The Religious Affiliation of
The Sandman
Dream

The character we now know as "The Sandman", whose "real name" is sometimes given as "Dream" or "Morpheus", was famously introduced as a DC Comics character in The Sandman #1 (Jan. 1989) by Neil Gaiman.

Gaiman's imagining of this character is certainly original and important. But the character itself was not original with him. Morpheus is, of course, the principal god of dreams in Greek mythology. Morpheus the "Sandman" has a long history as a concept or character, showing up in mythology, religion, literature, poetry, as a figure of speech, etc.

Morpheus the Sandman was mentioned in DC Comics as far back as Action Comics #31 (Dec. 1940). In the Superman story in this issue, the narrative caption text in the introductory splash half-page reads: "The sombre hand of Morpheus grips a small town, leaving all its inhabitants helpless -- until Superman frees the city of its strange spell and shatters the evil clique who caused it!"

This story's reference to the "hand of Morpheus" is not really a reference to the Sandman character as conceived by Gaiman. The "hand of Morpheus" is used here as a flowery euphemism for a "profound, deep sleep."

Morpheus is even referenced in the title of this story. Although originally published without a title, this story has been retroactively titled in reprint collections as "In the Grip of Morpheus" and "The Hand of Morpheus."

This is the earliest reference to Morpheus in any published Superman story. As far s we know, this is Morpheus's DC Comics "introduction," in a story published 48 years before Gaiman's important series. It is possible that Morpheus is referred to even earlier in some obscure comic book story published by DC Comics, but as yet we are unaware of any such story.

The Martian name for Dream/Morpheus is "Lord L'Zoril."

This character is in the following 21 stories which have been indexed by this website:
Action Comics (vol. 1) #31 (Dec. 1940): "In the Grip of Morpheus" (mentioned)
JSA #1 (Aug. 1999): "Justice Be Done" (mentioned)
Justice League: Cry for Justice #4 (Dec. 2009): "The Fix" (mentioned)
Rise of the Guardians (2012)
The Sandman

The Sandman (vol. 2) #1 (Jan. 1989): "Sleep of the Just" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #2 (Feb. 1989): "Imperfect Hosts" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #3 (Mar. 1989): "...Dream a Little Dream of Me" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #4 (Apr. 1989): "A Hope in Hell" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #8 (Aug. 1989): "The Sound of Her Wings" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #10 (Nov. 1989): "The Doll's House" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #13 (Feb. 1990): "Men of Good Fortune" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #19 (Sep. 1990): "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #20 (Oct. 1990): "Façade" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #21 (Dec. 1990): "Season of Mists: A Prologue" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #22 (Jan. 1991): "Season of Mists, Chapter 1" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #36 (Apr. 1992): "Over the Sea to Sky" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #44 (Dec. 1992): "Brief Lives, Part 4" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #45 (Jan. 1993): "Brief Lives, Part 5" (lead character)
The Sandman (vol. 2) #69 (July 1995): "The Kindly Ones" (lead character)

Sandman Midnight Theatre (Sep. 1995) (lead character)
The Secret Defenders #15 (May 1994): "Strange Changes, Part 1: Strangers and Other Lovers" (mentioned)

Suggested links for further research about this character and the character's religious affiliation:
  - http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/Sandman_modern.html
  - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_(DC_Comics)
  - http://www.comicvine.com/dream-of-the-endless/29-11171/
  - http://www.dcuguide.com/who.php?name=dream
  - http://www.dcuguide.com/chronology.php?name=dream
  - http://www.reocities.com/y_ropah/gods.htm

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