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The Sandman: The Wake | |
---|---|
Publisher | DC Comics |
Publication date | August 1995 – March 1996 |
Title(s) | The Sandman #70-75 |
Main character(s) | Dream |
ISBN | ISBN 1-56389-287-1 |
Creative team | |
Writer(s) | Neil Gaiman with material from William Shakespeare |
Artist(s) | Dave McKean Michael Zulli Charles Vess Bryan Talbot John Ridgway Jon J Muth Daniel Vozzo |
Penciller(s) | Michael Zulli Charles Vess Bryan Talbot John Ridgway |
Inker(s) | Jon J Muth Charles Vess |
Letterer(s) | Todd Klein |
Colorist(s) | Daniel Vozzo Jon J Muth |
Editor(s) | Karen Berger Shelly Roeberg |
The Wake is the tenth and final collection of issues in the American comic book series The Sandman . It is written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Michael Zulli, Jon J. Muth and Charles Vess, colored by Daniel Vozzo and Jon J. Muth, and lettered by Todd Klein. [1]
The collection opens with James Elroy Flecker's poem "The Bridge of Fire", prefacing the events which follow.
The stories in the collection first appeared in 1995 and 1996. [2] The collection first appeared in paperback and hardback in 1996.
It was preceded by The Kindly Ones and followed by Endless Nights .
The first three issues of the volume, "Chapter One, Which Occurs in the Wake of What Has Gone Before", "Chapter Two, In Which a Wake is Held", and "Chapter Three, In Which We Wake", comprise the wake and funeral held for Morpheus, who dies at the end of the ninth collection The Kindly Ones amidst the attack of the Furies when Lyte Hall thought that he kidnapped her child when it was actually Loki who did it. It is attended by "dreamers and guests", "celebrants and mourners"; many have played recurrent roles in the preceding volumes. [3] A series of speakers, of which the last is Death, reflect on the life and death of the late Dream King. Meanwhile, the new aspect of Dream, previously the child Daniel, starts relationships with the inhabitants of the Dreaming.
Issue 73, "The Wake: An Epilogue Sunday Morning", serves as epilogue to both the wake and the friendship between Hob Gadling and Morpheus, in which Gadling visits a renaissance festival with current girlfriend Guenevere and is visited by Death. Issues 74 and 75 resonate thematically and tonally with the first three issues; in terms of plot, they are placed achronologically.
"Sunday Mourning" follows the immortal Hob Gadling and his girlfriend Gwen at a Renaissance fair in twentieth-century America. Hob, who lived through this period of history, dismisses the Faire as ridiculous even as it brings back painful memories of other lives he has lived. He escapes his memories by getting drunk alone in an empty pub. Death visits him and confirms that Hob's recent dream of attending Morpheus's funeral was true. Hob admits that the idea of leaving behind yet another lifetime and the inevitable loss of Gwen troubles him. Death promises that if the burden is ever too great, she will come for him, offering to take him right now. After some consideration, Hob decides he is not ready. He then falls asleep and dreams of meeting Morpheus and Destruction on a beach, where the Dream King reconfirms his death and his companions laugh. The three walk off together, and Hob, waking, returns to his girlfriend.
In The Sandman Companion, Gaiman mentions that he wanted to write a story of Hob visiting a Ren Faire for a long time, stating that he himself has never liked American Ren Faires but found the idea of a medieval man confronted with a Ren Faire to be full of potential humor.
"Exiles" is something of a companion to a story from Fables and Reflections , "Soft Places". It features an adviser to the Emperor of China, sent into exile after his son allied himself with the White Lotus Rebellion. While travelling across the desert, the man becomes separated from the group during a sandstorm. His only companion is a white kitten (called Walks The Night Alone) he has rescued. Attempting to find his group again, he encounters others who are lost in the sandstorm. Their statements and appearance give the impression that these men are from various other times and places through history. Eventually the old man meets Morpheus, who ask him a hypothetical question about the death of a son, establishing that this version of Dream comes from a time immediately after the death of his son Orpheus in Brief Lives (which Gaiman later confirmed in The Sandman Companion). The old man answers that even though his son betrayed the Emperor, resulting in the old man's exile, he still loves him. Continuing through the desert, the old man encounters Dream a second time, this time in the form of Daniel Hall. As a reward for sharing his precious water with the white kitten, rather than abandoning it, the second Dream puts the old man on a path that reunites him with his guide.
