“The Sandman” by Neil Gaiman is the newest comic adaptation released by Netflix. This show is based on the comics of the same name that follows the story of Morpheus, who is a member of the family The Endless. 

The Endless are a family of seven siblings who all embody aspects of life. Their mother is the cosmic being Night, and their father is Time. The members of this family are Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, the twins Desire and Despair, and the youngest sibling, Delirium. The show’s first season follows the series’ first two books. 

The showrunner of this series is Allan Heinberg, one of the executive producers is the author of the comic series Neil Gaiman, and the other executive producer is David S. Goyer. The stars of this series are Tom Sturridge (Dream), Mason Alexander Park (Desire), Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Death), Gwendoline Christie (Lucifer),  Boyd Holbrook (Corinthian), Jenna Coleman (Johanna  Constantine), Patton Oswalt (Matthew the Raven), Vivienne Acheampong (Lucienne), and Kyo Ra (Rose Walker). 

“The Sandman” episode one shows the capture of Dream, also known as Morpheus, while he is out of his realm. The Dreaming is trying to bring back the Corinthian, a nightmare that escaped him. He gets taken by a mage named Robert Burgess, trying to capture Dream’s sister, Death. When he is captured, he has his three tools, his ruby, helm, and a pouch of sand, these tools help enhance his power. Then his tools are then taken from him, and he is imprisoned in a glass cage. His imprisonment lasted a century and caused many global problems, when he escapes, he begins his journey to take revenge on the son of the man that imprisoned him. 

The episode ends with him being found by his trusted librarian Lucienne after making it back to The Dreaming. However, he discovers that almost all of his subjects have abandoned The Dreaming and that the land is crumbling due to his century of absence.

After the first episode, there are ten more. While nine of the episodes are a part of the main plot, the eleventh episode is a two-part episode that features two separate stories. Throughout the show, viewers follow Dream while he grows from being arrogant to having more human qualities like empathy and forgiveness. You see his growth in the bonus episode “Calliope” in this episode, viewers see his ability to forgive people. Viewers witness this when he saves his ex-wife, who he had hated for thousands of years, from her captors. 

For the fans of the Sandman comics, this series adaptation will be a favorite TV shows.

There are some changes in the show, but for the most part, the adaptation stays true to the comics and even has some direct quotes from the comics. The people that haven’t read the comics can still enjoy this series.

If you are a fan of TV shows, movies, and books with aspects of dark fantasy and horror fiction, then this show is for you. There are some gory aspects to this series, and if you are a horror buff, then episode five will be one of the ones you enjoy the most.

This show is a prime example of a series that caters to everyone whether they are fans of the source material or not.