Editing The Sandman (comic book) (section)

===Original series===
The debut issue of ''The Sandman'' went on sale November 29, 1988<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/features/comic.php?comicid=23005|title= ''Sandman'' #1|first= Mike|last= Voiles|year= 2014|publisher= Mike's Amazing World of Comics|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151208111127/http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/features/comic.php?comicid=23005|archive-date= December 8, 2015|df= mdy-all}}</ref> and was [[cover-date]]d January 1989.<ref name="GCD">{{gcdb series|id= 3817|title= Sandman}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Manning|first1= Matthew K.|last2=Dolan|first2=Hannah|chapter= 1980s|title = DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle|publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]]|year=2010|location= London, United Kingdom|isbn= 978-0-7566-6742-9|page= 238|quote = In arguably one of the greatest achievements in serialized modern comic books, writer Neil Gaiman crafted the seventy-five-issue ongoing series ''The Sandman'', introducing its readers to a complex world of horror and fantasy.}}</ref> Gaiman described the early issues as "awkward", since he, as well as Kieth, Dringenberg, and Busch, had never worked on a regular series before. Kieth quit after the fifth issue; he was replaced by Dringenberg as penciler, who was in turn replaced by [[Malcolm Jones III]] as inker.<ref name="Burgas">{{cite web |url= http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2013/01/07/comics-you-should-own-sandman/|title= Comics You Should Own – ''Sandman''|first= Greg|last= Burgas|date= January 7, 2013|website= [[Comic Book Resources]]|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140410022316/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2013/01/07/comics-you-should-own-sandman/|archive-date= April 10, 2014|url-status= live}}</ref> Dave McKean was the cover artist for the series through its entire run.<ref>Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 238: "''The Sandman'' saw a variety of artists grace its pages&nbsp;... Illustrator Dave McKean's mixed media pieces garnished each cover."</ref>

The character then appeared in two of DC's "Suggested for Mature Readers" titles. In ''[[Swamp Thing (comic book)|Swamp Thing]]'' vol. 2 No. 84 (March 1989), Dream and Eve allow [[Matthew Cable]] to live in the [[The Dreaming (comics)|Dreaming]] because he died there, resurrecting him as a raven.<ref>{{cite comic| writer= [[Rick Veitch|Veitch, Rick]]|penciller= [[Tom Mandrake|Mandrake, Tom]]|inker= [[Alfredo Alcala|Alcala, Alfredo]]|story= Final Payment|title= [[Swamp Thing (comic book)|Swamp Thing]]|volume= 2|issue= 84|date= March 1989}}</ref> He then meets [[John Constantine]] in ''[[Hellblazer]]'' No. 19<ref>{{cite comic| writer= [[Jamie Delano|Delano, Jamie]]|penciller= [[Mark Buckingham (comic book artist)|Buckingham, Mark]]|inker= Alcala, Alfredo|story= The Broken Man|title= [[Hellblazer]]|issue= 19|date= June 1989}}</ref> leading into the latter's guest appearance in ''Sandman'' No. 3 (March 1989).

Gaiman revisited [[Hell (DC Comics)|Hell]] as depicted by [[Alan Moore]] in ''Swamp Thing'', beginning with a guest appearance by Jack Kirby's [[Etrigan the Demon]] in issue No. 4 (April 1989). The story introduces Hell's Hierarchy (as their entry is titled in ''[[Who's Who in the DC Universe]]''), headed by [[Lucifer (DC Comics)|Lucifer]] (who would spin off into his own series in 1999), [[Beelzebub]] (later adversary to [[Kid Eternity]]), and [[Azazel (DC Comics)|Azazel]], whom Dream defeated later in the series. Dream visited the [[Justice League International]] in the following issue, No. 5 (May 1989). Although multiple mainstream DC characters appeared in the series throughout its run, such as [[Martian Manhunter]] and [[Scarecrow (DC Comics)|Scarecrow]], this would not be the norm.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Polo|first1=Susana|title=Batman: Metal #1 confirms a classic character is still very much a part of the DC Universe|url=https://www.polygon.com/comics/2017/8/16/16152428/batman-dark-nights-metal-reveal-issue-1|website=Polygon|date=August 16, 2017|publisher=Vox Media|access-date=September 26, 2017}}</ref> Gaiman and artist Mike Dringenberg introduced [[Death (DC Comics)|Death]], the older sister of Dream, in issue No. 8 (August 1989).<ref>Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 240: "Neil Gaiman, aided by penciller Mike Dringenberg, introduced the character Death to a fascinated readership&nbsp;... Death was an instant hit and arguably became more popular than the Sandman himself."</ref>

