I've started watching The Sandman. I guess any proper geek would have read all of the original comics countless times, but I always struggle to read graphic novels, plus, when I thought maybe it would be worth my while to read it after all, I couldn't find any easy, cheap way to get hold of it. As far as I can tell it isn't compiled into one thing, and the mini-compendiums that do exist are still such that you need to buy a fair few of them to read the whole thing, and even they are very expensive. So, with mild reluctance, I concluded that it was too expensive to read and forgot about it for a few years, thinking that maybe one day they would release it in an affordable single lump. Does anyone know if that ever happened?
Anyway, there is a tv adaptation now, I suppose it is one of those things that was always out of reach due to the scale and scope of it. But now that fx are relatively cheaper and after the enormous success of Game of Thrones, with the proliferation of channels meaning there is space to show it, it is recognised that there is a market for ten hour long fantasy type stuff, and people are confident enough in it succeeding that they are prepared to throw enough money at it so it doesn't look shit.
And I'm enjoying it a lot. The thing is very ambitious, it has an enormous number of characters, many of whom I recognise from other stories (eg John Constantine) and often played by famous actors - Charles Dance, David Thewliss etc - and all kinds of insane settings which surely wouldn't have been possible until relatively recently.
It also helps that the guy they have playing Dream looks so much like him it feels that he was grown in a tank specifically for this role
Anyone else watching this?