Sandman Comic Analysis

The visual appearance of Sandman in the comic is laden with symbolism. He towers as a tall figure with broad shoulders, yet still thin and sinewy. The adrogeny in his build insinuates that he is both graceful and strong, compassionate and demanding. His long black robe and his jet-black hair hiding part of his face cloak him in the shroud of mystery, and the pale powdery white of his face suggests a supernatural omnipotence. Though his eyes are rarely seen, they glow a strange yellow that symbolizes knowledge and wisdom. In one comic,

the frame pulls further and further away until his golden eyes fade into two glimmering stars against a dark backdrop of sky. A crow, as they are known for their intelligence and connection with the mystical Other Side, perches on his shoulder and often delivers his messages. Even the conversation bubbles stand out as strikingly different and meaningful. Most conversation bubbles encase a white bubble containing black words, but Sandman’s bubbles are black with white words. Perhaps even more noticeable is that the edges are very squiggly and jagged so they demand the reader’s attention.

Although he is master of the dream world, Sandman also expresses the tenderness and confusion of human emotions. Stern yet compassionate, this black cloaked figure lives in another world where all things are possible, and he plays with and potentially punishes the humans at his will. He is a just being and fair in what he does, but in a naturally mixed up world, he has no choice but to be relentless with his power at times. In one issue, he dooms a man to perpetual waking for keeping him entrapped for seventy years. Perpetual waking consists of being in a nightmare and waking up, only to find that another nightmare has enshrined you. His human qualities are apparent because he takes great joy in revenge but only when punishing appalling atrocities done to himself and others. In another issue, he gets justice on a man who had enslaved a muse. By forcing the man to have

Some topics in this essay:
Mark Hempel, Grim Reaper, Green Lantern…the, , Death Delirium, comic books, conversation bubbles, black white, adult reader, perpetual waking,