Customer Reviews

Sandman Midnight Theatre

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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.

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.

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.