In the '90s, 'The Sandman' was a Rosetta Stone for weirdos like me

I was around 17 when I met my first punk rock girl, and some of the best advice she ever gave me was to read Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. Now, after years of stalled-out attempts to adapt it for the big screen, The Sandman is set to premiere on Netflix as a longform dramatic series Aug. 5.

On her garden apartment wall, my...