On the reaction to casting Death

In the 90's there were 3 big comic series I waited with baited breath on every issue; The Sandman, Hellblazer, and Cerebus.

I am a big fan of Neil Gaiman, and his work. So when Netflix announced its casting for the 'live action' version of The Sandman I was interested. And what a "dream" cast (pun intended) it is. But apparently not everyone thought so.

There's backlash about the announcement using gender pronouns under the actors names. But the bigger backlash seems to be about casting Kirby Howell-Baptiste as 'Death'.

I find this astounding to say the least. My first encounters with non-stereotyped POC, gay, or gender-fluid, characters in literature was in those Sandman comics.

He's had the opportunity to shape his stories for TV and audio - Changing them to suit the times and medium before. To have the creator now have a voice in shaping how his Sandman stories are told & performed, in a new medium, should be a cause for celebration.

Apparently not. So much so that Neil Gaiman felt he had to respond on Twitter.

I give all the fucks about the work. I spent 30 years successfully battling bad movies of Sandman.

I give zero fucks about people who don't understand/ haven't read Sandman whining about a non-binary Desire or that Death isn't white enough. Watch the show, make up your minds.

And the verbal knots some tie themselves up in to prove this isn't being racist, is unbelievable.

I will probably not watch the Netflix show. For the same reason I didn't watch 'American Gods' or 'Good Omens'. I've already read & enjoyed those books, and I'm more interested in the new stories that Neil has to tell.

But I am excited for others to discover the world of The Sandman on Netflix, and maybe find their way to other stories from Neil.