Are you familiar with The Sandman Universe? The Sandman Universe is a series of comic books, the first of which was released to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Neil Gaiman’s comic series The Sandman.
Today, he oversees every comic book as we obtain book after book and the universe continues to expand owing to the acclaim the series has gotten from reviewers and readers alike. The Sandman Universe was founded in 2018 and has already released a number of books, including The Dreaming, House of Whispers, and Lucifer.
The Sandman lore is enormous, containing magic, mythology, demons and villains, as well as heroes of all kinds. While The Sandman began with the voyage of a creature known as Dream or Morpheus through a region known as The Dreaming, it has since expanded to include other DC characters such as Sandman Wesley Dodds and Hector Hall. A dreamland in this cosmos is likely to have nightmares. The Corinthian is one such horror, as depicted in this video.
The first comic appearance and origins explored
The Corinthian makes his first appearance all the way back in 1989, in the pages of The Doll’s House by Neil Gaiman. While his appearance is extremely brief (practically limited to one panel in one page) it gives a glimpse into how dreaded he actually is. He is said to be one of the Major Arcana of The Dreaming, insinuating that he wields a lot of power. Dream, the ruler, protector, and hero of The Dreaming, has his employee, Lucien conducts a census of all the beings present in Dreamland.
After conducting the said census, Lucien conveys that The Corinthian had gone missing to which Dream reacts with worry as he says that The Corinthian is not the most social of nightmares. This is also where we get the first glimpse of what he looks like. He is shown as a good-looking, handsome man, bar one feature – he has a pair of teeth where his eyes should be, making his face severely haunting to look at. The comic makes it clear that The Corinthian had escaped The Dreaming and due to his terrifying nature and he had to be brought back.
Dream’s original goal was to develop a vehicle that would induce anxiety and nightmares in individuals. The Corinthian was born by his desire to create “A dark mirror, meant to mirror everything about itself that humanity will not confront.” He was thus created by Dream or Morpheus (as he is otherwise known) as a controlled experiment but clearly, that went horribly wrong. The Corinthian, according to his moniker of “black mirror of humanity,” is a violent and murderous individual who actually enjoys murdering others. Nothing can keep him from his twisted pleasures.
The Corinthian is known for his exquisite style and taste in clothing and would frequently dress in all white. The absence of eyes is the Corinthian’s most distinguishing physical feature: two rows of short, sharp teeth line each eye socket, which he frequently conceals with sunglasses. He can use these tips to communicate, eat, and even breathe. He appears to be unaffected by his loss of eyes and claims to be able to see clearly; he has been seen driving safely, even when sporting sunglasses at night. He does, however, like “eating” the eyeballs of his victims by inserting them into his eye sockets.
Prior to the events of the novel, little is known about the Corinthian, but he always seemed to detest the barriers between the Dreaming and the waking world. He persuaded his master to accompany him on a supervised tour of Paris, where they met Destruction.
The Corinthian used the chance to eat the eyeballs of an ape being dissected by a researcher while Dream was preoccupied. He would return to the waking world centuries later and plot the murder of a young man. When Dream realized this, he addressed the Corinthian, telling him that the boundaries between sleep and waking were crucial and that he planned to unmake him for crossing them. When Dream was dragged away from the Corinthian, the Corinthian was saved.
When the Sandman was trapped in a talisman, the Corinthian awoke from his slumber and went on to become one of the world’s most legendary serial killers. He moved across the United States, slaughtering young men and persuading others to follow in his footsteps. The Corinthian had become a celebrity to all these murderers who indulged in violence by imitating him, and they started calling themselves the Collectors.
Dream arrived at a Collectors conference where Corinthian was delivering a speech and reprimanded the nightmare for traversing the earth with no real purpose. However, the Corinthians refused to return to the Dreaming. Instead, he confronted Dream and stabbed him, but he was soon unmade by Dream, leaving only ash and a skull with the intention of remaking him correctly.
Dream created a new Corinthian many years later. The new incarnation, although being a totally different person, retains the memories of the first and views his predecessor as himself, but appears to be more loyal to Dream.
