When Everybody Loves You
You Can Never Be Lonely
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The one at the end…
I think I fell in love with her, a little bit. Isn’t that dumb? But it was like I knew her. Like she was my oldest, dearest friend. The kind of person you can tell anything to, no matter how bad, and they’ll still love you, because they know you. I wanted to go with her. I wanted her to notice me. And then she stopped walking. Under the moon, she stopped. And she looked at us. She looked at me. Maybe she was trying to tell me something; I don’t know. She probably didn’t even know I was there.
But I’ll always love her. All my life.
Brant Tucker, on Death. (The Sandman: Worlds’ End. Neil Gaiman)(Source: comicoo.com)
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Tonight, I give you 1 image from each of my 10 favorite Batman stories. Here they are, in no specific order.
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You lived what anybody gets, Bernie. You got a lifetime. No more. No less.
You got a lifetime.
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The bird turned, head tipped, suspiciously, on one side, and it stared at him with bright eyes.
“Say ‘Nevermore,’” said Shadow.
“Fuck you,” said the raven.”
Gaiman, Neil. American Gods. 2000. -
30 Days of Sandman—Day 1
I dunno why, but I’ve really got The Sandman on the brain tonight. It’s probably because Amy’s been reading my volumes, and you know how it is when someone borrows your stuff: you want to use it almost immediately after they’ve taken it from you. Anyway, I felt like this would be a cool way for me to use my Tumblr in a way that I really enjoy. I try to write at least once per day, just to keep my brain working; writing about my favorite book series would give me more than enough material. So here goes nothing.
DAY 1: HOW DID YOU DISCOVER SANDMAN?It wasn’t too long ago that I began reading comics with the with the tenacity that I do now; I think it’s only been 4 years or so. But I began with Batman comics, and I moved on from there to anything that caught my eye. Eventually, I was buying Green Lantern comics, then Superman, Marvel titles, and pretty soon I was a full-fledged comics fan. And, I think, if you’re a fan of comics and haven’t read The Sandman, there’s just something missing from your life. So I can’t really pinpoint the moment when I discovered The Sandman. It’s just something that comes with the territory of comics. But I do remember buying the first volume, having little to no idea what the series was actually about. The plot intrigued me, and after reading through Preludes and Nocturnes rather quickly, I went a few days later to purchase The Doll’s House, which I also finished hastily. A few days later I bought Dream Country. And so it goes.
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30 Days of Sandman—Day 2
DAY 2: WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE ENDLESS AND WHY?
Without a doubt, Death has always been my favorite character in The Sandman. Ever since her debut in the last issue of Preludes and Nocturnes, her presence seemed to make every single panel just that much better.
I like Death because she’s so incredibly different from the rest of the Endless, save maybe Delirium. While the others are usually very serious all the time, especially Dream, Death is fun-loving, and pretty much the opposite of how Death as a character is depicted in any other medium. At the same time, however, she’s incredibly introspective; rather, she makes the reader introspective about him or herself.
I was really excited to see Paul Cornell bring her into the regular DC Universe in his The Black Ring storyline on his run of Action. I hope she gets used more often.
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30 Days of Sandman—Day 3
DAY 3: FAVORITE D.C. COMICS’ GUEST
This is kind of a challenge. At first, I couldn’t really think of what characters from other DC stories appeared in Sandman because each character seems separate from their DCU counterpart. It was very cool seeing Martian Manhunter, Batman, and Scarecrow early in the series. I also really enjoyed the way Neil Gaiman incorporated the original Sandman as part of The Doll’s House. And when I realized that Dr. Destiny’s nightmares were scenes from Apokolips, I was stunned. But there has always been one guest appearance that has stood out in my mind as one of my favorite stand-alone stories.
