For a long time, I've adored the work of Neil Gaiman. One of his greatest works in my eyes has always been the seminal comic book series The Sandman, the tale of Morpheus, King of Dreams, and his return after a long imprisonment in the waking world.
The Sandman is packed full of references, nods and allusions, from classical mythology, literature, films, music, demonolgy, philosophy and everyday life. Reading it can be quite an overwhelming experience, and there's so many things that can be missed on a first, or even a second or third run-through. Some of the more obscure references and allusions may escape even the keenest eyed comics fan.
What I'm setting out to do then, is provide an annotated breakdown of every part of The Sandman's run, 75 regular issues and one special issue. I'm hoping to catalogue each head nod, each instance of foreshadowing, each neat in joke and everything else to provide a definitive guide through the story of Dream. A few simple points then.
- This isn't intended to be for first time readers. Since foreshadowing is everywhere, huge spoilers will be equally common. I'll often make references to things that happen in future arcs, and at least a basic knowledge of the comic's structure and plot is assumed.
- This isn't intended to be an analysis of the themes or messages behind the comic. I'll occasionally offer an opinion to that effect, but only when it is relevant to a point I'm annotating
- I'm not Neil Gaiman naturally, so I can only guess at what he was trying to get at. When a reference is a supposition on my part, I'll clearly say so.
- I'm not infallible, I do make mistakes. If you've spotted an error or an omission, please let me know.
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