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Sandman: An Audible Crossover with DC Comics

Sandman cover art from audible.com

A Graphic Crisis on Audible Earths

The first audio dramatization of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman is a comic book come alive in a way that combines Graphic Audio’s comic book adaptations with CW’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover story, loosely based on the 1980s comic book storyline of the same name by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.

Where the television network took the easter egg and fan service approach to the extreme and turned off some people, Gaiman and Maggs’ original story about Morpheus and the other Endless is told as a more down to earth story. There’s no extinction-level crisis here, except for the one the character of Dream/Morpheus finds himself in at the beginning of the story.

The story starts out in gothic horror territory, a staple of Gaiman’s career. Maggs does a remarkable job of encapsulating the tone with the sound effects, and the musical score by James Hannigan is reminiscent of Danny Elfman’s iconic Batman (1989) theme, though different and not as iconic

Gaiman’s warm storyteller voice narrating the caption boxes of the comic book might feel out of place in the beginning but its what keeps the story from getting too dark. The juxtaposition of his voice in the chapter “24 Hours” is sadistic in the best possible way. You feel anguish at the events as they play out in your ears and wince whenever Gaiman gives you the time one hour at a time. The delivery and cadence of the two-word lines are so visceral that you feel sweaty and gross for listening to what comes after.

Gollum the Raven and Professor X Jr. the Sandman?

James McAvoy is an interesting choice to play the Dream Lord, not because he’s bad or not a good fit. This is unlike any role he’s done and if it wasn’t for the accompanying PDF with cast and crew information, I would’ve never known he was the voice. If you’ve seen M. Night Shyamalan’s “Split” where McAvoy played several different characters in his role as someone suffering from a disassociative identity disorder. I haven’t seen it but his voiceover work as Sandman in this audible original production seems to be the audio equivalent of such a taxing performance.

Other recognizable actors include Andy Serkis and Arthur Darvill, and two well-known audiobook narrators — Simon Vance and Ray Porter. To say Audible is mixing the entertainment industry together in an unprecedented way might be hyperbole, but there’s an element of truth to it.

4.5/5 Stars

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