The Sandman (24/7)

“24 Hours” remains one of my favorite issues of “The Sandman”, an unapologetic embrace of brutality and nihilism whose gallows humor and overall power hasn’t dulled in the thirty years since its release. “24/7”, however, tries to milk a solid hour out of twenty-six pages, and while the violence hasn’t been neutered (though the puppet show is gone), its power has been nullified. The original’s elastic use of time is basically nonexistent, eventually throwing in all the key tableaus in one montage where the original conveyed this as the audience getting mere glimpses into the madness. A truly disappointing episode.

7 if you’re unfamiliar with the original comic, 3 if you are