 1989, and that new version is true to character, and works well with the minor story changes related to this happening now. Also, It doesn't contradict the existence of John.
- Death being a black chickinstead of a white one. To me, it makes perfect sense that since hte endless are a family, but beyond the concept of human family, there would be such differences. The only reason I would regret the white version is the nostalgia I have for Dringenberg and Bachalo's version, that moved me as many teens from the time.
- Lucifer now being a woman, I felt was a great idea, since his character is now way more distinct from Desire. Lucifer is now this stoïc quasi asexual lady - about to to undertake a major change - rather than this sexually ambiguous and seductive character htat we loved in the comic book, but that was at the same time way too similar to Desire, which in my humble opinion lessened the impact of him/her.
When you add to this the fact that Desire is now a pure a brilliant Marc Almond (Soft Cell) "clone", to the point that you almost feel she's about to sing "Sex Dwarf", it was just a very sound decision.
So the final thought is that this excedeed any expectations I didn't even have, that if you break down most of the critique point by point, it never holds, that thois offers a worthy variation to the storyline of hte comic book, while remaining true and faithful more than just in spirit. The cast is actually pretty great, especially the ones you can compare with the series, and the changed ones are either adequate or really successfull. The dramatic construction of the whole season is pretty great, offers many variations of tones and stories, never stands still, and even if not every single subplot has the same life as in the comic, the same excitement, most of those remain, some are added, and they all serve the purpose of telling the story.
I'm shocked with how happy I am with this.
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