In Sandman #20, Death has a chance meeting with Element Girl, who is crying because she cannot kill herself. Hoping that Death is there to take her, she livens up a bit only to discover that Death isn’t there for her at all. The conversation that follows is one of my favorite dialogues between characters in the entire series.The way Neil Gaiman portrayed Element Girl is by far one of the most heart-wrenching and humanizing scenarios that I’ve ever read, especially for a character who is supposed to be a superhero. It truly makes me wonder what people with superhuman abilities would be like if they were real. Would they resemble anything close to how we’ve designed them in our imaginations?
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30 Days of Sandman—Day 4
DAY 4: BEST STORY FROM “THE WORLD’S END.”
Easily one of the most interesting issues of all of The Sandman is the final story of “World’s End,” told by the apprentice of Necropolis. It isn’t so much that the story itself is fantastic—it really, really is. But the way that the story ties itself into the series later is what really blew me away. This was one of those moments when I realized that Neil Gaiman is intelligent on levels almost incomprehensible. After reading “The Wake,” I had to go back and reread “World’s End” just to make the connection.
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30 Days of Sandman—Day 5
DAY 5: CAST THE MINISERIES! WHO WOULD YOU CAST TO PLAY EACH OF THE ENDLESS?
I’ve not really given this a lot of thought. But I think I can manage to get a few out. Here goes nothing:
Dream:
= Jude Law: 
I snagged this photo from his segment from The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassuss to highlight that, with the correct make-up and such, he could very well look the part. His calming voice, delivered monotonously, is exactly how I read Dream’s captions in the books.
Death:= Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Deschanel first captured my heart in the film Big Trouble, which I saw in 2002, and she stole it again in her casting as Trillian in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. She has that spunky, anxious, innocent feeling that makes Death such a great character, and she’s got acting chops to boot. Just check out (500) Days of Summer if you don’t believe me.
Delirium:
= Lizzy Caplan 
This was the hardest for me to decide because Delirium’s appearance changes so frequently. I would like to see a child in the role if ever an adaptation would be made, but I’m not quite sure how that would go over. However, I like Lizzy Caplan, and some artist’s interpretations of Delirium resemble the actress in my opinion. Her role in Mean Girls is one of my favorites. Plus I loved Cloverfield, so that’s a plus, too.
Despair:
= Kathy Bates
You wanna see how evil she can be? Go watch Misery. I don’t need to say any more on the subject.
Desire:
= Cate Blanchett: 
Another very difficult choice since Desire is supposed to be both male and female AND neither male nor female. But I think Cate Blanchett could absolutely pull off the androgeny; after all, she played Bob Dylan once.
Destiny:
= Ralph Fiennes: 
There’s really no choice on image that needs to be made here since Destiny is always obscured by his cloak. But Ralph Fiennes has that voice. I’ve loved him since Red Dragon. A wonderful actor, capable of many different roles.
Destruction:
= Gerard Butler:
This was easy for me. Again, I always thought of Gerard Butler’s voice when I read Destruction’s lines. It was a no-brainer.
That finishes out The Endless, but I do want to include one more character, and that’s Hob Gadling. I love this character. So I wanted to include him.
Hob Gadling:
= Gary Oldman: 
Harry Potter fans know him as Sirius black. He was Mason Verger in Hannibal, Sid Vicious in Sid & Nancy, and James Gordon in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. He was in True Romance, The 5th Element, and so many other movies that it’s really mind blowing to realize how good of an actor he is. You never really notice it’s him, either; he sort of just becomes his character for those 90-or-so minutes.
So there you have it. That’s my fan cast of The Sandman. Go do something productive now. -
30 Days of Sandman—Day 6
DAY 6: FAVORITE HISTORICAL CHARACTER
As a fan of literature, my very first instinct was to answer this with William Shakespeare. Though the few times that Shakespeare does appear in the series are all impeccable, another moment’s thought allows me to recall the story titled “August” from Fables and Reflections.
Augustus Caesar is the main character in this issue, and we learn all about his relationship with Julius Caesar, what effect Dream had on his reign over Rome, and why he’s dressed as a beggar in the street when he’s the ruler of the strongest country in the world.
St. Louis. Geek. Straight Edge.
