Screenplay writer and voice actor David Hayter did not keep Neil Gaiman waiting long for compliments, praising the fantasy writer on his amazing job adapting his own comic book series, The Sandman, into the new live action Netflix show of the same name.
Hayter, who has some experience adapting comic books to the screen by co-writing the first two X-Men movies and 2009’s Watchmen, revealed on Twitter he is “loving” Netflix’s The Sandman “as a decades long fan.”
“Congratulations @neilhimself,” Hayter added. “I’m so happy you got to make it your way.”
Gaiman was apparently flattered at the compliment coming from the likes of Hayter, who famously voiced the video game character Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series for over a decade.
“That made my day!” Gaiman said.
Gaiman executive produced The Sandman on Netflix, which he co-created with David S. Goyer, and Allan Heinberg. The show has received considerable acclaim, not least of which because it has remained amazingly faithful to the comic book source material, which is a rarity in the medium of live-action.
The original The Sandman comic book series reinvented a long-forgotten DC title in the late 1980s and arguably stands shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore’s Watchmen for proving to the world that graphic literature isn’t just for kids but can be considered fine art for grown-ups, too.
It’s only appropriate that in an era of television wherein serialized dramas — like Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, and The Wire — have become a high art form in their own right, that The Sandman would finally see a faithful rendition committed to the screen after previously being deemed unfilmable by many.
Watch The Sandman on Netflix now.