The Sandman Connection

 

 

With the big announcement that Sandman‘s eyeliner-loving, ankh-sporting Death will be appearing in Action Comics, I’ve taken a look at the past crossovers between the DCU and Sandman!

I’ve never really gotten why the Vertigo characters were verboten over the past few years — like I said in the article, the answer that was given to me when I asked at a DC Nation panel was that they didn’t want to cross over with “Mature Readers” books, and this was a year after Rapety Rape Rape Identity Crisis came out — especially given how good the existing uses of those characters actually have been. Say what you want about Gaiman’s “annoyance” (Wikipedia’s word) over Cary Bates throwing Death into Captain Atom, but it’s a pretty solid issue that I think does right by the character. But then again, I didn’t create her, so I’m willing to accept that my opinion may be a little less valid on the matter.

What I’m getting at here is that Grant Morrison and Cary Bates are awesome.

26 thoughts on “The Sandman Connection

  1. I don’t mind Vertigo characters appearing in regular DCU titles, but this embargo on their use except for super-special circumstances at least cut down on the likelihood of them overappearing in DCU comics because lame writers wanted to use them for shit superhero stories, because hey, Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman wrote stories with them.

    After all, Geoff Johns’ last few years on ‘Green Lantern’ are based on pillaging every element he can gleam from some Alan Moore short stories. Imagine if whatever unlucky souls working on the trainwreck that has been ‘Teen Titans’ for the last few years on a given month up and decide, hey let’s add Tim Hunter to the team! And as much as I’d like to see a Batman/John Constantine team-up, the likelihood of the story actually being good is low.

    However, I personally wouldn’t mind more references to ‘Sandman Mystery Theatre’ in ‘JSA’ comics.

  2. There was also Stanley and his Monster, where Dream made a brief appearance, and Duma and Remiel also showed up.

  3. I love the bit in Endless Nights where Someone suggests to Rao that a more “unstable” Krypton would be, like totally romantic and groovy, man.

  4. I advocate Death being in the DC universe because it means we don’t have to pretend that Black Racer is something we should take seriously.

    Cause all due respect to Kriby but come on. He’s a black dude dressed as a knight on on Skis called the Black Racer. Sometimes we just have to admit that ideas are stupid and move past them.

  5. Cause all due respect to Kriby but come on. He’s a black dude dressed as a knight on on Skis called the Black Racer. Sometimes we just have to admit that ideas are stupid and move past them.

    That is just wrong.

  6. Personally, I’ll take every desecration of Neil’s perky Mary Sue I can get my hands on.

    Not that I ever *really* liked the character, but I only really decided I hated her when she self-righteously called me a prude for raising an eyebrow when I discovered that the last quarter of the [i]Death: the High Cost of Living[/i] TPB was a (literal!) PSA on the correct way to put on a condom.

  7. “Cause all due respect to Kriby but come on. He’s a black dude dressed as a knight on on Skis called the Black Racer. Sometimes we just have to admit that ideas are stupid and move past them.”

    Ah yes. Because a young woman who looks a little like Wednesday Addams with a silver ankh around her neck is meant to be taken “seriously” as the personification of death? It all depends on what you do with the character.

    Plus, just because he can’t be taken seriously doesn’t mean he isn’t awesome. I mean – black dude dressed as a knight on skis who’s also death. Bloomin’ marvellous.

  8. I’m with you, Nimbus, for the most part. (However, I would argue that the Black Racer, besides being awesome, can and should be taken very seriously.) I’m not a diehard fan of the “gothity shebang” (nice one Chris) myself . . . it does indeed depend on what you do with the character, but her creator seems to have put some limits on what anyone else CAN do with her, so I guess our mileage will vary. I’ll be very interested to see what comes out of Action Comics.

  9. When I read that Gaiman got upset about Bates using Death in Captain Atom it occured to me that Gaiman might just be a pretentious a$$. Does he think regular DC titles are step below Vertigo titles on any literary ladder?
    Sandman was really great but nowadays, mostly based on the “Whatever happened to the Caped Crusader” being the most boring, bland Batman story I read in the last 10 years, I tend to avoid anything with his name on it.

  10. Don’t forget his take on the Eternals. Christ that was boring. Especially after Chuck Austin’s MAX Eternals book. That’s right I said it, that comic was chocked full of total heavy metal awesome.

  11. If nothing else, I like the idea that the Black Racer and Death hang out together. I think that puts me in the Bates camp.

  12. Cause all due respect to Kriby but come on. He’s a black dude dressed as a knight on on Skis called the Black Racer. Sometimes we just have to admit that ideas are stupid and move past them.

