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I only got into Sandman last June.  I wish I had read it sooner but no one really described it well to me so I went in almost completely unawares.

The main character in Sandman is Morpheus AKA Dream of The Endless.   He is the living embodiment of dreams.  His usual appearance (as his form changes depending on who is looking upon him) has peculiar, bone-white, skin and completely-black eyes with tiny star-like pupils that flare when he’s using his powers.  He has wild black hair and is extremely thin.   

 His minion are entities of Dreams and Nightmares.  He seems to have a fondness for Halloween aesthetics from Jack-o-lanterns and Gothic castles to spooky old houses (like The House of Secrets and The House of Mystery), and ravens.   

Morpheus AKA Dream of The Endless is of a family of beings known as… well… The Endless.

The Endless are a family of anthropomorphic personifications.  That means they are living embodiments of certain concepts.  For example Morpheus / Dream’s older sister is Death.  She’s essentially the Grim Reaper.  

The family consists of Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and little Delirium (She used to be Delight but she went mad).  

Most of Sandman is the story of Morpheus and what happens to him.   The place to begin is Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes.  

  In this story Morpheus gets summoned and captured by early twentieth century occultists who had been trying to capture Death but got him by mistake.  He is kept locked in a windowless cellar in a glass cage for nearly a century. 

 When he finally escapes he gets his revenge on the son of his original captor and then seeks out his tools that were taken from him when he was captured.  These tools include his pouch of dream sand (he is the Sandman after all), his helm (a battle helmet, though he rarely if ever goes into battle, made from a skull and spine of Old Gods and resembles a gas mask), and his rubly dreamstone amulet, a conduit for his power (like a wizard’s wand).  

The first storyline is Morpheus reclaiming these lost artifacts.   At one point this leads him to Hell where he faces a demon who has gotten a hold of his helm.  The demon challenges him to a game of wits, creativity, and imagination as opposed to physical combat. 

Morpheus used to be something of an asshole but he undergoes considerable character growth through the course of the series and becomes more and more compassionate.

Often he finds himself simply trying to set right the wrongs of his own past.  For example Sandman: Season of Mists starts with Morpheus reluctantly (he’s very afraid) going back to Hell to rescue a soul he wrongfully left there centuries before only to find that Lucifer is quitting (basis for the plot of the Fox / Netflix TV series). 

 Lucifer leaves Morpheus the key to Hell and and now Morpheus must figure out what to do with it while The Dreaming (his realm) is bombarded with deities and beings of folklore who all want the key to Hell for themselves since it’s “Prime psychic real estate.”

The Sandman is strange.  It’s surreal and it’s beautiful.  Each volume of Sandman is drawn in a different art style.  There’s very little combat-style action or explosions though there is occasional horror and gore.  It’s more like a work of pure literature than any traditional idea of a comic book.     

The order Sandman should be read in is as follows:

1. The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes 2. The Sandman: The Doll’s House 3. The Sandman: Dream Country  4. The Sandman: Season of Mists 5. The Sandman: A Game of You 6. The Sandman: Fables and Reflections 7. The Sandman: Brief Lives 8. The Sandman: The Worlds’ End 9. The Sandman: The Kindly Ones 10. The Sandman: The Wake The Sandman: Dream Hunters The Sandman Endless Nights The Sandman Overture (a very beautiful prequel)

The Sandman can also be read in the Omnibus form (three volumes) or in the “Absolute editions” (There are six in all).  The Absolute editions are better than the omnibuses and physically easier to read (larger print) but they are more expensive.    

“I have three older brothers.”

“Really?”