The Sandman
The Sandmanis a serial from 1989 originally write by Neil Gaiman and drawn by Sam Kieth . Later have the art of Mike Dringenberg , Chris Bachalo , Michael Zulli , Shawn McManus , and more , the originalSandmanseries revolve about on Dream of the Endless , an anthropomorphic representation of aspiration who has traversed both the physical world and subconscious soul of humanity since the morning of time . creditworthy for a realm known as The Dreaming , Dream has created legion Nightmares and other tool that live humanity ’s dreams . Sandman : Nightmare Countryintroduces a new human lineament , Madison Flynn , whose repeated vision of The Corinthian , a appall being with mouths for eyes , could have lasting consequences on the legal separation between The Dreaming and wake life . At San Diego Comic - Con , we talked with author James Tynion IV on how this new chapter inSandmanlore came about , and the nature of fear in his piece of work and beyond .
Related : Sandman ’s Corinthian is Returning in New Comic From Batman Writer
Screen Rant : Would you mind just giving us an overview of this particularSandmanstory ?
James Tynion : So Sandman Universe : Nightmare Country is a story that puts the Corinthian up front and center . I think the Corinthian is one of the most terrifying mental image ever put in funnies . And as a physique , he always stood out to me in the original Sandman serial , particularly in what is belike my pet take of the intact original Sandman footrace , which is , I believe , issue 14 , " The gatherer " by Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg . It is one of the most terrifying comics ever written . And it ’s all sic in the midsection of a normal of serial Orcinus orca . And the Corinthian , unbeknown to all of these killers , has fundamentally been inspiring consecutive killers to pop up all over the country for years and years and year , and that ’s sort of his last bandstand . And I wanted to do a serial publication that bottle up the dreadful energy of that issue and the whole Doll ’s House arc , and recount a story that feels as vibrant and of the minute in 2022 as that exit feel justly at the turn of the ninety . And I ’m extraordinarily , inordinately proud of it , and we ’re just getting started .
Absolutely . I love the 2022 - ness of it . It prompt me a lot of yourConstantine : the Hellblazerseries with Ming Doyle and Riley Rossmo , where it feels very much like a Constantine story , but it ’s very much 2015 New York . And I also love that New York is also play a office in this story , with references to Pratt [ Institute ] and stuff like that . It ’s work up into that world .
James Tynion IV : When I part writing it , I just move up to Williamsburg , but I was living in Bed Stuy , which is walking space from Pratt , and I know a lot of Pratt grads . This is a world I know very , very well . And it ’s something that I ’ve been trying to do in a fortune of my comics . Something is obliterate the Children and Nice House on the Lake , I require to really capture the flavor of the innovative Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . And even when telling a narrative that ’s really fantastical , I want to ground the grounded elements and make them experience of - the - present moment . Because , once again , I cogitate that inherent aptitude in me arrive from having read the original Sandman series growing up . The peculiar thing about Sandman is as much the arcs that just focus on unconstipated human characters who brush up against the extraordinary as the arcs that center on these fantastic characters up front and nub .
And with fear in general , it ’s such a specific , and yet universal feeling . Everyone has their own personal fears , and the specificities within our prison term geological period are excogitate in that . And so something I was curious about was , how do you continue that same heart of fear ?
James Tynion IV : I intend the unspoiled horror make out from cultural fear . And I cogitate we are living in a moment of extraordinary fear . And it ’s a really , really terrifying moment to live through . And , you know , as a horror writer , it gives me a mountain of opportunities to attack it from different angles , and really utter to the unlike effect reverence that I have about whether or not these bloated organisation that we survive in can hold out , and all that . But in Nightmare Country in particular , it ’s very much about what lives at the heart of America in particular . We speak a lot about the American Dream , and is Dream the real core sense at the center of America , or is it something else ? Is it something darker ? As we reach the end of the first discharge , I call back it will become clear what I am putting in enemy to Dream . candidly , it ’s a tremendous opportunity to tap into these really , really vivacious and terrific characters and pit them against that question .
For sure . And I really feel like , kind of what you ’re getting at with Dream and being like , " Well , is he like the collective subconscious ? Or is he something different ? " It ’s kind of like this opinion of going down cellar steps with the lights off and then having expecting the floor to be there , and then the floor is n’t there . So it ’s a feeling of , " Oh , is there something deeper ? " And so I palpate like that ’s the best that horror can really involve .
James Tynion IV : Yeah , absolutely . I think that ’s a great path of putting it .
give thanks you . I also desire to know , how do you utilize fearfulness in your oeuvre , with theSandmanmythos , but also with some of your other body of work as well ?
