Editing The Sandman (comic book) (section)

===Creation===
''The Sandman'' grew out of a proposal by Neil Gaiman to revive DC's 1974–1976 series ''[[Sandman (DC Comics)|The Sandman]]'', written by [[Joe Simon]] and [[Michael Fleisher]] and illustrated by [[Jack Kirby]] and [[Ernie Chua]]. Gaiman had considered including characters from the "Dream Stream" (including the Kirby Sandman, Brute, Glob, and the brothers [[Cain and Abel (comics)|Cain and Abel]]) in a scene for the first issue of his 1988 miniseries ''[[Black Orchid (comics)|Black Orchid]]''. While the scene did not make it into later drafts because [[Roy Thomas]] was using the characters in ''[[Infinity, Inc.]]'', Gaiman soon began constructing a treatment for a new series, and mentioned his treatment in passing to DC editor [[Karen Berger]].<ref name="OriginNeil"/> He was unsure his ''Sandman'' pitch would be accepted, but weeks later, Berger asked Gaiman if he was interested in doing a ''Sandman'' series. Gaiman recalled, "I said, 'Um&nbsp;... yes. Yes, definitely. What's the catch?' [Berger said,] 'There's only one. We'd like a new Sandman. Keep the name. But the rest is up to you.{{'"}}<ref name="OriginNeil">{{Cite comic| writer= Gaiman, Neil|story= The Origin of the Comic You Are Now Holding (What It Is and How It Came to Be|title= Sandman|issue= 4|date=April 1989}}</ref>

Gaiman crafted the new character from an initial image of "a man, young, pale and naked, imprisoned in a tiny cell, waiting until his captors passed away... deathly thin, with long dark hair, and strange eyes". Gaiman patterned the character's black attire on a print of a Japanese kimono as well as his own wardrobe.<ref name="P&N"/> Gaiman wrote an eight-issue outline and gave it to [[Dave McKean]] and Leigh Baulch, who drew character sketches. Berger reviewed the sketches (along with some drawn by Gaiman) and suggested [[Sam Kieth]] as the series' artist.<ref name="P&N"/> [[Mike Dringenberg]], [[Todd Klein]], Robbie Busch, and Dave McKean were hired as [[inker]], [[letterer]], colorist, and cover artist, respectively. McKean's approach towards comics covers was unconventional, and he convinced Berger that the series' protagonist did not need to appear on every cover.<ref>[[Karen Berger|Berger, Karen]] "Introduction" ''The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes''</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Bender|first= Hy|chapter= Preludes & Nocturnes|title= The Sandman Companion|publisher= DC Comics|year= 1999|location= New York, New York|page= 40|isbn= 978-1-56389-465-7}}</ref>

The first seven issues were inspired and influenced by early [[DC Comics|DC]] and [[EC Comics]], and authors like [[Dennis Wheatley]], [[Clive Barker]], [[Ramsey Campbell]], [[Robert A. Heinlein|Robert Heinlein]] and [[Alan Moore]], but with issue eight he says he finally found his own voice.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1kzdP3OlBg&t=3105s Neil Gaiman in Conversation with Junot Díaz]</ref>

Gaiman's approach to scripting the series became more difficult as the complex storyline and characters developed. "When I began writing ''Sandman'', it would take me a couple of weeks to write a script. As time went by I got slower and slower, until a script was taking me six weeks to a month to write."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gaiman|first=Neil|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/939277355|title=The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction|date=2016|isbn=978-0-06-226226-4|edition=|location=New York, NY|pages=240|oclc=939277355}}</ref>