How to Read ‘The Sandman’ Comic Books in Order, Explained
Neil Gaiman’s hit comic book series had a long run of ten volumes, but there’s much more to explore in The Sandman’s further specials — here’s a full guide on the series’ reading order.
Netflix’s TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” may be coming to its end this month, but the show’s new fans have the entire world of comic books ahead of them to delve into.
It’s fair to say Gaiman’s magnum opus hasn’t lost a grain of its popularity decades after the first volume’s publication back in 1989, mostly thanks to the TV series of the same name first released in 2022.
However, considering that Netflix isn’t planning to adapt any other “The Sandman” story and is wrapping things up after the series’ second season, many fans might now want to turn to the giant collection of the comic books — we’re here to break down what you should read first.
‘The Sandman’ Original Series Book Order, Explained
Even though Neil Gaiman’s story counts around 75 issues in total, there’s no need to worry — “The Sandman”’s original series of 10 volumes is what you need to understand the remaining comic books without a slightest problem.
First comes “The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes” released all the way back in 1989, followed by “The Sandman, Vol. 2: The Doll’s House” and “The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country”.
After finishing with these three, you should proceed to:
- “The Sandman, Vol. 4: Season of Mists”
- “The Sandman, Vol. 5: A Game of You”
- “The Sandman, Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections”
- and “The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives”.
Finally, the only ones left in the original comic book series are “The Sandman Vol. 8: World’s End”, “The Sandman Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones” and “The Sandman Vol. 10: The Wake”.
Once you’re done with the latter, you’re free to choose whatever special edition “The Sandman” has, whether it’s a spinoff story or another cross-over with the DC universe.
‘The Sandman’ Showrunner Explains Why Netflix Series Ends After Season 2
While Gaiman’s vast comics universe is doing just fine with all sorts of stories centring on all sorts of characters, it’s something quite difficult to adapt into a show, especially when it comes to the anthology format.
The Sandman’s showrunner has recently revealed that the production team made an attempt to divert the audiences’ attention to other major characters instead of Dream, but every time this idea would fail.
“Anthologies are very difficult to pull off [because] every time you introduce a new cast of characters, you have to earn the audience’s trust, love and rooting interest. Anytime we drifted into other people’s storylines, they got confused and lost interest because it’s called The Sandman and they thought the show was about the Sandman, which we all understand”, he explained in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
In the meantime, The Sandman’s season 2 part 2 is set to arrive on Netflix on July 24.
