Comic Title: Sandman #1
Publisher: DC
Imprint: Vertigo
Cover Date: January 1989
On Sale Date: November 29, 1988Shipping Date November 29, 1988
Source: Direct Currents, #10

Shipping Date December 1, 1988
Source: Amazing Heroes, #153

Direct Market Date December 1, 1988
Source: Comic Shop News, #75

Copyright Date November 29, 1988
Source: Library of Congress, Copyright Office 1988

Cover Price: $2.00
Page Count: 48
Editor: Karen Berger

Title: "Sleep of the Just"
Pages: 40

Feature(s):
Sandman (Morpheus)

Writer: Neil Gaiman
Penciller: Sam Kieth
Inker: Mike Dringenberg
Letterer: Todd Klein
Colorist: Robbie Busch

Reprinted In:
Sandman:Preludes and Nocturnes TPB (1991)
Sandman:Preludes and Nocturnes HC (1995)
Essential Vertigo:The Sandman #1 (1996)
Millennium Edition:Sandman 1 (#4) (2000)
Absolute Sandman Special Edition #1 (2006)
Absolute Sandman Vol. 1 HC (2007)
Annotated Sandman Vol. 1 HC (2012)
Sandman Omnibus Vol. 1 HC (2013)
Vertigo Essentials:The Sandman #1 (2013)

Feature Character(s)

• Morpheus (Dream; first appearance; next appearance in Sandman #2)

Villain(s)

• Roderick Burgess (Lord Magus of the Order of Ancient Mysteries; dies in this story; no further appearances)
• Alexander Burgess (son of Roderick Burgess; no further appearances)
• The Order of Ancient Mysteries (a cult of mystics; no further appearances)
• Ruthven Sykes (a lieutenant in the Order of Ancient Mysteries; dies in this story; no further appearances)
• Paul McGuire (Alex's lover; no further appearances)
• Frederick and Ernie (guards; no further appearances)
• An unnamed demon (comes into possession of Dream's helmet; no further appearances)

Guest Appearance(s)

• Sandman (chronology forthcoming)

Other Character(s)

• Ethel Cripps (mistress of Roderick Burgess; next appearance in Sandman #2)
• Ellie Marsten (a young victim of the sleeping sickness; no further appearances)
• Arthur Marsten and his wife (Ellie's parents; no further appearances)
• Stefan Wasserman (a teenage soldier in World War I; dies in this story; no further appearances)
• Daniel Bustamonte (a victim of the sleeping sickness; no further appearances)
• Unity Kinkaid (a victim of the sleeping sickness; no further appearances)
• Dr. John Hathaway (curator of the royal museum; dies in this story; no further appearances)
• Compton (the Burgess butler; no further appearances)
• Nurse Edmunds (no further appearances)
• Mort Notkin (a dreamer; no further appearances)

Comments:
This story takes place between June 6, 1916 and September 14, 1988. The latter date comes from a newspaper being read by one of Dream's captors on the day of his escape.

Synopsis:
In June of 1916, Roderick Burgess, the leader of a mystic cult in Wych Cross, England acquires the Magdalene Grimoire, a rare book that he believes will give him the power to capture Death. By performing spells contained within the book, Burgess succeeds in his summoning ritual. However, the trap ensnares Death's brother Dream.

The prisoner is encased in a glass bubble surrounded by a mystic circle which cannot be broken from within. Burgess takes a helmet, a jewel, and a pouch from Dream leaving him naked. Burgess then tries to bargain with his captive for favors without success.

Years pass. The Burgess cult splinters. Ruthven Sykes, a trusted lieutenant leaves the group, taking with him the items stolen from the prisoner in addition to Burgess's mistress Ethel Cripps. The helmet is traded to a demon who gives Sykes an amulet of protection that saves him from Burgess. However, when Cripps leaves Sykes, she takes the amulet. Without the protection of the talisman, Sykes becomes the victim of Burgess's death spell.

For decades Dream remains trapped in the basement of the mansion. Burgess grows old and dies, leaving the captive to the care of his son Alex. The younger Burgess continues to try bargaining with the captive with no more success than his father. Meanwhile the effects of Dream's captivity is felt around the world as many people succumb to a sleeping sickness which prevents them from awakening or in other cases sleeping. For a time, Wesley Dodds dons a gas mask similar in design to Dream's helmet and fights crime as the Sandman. One victim of the sleeping sickness, Unity Kinkaid, even has a child while asleep.

More than seventy years after his initial imprisonment, Dream remains a prisoner. Until one day the aging Alex Burgess descends into the basement in a wheelchair to once again attempt to bargain. Failing once more in his attempts, Burgess departs. However, this time, the wheelchair crosses and breaks the mystic circle surrounding the captive. Although weakened by years of captivity, Dream is able to escape. He punishes Burgess by subjecting him to an endless cycle of waking. He then begins a journey to regain his strength and stolen tools of power.