The Dark Herald Recommends Sandman

This one is going to be brief

Audible recently produced Neil Gaiman’s Sandman as an audio play.

In a nutshell, it’s the comic book in audio form. Basically a one for one of the first series of comic books commonly called Preludes and Nocturnes.

If you enjoyed the comic book then you’ll enjoy this. If you didn’t, then there is nothing here for you.

The performances are professional. The music and sound are up to Audible’s usual standard.

The problem with it is what it’s always been. Gaiman has a gift for prose and he can do a decent set up but the payoffs are invariably unsatisfying. When I first read them in the 1990s I had assumed the problem was with me. That I just wasn’t sophisticated enough to appreciate the depth of the story.

A quarter of a century later, I am now one hundred percent certain the problem is with the stories. Sandman is pretension masquerading as high art. It was also goth fiction.

I am however one thousand percent certain I’ll like this w-a-a-a-y-y more than Netflix version of Sandman due out next year.

From Bounding into Comics:

“He said when “doing the Netflix TV series, we’re very much looking at that as going, ‘Okay, it is 2020, let’s say that I was doing Sandman starting in 2020, what would we do?”

The writer added he is considering changing character genders. “How would we change things? What gender would this character be? Who would this person be? What would be happening?’” he said.“

Back to the audio play. If you liked the comics and have an Audible credit it will be reasonably entertaining. 

The Dark Herald Recommends with Reservations.