Sandman Midnight Theatre [Paperback]

Neil Gaiman (Author), Matt Wagner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1995

Graphic Novel

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Dc Comics (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563892081
• ISBN-13: 978-1563892080
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 6.9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #598,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I make things up and write them down. Which takes us from comics (like SANDMAN) to novels (like ANANSI BOYS and AMERICAN GODS) to short stories (some are collected in SMOKE AND MIRRORS) and to occasionally movies (like Dave McKean's MIRRORMASK or the NEVERWHERE TV series, or my own short film A SHORT FILM ABOUT JOHN BOLTON).

In my spare time I read and sleep and eat and try to keep the blog at www.neilgaiman.com more or less up to date.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Saint meets the Shadow, April 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Sandman Midnight Theatre (Paperback)

This strange crossover of the two Sandman titles reminded me mostly of british pulp fiction (as opposed to american pulp fiction) as the Wes Dodds Sandman goes to England, where he almost meets the Lord of Dreams.

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The one-true Sandman..., December 17, 1999

By 

Mike Mitchell (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sandman Midnight Theatre (Paperback)

This is an interesting book for fans of the one-true Sandman, who is Wesley Dodds and NOT the revisionist version by Gaiman. After all, Dodds came first (by at least 40 years), and even though the Gaiman's remake (I suppose "retake" would be a better word) is infinitely better than the original version (Gaiman's work changed comics forever because he proved to comic readers that the story can be MUCH more important that the art), it's wrong to disparage the original "superhero" Sandman. They are different works with different sensibilities. Wagner's version of Wesley Dodds (which is also a revision of the original) does an excelent job of capturing the nuances of the old pulp heroes (he's definitely a pulp hero, not a superhero: he doesn't wear tights). Wagner keep the original, fun aspects of swashbuckling and horrific villians, yet managed to update them for sensibilities honed in the 1990s.

I don't think this book will be enjoyed very much by Neil Gaiman's fans, but it is necessary for everyone wanting to complete their collections. As noted below by another cranky reviewer, Dream is only in it for a few pages. My biggest problem with the story is that it's not explained why Dream sends Wesley Dodds away instead of using him to gain his freedom. The whole "team-up," therefore, seems rather forced, and that is the main reason that this book is not as enjoyable as it could be. But, that said, it's still an important moment in modern DC Comics history: the first, face-to-face meeting between the first Sandman and the second.

2 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unnecessary Sandman Book, June 1, 1999

By 

Brian James Oak - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sandman Midnight Theatre (Paperback)

As a huge fan of Sandman and Gaiman, I searched everywhere for this hard-to-come-by book. Although it is written by gaiman, he worked out the story with Wagner and it was plotted by Wagner, so it is not all-Gaiman. Also, the story is primarily about the Golden Age Sandman, Wesley Dodds. Dodds follows a mystery to England and the house of The Order of Ancient Mysteries, where of course Dream is captured (it is 1939 or whatever). Dodds snoops around and eventually ends up in the basement where Dream finally appears for two pages and says someting like, "You. I know you. You have some of me in you. You can't do anything to help me. Go away from here." Then Dream sends him on his way and makes him forget the meeting. The story is pretty good, but it has very little to do with the Sandman mythology or storyline (the real one, not that Golden Age Dodds superhero nonsense). I can't help but wonder if they just did it to boost the sales of the Mystery Theatre series.