Im finishing up a masters degree and I'd like to insert some reading that I would consider "enjoyable".

I have never read a graphic novel (to my memory) and wanted to read The Crow (RIP Brandon Lee) After some consideration I kept getting Sandman ranked very highly on lists of best graphic novels of all time.

I watched the Netflix show knowing absolutely nothing about Sandman. I didn't hate the show but it's not something I would rewatch. My list of shows that I enjoy are Fargo, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Severance, which I would consider to be character driven and not procedural shows, or plot based. I also really enjoyed Raised by Wolves (man i wish that show wasnt canceled).

I found the show to have a low budget feel to it. I also didn't feel as if any characters were really fleshed out which is a large portion of what I actually enjoy in a show. It just felt like the pacing was slow in some parts extremely sped up in others, and ultimately the show just didnt seem to have any kind of cohesion.

Dude's wigs were wild as well. Lol. Had to throw that in there.

I could see there was an actual great story there, but I dont know if its just a story that doesn't translate well on the screen, or the producers didn't have enough time (this seemed like a show that needed much more than two seasons).

Anyway, I suppose my question would be are my critiques of the show nonexistent in the books? I imagine with the length of the books and number of volumes there is much more content, but do we get a deep dive into the characters?

I don't know if it was strictly the cast, but I really wanted to see more of Desire (shout out to Mason Alexander Park), and Lucifer but alas the show didn't do much with them other than to make them foils.

I guess I'm asking is this a deep or semi deep character exploration with an established world or slighly shallow like the Netflix series?

The boy of the captur of Dream stood by and watched until his dad died. And even then he refused to release him. This had consequences on the world for over a century. Not only did they insult an Endless, his actions/inactions caused the world to suffer. Eternal sleep given to an old man is a very light sentence for his actions.

Same with Lyta, I understand she is a mother but Dream isn’t doing anything that shouldn’t be done. He just released your dead husband to where he should be. Your baby was conceived with a ghost in his realm. It makes sense that he would ask for the baby and monitor him.

How can she have the audacity to threaten to kill Dream? Maybe she is a mama lion but to believe that she could actually kill Dream or threaten him freely sometimes makes me sad that Dream just always take the lashing and never shows that he is a constant and a law of the universe. I guess a human wouldnt occupy himself with the threats of an Ant and the point is he is trying to change. But he is being blamed for a lot that wasnt his fault. It’s kinds hard to sit thru I wanna hug and comfort him.

What do you think Dream's sigil was before he was imprisoned in his palace by the two ugly gods in Overture? Do you think the helm was always his sigil even though it did no have a meaning until he carved it out from the bones of his captor?
I'm curious as it seems that way with Death: Morpheus drew her sigil inside his cell and assures that the Endless where "young" when it happened so the Earth probably didn't even exist and the Egyptians would not be there to give the Ankh meaning.

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I’ve had a complete set of The Sandman sitting on my shelf for quite a while, but now it’s finally time to open it.

I’ve been reading a lot of comics again over the past four years. The hobby fell by the wayside in the late ’90s as other vices took over. Where I lived, mature comics were difficult and expensive to get hold of, so I only ever managed to read a few scattered issues of The Sandman.

Ever since the early ’90s, though, the series has grown to almost mythical proportions in my mind. My expectations have become so high that I’ve been hesitant to actually start reading it. The same thing happened with Alan Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing, but I eventually devoured that—and it was a masterpiece.

Still, part of me is worried that The Sandman may not have aged well, or that it simply can’t live up to more than 30 years of expectations. I'm 50 now and been motly 2000's comics.

When did you first read The Sandman, and how old were you? How did it feel at the time—and do you think it still holds up?

I greatly enjoy both POTC and The Sandman universe. I recently noticed that both stories deal with mythical former lovers who are ensnared by mortals. In The Sandman, Roderick Burgess captures Morpheus in the hopes of controlling life and death, and Erasmus Fry captures his former wife Calliope to steal her creativity. Similarly, in Pirates of the Caribbean, the Pirate Lords capture the sea goddess Calypso to tame the sea, and Lord Cutler Beckett controls Davy Jones using his heart.

Both stories deal with change and duty. Morpheus is unable to change and is very methodical, which creates a rift between him and Calliope, especially after the ordeal with Orpheus. Calypso is completely unpredictable and changing, which causes pain and emotional turmoil for Davy Jones because he can't handle her mercurial nature.

After their capture, both Calliope and Davy Jones need assistance from their former lover to free themselves. Morpheus scares Madoc to free Calliope, while Calypso creates the maelstrom to stop Lord Cutler Beckett from interfering.

Both Morpheus and Calypso cause problems for their loved ones, not because of ill intent, but simply because this is their nature. I have never seen this specific trope used anywhere else, are there any other examples of this in comics or movies?