The recently unveiled list of future Warner Bros/DC superhero movies had at least one rather notable absentee – Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Sandman.’ The creator himself has explained why.
Reports first surfaced back in December 2013 that a big screen adaptation of Gaiman’s celebrated Gothic fantasy series (a very loose reworking of an earlier ‘Sandman’ character created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby) was in the works, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt attached not only as lead actor, but potentially as writer-director as well.
However, little has been heard on the matter since – and its omission from the big DC list seemed to imply the project was most likely dead. However, asked about the matter by a follower on Tumblr, Gaiman says this is not the case.
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The explanation is, it seems, a fairly simple one: Gaiman clarifies that ‘The Sandman’ is “not a DC Comics film. It’s a Vertigo film. That’s a different slate of films, and a different announcement.”
Vertigo is an imprint of DC Comics, which specialises in comparatively darker, ‘mature readers’-oriented material. While ‘Sandman’ began as a DC title, it was later refashioned as the flagship comic for Vertigo’s launch in 1993.
Other Vertigo titles include ‘Y: the Last Man,’ ‘Transmetropolitan’ and ‘The Invisibles.’ The character of John Constantine, recently launched in his own TV series, had his first solo comic in Vertigo title ‘Hellblazer,’ whilst two more Vertigo titles – ‘Preacher’ and ‘iZombie’ – also have TV adaptations in the works.
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Vertigo titles are for the most part considered distinct from the broader DC universe, so it makes sense that film adaptations of that material might not be handled by the same producers.
Even so, there is a slight flaw to Gaiman’s statement in that not all the films announced by Warner Bros last week were in fact DC movies. The list also mentioned two films in the Harry Potter spin-off series ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,’ and three ‘Lego Movie’ follow-ups: a sequel to this year’s film, and two spin-offs (‘Ninjago’ and ‘The Lego Batman Movie’).
Regardless, ‘Sandman’ was not the only surprising omission from the Warners slate, as another rather notable DC movie – ‘Justice League Dark,’ currently being developed by Guillermo del Toro – was not listed either.
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Picture Credit: DC/Vertigo, WENN