Neil Gaiman, the writer behind The Sandman, has hit back at critics over the Netflix adaptation of his work.
Earlier this month, the streaming giant released a small-screen adaptation of Gaiman’s 1989-1996 comic book series The Sandman. The show stars Tom Sturridge, Jenna Coleman, and Gwendoline Christie.
The series has received mostly favourable reviews from fans and critics, earning an 87 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Critics, however, have argued that the show’s popularity is a negative sign for readership of Gaiman’s books.
One person wrote on Twitter: “Too many people now not reading books and just spending countless hours staring at their televisions. Do you really think they will go read the books? Maybe a miniscule amount of them at best… why don’t we encourage reading instead of more mind-numbing hours in front of their TVs?”
Responding to the person, Gaiman wrote: “I’ve been hearing how many copies of Sandman have been sold in bookshops, comic shops and online over the last three week, and trust me, it’s NOT a ‘miniscule amount of people reading it.
“It’s an astonishing number. The @Netflix_Sandman has sent them book-buying. Everyone wins.”
Gaiman also replied to another critic who had written: “Imagine if those hours would be used reading the wonderful comics.”
“They probably have been,” responded the author. “We’ve sold many millions of The Sandman comics and graphic novels around the world over the last three decades. 3,000 pages read by millions of people is hundreds of millions of reading hours.”
Despite the show’s popularity, its future is still up in the air with Netflix yet to greenlight a second season.
Gaiman was candid when speaking about the chances of the streamer approving series two, and gave fans some advice on what they could do to help swing the odds in its favour.
