Funny, the wife and I were just talking about viewers who weren't familiar with the source material, wondering what their experience is like. Yeah, it's very _dense_, there's a lot of surreal visuals - for the most part, someone new to the material is like Shadow Moon, accepting what's going on, but not completely sure they understand it
It would _not_ be
Sandman is a comic series by Gaiman about the personification of Dream, who is one of The Endless, who represent aspects of existence (Dream, Death, Destiny ...)
Just to give you a sense of the material, here's a few collected stories (there were both series arcs, as well as more encapsulated narratives, even some "one offs"):
The Doll's House collecting The Sandman #9–16, 1989–1990,: Morpheus tracks down rogue dreams that escaped the Dreaming during his absence. In the process, he must shatter the illusions of a family living in dreams, disband a convention of serial killers, and deal with a "dream vortex" that threatens the existence of the entire Dreaming. Features Hector Hall as the Bronze Age Sandman.
Dream Country collecting The Sandman #17–20, 1990: This volume contains four independent stories. The imprisoned muse Calliope is forced to provide story ideas, a cat seeks to change the world with dreams, William Shakespeare puts on a play for an unearthly audience, and a shape-shifting immortal (obscure DC Comics character Element Girl) longs for death.
Season of Mists collecting The Sandman #21–28, 1990–1991: Dream travels to Hell to free a former lover, Nada, whom he condemned to torment thousands of years ago. There, Dream learns that Lucifer has abandoned his domain. When Lucifer gives Hell's key (and therefore, the ownership of Hell) to the Sandman, Morpheus himself becomes trapped in a tangled network of threats, promises, and lies, as gods and demons from various pantheons seek ownership of Hell. Wesley Dodds and Hawkman (Carter Hall) appear in one panel.
It's technically a DC comic, and eventually became a premier title in DC's Vertigo line (adult, darker themed titles), there's not much overlap into the general DC universal.
