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Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

sandman

There’s Something of Myself in You That I Don’t Recognize in “The Dreaming: Waking Hours”

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The Dreaming: Waking Hours #9, cover art by Nick Robles

Neil Gaiman’s run on Sandman run ended all the way back in 1996, though he has made periodic returns to the title in books such as The Dream Hunters, Endless Nights, and Sandman Overture. Still, the Sandman mythos has steadily continued at DC, with the original The Dreaming series running from 1996-2001, the Lucifer ongoing running from 2000-2006, and countless mini-series, one-shots, and guest appearances along the way. Still, there was never such an organized and intentional return to the franchise as 2018’s The Sandman Universe relaunch, in which Gaiman and others handpicked a crew of industry greats to help expand the story of Dream of the Endless and the many characters he encounters along the way.

Bringing in new creators to flesh out the story of the Sandman is the best thing that could have happened to the story, and by retaining overall creative vision, Gaiman has been able to ensure that the new series are all incredibly high quality books. As Si Spurrier and artist Bilquis Evely’s incredible run on The Dreaming series drew to a close, G. Willow Wilson and Nick Robles’ Waking Hours maxi-series was already on the docket. Each of The Sandman Universe books have brought a specific mood along with them, and Waking Hours leaned all the way into giving readers a love story for the ages.

* Spoilers for The Dreaming: Waking Hours Follow!*

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Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman: The Stories Within Us

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They say if you want to bore someone, tell them about your dreams.

But for Neil Gaiman, the world of dreams was everything to his hugely popular comic The Sandman, gaining a legion of fans since it began in 1989.

The Sandman follows Morpheus, the lord of dreams and one of the 7 members of The Endless – an eternal family who each embody an aspect of life and have existed since the universe began. They are, alliteratively, Dream, Death, Destiny, Despair, Desire, Delirium, and Destruction. The story begins with Morpheus escaping from a 70-year imprisonment and quickly trying to rebuild his kingdom of The Dreaming, that amorphous realm of the subconscious from which all our dreams come from, which has fallen into disrepair in his absence. [Read more…] about Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman: The Stories Within Us

Sandman Universe Reading Order!

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Neil Gaiman’s work writing Sandman (co-created by Mike Dringenberg and Sam Keith) is a towering achievement in comics, defining the 90’s Vertigo aesthetic and welcoming in a new generation of readers. The first issue was published in early 1989, and the series ran for 75 issues (plus a handful of specials and short stories) until 1996.

While the initial recommendations are easy – Sandman is my *second* favorite comic book series of all time, and the first 10 volumes of collected editions are absolutely the best starting place – once you get past the core series, there’s a whole Sandman Universe that is significantly more challenging to follow. [Read more…] about Sandman Universe Reading Order!