Things have changed and will change more; and Gaia no longer welcomes us as she once did.
But he did not understand the price. Mortals never do. They only see the prize, their heart’s desire, their dream… But the price of getting what you want is getting what once you wanted.
Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.
Thirty years ago today, one of the finest comics I have ever read was published. I would like to take a moment to reflect on Sandman #19, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; admittedly at some considerable length.
Due to its length, the post is broken into 3 pages. The first page gives an overview of the Sandman series, and some background. The second page discusses this issue in depth, as well as Sandman #13 and #75, which serve as prologue and epilogue respectively. The third page examines particular themes of this issue and how they resonate throughout the entire series.
Please find the buttons at the bottom of each page to navigate.
Background
Karen Berger
Karen Berger is quite possibly the best editor in the history of the comics medium. She started at DC back in 1979, working on occasional issues of House of Mystery and Legion of Superheroes.
She made her name working with Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, and John Totleben on Saga of the Swamp Thing. Alan Moore was the hot new writer from Britain who had radically reconceptualized the character under the editorship of Swamp Thing co-creator Len Wein. She took over the editing reins from Wein soon into the run, and allowed Moore the freedom to tell more adult-oriented stories, letting the stories run without Comics Code approval rather than making him tone down the horror. Together, they pushed the boundaries of mainstream American comics further and further. One issue was entirely a psychedelic love poem representing psychic consummation between Swamp Thing and his human lover. For over 40 issues, they made some of the best comics in the company’s history.
When Moore left DC unceremoniously over their questionable business practices, she found herself in a unique position. As editor and UK liaison, recruiting more British talent to try to revitalize their old characters much as Moore had for Swamp Thing, she was able to secure more favorable contracts with regard to royalties and other rights than DC had previously given creators.
With British writer Grant Morrison, and artists Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood, they reimagined Animal Man as an animal rights activist who comes to understand he is actually a character in a comic book. She then had Morrison take over Doom Patrol and he leaned hard into the weirdness of the concept, working with Richard Case and Carlos Garzon.
Neil Gaiman
Like Moore and Morrison, Gaiman had made his name in the UK working on various science fiction anthology comics. He became something of a protégé to Alan Moore and would end up taking over the writing duties for Miracleman, the continuation of Moore’s seminal superhero epic Marvelman, renamed for American sensibilities.
He was an early recruit in Berger’s quest to bring in more talent from across the pond. He teamed with Dave McKean (previously his collaborator on Violent Cases) to reimagine the superhero Black Orchid for a short miniseries. The miniseries was successful enough that he and Berger discussed what other classic characters he could try to revitalize, and they settled on Sandman.
The original Sandmen
The original Sandman was a masked adventurer, Wesley Dodds, created by Gardner Fox and Allen Bert Christman, who went after criminals with sleeping gas. In the wake of the success of Gaiman’s Sandman, he would star in modern comics by Matt Wagner and Guy Davis, gritty noirish period pieces in a comic called Sandman Mystery Theatre.
The second Sandman was based on the character from folklore who brings good dreams, created by the legendary Jack Kirby during his stint with DC. This character’s origin would later be retconned to reveal he was actually a man, Garret Sanford, trapped in the dream dimension. After his death, Hector Hall assumed the mantle of Sandman. Hector Hall married Fury–Hippolyta Trevor, the daughter of the original Wonder Woman, who would be reimagined after DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths as the daughter of the original Fury, with her Wonder Woman connection severed.
The Sandman series ties all these characters in with the new character of Dream, explaining how they popped up to fill the void in his absence. But the hero of Gaiman’s series is revealed to be the true Sandman of legend, the source of all dreams.
Charles Vess
If you want an artist to tell a fairy tale story, you’ll find none better suited than Charles Vess. He draws beautiful nature scenes imbued with magic. Around the time of this issue of Sandman, he did a Spider-Man graphic novel, Spirits of the Earth, set in Scotland near a haunted castle. The depictions of Scotland and the spooky stuff couldn’t be better, but I feel like his Peter Parker looks somewhat like a fairy himself. That magical tinge is just too embedded into his every stroke.
It makes him the perfect artist for this tale.
In fact, he’d sort of drawn the tale before. Just a couple years earlier he provided the illustrations for a hardcover version of Shakespeare’s play.
Vess and Gaiman would work together again on the DC miniseries, Stardust, being a romance within the Realms of Faerie.
Dave McKean
Gaiman’s frequent collaborator provided the covers for every issue of Sandman. And the covers are strange, but also strangely beautiful. They combine drawings and photographs. Often, McKean would need to physically build the cover image.
The two have collaborated many times, and even directed a film together, Mirrormask. My favorite collaboration of theirs is Signal to Noise, the story of a dying filmmaker trying to finish his last film about the end of the world, if only in his mind.
Sandman
I will show you terror in a handful of dust.
He goes by many names. Sandman. Shaper. Morpheus. But he is Dream. This is the story of the King of Dreams, the Prince of Stories.
Gaiman was joined by Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg and together they created a powerful work of fantasy, Sandman, which begins with the imprisonment of the titular character by an amateur magician for much of the 20th century. For various reasons, Kieth soon left the book, and Gaiman ended up going with a rotating artist approach.
The Endless
When the last living thing has left this universe, then our task will be done.
Destiny. Death. Dream. Destruction. Desire. Despair. Delirium. Seven siblings. They are beyond gods.
Destiny is the oldest. He walks through the maze of paths in his garden, book in hand, reading about all that is, was, and will be.
He is also the only of the seven not specifically created for this series. He was introduced in Weird Mystery Tales #1 (1972) by Jack Kirby and Bernie Wrightson.
Each being who lives meets Death twice, though they never recall the first meeting. She’s not blessed or merciful; she has a job to do and she does it.
Destruction is missing. Destruction represents change. He has abandoned his realm, abandoned his responsibilities. Things are still being destroyed and created. Things are still changing. But he no longer assumes any control over it. He doesn’t want the responsibility. His siblings have not seen him in centuries.
Desire and Despair are twins. They play cruel games and often feud with Dream.
Delirium was once Delight. That is her tragedy. Destruction held her as she changed.
The Dreaming
Dream’s realm is the Dreaming, populated from all manner of characters, some created for the series, but a good many characters from other DC titles.
Gaiman cast Lucien as the librarian of the Dreaming, and a close confidant to Dream. Lucien’s library contains every book never written. Lucien is one of many characters plucked from the DC Universe for this series; he had previously been narrating horror stories in Tales of Ghost Castle.
The House of Mystery and House of Secrets are also revealed to exist in the Dreaming, as are their hosts, two brothers, one of whom will bring the other to harm.
Dream Country
Sandman #19 is the third “Dream Country” story: four standalone tales, each written specifically for the issue’s artist. The first two tales were illustrated by Kelley Jones and Malcom Jones III: one concerning the ancient Muse, Calliope, in a dark and disturbing tale about writers and how they find success; the second concerning cats and their true destiny. The final chapter will be illustrated by Colleen Doran and tell the tale of the death of the superhero Element Girl.
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