Lucienne (neé Lucien) was originally the presenter of Tales of Ghost Castle, a horror anthology series by DC in the mid 70s. Neil Gaiman then moved him to the Dreaming, much like Cain, Able, Eve, and Destiny.
Gaiman obviously “nicked” many of his characters, but that still does not answer my question as to whether Lucien has a known biography or backstory (even one written by Gaiman). Is the dream connection merely a coincidence? [Technically he was recruited by “Paideia” in a dream.]
He didn’t nick them, even in quotes - he was given free reign to use/reimagine characters such as Lucien, Cain&Abel and Destiny by the characters’ owner, DC. That was the whole original premise of the comic, a reimagining of the existing Sandman property, with other DC mystery/horror comic stuff thrown in as it progressed. It’s not a nicking if he was asked to do it.
The backstory for Lucien given in the comics is that he was Death’s first raven. And hence possibly Adam, the first man. . There is no connection to Lucian that is ever alluded to.
I know, but I put “nicked” in quotes because I was quoting Gaiman himself [referring in that case to Destiny] (see Post #175 
The Sandman Companion merely says
So, that seems to put paid to the notion that Lucien = Lucian, for at least Gaiman did not mention anything like that.
There is one reference to Lucian in Locke and Key: The Golden Age (for which Gaiman supposedly “[read] scripts, review[ed] PDFs, and [lent them] his support, advice, and attention” in which Locke receives letters from “Abel Adamson” and “Lucien Samsat” from the lands of “Nod” and “Slumbering”, but that could merely be her imagination at work (and/or Joe Hill’s).
Does this show pick up after Episode 5? The Diner episode was incredibly boring and bad. I’m ready to give up on the series.
On rewatch, I almost skipped the diner episode, but I decided not to. Wound up enjoying it more than I thought I would.
Yes, the rest of the season is better.
The diner episode was the low point of the series, but it gets better. If you didn’t like any of the first four, then you might just not like the show in general, though.
First 4 were all slow, except for the bit with Constantine, but 5 was epically bad.
The Sound of Her Wings is next. See if you like that one.
Watch episode 6, which is considered one of the best.
The first part is explicitly mentioned. The second one I question, because in (IIRC) the The Dreaming spinoff series with Abel, Cain and Goldie we meet Adam and he’s kind of an idiot. Maybe he gets better later…
Although … that series wasn’t actually written by Gaiman. He had approval, but if the writers moved away from his own conception (as outlined in the Companion) he might just have decided to roll with it. It’s also entirely possible for there to be multiple of … that guy. Just as there are multiple Sandmans. Sandmen. Whatevers.
At odds with most others I actually preferred the diner episode to ‘The Sound of Her Wings’, which I found oddly disjointed (although perhaps I’m a bit over-read in the ‘immortals meet through time’ theme).
I’ve not quite finished the season yet, but I do feel the show picks up considerably in the second half of the season with the Vortex/Rose storyline, but I’ve always preferred long-form to episodic storytelling. The first six episodes are very much origin/backstory in my opinion, before we get into an extended story arc in the next episodes. Many shows may well have split these into separate seasons, so at least we can be thankful for the lack of padding.
OB
I’m surprised so many people are down on the diner episode, I thought it was amazing. Incredible tension throughout.
It felt like a poorly done Twilight Zone Episode to me.
It wasn’t bad, but it commited the number one sin that makes a piece of narrative art lose points in my view: none of the characters was likeable or interesting, I didn’t really care what happened to them.
Same here. I especially thought the changes from the book were for the better.
I thought they were mostly interesting. Likeable? That’s kind of the point Dee was making.
I don’t recall much eyestabbing and sex on Twilight Zone.
I understood the point, but still didn’t like the episode, others may find the characters interesting, I didn’t.
I’m not saying the episode was bad, mind you, just that I didn’t much like it.
I wonder how much of a difference it makes whether you’re already familiar with the story from the comic book or not. It’s a small sample size, but I’ve heard multiple people who’ve read the comics praise the episode as a good adaptation, and multiple people who are first time watchers not really liking it that much. I’ve never read the comic books personally.
I didn’t really get any sense of tension from the episode. I didn’t care about any of the characters aside from John Dee, and I thought it was boring until it suddenly turned into a splatter film. I think it would be a very different viewing experience if you already know where it’s going. I just thought it was a pretty forgettable episode, when the rest of the season was mostly great.
As 1 datapoint, I never read the comics. In fact I’ve rarely read any comics ever.