Review: Netflix's lively, unusual adaptation makes the most of Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman'

After a failed attempt at a film adaptation, writer Neil Gaiman has shepherded his comic book epic "The Sandman," a stew pot of invented and borrowed mythological characters, into a highly satisfying 10-episode Netflix series. "The great stories will always return to their original forms," Gaiman's eponymous hero will say, and fans of the book should rest assured that the television show — developed by Gaiman with David S. Goyer (the "Blade" trilogy, the "Dark Knight" trilogy) and Allan Heinberg ("Wonder Woman") — will not significantly depart from what Gaiman (and artists Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg, always credited as co-creators) put on the page.

At the center of the story is Dream (Tom Sturridge), aka Morpheus, aka the Sandman, who rules the world