When I saw the topic for this week was Superheroes reconsidered, I became very happy, especially after seeing that I had read much of the suggested reading list already and it featured some of my all time favorite comics. I first read through Watchmen, Sandman, Arkham Asylum, and Promethea all when I was in the 9th grade, so I was eager to reread some of these titles to refresh my memory of them.
While Watchmen is amazing for completely pushing the boundaries of what superhero comics could be, my favorite is definitely Sandman. Sandman, when it was first printed, was just another DC comic. This predated the Vertigo imprint that it would later be placed under. This makes the first volume particularly interesting and shows that Sandman actually takes place within the wider DC universe. In the first volume alone, Dream interacts with several notable DC characters including John Constantine, Martian Manhunter, and Jonathan Crane (better known as the Scarecrow). None of these characters have any business being in a comic together, yet somehow Sandman made it work. It treats each of these character interactions in a very un-comicbook-like way. There is little action, no wham bam pows, and Dream is a wholly neutral being, talking to Jonathan Crane, one of Batman’s more popular villains, the same way he talks to Martian Manhunter, a member of the Justice League.
The comic even features Lucifer as a character but unlike most forms of media, he is not treated as a villain, but rather someone who has an unpleasant job. In fact, the antagonist of this volume is a former Justice League villain, but the confrontation between Dream and Dee is unlike anything I have seen from a comic. Dee basically just comes to a conclusion he has no hope of comparing to an entity like Dream and stops fighting.
My favorite issue of this first volume is perhaps one of the most horrific things I have read in comics. Dee takes over a 24 hour diner and treats everyone inside as playthings, and as the hours tick by, things become worse and worse for those trapped until there is no one left. This issue contains some of the best writing in comics in my opinion and a few quotes have stuck with me. Notably, the diner waitress considers herself an author and through her, Gaiman states, “If you go on far enough, all stories end in death.” From a philosophical stand point, especially to my 9th grade self who was reading this for the first time, this line was like nothing I had seen in comics before and definitely shaped my view of the medium.
After the first volume, Sandman takes on a life of it’s own, practically never revisiting the rest of the DC universe until the final volume when Superman and Batman appear in a small cameo panel. The majority of the 10 volume series contains an interesting mythology of its own. It is more derivative of world mythological stories and even the bible than it is the DC universe it is set in. Gaiman even has fun with the idea of mythology, creating one of his own. That would be the central set of characters known as the Endless, a family who’s names all begin with the letter D and they each represent a concept such as Death, Dreams, Desire, Despair, Destruction, Delirium, and Destiny.
Even beyond this myth, Sandman also is a rather progressive comic for its time. In the suggested volume for this week, a character Wanda, a trans lady, is one of the major characters. At the time I first read it, I had little knowledge about transgender people. Though the way Wanda is portrayed may not be the greatest example of transgender portrayal in media, she is still shown in a positive light and the reader really feels for her struggle to be accepted for who she is. The reader, even my unknowledgeable younger self, hates's Wanda's mother for misgendering her, and if more examples of media openly brought transgender people into light as Gaiman does, trans people would hopefully be more accepted in time.
Even beyond this myth, Sandman also is a rather progressive comic for its time. In the suggested volume for this week, a character Wanda, a trans lady, is one of the major characters. At the time I first read it, I had little knowledge about transgender people. Though the way Wanda is portrayed may not be the greatest example of transgender portrayal in media, she is still shown in a positive light and the reader really feels for her struggle to be accepted for who she is. The reader, even my unknowledgeable younger self, hates's Wanda's mother for misgendering her, and if more examples of media openly brought transgender people into light as Gaiman does, trans people would hopefully be more accepted in time.
Sandman is highly praised, and someone wants to change someone’s mind about what superheroes and comics are, there is nothing better than it in my opinion.
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