Hello Dreamers,

Before I dive into the next issue of our journey through The Sandman, I need to do a little bit of housekeeping. As those of you who are also subscribed to The Creative Cure will already know, I will replace my corresponding newsletter podcasts with article-native readouts. You can read all about it here.

I am a writer and connect most with the written word, and for those of you who need accessibility features or prefer a readout version of this newsletter: that can be provided via Substack without massive effort. I will upload the readout to today’s article to all the usual podcast platforms so people who are following there will also get notice (they will already get the auto-generated readout), but from issue #7 onwards, Shadow Truths will stay entirely Substack-native, and the readouts will only be available here. So if you are happening to listen to this on your favourite podcast platform: All the details are in the show notes for you.

With that out of the road, let's finally delve into an in-depth exploration of “24 Hours”. I have to warn you straightaway: If you are reading along for the first time (or if you intend to watch the corresponding Netflix episode), this one isn’t for the faint at heart, and you will need to buckle up for a journey through terror, madness, and dark desires. This isn’t just any comic book issue; it’s a journey through a day that you wouldn’t want to experience in real life, and you maybe want to leave the lights on when you read it. To say it in Neil Gaiman’s own words:

“Sandman 6 was the first time I tried to break all the rules of what had been done in comics to date, to go as far as I could go. In that story, a small bunch of people are essentially tortured to death over a twenty-four-hour period. A lot of readers said they stopped buying Sandman after issue 6 and didn't come back for ages, until they were told it was safe.”

—The Sandman Companion, by Hy Bender

"Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes...”

I have been notably absent from Shadow Truths—a writer’s got to write, and she has to write some things before she writes others. In this particular case, several new courses and one and a half books ;)

Alas, I am back, and you might find that the structure of Shadow Truths becomes a bit more free-flowing from now on because I was beginning to find the initial format I had chosen too restrictive (it’s okay to stop liking what once you liked, right?). I also intend to break up the publishing schedule a bit because I simply have to admit that creating two newsletters/podcasts on a weekly schedule, as initially planned, was a bit too ambitious.

After that quick intro: Today’s episode will be about The Sandman "Passengers", the fifth issue of the first volume, Preludes and Nocturnes, which follows Dream's quest to recover his lost objects of power. We have already talked about his sand and his helm in previous issues—the last item missing is his ruby…

All show-notes, links and transcripts for today’s episode can be found over at the Shadow Truths Substack channel.

If you are interested in exploring general creativity and mental health topics, please also check out my newsletter The Creative Cure, which alternates with Shadow Truths and also has its own companion podcast.

If you’d like to meet like-minded people and discuss, join our subscriber chat on Substack.

Thanks to Ashot Danielyan for creating the music.

“I have hope. And I stand here, alone and afraid […]”

Today, we are going to talk about one of my favourite issues of The Sandman: A Hope in Hell (#4). The premise of this issue is Dream travelling to Hell to reclaim his helm, one of his symbols of power that was stolen from him.

If you like to read along to podcasts, or if you would like to check out the links mentioned in this episode: You can find everything here.

If you are interested in exploring general creativity and mental health topics, please also check out my newsletter The Creative Cure, which alternates with Shadow Truths on a fortnightly schedule and also has its own companion podcast.

If you’d like to meet like-minded people and discuss, join our subscriber chat on Substack.

You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram.

Thanks to Ashot Danielyan for creating the music.