    You can leave.

  13. I unabashedly love Death. On like, all levels. She’s a fun character, she can be funny, and I actually find the idea of a goth chick waiting for me after I die instead of the robed skeleton to be very comforting. (Not saying I actually BELIEVE she will be waiting, but the concept is nice)

    That said, I really like when Vertigo titles mesh with mainstream DC comics. And I feel that all Gaiman wants is to be asked if we can play with his toys. They are, after all, created by him. If you’re going to break them, then no. You can’t play with them. If you’re going to treat his toys with the care and respect they deserve, and a good story will come of it that is true to the character, then go ahead and have Death spend six issues restoring a vintage Chevy with Booster Gold (Call me DC).

  14. Well Chris, before this comment section gets flooded with idiotic dribble about how “pretentious” Gaiman is, I want to say something concerning what you said about mainstream DC super-hero cameos in “Sandman”.

    There’s no arguing the series has it’s roots in mainstream DC Universe. However, while there’s no way around the fact that the first story arc of Gaiman’s book indeed features many super-heroes and villains, I don’t know if you are aware that Gaiman and the various artists involved kind of *had* to put popular DC super-heroes in the first issues of the series. It’s pretty obvious Gaiman didn’t wanted to really use them. I mean, Dream wakes Scott Free in the middle of the night so Free could take him to the Martian Manhunter’s place just to ask him for freaking directions. Only Doctor Destiny plays any significant part in the overall plot, and while making the world go insane is pretty supervillain-y stuff, the way Morpheus defeats Doctor Destiny is very un-superheroic (meaning “underwhelming”, not “grim-and-gritty”).

    Further down line, Gaiman just crosses over with DC Universe to unearth obscure characters from his childhood (Prez Rickard, Element Girl) or to indulge in his geek side (Supes, Bats and the Martian at Morpheus’ wake, Endless Nights)

    So, in the end, I consider Sandman another kind of beast entirely, and Death’s cameo, regardless of past crossover history, still sticks out like a sore thumb. IMO

  15. I could never get into the Black Racer, due to my experience with people who ski being a bunch of dicks.

    Someone should do something where Black Racer and that jock Orion make fun of Forager for being poor. Then Forager teams up with the Forever People, there”s a big montage sequence and *BAM* they win back New Genesis from the rich land developers at the New God country club!

    Special appearance: Darkseid as a wacky mafia boss!

  16. I never minded Vertigo characters not appearing in DC comics as much as I missed DC characters appearing in Vertigo comics. Every time The Batman and Swamp Thing met was pure gold.

    If Jesse Custer had met Oliver Queen I’d have had a fangasm.

  17. Ben. Dude. Orion is not a jock. HE HAS LEGACY EYEBROWS OF EVIL. It sounds like you’re planning some kind of Caddyshack/Forever People crossover and I am really not sure how I feel about that.

    I just gotta put this out there: Black Racer isn’t a guy on skis any more than Metron is a guy in a La-Z-Boy. Think about the last time you almost got yourself killed doing something supid. Didn’t it feel like you, well, dodged a bullet? Like you just barely tripped off the edge of some horrible looming event horizon?

    Give the bullet a face.

    Yeah.

  18. “When I read that Gaiman got upset about Bates using Death in Captain Atom it occured to me that Gaiman might just be a pretentious a$$. Does he think regular DC titles are step below Vertigo titles on any literary ladder?”
    I don’t think Vertigo even existed while Captain Atom was still being published, did it? “Sandman\” did, but it was a “mature readers” DCU book while Captain Atom was not.

  19. So I think it’s totally fair to assume a mature (not Identity Crisis mature, but truly mature) book is more litary than a punch-em-up corporate vehicle.

    Not that I don’t like those too.

  20. …any more than Metron is a guy in a La-Z-Boy.

    I’ll say. The Mobius Chair is much cooler than any recliner I’ve ever seen. It’s the alpha lounger of the universe.

  21. @Enzie
    Yes. And that, in fact, would be one of the main reasons she’s universally liked. I don’t want to say the *only* reason because clearly she’s an interesting character, but definitely one of the main.

  22. @Nekatomenos

    I’d disagree. Her early characterization in Endless Nights is a pretty cliche brooding, angry, lonely creature of darkness whose presence is DEATH and nobody really likes her or wants her around.

    Her current characterization is mostly a lack of angst. Yes, she seems almost innocently joyous at simple things, but she is usually shown treating her job really seriously and compassionately, but refusing to get upset at people’s grief anymore. That’s not really ‘manic pixie.’