"The Tempest" concludes the bargain struck between Dream and William Shakespeare in "Men of Good Fortune" and featured in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". "The Tempest" sources less from its namesake than "A Midsummer Night's Dream" though Gaiman's tale reflects the Bard's continually. Gaiman sees "The Tempest" as a play about "stories and endings" and thus thought it a fitting end to the series, even though he had initially planned to place the issue long before. [4]
At the wake, Superman, Batman, and the Martian Manhunter are seen discussing their dreams. In The Sandman Companion, Gaiman revealed that these dreams are taken from Silver Age stories. Superman and Batman mention dreams of being actors playing themselves, but Martian Manhunter claims he never has that dream (at that time, the character of Martian Manhunter had never appeared in a television show). [5] Batman is represented as more angular and inhuman than he is generally drawn in comics, as Gaiman wanted to stress that Batman's internal concept of himself was far removed from his real form. Gaiman also stated that his original idea for this sequence included Superman, in his Clark Kent persona, constantly trying to conceal the edge of his red Superman cape as it fell from beneath his funeral jacket, stating that he felt this was something about which Superman would have nightmares; allegedly DC rejected the image as being disrespectful to the character.
John Constantine, Doctor Occult, and Phantom Stranger are also seen conversing. Constantine remarks "Nice trench coat", [6] referring to his own amused description of the three of them, with Mister E, as the Trenchcoat Brigade in the Books of Magic miniseries, [7] Darkseid appears beside Rose Walker and her brother Jed during the wake and the Golden Age Sandman, now an elderly man retired from the superhero life, delivers one of the elegies. [8]
Mistress Quiney from The Tempest is an homage of Gran'ma Ben (with minor changes) from the Bone series of comics. [9]
Issue | Title | Writer | Penciller | Inker | Colorist | Letterer | Ast Editor | Editor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
70 | "Chapter 1, Which Occurs in the Wake of What Has Gone Before" | Neil Gaiman | Michael Zulli | n/a | Daniel Vozzo | Todd Klein | Shelly Roeberg | Karen Berger |
71 | "Chapter 2, In Which a Wake is Held" | Neil Gaiman | Michael Zulli | n/a | Daniel Vozzo | Todd Klein | Shelly Roeberg | Karen Berger |
72 | "Chapter 3, In Which We Wake" | Neil Gaiman | Michael Zulli | n/a | Daniel Vozzo | Todd Klein | Shelly Roeberg | Karen Berger |
73 | "An Epilogue, Sunday Mourning" | Neil Gaiman | Michael Zulli | n/a | Daniel Vozzo | Todd Klein | Shelly Roeberg | Karen Berger |
74 | "Exiles" | Neil Gaiman | n/a | Jon J Muth | Jon J Muth | Todd Klein | Shelly Roeberg | Karen Berger |
75 | "The Tempest" | Neil Gaiman / William Shakespeare | Charles Vess / Bryan Talbot / John Ridgway / Michael Zulli | Charles Vess | Daniel Vozzo | Todd Klein | Shelly Roeberg | Karen Berger |
Preludes & Nocturnes is the first trade paperback collection of the comic book series The Sandman, published by the DC Comics imprint Vertigo. It collects issues #1–8. It is written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg and Malcolm Jones III, colored by Robbie Busch and lettered by Todd Klein.
The Doll's House is the second trade paperback of the DC comic series The Sandman. It collects issues #9–16. It was written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli and Steve Parkhouse, coloured by Robbie Busch and lettered by Todd Klein.
Dream Country is the third trade paperback collection of the comic book series The Sandman, published by DC Comics. It collects issues #17–20. It is written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Kelley Jones, Charles Vess, Colleen Doran and Malcolm Jones III, coloured by Robbie Busch and Steve Oliff, and lettered by Todd Klein.
Season of Mists is a 1990–1991 American eight-part comic and the fourth collection of issues in the DC Comics' The Sandman series. It collects issues #21–28. It was written by Neil Gaiman; illustrated by Kelley Jones, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Matt Wagner, Dick Giordano, George Pratt, and P. Craig Russell; coloured by Steve Oliff and Daniel Vozzo; and lettered by Todd Klein.
A Game of You (1993) is the fifth collection of issues in the DC Comics series, The Sandman. Written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Shawn McManus, Colleen Doran, Bryan Talbot, George Pratt, Stan Woch and Dick Giordano, and lettered by Todd Klein. The volume's introduction was written by Samuel R. Delany.
