Sandman...

I've failed at being a Gaiman fan for so many reasons. I have a weird attitude towards him for being glib about where his ideas come from while appreciating the fact as a creator, it's a terrible question to be asked. Because where else do your fucking ideas come from but your brain, logically. That being said, his contemporary Peter Beagle at least gave credit to a particular force coming in from the ether for him to speak to Molly Grue's anger over the Unicorn's failure to find her as a maiden. Being overcome by a character when you're in the grip of it, you sometimes speak a truth you didn't know was there until you gave it a voice. And I look at what I've done and wonder why I did it. Why that? Why those people? Nothing ever goes the way I plan so I don't plan, but I like giving up some control to it, too. So, the notion of a muse at work doesn't baffle me, I believe in nothing ethereal but that. Collectively, we draw on a certain thread of myths and legends, but why do these ideas come to some and not others, that's the weird part you have to appreciate. Of course someone who's never been "visited" is going to ask, "Where the fuck do you get these ideas?" I speak very little, so if I give you a story, it's a piece of what goes on in my head, and it usually surprises people.

My only question for Mr Gaiman is: Why is Sandman represented as a graphic novel and not a novel? I don't disagree with the decision, I'm curious now seeing it as a TV series what spurred it. He's done other shorts as graphic novels to good effect, like Snow, Glass, Apples (which you can attribute to Tori referencing it in Diamonds*), and it takes such a collaborative effort to make words into pictures. I've attempted it, more as an experiment to see what people could create from my words. The Sandman is an ambitious story that would probably be laborious if it weren't a graphic novel series, now I think of it. I'm bad at reading comics because the flow of text and dialogue sometimes confuses me, I didn't grow up with any series, I had a Care Bear magazine with a small comic in it, which I loved, but I never found out what happened in the next episode as it was the only one I had, and I even wished for the next edition but by then it was already out of date. That might've been what dissuaded me. I took longer to read books but I still got through bigger novels with multiple sequels, I read a lot less now. I decided to buy the Sandman books when I was working in the city and wanted stuff to read, while I was working further out, I'd buy books on my lunch break to just tide me over, and I had an iPod back then. I bought the Sandman books and of course my ever-ignorant team leader saw me reading one thinking comics are for kids, obviously. Which Sandman is not. Plus, it's a graphic novel, bitch. Not a comic. There is a relative distinction. And something about the Sandman in this format gives it a certain gravitas. It inspired more from me, I think I wrote more for reading it, but I never revisited it, and I wish I had before the series came out.

On the other hand, it's more fun to watch when I don't remember everything, so at least I can kind of have the joy of surprise with the scant understanding of the world and characters. Casting wise they've done so well, it's uncanny, it's something that deserves the best in terms of acting. It's also got scope for the characters to have a fluidity in representation and characterisation: Death is a black woman and less "manic pixie dream girl", but no less charming and wonderful. Lucifer is neither the suave nightclub owner in the other Netflix series, or the lanky, golden-haired Bowie tribute. You get Briene Tarth from Game of Thrones, who's imposing and beautiful while still embodying the playful but spiteful nature of Lucifer. (We also see Mazikeen, but I severely doubt we'll get the actual story of her mother, as the one in Lucifer was infinitely more tame).

And Desire is non-binary, Gaiman admitting their sister/brother would have been they/them had he created them now. What this achieved then was a perfect balance within the Endless of male and female characters, and this casting choice rectifies so much in terms of representation, the show has gone to good lengths to prove casting choices should ultimately be a meritocracy. I haven't heard complaints the way other adaptations have suffered because Gaiman fans knew he was already progressive and welcoming, many people were but lacked the language we have now. It hasn't had accusations of "wokeness" thrown at it because its audience was way ahead of everyone anyway. It does appeal to the strange and estranged more than a mainstream audience, which is where it makes the show inaccessible to those less knowledgeable. I keep waiting for the other Endless to appear, I thought I saw Delirium but she's absent, Destiny and Destruction are as well, it's pointless waiting for them because they play smaller parts in the story, which is filled with other tales. Each episode seems to follow a particular chapter while sticking to Dream's overall quest of sorts, which is plagued by his own disillusionment, but for the uninitiated, you're sort of left stranded unless you pay very close attention to the dialogue. Fans will spot Death whereas non-fans have to rely on some exposition. The episodes themselves are relatively slow in their pacing but still full of so much information that can be missed. I was more captivated by one episode while others were tedious and there wasn't any variation in pace at all, just the characters were more interesting. But because I also forgot how the story started I assumed the first episode was pieced together by unseen backstory. It's been 15 odd years since I read them. I only really remember the meandering we do on the way to the end, that certain stories were self-contained for the most part, which would make for a good series for everyone were they more familiar with the series as a whole. I don't really care if this is fine for people outside the fandom, but I can see how difficult it would be for someone with absolutely no knowledge to enjoy it. And I love Patton Oswalt, but his voice really does pull you out in ways his voice acting doesn't always do, I don't hate it but I don't agree with it. 

There's more to come I haven't watched, but it's the first show I've been genuinely excited for and want to follow through. I hate a lot of shit, Better Call Saul has one more episode, after that there's stuff on I'll watch but it's for the sake of having something on while we eat, and I can't stand looking for shows to watch over dinner. What streaming services do is give you too much choice, your brain goes numb, your food gets cold, and you just put whatever shit on for background noise. At least Sandman's been something to look forward to even if they let us binge it, I think they knew the episodes would be too slowly paced for most to endure in one sitting. Stranger Things having movie length episodes was excruciating and I had to keep turning them off, I was actively annoyed even if I liked it overall. I thought by now Netflix would have a handle on episode and series lengths but it's all over the place, it sucks.

I like the Sandman. I feel like I'm getting my money's worth for the most part.

Anyway, in a capsule I guess I can comment on the rest of the series, which is disjointed in relation to the beginning of the series, since it's basically the second book cut across multiple episodes. It wasn't enough for ten episodes of its own but in relation to the first part, it's kind of disconnected. The Corinthian is the obvious through line but we divert from him to focus on another bad guy for two episodes then they're not really part of it, while it's in line with the books, it feels disconnected on screen. Rose is sort of introduced in 24/7 but there wasn't much of a point to that once the Doll's House storyline starts. I didn't particularly like Jed, the superhero stuff was cringy, the emotion in some portions at the end was also cringy. Rose's exit from the Vortex conundrum makes sense and isn't a deus ex machina, but I think it would feel like one to an unfamiliar audience. Visually, it knocked it out of the park, everything looked good. There's something chaotic about the graphic novel in terms of style, I find some of it incredibly ugly but it's meant to be grotesque. Representing this on screen makes it look more spectacular and visually clearer.

I'm also waiting for the complaints about Desire being a queer-coded villain when they always were in the comic. But they were also dealt with relatively quickly. Maybe next season we get the other Endless and a return of those we've seen, Lucifer's gearing up to get revenge, Dream's about to face a lot, but I'm not excited for the next series at all. Which is kind of a bummer.

I genuinely hate watching anything where I see an idea of mine visually represented by coincidence: a character with diaphanous skin with swirling colours, another character turning into a burst of butterflies, Rose's character writes a book called Into the Night. I felt bad I lifted the Adam and Eve story because I thought it was a retelling of the original version but I think the Sandman one was more original. Same time, Death personified isn't a new concept either.

I hope it made real fans happy.