James Tynion IV : I think that I ca n’t write something unless it has a real personal constituent . And I remember that Nice House on the Lake is a really good model , because the villain of that serial publication is based on me . So the character Walter has a lot of my trait and a quite a little of my flaws . And so a mint of that Holy Writ is about the tension that exists between dwell well , and knowing that the cosmos ’s end all around us , and how to make heartsease with that . It is also very much me facing my fear of all of my unfit inherent aptitude , and the way in which , you know , even when I remember I ’m try on to be a good friend , sometimes I do the wrong thing , and I can pass . And Walter oversteps in many ways , and I think he ’s me dial up a few notches . In Nightmare Country , it ’s very much the same . All of my horror work justly now is me seek to look at the thing that make me the most uncomfortable about myself , about the body politic I survive in , about the biotic community I ’m part of , and really essay to grapple with the uncomfortable questions that get along out of that , and seek to search them in fiction . But yeah , it all come from fear , and I think fear is just such a powerful emotion . And , you know , I ’m someone who , as an anxious individual , I get very afraid of many things .
For sure . I also find like fright has this very dependable timbre to it . It ’s a crosscut to being very honest about a mickle of feelings . And that ’s why I imagine inNightmare Country , just in terms of view what character are have nightmares about , it really reveals a whole other aspect about what ’s break down on in their minds .
James Tynion IV : Absolutely . I could n’t hold more . What we are all most afraid of says the most about us . I guess that , especially as a writer , it ’s an incredible tool just to be able to cut right to the warm cut right to the subconscious .
With all of this in mind , something I wanted to ask you was , does the Corinthian have anything he ’s afraid of ? Because he is an object of fear for so many other people , but is it possible for him to have that same feeling as well ?
James Tynion IV : That ’s a really interesting question . And it ’s one that we ’re go to be grappling with in the series , because the series put the Corinthian in a very interesting place . Because at first glimpse , it almost might seem that he has concern for people and all of that , but he ’s really just faced with a interrogative he does n’t understand the result to . And the affair he fear more than anything , I would say , in the most mean room is , he ’s someone who faced non - being before , when he was destroyed the first time , and he does n’t need to not exist ever , ever again . But he still has this get out toward this dark that may lead to his demolition , and he wants to understand that . And that ’s what he keep grappling with , and we ’re going to really quiz the limits of that as we move onward .
And with this large character at manoeuvre , can fans expect any otherSandmancharacters coming in ?
James Tynion IV : perfectly . And as the series move forward , we ’re proceed to play with more of The Sandman mythology , but I wanted to ground it first and some of these raw type that we ’re preface , so that as they are introduced to the whole mythos of the Sandman world , we are also introduced to that . I think in upcoming issues , we ’re at last going to see Dream . And then I think in one of the most recent solicits , we revealed that Thessaly , one of my favorite eccentric from the original Sandman series , is going to be coming in in a especial one - shot issue drawn by Maria Llovet , who is one of my favorite artists working right on now . And I ’m really , really excited to continue to search all of this . And I also want to take the opportunity to clapperclaw out the independent art squad on the book . Lisandro [ Estherren ] is just doing such beautiful work with Patricio [ Delpeche ] , they together have create such a dreamy quality to the core stock of the series . And then we ’ve managed to convey in such unbelievable artists to do these terrifying , we call them incubus sequence , but as the serial die on , you ’ll see dissimilar ways how we apply all of them . And Sandman has always been a serial that brought in a lot of esthetic voices , which is really appropriate , we explore Dream from so many dissimilar angle , and everyone ’s dreams look a short dissimilar . And I ’m incredibly proud of the work that we ’ve done together .
Going back to these Modern characters , you mention that you often pull from yourself , or your own living . What went into this specific cast of theatrical role ?
James Tynion IV : Over the course of the series , we ’re rifle to introduce a fistful of human characters . The first one , Madison Flynn is an art schooltime student , and is an art school student who specializes in form of horror graphics , and is someone who spends all of her Clarence Day thinking about bloodcurdling images . And as a repugnance writer who knows many horror artists , it ’s a specific character of person that I really want to lend to life story in a comic . A mickle of the hearing of Sandman wait a lot like Flynn . And being able-bodied to address to her fear , and put her up against the Corinthian , especially because she ’s the sort of person who , as much as she ’s panicked of the position she ’s in and will carry on to be terrified by that position , when she ascertain the Corinthian for the first sentence , she ’s just spellbound by him . And she ’s not afraid of him . Like she ’s just in love life with the icon of him , the vestal , iconic , nightmarish nature of him . That dynamic is locomote to be very interesting to explore moving forward .
The Sandman Universe : Nightmare Country#4is useable now from DC Comics .
