Octopus Overlords

Smoove_B wrote:While I'm sure they were written to allow anyone the chance to read them, I have to believe you'd get much more out of it after reading The Sandman series.

The good/bad news for you is that if you truly are a comic book n00b, reading The Sandman will probably spoil you for most other comic books - but at least you'll have high expectations.

I re-read the series a few years ago after not touching it for about 5 years. The amount of things I picked up on or looked at differently was just amazing. It really deserves all the praise and hype you hear.

Although “Sandman,” which began in the late ’80s, predates the imprint, it was branded as a Vertigo book in 1993 and became one of its biggest successes: a perennial seller of collected editions, critically beloved, winner of multiple awards. “Sandman” helped shape the career of Mr. Gaiman, who seems to write in every form these days, including fantasy novels, screenplays and television scripts; his most recent novel, “The Ocean at the End of the Lane,” was published by William Morrow in June.

“The most peculiar thing for me about returning to ‘Sandman’ is how familiar it all feels,” Mr. Gaiman said. What is new, however, is the level of attention. “When I was writing ‘Sandman’ from 1987 to 1996, I never had the feeling at any point that approximately 50 million people were looking over my shoulder scrutinizing ever word.” (Mr. Gaiman has about two million followers on Twitter.)

For the six-issue “The Sandman: Overture,” Mr. Gaiman has been paired with J.H. Williams III, an illustrator known for his moody imagery and innovative page layouts. “They are the most beautiful pages I have ever seen in periodical comics,” Mr. Gaiman said. “I ask him to do the impossible, and he gives me back more than I asked for.”

The series will be published every other month and will alternate with a special edition of each issue, which will include more of the artwork (because of translucent word balloons developed by the letterer Todd Klein), as well as behind-the-scenes commentary and character sketches.

AWS260 wrote:Intriguing. Let's hope that Neil Gaiman doesn't pull a Lucas here.

AWS260 wrote:Intriguing. Let's hope that Neil Gaiman doesn't pull a Lucas here.

Smoove_B wrote: If you're looking for a reason to either start the series or re-read your old copies, this is a great excuse.

Smoove_B wrote:I'm very curious to hear how it works out for you. Mostly because it was one of those comic books that was unlike anything else when it was released so reading it now might give you a "I don't get why this was so special?" feeling as by today's conventions it seems perfectly relevant.

McNutt wrote:Sandman is on Kindle's daily deal today.

Carpet_pissr wrote:
KINDA reminds me of some absolutely ghoulish comics I read as a kid, which I probably shouldn't have at that age, whose titles I can't remember. They all dealt with horror though (lots of blood, violence, and the supernatural), and I LOVED them. Forbidden fruit I guess.

The movie adaptation of Neil Gaiman's comic classic Sandman has had another nightmare: its writer has dropped out. Eric Heisserer said he was leaving the project last night, telling io9 that the source material wouldn't work as a movie, and would be far better suited as a TV series.

Heisserer — who wrote Nightmare on Elm Street and The Thing — said that he many conversations with Gaiman about adapting his work for a movie, but that he "came to the conclusion that the best version of this property exists as an HBO series or limited series, not as a feature film, not even as a trilogy." The departure is another blow for the proposed Sandman movie, which saw its producer and head cheerleader Joseph Gordon-Levitt back out due to creative differences earlier this year.

The appointment of Heisserer was seen as being connected to Gordon-Levitt's dumping of the Sandman project, but the veteran screenwriter tells io9 that the actor had actually "quietly left" seven months previously. Speaking on Facebook at the time, Gordon-Levitt said he "came to realize that the folks at New Line and I just don’t see eye to eye on what makes Sandman special, and what a film adaptation could/should be" — a viewpoint Heisserer says he came to share.

Somewhat ironically, Sandman was in line to become a TV show in the early 2000s, with both HBO and Warner Bros. Television pursuing potential deals, but nothing came to pass. It's not clear yet whether New Line will continue with the planned movie version, but things aren't looking so dreamy for the project.

Smoove_B wrote:It would make such a killer episodic show and I have no idea why they're insisting on making it a movie - particularly when you consider all the short-run premium cable shows that have been created in the last decade.

Smoove_B wrote:It would make such a killer episodic show and I have no idea why they're insisting on making it a movie - particularly when you consider all the short-run premium cable shows that have been created in the last decade.

Isgrimnur wrote:Warner Brothers chopped all of the Vertigo titles over to New Line last year.

LordMortis wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:Warner Brothers chopped all of the Vertigo titles over to New Line last year.

Why oh why, do I sometimes read comments?