Fables & Reflections (1993) is an American fantasy comic book, the sixth collection of issues in the DC Comics series The Sandman. It was written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Bryan Talbot, Stan Woch, P. Craig Russell, Shawn McManus, John Watkiss, Jill Thompson, Duncan Eagleson, Kent Williams, Mark Buckingham, Vince Locke and Dick Giordano, coloured by Daniel Vozzo and Lovern Kindzierski/Digital Chameleon, and lettered by Todd Klein. The introduction is written by Gene Wolfe.
Brief Lives (1994) is the seventh collection of issues in the DC Comics series, The Sandman. Written by Neil Gaiman, penciled by Jill Thompson, inked by Vince Locke and Dick Giordano, coloured by Daniel Vozzo, lettered by Todd Klein, with cover art by Dave McKean. The introduction was written by Peter Straub but was published as an afterword; Gaiman wrote a brief introduction explaining this.
Worlds' End (1994) is the eighth collection of issues in the DC Comics series The Sandman. It was written by Neil Gaiman; illustrated by Michael Allred, Gary Amaro, Mark Buckingham, Dick Giordano, Tony Harris, Steve Leialoha, Vince Locke, Shea Anton Pensa, Alec Stevens, Bryan Talbot, John Watkiss, and Michael Zulli; colored by Danny Vozzo; and lettered by Todd Klein. The stories in the collection first appeared in 1993. The collection first appeared in paperback and hardback editions in 1994 with an introduction by Stephen King. The collection's title, setting, and a number of its themes and images are also found in G.K. Chesterton's poem "A Child of the Snows".
The Kindly Ones (1996) is the ninth collection of issues in the DC Comics series, The Sandman. Written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Marc Hempel, Richard Case, D'Israeli, Teddy Kristiansen, Glyn Dillon, Charles Vess, Dean Ormston and Kevin Nowlan, coloured by Daniel Vozzo, and lettered by Todd Klein.The volume features an introduction by Frank McConnell.
The Sandman is a comic book written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics. Its artists include Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, Shawn McManus, Marc Hempel, Bryan Talbot, and Michael Zulli, with lettering by Todd Klein and covers by Dave McKean. The original series ran for 75 issues from January 1989 to March 1996. Beginning with issue No. 47, it was placed under DC's Vertigo imprint, and following Vertigo's retirement in 2020, reprints have been published under DC's Black Label imprint.
Dream of the Endless is a fictional anthropomorphic personification who first appeared in the first issue of The Sandman, written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics. One of the seven Endless, who are inconceivably powerful beings older and greater than gods, Dream is both lord and personification of all dreams and stories, and all that is not in reality. He has taken many names, including Morpheus, Oneiros, Kai'ckul, and the Sandman, and his appearance can change depending on the person who is seeing him. Dream was named the sixth-greatest comic book character by Empire. He was also named fifteenth in IGN's 100 Top Comic Book Heroes list.
Titania is a fictional character, a comic book faerie published by DC Comics. She first appeared in The Sandman #19, and was created by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess. She is inspired by and implied to be the same as Titania as the faerie queen in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Hob Gadling, also known as Robert, Robbie, or Bobby, is a fictional character from the Sandman comic book series by Neil Gaiman. Gadling first appears in issue #13, "Men of Good Fortune". A soldier who has recently fought in the Hundred Years' War, Gadling argues with friends about the nature of death in an inn located in what will become modern-day London. He develops significance both as a recurrent character in the series and friend to Dream, appearing in a total of seven issues spanning six hundred years.
Michael Zulli was an American artist known for his work as an animal and wildlife illustrator and as a comic book illustrator. Best known for his work on the Sandman.
Doctor Destiny is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.
"Our Worlds at War" is a comic book storyline, published by DC Comics in mid-2001. OWAW was a crossover storyline that spanned several different books, including several books starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and a number of supporting characters and books. Creators involved in the crossover included writers Jeph Loeb, Joe Casey, Mark Schultz, Joe Kelly, Phil Jimenez, and Peter David, and artists that included Mike Wieringo, Ed McGuinness, Doug Mahnke, Ron Garney, and Leonard Kirk.
This is a list of works by Neil Gaiman.
The Endless are a family of cosmic beings who appear in American comic books published by DC Comics. The members of the family are: Death, Delirium, Desire, Despair, Destiny, Destruction and Dream.
The Sandman is an American fantasy drama television series based on the 1989–1996 comic book written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics. The series was developed by Gaiman, David S. Goyer, and Allan Heinberg for the streaming service Netflix and is produced by DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. Like the comic, The Sandman tells the story of Dream / Morpheus, the titular Sandman. The series stars Tom Sturridge as the title character, with Boyd Holbrook, Vivienne Acheampong, and Patton Oswalt in supporting roles.