All the DC Comics Easter Eggs in The Sandman Season 1

Did you know The Sandman is actually set in the DC Universe? Well, kind of. When the comics began publishing, they belonged to DC Comics — and early issues have Dream of the Endless checking in with Justice League members such as Martian Manhunter. Soon, however, the more mature comic shifted to its own imprint dubbed Vertigo. Think of it almost like DC Black Label, except that Vertigo’s characters and stories are still considered vastly separate from general DC continuity.

Still, when The Sandman debuted on Netflix, it didn’t shy away from its ties to the super hero genre. So we are breaking down some of the Easter eggs and references to DC Comics in The Sandman season 1 — from the obvious ones like Batman action figures to the hidden Amazonian genealogy of Lyta Hall. Check out our list below to see if you caught them all!

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Arkham Asylum

In The Sandman season 1, Ethel Cripps visits her son at a high-security location on the east coast. The facility is never named. However, John Dee calls it a prison, while Ethel calls it a psychiatric hospital. Based on these clues we can infer this is Arkham Asylum. While that’s never confirmed onscreen, John Dee is incarcerated in Arkham in The Sandman comics. He also interacts with other inmates like Dr. Jonathan Crane AKA Scarecrow.

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Doctor Destiny

Speaking of John Dee — his super-villain moniker is actually Doctor Destiny. Although he’s never called that in the show, nor does he wear Doctor Destiny’s outlandish costume, he’s surely the same DC Comics character. He’s a criminal scientist with questionable sanity and motives, who values honesty and wants to remake the world in his own skewed image. This results in the infamous diner massacre. In the end, Morpheus, or Dream of the Endless, defeats John Dee. He returns him to Arkham Asylum. He also restores the man’s ability to dream, which doesn’t cure John Dee’s mental ailments, but does at least ease his suffering.

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Matthew Cable

Matthew the Raven is a human who died in his sleep while dreaming. This is how all of Dream’s ravens are created. However, Matthew is kind of special. In his human life he was Matthew Cable, friend to Alec Holland. This is a direct link to the Swamp Thing comics in which Alec dies. It takes a few Sandman issues for this fact to be confirmed, and we doubt this will be explained in The Sandman on Netflix. But just know that Matthew has ties to other DC stories.

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Hellblazer

Now, Lady Johanna Constantine is a real character from The Sandman comics. She’s John Constantine’s ancestor, and a paranormal investigator much like her descendent. In The Sandman television show, however, Johanna completely replaces John in the 21st century storyline. This plot follows Dream as he retrieves his sand, one of his three sigils of power. But the biggest DC Comics references made during Johanna’s episode are those to the Hellblazer comics, which involve John fighting — and often losing to — both literal and metaphorical demons.

In Johanna’s nightmares we see all of her regret involving the situation with Astra Logue. Dubbed the “Newcastle Incident,” it’s a recurring theme in Constantine’s guilt-tripped musings and monologues in every iteration of his character/story. Additionally, Constantine’s band Mucous Membrane gets a shout-out as a poster on the Casanova Club walls. Later, DC Comics characters — and Constantine associates — Kit Ryan and Chas Chandler are also mentioned.

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Dreaming Denizens

Many of the Dreaming denizens are tied to old DC Comics. While many were retconned and remade for The Sandman comics, these characters’ histories are still notable. Most famously, Cain and Abel hosted the anthology series House of Mystery and House of Secrets. You’ll recall those are the names of their homes in The Sandman season 1. The Three, or the Fates, or the Hecatae, come from The Witching Hour. Of course, the “three witches” concept is seen throughout pop culture, especially in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, so there are further influences for them.

Finally, Lucien the Librarian — Lucienne in the show — was once a housekeeper in Tales of Ghost Castle. A three-issue series, Tales of Ghost Castle follows Lucien as he maintains an abandoned Ghost Castle in Transylvania. Later this idea was altered into Morpheus’ palace within the Dreaming. Although Lucien’s story setting changed, it’s fun to see how in both series he cared for his masters’ preternatural lodgings in their absences.

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The Boogieman and The Family Man

At the Cereal Convention, an imposter infiltrates the ranks of quite a few serial killers. This fanboy blogger is pretending to be The Boogieman. However, the Corinthian assures Nimrod and the Good Doctor that The Boogieman is most certainly dead. He seems to imply he did the collecting. However, this is another Swamp Thing reference. The Boogieman drowned in Louisiana after a run-in with Swamp Thing (Alec Holland) himself.

Similarly, The Family Man is missing from the convention. That’s because John Constantine took care of him in Hellblazer. When you’re a mass murderer in DC Comics, the heroes will always find you out.

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Static Shock

The first time we see Jed Walker, he’s wearing a Static T-shirt. Static (Virgil Hawkins) is a super hero with electromagnetic powers. He’s been part of the Teen Titans as well as Young Justice. And he doesn’t disappear from Jed’s life after this shirt cameo. Later in a hotel room, Jed is watching TV to pass the time. Playing onscreen is an episode of the animated DC television series Static Shock. Jed’s fandom is super adorable, and it’s nice to see how he carries his heroes with him through a pretty traumatic childhood.

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Justice League Action Figures

When Rose Walker is helping her little brother Jed pack his stuff, Jed makes sure his toys go in the suitcase. These vital additions are DC Comics action figures. The colorful characters that appear onscreen in plastic form include The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Batman.

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Rogues Gallery

After his father’s death, Jed Walker sadly gets placed in abusive home situation. To escape this, he turns to dreams — with the help of the nightmare Gault. Gault constructs an elaborate super hero scenario for Jed. In this recurring dream, Jed saves children from various villains. His Rogues Gallery includes Captain Cold, Psycho Pirate, and Pied Piper, among others. You can also glimpse Jed’s DC action figures inside the control room setting.

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Super Hero Sandman

But wait, there’s more! Not only does Jed live in a DC Comics fueled fantasy, but he becomes a hero himself. Jed calls himself the Sandman, the protector of children’s dreams, and dresses in a bright yellow and red costume. This is a clear homage to a man named Garret Sanford who was DC Comics’ 1970s Sandman super hero. Additionally, Jed Walker was Garret’s sidekick in the ’70s comics, though Jed is later brought into The Sandman series as simply Rose’s little bro.

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Lyta and Hector Hall

DC Comics fans will definitely know these names. Hippolyta “Lyta” Hall, Rose Walker’s onscreen BFF, has famous family ties. Her parents are none other than Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor! Of course, Lyta’s parentage is not explored at all in The Sandman, but it’s an unmissable DC Universe tie-in. Additionally, Hector Hall is the son of Hawkman (Carter Hall) and Hawkgirl (Shiera Hall). Later in DC Comics continuity Hector also becomes Doctor Fate — but that role is filled by a different man in the DCEU film Black Adam.

Of course, if we get The Sandman season 2, this super hero couple won’t be donning capes. Hector is absolutely dead, and Lyta is busy protecting her infant son Daniel from Dream. But it’s fun to know where Hector and Hippolyta came from.

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Did you catch all the DC Comics references in The Sandman season 1? Discuss Netflix’s acclaimed series with other fans at side.show/geekgroup, and don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!