Power Man and Iron Fist and Sandman

 

Reports are that the Netflix versions of Power Man and Iron Fist will appear in the next season of Daredevil: Born Again, and possibly even in the current season's finale.  I'll be glad to see them back and it will be interesting to see how they are handled.  Will Danny Rand finally have a proper costume?  With the big cliffhanger that the Luke Cage series ended on be addressed?  Only time will tell.

The Thing and Sandman

 

A deceptively simple looking cover - but it took a lot of caption removal and image replacement before I could add Dream in.  Here is a look behind the scenes: 

The Vision and Sandman

 

Yesterday's cover may have also featured The Sandman and The Vision, but those are names that each belong to multiple characters.  This would, I am sure, be a decidedly different tale. 

Sandman, Little Nemo and Nightmare

 

Word is still out on whether the Netflix Sandman series will come back for another season.  Apparently the  ratings were okay, but the high cost of the series is a still a factor.  I thought it was pretty well done,  though some episodes were more to my liking than others.  I did appreciate how closely they stuck to the comic stories.  Dream of a Thousand Cats was one of my favorite Sandman tales, and I really enjoyed how that was adapted.

The Avengers and Death

 

Has anyone had a chance to listen to the recently produced Sandman Audio Drama?  I've heard some other DC Comics audio dramas before like Kingdom Come and Death and Return of Superman, and I was impressed with how well they were done.  This one seems to have an impressive cast, including Kat Dennings as Death, James MacAvoy as Dream, Taron Edgerton as Constantine, Andy Serkis as Mattherw and Neil Gaiman himself as the narrator.  I'm going to have to get a copy to listen to at night.

Little Nemo and Sandman

I haven't heard much about a potential Sandman live action movie since Joseph Gordon-Levitt announced that he was parting ways with the production.  I can understand why there would be difficulty in adapting Neil Gaiman's epic tale and I would rather the time be taken to do it right, so that's not necessarily a bad thing.  Still, I hope the film has not been completely abandoned.

Thank you to Marc Tyler Nobleman, comics' historian and Patron of this blog, for the idea to pair these two!

Sleepwalker and Sandman

Of all the DC movie projects in the works, the one I am most curious about is Sandman.  The series was such a rich tapestry of storytelling with many various styles of prose and imagery.  It's going to be tough to distill it all into one film. Will the movie stick to a few certain issues, or try to encompass the series as a whole?  And what of the look of the film?  There are so many different directions they can go in.  It's a tough property to adapt and I hope the producers can do it justice.

Spider-Man and Death

Tom Holland has been cast as the next Spider-Man and the first to appear in official Marvel movies.  I can't say that I have seen his work before but he seems well regarded and looks the part of a just starting out Peter Parker.  One thing I did see was him performing his own back flips, which is a talent that I am certain will come in handy for his new role.

The cinematic Sandman seems to be ramping up production as well - but still no word as to whether his sister death will appear.

Sandman Vs. Freddy Krueger

I'm not a huge fan of slasher films, but the Nightmare on Elm Street series was fun for me to watch with my friends as a teen.  I liked that Freddy Krueger had a twisted sense of humor that set him apart from other horror villains.  There was some interesting art design in the dream sequences as well.  I don't remember much about Freddy's victims, except that I think one was Johnny Depp and there was a kid named Kincaid that showed up in a few of the films and had some funny lines.

Sandman and Spider-Man

With all the talk about the huge task of bringing Superman/Batman and The Justice League to the big screen, the equally challenging Sandman adaptation which was announced has been somewhat overshadowed.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt will have a major role,  possibly starring in the title role and also directing the feature.  He is usually involved in quality projects and has established some solid directorial chops to go with his already proven acting skills, so I think he is a great choice to lead the project.  Plus, from the quotes I have read from him, he clearly is a fan of the source material and is well versed in the incredible tapestry created by Neil Gaiman. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the production.

Death and Hela

Forget the grim reaper - when it comes to the living embodiment of death in comic books, the depiction is sometimes a bit more attractive than a skeleton wearing a cloak.  I guess it only makes sense to soften the image of death in comics, as it is not nearly as final a state of being  that it is on the real world.  If you are a comic character who passes on, usually you just have to bide your time until you are resurrected in one manner or another.  In the meantime, you get to hang out with a cute goth chick or a leather clad temptress - doesn't sound so bad to me.

Thanos and Death

Well, Thanos has made the leap to the big screen with the teaser during the end credits of The Avengers, and we know now that it is only a matter of time before he returns to appear in a full feature.  But what of Death?  I had been hearing of a film project starring the DC/Vertigo star for years with names like Winona Ryder for the lead role, but those plans seem to have gone away.  I still think there is a very cool film to be made there - possibly an adaptation of the excellent Death: The High Cost of Living mini-series.  Hopefully, that's a project that will find its way beck to the forefront one of these days.

The Thing and Death

I remember discussing how Death and the rest of the Sandman related characters had fallen off of the map since the flagship title ended when I posted my Batman/Death cover. Well since then, Death has finally made another appearance - in Action Comics of all places! I for one am glad that the embargo on Vertigo characters crossing over into the standard DCU has finally been lifted after so many years. I think that restriction just limited the characters as a whole. Swamp Thing especially has never appealed to me in his Vertigo titles nearly as much as when he was firmly rooted (rooted - heh) in the mainstream DC continuity. I am hoping he returns in an ongoing series soon, and I hope that Death and company will make appearances a bit more often in the coming years.

Batman and The Sandman (Dream)

I never read an issue of Neal Gaiman's Sandman series until well after it had been collected. I did however read many glowing reviews of the series as well of the many awards it had received. Finally, I had to see what the big fuss was, so I ordered the entire TPB collection and read the series straight through. What a wild ride! It's basically a contemplation on the art of storytelling itself, in all of its forms. The overall arc of Dream and the Endless is interesting and ties the whole epic together, but the real gems are the single issue stories, be they fantastical, humorous, frightening or touching. May favorite one, which still stays with me to this day was from an early issue: The Dream of 1,000 Cats. If you haven't checked out this series, do yourself a treat and do so.

Batman and Death

This is a case where swapping out characters makes a huge difference. The original cover had Cat-Man taunting Batman in a standard villain's death trap scenario. By using the embodiment of Death instead, the story possibilities open right up. I mean, she wouldn't be there unless this was the real deal, right?

It's Amazing how Death, Sandman, and the rest of The Endless have fallen off of the map lately. Neil Gaiman created such a rich universe and while I understand DC's decision not to let other writers muck about in his creations, it would be nice to see some new stories involving them. The collected editions of their comics apparently sell well so at least new readers are being exposed to some of the most thought provoking writing in comics to date.