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The Sandman Universe
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics DC Vertigo (2018–2019; 2024–present) DC Black Label (2019–2024)
Genre	Dark fantasy
Publication date	August 2018
Main character(s)	Dream Lucien Matthew Cable Lucifer Dora Timothy Hunter Erzulie John Constantine Ruin Corinthian Dead Boy Detectives Thessaly

The Sandman Universe is a line of American comic books published by DC Comics under its imprints DC Vertigo and DC Black Label. The line launched to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman (1989–1996) and Vertigo's 25th anniversary. The Sandman Universe began in August 2018, with a titular one-shot, which was followed by four ongoing series—House of Whispers, Lucifer, Books of Magic, and The Dreaming. Each comic is overseen by Gaiman but written by new creative teams.

Conception and development

The Sandman Universe celebrates the 30th anniversary of DC Comics' The Sandman and the 25th anniversary of the launch of the DC Vertigo imprint. The line was conceived and is overseen by the series' creator, Neil Gaiman, but produced by new creative teams. The Sandman Universe expands The Sandman's part of the DC Universe using new characters and concepts. The line was announced by Entertainment Weekly in March 2018 and was accompanied by a trailer featuring Gaiman. It launched with the one-shot The Sandman Universe #1 on August 8, 2018, with the other series following on later dates.

When asked why he returned to The Sandman, Gaiman said he began to feel guilty that almost no one had been able to return to the series since its conclusion and liked the idea of reviving it, as well as letting new writers play with his "toys". Gaiman assembled the writing team for the line with the Vertigo editorial team. Both parties suggested writers who they thought would be good for new Sandman stories. Samples by writers were then read by Gaiman, who decided whether or not they were proficient. Choosing writers also involved deciding which comic suited which writer best. Gaiman cited Nalo Hopkinson's science fiction work as an influence for assigning her to House of Whispers. Gaiman chose Kat Howard, who he has worked with for several years, to reboot The Books of Magic because of her handling of magic in her stories, and Dan Watters to write Lucifer because he was up to the challenge of recreating the character.

Titles

The Sandman Universe began with a titular one-shot released in August 2018. It picks up after the events of DC's 2017–2018 Dark Nights: Metal crossover event. Dream has disappeared since the conclusion of Metal, leading to chaos in his homeland of the Dreaming. Each Sandman Universe series follows a story thread introduced in the one-shot.

1. Issues #19–24 were published only as a collected edition, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. A crossover with Locke & Key by IDW Publishing.

Collected editions

Reception

According to the review aggregator Comic Book Roundup, the line has an average rating of 8.9/10 based on 20 reviews.

References

1. ^ Bishop, Bryan (March 1, 2018). "Neil Gaiman is turning The Sandman into an expanded comics universe". The Verge.
2. ^ Polo, Susana (March 1, 2018). "The Sandman Universe is Neil Gaiman's next comics project". Polygon.
3. ^ Holub, Christian (March 1, 2018). "Neil Gaiman announces new Sandman Universe line of comics — exclusive". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
4. Shiach, Kieran (August 10, 2018). "How Doomsday Clock & Dark Nights: Metal Affect The New Sandman Universe". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
5. Dominguez, Noah (30 May 2020). "DC Cancels Lucifer, Will Release Final Issues as Collected Edition". CBR.com.
6. Kit, Borys (January 18, 2022). "New Sandman Universe Comic to Be Written by James Tynion IV (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
7. Puc, Samantha (November 10, 2022). "The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country returns next year with The Glass House". Newsarama. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
8. "The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country (2023)". Comicscored.com. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
9. "The Sandman Universe Comic Series Reviews". Comic Book Roundup. Retrieved August 10, 2018.

Further reading

• Lu, Alexander (March 1, 2018). "Your crash course guide to DC's new SANDMAN UNIVERSE line". Comics Beat. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
• Burlingame, Russ (March 3, 2018). "Everything We Know About Neil Gaiman's Sandman Universe So Far". ComicBook.com. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
• Marnell, Blair (March 1, 2018). "Neil Gaiman and DC Will Launch a SANDMAN UNIVERSE Line of Comics". Nerdist News. Retrieved April 29, 2018.

External links

• Official press release from DC Comics

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Category

• 2018 comics debuts
• Neil Gaiman
• The Sandman (comic book)
• Vertigo Comics titles
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