For fans of “The Sandman” comics, it will not have gone unnoticed that, despite the DC logo appearing in the credits, all references to its Extended Universe that included the story when it was published in 1989 have been removed. At that time it was released by Vertigo, the DC Comics label, and in the first volumes, which are the ones on which the series is based, there are clear quotes and connections with characters like Batman himself. Without going any further, the character played by David Thewlis, John Dee, is in the comics locked up in Arkham Asylum and is a version of Doctor Destiny, villain who made his debut facing the Justice League of America. There is also the case of John Constantine, who although in the series they retained a very similar character background, changed his gender to Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman) and like Dee, was disconnected from the rest of the Universe in any of the its forms. .
As Neil Gaiman explained in an interview with David Goyer and Allan Heinberg, this decision has a lot less to do with the fact that the production was made for Netflix and not HBO Max, where the DC challenge lies, and more with. how tangled it is. multiverse and how superheroes have evolved all these years since its original release. “‘The Sandman’ himself started out in the DC universe, the comic, and then ended up wandering around his place.”the author tells Variety, “His world was getting closer and closer to our world and it has become less and less of a world where there are costumed crime fighters flying around and so on, which meant that when “The Sandman” ended, it had an aesthetic of its own, which really wasn’t that of the DC Universe anymore. “
Times and characters change
In addition, the break in this relationship also eased the expectations of the public, who were able to watch the series without chasing cameos or surprise appearances. And as if that weren’t enough, the references to DC in the graphic novel date back to a partially vanished era that has little to do with the film and television adaptations that have become popular: “We didn’t want to do a show where you felt like you had to read a lot of comics published between 1988 and 1989 to understand what’s going on. “Gaiman continues, for example by referring directly to the Doctor Destiny case and the fact that people may be wondering if they would bring the Justice League back to life, which is now not the same as it was then: “It’s been 29 years since the Justice League hasn’t had the same lineup. That team disbanded in 1996. No, we won’t bring back the 1988 Justice League.”
But all this does not mean that superheroes do not exist in the imaginary of the series and in fact among the toys of little Jed (Eddie Karanja) there are the action figures of Flash and Wonder Woman. Also in the eighth episode (do not continue reading if you have not seen it) the child imagines himself as the version of Sandman created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, much more colorful and even with a cape.
Source: E Cartelera
