Superhero fatigue has become a common topic of conversation amongst those who follow pop culture, and it seems like even the most hardcore fans have grown tired. Marvel and DC are bringing out constant new heavy hitters, attracting wild mixtures of excitement and derision, but one comic book adaptation stands above the rest.
Neil Gaiman's beloved magnum opus The Sandman has undergone a long and strange journey to the screen. Through countless false starts and decades of evolving superhero cinema, The Sandman is finally here, and it's attracted a reaction that would seem impossible. What's so different about this series that seems to make it immune to the usual reaction?
There were dozens of projects announced, confirmed, or revealed at the recent SDCC event. Marvel laid out another series of plans to span the following few years. DC still has several new films set out for the upcoming phase. Fans were excited about a few aspects of the announcements. The Wakanda Forever trailer seemed to get a solid reception. People are happy to see Charlie Cox again. Shazam: Fury of the Gods got a full trailer and fans are still generally excited about that enjoyable character. But, the titanic scale of the MCU's multi-year plan makes many fans feel overwhelmed, and DC's showing was strangely lacking. Luckily, there was one other powerful figure fans were excited to finally see in action.
By all reasonable metrics, The Sandman is a superhero property. Look it up, most resources will place it in that genre first and anywhere else second. It's an adaptation of a DC Comics character, though it won't be taking place in the larger DCEU. The source material features several superheroes, though none of them are the central figures. Its characters wield superhuman powers and do battle with comic book villains, but its scale and subject deliberately push beyond those boundaries and into something akin to modern myth. Mythology isn't really a genre in modern media, very few creators start with the intent of designing a new pantheon of personified concepts and dramatizing their eternal lives. There are tons of works informed by existing mythology, of which The Sandman is certainly one, but there aren't many that are primarily about a completely new foundational universal order. Placing The Sandman in one genre is a fool's errand, as it comfortably inhabits many, but superhero is certainly one label that applies.
The superhero fatigue discussion basically boils down to the collective complaints of many members of the movie-going public that too many movies in this genre are coming out. It's fair to say that superhero movies and shows come out with increasing and often disconcerting regularity. But, fans of the genre will point out that most of these films have distinctly different tones, presentations, and even sub-genres. No matter how different an Iron Man film might feel next to a Thor film when looked at as a cinematic movement, it's hard not to notice that they drop constantly. Marvel seeks to cover every genre with their existing comic book IP, and that campaign is quickly alienating many casual fans. The Sandman gets around this issue through a combination of novel execution, fan anticipation, and originality.
The Sandman differs from the average superhero property in many large and small ways, but many of them wouldn't be enough to escape the genre on their own. It's about esoteric concepts living out their lives as people with feelings and relationships. Most of its problems are solved with strange extensions of inexplicable magical power that bend reality. There won't be the typical fight scenes or discussions about friendship that most fans are used to in superhero media. This alone probably wouldn't be enough, it'd just make it a novel standout in the genre. The Sandman is also unique for the fact that non-comic readers are experiencing its characters and stories for the first time. This is an entirely new work with no connection to a universe of other characters. In addition, this means that fans haven't had the chance to see Dream or Death's origin story a dozen times already. The novelty of a new story and the fact that the story is different from most allows The Sandman to be left off the list for most critics.
The Sandman has earned its hotly anticipated status over years of fan excitement and multiple failed attempts. To have a property endure over thirty years in one medium, only to make its premiere in a new medium with such style is quite the achievement. Superhero fatigue is alive and well, but not every title in the genre is lamented as another contributor to the oversaturation of the genre. Fans will have to wait and see whether The Sandman will live up to the excitement that it's earned when it drops on Netflix.