British novelist/comics writer Neil Gaiman recently announced at San Diego Comic Con that he’ll be returning to his acclaimed queer-friendly comic-book series, Sandman, with a new prequel.
Beloved by comic-book nerds and literary aficionados alike, Sandman follows the endeavors of Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, and his supernatural family, the Endless. The series is notable for its preponderance of queer characters, including gay faerie Cluracan, spooky lesbians Hazel and Foxglove, and the androgynous, Annie Lennox-inspired Desire.
The as-yet unnamed new miniseries will take place prior to the very first issue of DC Comics’ original Sandman, series, and reveals the events leading up to Morpheus’s imprisonment. It’s the first time Gaiman has touched the character since the original comic’s conclusion in 1996, having mostly focused on novels like Stardust, American Gods and Coraline. He also married queer-fave musician Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls at the beginning of last year.
Gaiman has also incorporated gay elements into the 1996 GLAAD Best Comic award-winning Death: The Time of Your Life and Murder Mysteries, a grim tale of gay angels illustrated by out artist P. Craig Russell. In a 2007 interview, Gaiman told Queerty contributor Lawrence Ferber, “For more or less as long as I can remember I’ve had a huge gay, lesbian and transgender following.” He says he’s compelled to include LGBT characters because, “these were all my friends and people I knew and didn’t see any reflection of them in the comics I was reading, so I put them into my comics.”
The new Sandman series will arrive sometime in 2013, which isn’t nearly soon enough.
Shane B
From the article: “It’s the first time Gaiman has touched the character since the original comic’s conclusion in 1996.” This isn’t accurate. Sandman: The Dream Hunters was published in 2000 and Sandman: Endless Nights was published in 2004. Both were about Sandman and written by Gaiman.
Chris
Shane you beat me to the punch! Thanks for the correction, true Sandman fan! :)@Shane B:
Max
While I’m overjoyed that this is getting press, this article demonstrates a pretty funny lack of knowledge of Gaiman’s work. While that’s fine since literary fiction isn’t Queerty’s oeuvre it can get harmful. “Spooky” Lesbians? Really, Queerty?
Oh wait Queerty means Chantal and Zelda. My geekiness is showing. Carry on.
Belize
“The series is notable for its preponderance of queer characters, including gay faerie Cluracan, spooky lesbians Hazel and Foxglove, and the androgynous, Annie Lennox-inspired Desire.”
Translation: “I haven’t really read the Sandman series but since it has gay characters, I have to pretend to know about it by giving hasty and ignorant editorial comments.”