Todd & Joe Have Issues 06/01/17: Sandman #8
The late 80’s were a different time in comics, especially at DC. Outside of Batman, not much else was getting much traction. So, when at the end of your rope, that’s when chances are taken. Sometime they don’t pay off, very rarely, they change the face of comics as we know it.
Sandman was one of those comics. Notice in the upper left corner, this was still being published as DC proper comic. Vertigo as we know would not be seen for another four years. Sandman told the tale of Dream, aka Morpheus, one of the Endless, as he escaped a prison he had been in for hundreds of years and went on a quest to reclaim his tools, a cloak, a helm and a bag of sand. And it had the Justice League in it. Doesn’t sound like a ‘Sandman comic’? Issue eight is where things changed.
We are introduced to Death, Dream’s older sister, who takes a down in his dumps Moprheus out for an afternoon. Now, this sounds more like it.
This was the first we would see of the extended Endless family that would drive the Sandman franchise for the next 60 plus issues and beyond. The above image is a poster that is framed and hangs in my house to this day. As Todd mentioned, this is a issue we both feel very strongly about, but there are some good vibes in there, right:
Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our list.
Best family in comics!
I had stopped reading comics in my senior year in high school and came back my freshman year in college, largely due to finding the proto-Vertigo books that had just started (hellblazer, animal man and Sandman). I started with the diner issue, so issue 8 was one of first few i bought off the stands.