All of this goes to show how dangerous and quite frankly, terrifying The Corinthian is. Better stay away from this one. If you’re a fan of all things Corinthian, we have news for you! Nightmare Country, a new entry in DC’s Sandman Universe line, was launched in April of this year and focuses completely on The Corinthian.
Nightmare Country follows the Corinthian as he journeys across America in search of another nightmare, encountering everyone from white supremacists to two lethal killers dubbed Mr. Agony and Mr. Ecstacy, who will play new characters in the Sandman mythos. Guest artists draw dream sequences in every issue of the series, which is written by James Tynion IV and penciled by Lisandro Estherren, with issue #1 featuring Yanick Paquette. The title appears to be a play on the phrase Dream Country. This gives a further deep dive into the character of the Corinthian.
Corinthian’s special powers explored
The Corinthian, being a nightmare, has a variety of skills bestowed upon him by his creator, Dream, which manifests in his nightmare physiology in various different ways. The Corinthian can manipulate dreams in order to terrorize the dreamer. What’s more terrifying is that, like a nightmare himself, the Corinthian can summon various forms of terror and project them onto people with his fear projection skill. He is also invincible as he cannot die and is immortal!
He also has some very special powers and skills. The Corinthian has the ability to possess humans. When he takes over a new host, the eyes are eaten away and replaced with teeth, and the victim’s hair becomes white. The eye sockets bleed excessively during the process. The host’s other physical traits remain unchanged. If the Corinthian can hide or explain the bodily changes, he can jump between bodies and even appear as his victims. Devouring his victims’ eyeballs enables him to see what they have seen in their lives and, in certain situations, look into the future.
The Corinthian’s latest incarnation is a master in hand-to-hand combat. He appears to be utterly fearless and incredibly immune to damage. The Corinthian snaps the neck of a magical wolf with his bare hands while searching for Daniel Hall in the Norse land of Svartalfheim, and eventually sees through the deceptions of the Norse god Loki and overcomes him in direct combat.
However, because he is an ancient being, he does have one weakness and that is the fact that he has to follow the ancient rules as he is bound by them, something he hates. Thus, he is a much-feared entity who is dangerous when left alone to walk the Waking World.
The Netflix show is all set to announce itself with a bang!
The Sandman is a Netflix original dark fantasy series partially based on Neil Gaiman’s DC Comics series of the same name. Netflix has placed an order for an 11-episode series. The showrunner will be Allan Heinberg. Along with David Goyer, Gaiman will serve as executive producer.
The Sandman is a fascinating fusion of modern myth and grim fantasy in which contemporary narrative, period drama, and mythology are flawlessly interwoven. It follows Morpheus, the Dream King, as he corrects the cosmic—and human—mistakes he’s committed over his long existence.
Boyd Holbrook will play the Corinthian in the upcoming Netflix rendition of The Sandman. Despite no casting confirmations, the program began filming in late 2020, and Gaiman has been teasing the actors on social media ever since. Now that the primary cast has been announced, information regarding filming has begun to emerge, and Holbrook has expressed his excitement to be a part of the project in an exclusive interview.
Robert Boyd Holbrook is an actor and model from the United States. He debuted as DEA agent Steve Murphy in the Netflix series Narcos and has played in films such as Milk, Out of the Furnace, Run All Night, A Walk Among the Tombstones, and Gone Girl. He also played “Cap” Hatfield in the series Hatfields & McCoys in 2012. When actors are this giddy and excited about their roles, it is a good sign we think!
Gaiman fans had believed they’d never see an on-screen rendition of their beloved series after a projected film adaption of the comics by Joseph Gordon-Levitt failed in pre-production. However, an Audible adaptation proved to be extremely popular, and Netflix finally gave The Sandman the green signal to go ahead with the production of a series in 2019.
This literal walking nightmare with teeth for eyes and a penchant for possessing humans or turning them towards murder and violence is one of Gaiman’s most horrifying creatures in The Sandman. It gives me the chills the moment you look at him. Known for his suave attitude, we can wait to see what he looks in the upcoming TV series! What do you think of The Corinthian? Let us know in the comments section below!