Gaiman began incorporating elements of the Kirby ''Sandman'' series in issue No. 11 (December 1989), including the changes implemented by Roy Thomas. Joe Simon and Michael Fleisher had treated the character, who resembled a [[superhero]], as the "true" [[Sandman]].<ref>{{cite comic|writer=[[Roy Thomas|Thomas, Roy]]; [[Dann Thomas|Thomas, Dann]]|penciller=[[Keith Giffen|Giffen, Keith]]|inker=Mahlstedt, Larry|story=The Sands of Doom! Sandman Interlude|title=[[Wonder Woman]]|issue=300|date=February 1983}}</ref><ref>{{cite comic|writer=Thomas, Roy; Thomas, Dann|penciller=Argondezzi, Vince|inker=[[Frank McLaughlin (artist)|McLaughlin, Frank]]; [[Sam Kieth|Kieth, Sam]]|story=The Sandman Cometh|title=[[Infinity, Inc.]]|issue=49|date=April 1988}}</ref> The Thomas and Gaiman stories revealed that the character's existence was a sham created by two nightmares who had escaped to a pocket of the Dreaming.<ref name="Infinity50">{{cite comic| writer= Thomas, Roy; Thomas, Dann|penciller= Argondezzi, Vince; [[Michael Bair|Bair, Michael]]|inker= [[Tony DeZuniga|DeZuniga, Tony]]; Bair, Michael|story= It's a Grimmworld After All|title= Infinity, Inc.|issue= 50|date= May 1988}}</ref><ref name="Infinity51">{{cite comic| writer= Thomas, Roy; Thomas, Dann|penciller= Bair, Michael; Manna, Lou|inker= Downs, Bob|story= A Death in the Family|title= Infinity, Inc.|issue= 51|date= June 1988}}</ref> [[List of The Sandman characters#Brute and Glob|Brute and Glob]] would later attempt this again on [[Sanderson Hawkins]], sidekick to [[Wesley Dodds]], the [[Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] Sandman.<ref>{{cite comic| writer= [[Geoff Johns|Johns, Geoff]]|penciller= [[Jerry Ordway|Ordway, Jerry]]|inker= [[Wayne Faucher|Faucher, Wayne]]|story= Waking the Sandman Part One: Insomnia|title= [[Justice Society of America|JSA]]|issue= 63|date= September 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite comic| writer= Johns, Geoff|penciller= Ordway, Jerry|inker= Rollins, Prentis|story= Waking the Sandman Part Two: Night Terrors|title= JSA|issue= 64|date= October 2004}}</ref> Gaiman gave Jed Walker a surname and made him related to several new characters. The Thomas Sandman was [[Hector Hall]], who married the already-pregnant [[Fury (DC Comics)|Fury]] in the Dreaming in ''Infinity, Inc.'' No. 51.<ref name="Infinity51"/> It was explained that Dr. Garrett Sanford, the 1970s Simon and Kirby version of the Sandman, had gone insane from the loneliness of the Dream Dimension and taken his own life. Brute and Glob put the spirit of Hector Hall, which had been cast out of his own body, into Sanford's body, and it eventually began to resemble Hall's.<ref name="Infinity50"/> Fury, in her civilian guise as Lyta Hall, was the only superhero recurring character in the series. Even at that, her powers had come to her via the [[Erinyes|Fury]] [[Tisiphone]],<ref>{{cite comic| writer= Thomas, Roy; Thomas, Dann|penciller= [[Tom Grindberg|Grindberg, Tom]]|inker= DeZuniga, Tony|story= The Secret Origin of the Golden Age Fury|title= [[Secret Origins]]|volume= 2|issue= 12|date= March 1987}} &nbsp;– Note that in ''Wonder Woman'' No. 300, prior to the ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'', Fury was depicted as the daughter of the [[Wonder Woman (Earth-Two)|Wonder Woman]] and [[Steve Trevor]] of [[Earth-Two]].</ref> and the Furies, under the euphemism, "the Kindly Ones", a translation of "[[Erinyes|Eumenides]]", a name they earned during the events of [[Aeschylus]]'s ''[[Oresteia]]'' trilogy, are major characters in the series.

