One of my favorite comic book characters has always been The Sandman. I’m not talking about Neil Gaiman’s weird “Prophetic dreams” Sandman, I’m talking the 30’s pulp-hero by the name of Wesley Dodds. After I saw how The Green Hornet, another 30’s and 40’s pulp hero, could be adapted to a modern setting, I thought, “Hmmm….what about The Sandman? So then I started reading my old Sandman comics again and started coming up with reasons why I think a Sandman movie should happen. Throughout this article, you will find many reasons why a Sandman movie should be made. Hopefully, you will be able to decide if there should or shouldn’t be a Sandman movie.
Reason 1. The Costume-You know how pulp characters usually wore suits with a mask? Yeah well that’s what Sandman’s costume is as well. A simple Gray-and-Brown suit with a brown Fedora hat and a gas mask. Not only is this easily adaptable, but I think it looks pretty cool as well. A guy with a gas mask in a suit should be fairly intimidating to criminals, yes? I think so too, plus it adds an air of mystery. As for the easily adaptable part, it truly is because the only things needed are suits, hats and a gas mask, all of which are relatively cheap and easy to come by.
I always imagined the costume should look like these:
Reason 2. Easily Adaptable-Since the character of Wesley Dodds doesn’t have such a huge back story, He’s a fairly easily changed character. For instance, in the comics, The Green Hornet would never kill anyone, but they altered that for the movie too. Why not do the same for Sandman? Sandman could be a technological genius and billionaire who could go out and kill criminals as a method of putting fear into a villain’s mind. This would also allow his arsenal to be upgraded severely. Speaking of his arsenal, that’s exactly the next reason.
Reason 3. Arsenals of Weaponry- Guys without powers have always had the coolest gadgets. Batman has his various amounts of bat-themed equipment, The Punisher has a truck-load of guns, and the Green Arrow has his trick arrows. What does Mr. Dodds have? Why quite a few things I might add. He has his signature Gas-gun, which shoots waves of knock out gas into an area and it also forces criminals to tell the truth. In his shoes The Sandman carries little gas bombs full of the same knock out gas. His car also launches spiked rubber plates to kill enemies’ tires during a chase. Granted, if he were able to kill, his arsenal and car would have to be upgraded. Maybe they could outfit his car with machineguns or give his Gas-gun lethal properties? Who knows, but it would be pretty cool to see another hero without powers and an ass-load of gadgets instead.
Reason 4. Rogues Gallery-Now the Sandman’s rogue gallery may not be known very well, but it’s fairly decent. It mostly consists of vicious serial killers. One is the Tarantula, who beats and tortures his victims. Another one is The Brute, who is a large, muscular woman with the mind of a baby. However, she is fairly violent and destructive. You’ve also got the Vamp, a female villain who acts as a vampire, even though she isn’t one. Sandman has other rogues too, some of them quite interesting and some quite not, but that just means it gives the producers a lot of creativity and options when picking villains for a Sandman movie.
Reason 5. It’s a DC property-As far as I’m concerned, DC has put out more quality Comic book films than Marvel has. While Marvel pretty much owns the comic area of business these days, DC has been pushing out (mostly) quality films for a while now.
Examples:
Superman-1978
Batman-1989
Batman Returns-1992
Batman Begins-2005
The Dark Knight-2008
Plus a slew of upcoming movies such as The Green Lantern, The Flash, etc. I’m pretty sure DC could churn out a quality film for Sandman based on past records. Hell, they could even make it sell well.
Reason 6. Exposure-If the promotion for a Sandman film was done right, it could not only let a great character back into comics, but it would also open the way for other 30’s and 40’s heroes to be brought back and modernized for film and comic, thus giving DC more bank. DC focuses too much on its major properties while smaller characters get left in the dust. A Sandman movie could help make DC’s minor characters relevant again, and maybe even make them major stars.
Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this. DC should seriously give some thought into making a Sandman film. Tell me, yes or no, should there be a Sandman film? I want to hear your opinions on the subject.
Heres some informational links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandman_Mystery_Theatre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandman_(Wesley_Dodds)