Why you should be reading The Sandman, Netflix's massive new production

Before we'll talk about The Sandman, let's see who created him. Neil Gaiman is one of the most popular fantasy writers living, who's known for creating vast and magical worlds, as well as for emotional, realistic and flawed characters, both human and beyond. Lately we saw two of his creations make it to the TV screen: American Gods, and Good Omens (a book he wrote with the late and great Terry Pratchett).

He also wrote the books Coraline and Stardust (both of which made it to the big screen) and a few episodes of Doctor Who and Babylon 5. Neil's wife is the indie/cabaret singer Amanda Palmer and he's good friends with singer Tori Amos and authors Stephen King, his son Joe Hill and Margaret Atwood. So as you can see, he's a very interesting character, which leads us to...

Meet Dream of the Endless, AKA King Morpheus, AKA many other names. He's the personification of dreams, and can control (almost) anything that occurs in them. His actions are sometimes beyond our grasp, as he's not human, but like all of us, he's flawed and often acts on emotion instead of logic. He also speaks with black speech bubbles, and you probably won't get to see that in the TV show.

Dream is only one of seven siblings known as The Endless. Death, Desire, Destiny, Destruction, Despair and Delirium (formerly known as Delight) make up the rest of this twisted family, which controls our lives in ways we can't even begin to understand. If you think your family is dysfunctional, try imagining having Death herself drunk at the dinner table.

As you can imagine, Gaiman brought his best efforts to the table when it comes to creating the people and beings which populate his imaginary worlds. Lucien the librarian, Cain & Abel, Matthew the raven, Mervyn Pumpkinhead, and various real world people such as occultist Aleister Crowley, Mark Twain and William Shakespeare, as well as DC comics super heroes and villians such as Mister Miracle, Lucifer and Martian Manhunter all appear throughout the series, making it one heck of a world.

Over the years some of the best artists in comic book history drew, inked and colored The Sandman. From the beginning it was evident that Gaiman knows how to make the most out of this medium, and as excited as we are about the TV show, there's no way it can match the sensation of experiencing the beautiful pages of the comic book.

When we meet The Sandman, he's locked unconscious in real life occultist Aleister Crowley's basement. (Spoiler alert) When he gets himself free he sets out to collect three items that were stolen while he was trapped. The journey will take him to several worlds, including hell (pictured above). Over the course of the series Morpheus will travel in time, space and beyond, and will take the readers to various worlds, some real, some fantastic, and some are just not enough for words.

Just watch this video by the very talented Nerdwriter, which discuses William Shakespeare appearances in the comic, and their meaning.