Off late, Netflix has been burning a lot of cash on content, mostly without much gain – mediocre quality despite the big budgets, unsurprisingly hasn’t made a difference to its subscriber additions. This month, another big budget series ‘The Sandman’, supposedly costing a whopping $15m an episode, was launched to rave reviews. Here’s one from The Economist. Like many other, the review seems less pertaining to the series itself as much as it is praise for the author of the graphic novel on which the series is based – Neil Gaiman.
“There was a time when newspaper articles about Neil Gaiman would start with a long-winded explanation of who this odd English chap was, and why readers ought to consider picking up “The Sandman”, his epic comic-book series. In 2008, a dozen years after the original run of “The Sandman” had come to an end and millions of copies had been sold, after even the publication of several unrelated bestselling novels, including “American Gods” and “Neverwhere”, the Times contrived to name Mr Gaiman “the most famous writer you’ve never heard of”. By last month the British papers were singing a different tune: the Guardian called him “one of the most recognised living authors”.
What changed? For one thing, people got smartphones and joined social networks, and Mr Gaiman got big on Twitter (he now has almost 3m followers, up from an already staggering 1.5m in 2010). For another, many of his works were adapted for film or television, including “Good Omens” (written in collaboration with Terry Pratchett) and “American Gods”. The people who are still unfamiliar with Mr Gaiman’s work may as well enjoy their last few hours of ignorance. On August 5th Netflix released ten episodes of “The Sandman”. Expect blanket coverage.”
Graphic novels may not be a popular genre but for those who like them, Neil Gaiman is among the best: “It is an unlikely conceit for a mainstream, big-budget screen adaptation. Which is one reason why, for more than two decades, attempts to turn it into a film failed. But the other explanation for the long gestation period is that “The Sandman” needed to wait for the real world to catch up. It is only with the advent of streaming services willing to plough colossal sums of money into feature-film-quality series that a comic book like “The Sandman”, by definition episodic, could be satisfactorily turned into an audiovisual extravaganza. Indeed Eric Heisserer, the screenwriter working on the last failed adaptation, came to that very conclusion in 2016: “The best version of this property exists as an HBO series or limited series, not as a feature film, not even as a trilogy”.”
The series may end up popularising Neil Gaiman and the genre of graphic novels among many of us who haven’t had the exposure in the past. Perhaps, it will also help reverse Netflix’s dwindling fortunes.
“Should “The Sandman” of 2022 find the same fervent fans and have a similar cultural impact on a new generation of viewers as the original did on its readers, Netflix will have on its hands a wealth of material with which to make sequels and spin-offs. The universe imagined by Mr Gaiman is, like the family at the heart of it, endless. For those who dearly love the characters and their stories, a whole new experience awaits. And for those encountering them for the first time, a treat lies in store.”
The review might actually make some of us read Gaiman’s work whilst those who are familiar might actually want to consider a more critical review of the series here.
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