The series follows a tragic course in which Dream, having learned a great deal from his imprisonment, tries to correct the things he has done wrong in the past. Ultimately, this causes him to [[Euthanasia|mercy kill]] his own son, which leads to his own death at the hands of the Furies. Dream, having found himself a replacement early on in [[Daniel Hall (comics)|Daniel Hall]], dies in issue No. 69 (July 1995). The remaining issues deal with Dream's funeral, [[Hob Gadling]] choosing to remain immortal in spite of Dream's death, and two stories from the past. The series wraps with the story of [[William Shakespeare]] creating his other commission for Dream, ''[[The Tempest]]'',<ref>{{cite comic| writer= Gaiman, Neil|penciller= [[Charles Vess|Vess, Charles]]|inker= Vess, Charles|story= The Tempest|title= The Sandman|volume= 2|issue= 75|date= March 1996}}</ref> his last work not in collaboration with other writers.

''The Sandman'' became a cult success for DC Comics<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.toonopedia.com/sandman3.htm|title= ''The Sandman''|first= Don|last= Markstein|year= 2008|publisher= [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]|url-status= live|quote= He was an instant hit, both with critics and with the general comics-buying public.|archive-date= May 24, 2012|archive-url= https://archive.today/20120524104908/http://www.toonopedia.com/sandman3.htm|df= mdy-all}}</ref> and attracted an audience unlike that of mainstream comics: much of the readership was female, many were in their twenties, and many read no other comics at all.<ref>{{cite magazine |url= https://ew.com/article/1994/06/24/cool-cult-favorites-sandman/|title= Cool Cult Favorites: ''Sandman''|first= Ken|last= Tucker|date= June 24, 1994|magazine= Entertainment Weekly|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131219084529/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,302789,00.html|archive-date= December 19, 2013|url-status= live|quote= Gaiman, 33, says, 'Superhero comics are the most perfectly evolved art form for preadolescent male power fantasies, and I don't see that as a bad thing. I want to reach other sorts of people, too. I'm proud that ''The Sandman'' has more of a female readership, and an older readership, than DC Comics has ever had.'}}</ref> Comics historian [[Les Daniels]] called Gaiman's work "astonishing" and noted that ''The Sandman'' was "a mixture of fantasy, horror, and ironic humor such as comic books had never seen before".<ref>{{cite book|last = Daniels|first = Les|author-link = Les Daniels|chapter= The Sandman's Coming: A New Approach to Making Myths|title = DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes|publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company|Bulfinch Press]]|year = 1995|location= New York, New York|page = 206|isbn = 0-8212-2076-4}}</ref> DC Comics writer and executive [[Paul Levitz]] observed that "''The Sandman'' became the first extraordinary success as a series of graphic novel collections, reaching out and converting new readers to the medium, particularly young women on college campuses, and making Gaiman himself into an iconic cultural figure."<ref>{{cite book|author-link= Paul Levitz|last=Levitz|first= Paul|chapter= The Dark Age 1984–1998|title= 75 Years of DC Comics The Art of Modern Mythmaking|publisher= [[Taschen]]|year=2010|location= Cologne, Germany|isbn= 978-3-8365-1981-6|page= 567}}</ref> Gaiman had a finite run in mind for the series, and it concluded with issue No. 75. Gaiman said in 1996, "Could I do another five issues of Sandman? Well, damn right. And would I be able to look at myself in the mirror happily? No. Is it time to stop because I've reached the end, yes, and I think I'd rather leave while I'm in love."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hasted|first=Nick|title=Bring Me a Dream|journal=[[The Independent]]|date=September 5, 1996|location= London, United Kingdom}}</ref> The final issue, No. 75, was dated March 1996.<ref name="GCD"/>