©2022 Michael Raven

Of all the things I found myself liking about Sandman, the Netflix series, I didn’t realize that I missed the house the most.

Having been an early fan of the graphic novel series, well before the name Neil Gaiman had become a household name, I watched the series with some trepidation. How bad are they going to ruin it? That was the primary concern rattling around my head.

As a fan, I’m pretty easygoing. I don’t expect much from these translations from one media to the other, so I was pleasantly surprised that the adaptation was firmly in the not-bad camp, maybe even good.

But this isn’t a review of the show. I’m not even going to really explain myself.

As the season rounded out and the credits rolled, I realized that I really fricking missed that house that Rose Walker stayed in. Hal, Barbie and Ken, Gilbert, Lyta, Rose and… Zelda and Chantal.

While Matthew (The Raven) has always been my favorite character after Death, that household brought back memories of similar people and places from when I was younger and I found myself pining a bit for those people and places as I watched.

I wanted to go back, even as only a tourist, to the late 80s and early 90s — so I could connect again with such things. I wanted to watch Hal perform onstage (Zar would have been his name in my world) and follow it up with a long chat about a dark and stormy night with Zelda and Chantal. Or, at least, with Chantal unless Zelda had a bout with extroversion for the night.

That’s it. I miss that kind of community in that kind of household, much like a few I used to know. Nothing terribly profound.