Comments on: Review: LOCKE & KEY/SANDMAN: HELL & GONE #1 – A Bumpy Start

By: Zac Owens

Zac Owens — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 22:40:27 +0000

I’m hoping Hill’s Cain mellows out in the coming issues. It’s an interesting problem that this issue has: at some points the characters seem bigger and louder than they were in SANDMAN, but a lot of the rest of issue isn’t quite big or loud enough.

I think Hill is stepping into this world with the keen sense that he’s writing someone else’s characters. But so many of his characters are actually very similar. I’m expecting this issue to be a rough start to a really good series. This creative team is fantastic, they’re just being a little too careful right off the bat.

By: Amanda Pike

Amanda Pike — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 13:48:05 +0000

I’m glad I am not the only one who noticed Cain doesn’t sound right. He doesn’t talk like himself. He doesn’t match Sandman’s depiction or the old House of Mystery. If he matches any version of Cain it’s Caitlin R. Kiernan’s, and her version of The Dreaming everyone was out of character. I feel like Joe Hill has studied the late 90s and early 2000s spin-offs more than the actual Sandman. Why else use The Corinthian’s Sandman Presents Story which clearly can’t work if you’ve read Overture.