Ahead of a planned Netflix screen version, Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” has dropped on Audible.ca. The popular comic premiered back in January 1989 and would continue with new stories on until 1996. There were two spin-offs further down the road, but I’ll never forget pouring over the pages as a kid in astonishment of how good a comic book could be.
Before reading The Sandman I was a ‘Daredevil’, ‘Batman’, ‘Spider-Man kinda guy. I was into the usual superheroes young boys love. Discovering The Sandman changed all that. It was the first time I’d ever heard of Neil Gaiman who I’d now consider one of my favourite authors (I can’t get enough of American Gods). Humble brag, he did Retweet me on Twitter the other day and yes I did get a little excited. But his books to me, are incredible pieces of work and The Sandman is no exception.
When Audible.ca sent me the audio drama ahead of its July 15th release I was incredibly excited. Audible has turned the comic book series into a 10-plus house drama featuring a wicked cast that includes, James McAvoy, Kat Dennnings, Riz Ahmed, Samantha Morton, Andy Serkis, Taron Egerton, Bebe Neuwirth, and Micheal Sheen.
It’s not easy to sum up the plot of The Sandman in a blog post, but essentially it involves Morpheus (voiced by McAvoy), who’s known as the King of Dreams, has been held for decades in a basement by an occultist who was trying to capture Death in exchange for eternal life. Once Morpheus escapes, he begins his quest to regain his power.
Neil Gaiman has lent his full support behind the project and even narrates the Audible production. Dirk Maggs, took on both the role of director and writer and does a bang up job. He his best known for his other Gaiman audio adaptations of “Neverwhere” and “Stardust” as well as “The X-Files”.
The production is absolutely exquisite and is aided by an amazing musical score by James Hannigan. It features 20 chapters and encompasses the first three graphic novels. For those unfamiliar with The Sandman it’s worth noting the first three novels are available free on Kindle Unlimited now. I myself have my eyes on the physical complete collection pack which will be launching September 29th. 2020.
Having not read the books in years I felt like I was transported away while listening to The Sandman on Audible. Everyone here is firing on all cylinders and the voice acting is absolutely top notch. The Sandman has long been called “unadaptable” but it works here very well. This is a very faithful adaptation and very few liberties were taken. I believe that nearly every line of dialogue and narration from the first three volumes are read here with very little extra detail. It’s impressive that it works as well as it does. I do wish I had the comics still to compare them to the recording, but I will have to wait for my new edition to arrive.
If you’re unfamiliar with the world of The Sandman but love pop culture figures, expect to meet a few of them here like John Constantine (Taron Egerton), William Shakespeare and Lucifer Morningstar.
This is an incredibly fresh way of revisiting or visiting The Sandman for the first time and I’d highly recommend it, but don’t sleep on the actual comic books. The art alone is worth a purchase. As a kid growing up on both The Sandman and radio dramas (The Shadow remains my favorite audio drama of all time) this was the perfect escape for me. No word on how long the wait for the next few volume’s will be but hopefully we won’t be waiting long.
Remember, “Dreams shape the world.”
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