While the Sandman contained a number of dark and twisted storylines throughout the series, the ‘serial killer convention’ had to be one of the most disturbing–so much so, in fact, that its existence had ramifications that spiraled out across DC Comics as an aspect of that demented gathering inadvertently changed one of DC’s most iconic heroes forever.
The Sandman’s serial killer convention–which was called the Cereal Convention in an effort to maintain its secrecy–was introduced in the Sandman #14 by Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg. In this issue, the event coordinator, a serial killer called Nimrod, is panicking as the convention’s guest of honor hasn’t arrived and doesn’t seem as though he’s going to–and the killer in question is called the Family Man. Luckily for Nimrod, the world-famous Corinthian–a rogue nightmare who escaped from the Dreaming upon Morpheus’ capture by the hand of Roderick Burgess–decided to make an appearance, so Nimrod quickly made the Corinthian this year’s guest of honor. While it is unclear in the Sandman why the Family Man didn’t show up, that question is answered within another DC title.
In Hellblazer #24 by Jamie Delano and Ron Tiner, readers are introduced to the Family Man as he closes in on his latest targets–an innocent, happy family that was unwittingly handed over to him by the heroic magic user John Constantine. In this issue, Constantine finds himself in possession of a number of items left behind by an old friend, including an envelope with the names, pictures, and address of a family Constantine’s friend tracked down for the Family Man. When the serial killer came to collect the information that he already paid for, Constantine gave it to him, not caring about the innocent people he essentially just murdered. While guilt ate him up a little, Constantine was happy to distance himself from that event, but the Family Man wasn’t so quick to separate himself from John. Since Constantine met him and was aware of his affairs, the Family Man decided to kill Constantine. To draw Constantine out–after some time playing cat-and-mouse with the hero–the Family Man killed John’s father, a murderous act that would be his last. To save himself and avenge his father, Constantine kills the Family Man, which is something that takes more of a toll on him than even he would know.
Family Man Couldn’t Attend Sandman’s Serial Killer Convention Because of Constantine
At this point in Constantine’s comic book career, he had never deliberately killed anyone, and the idea of taking someone’s life literally made him sick. In fact, Constantine almost couldn’t do it, though in the end, he was able to pull the trigger and kill the Family Man. While it seems hilarious to consider that John Constantine, of all people, would have moral qualms about killing a serial murderer given the things he’s done since, this moment was the first step in his descent into darkness. From this moment on, Constantine had no more hang-ups about getting his hands dirty for the greater good.
While Constantine’s story with the Family Man may seem unrelated to the Sandman’s serial killer convention, these two plots actually crossover in the form of an invitation. Hellblazer shows that Constantine was in possession of the Family Man’s Cereal Convention ‘guest of honor’ invitation, and John only gave it to the Family Man after he killed him. This mini-crossover ties Constantine directly to the Sandman’s serial killer convention through the Family Man and proved to be an event that changed the iconic DC Comics hero forever.