Wanda was afraid of surgery and so she never underwent sex reassignment surgery, but grew her hair long and took hormones to create his feminine appearance.
She lived in an apartment building and her neighbor was Barbie (previously seen in The Doll's House storyline). Also living in the building was Hazel and Foxglove (both appear in the Death stories) as well as a young woman named Thessaly, who plays a much bigger role in the Sandman mythology later in the series.
One night Wanda is drawn into a bizarre dream world of her childhood by the minions of the Cuckoo and when she is awaken she discovers that Barbie is in some sort of mystical coma. Thessaly, Hazel and Foxglove perform a lunar ritual that allows them to enter Barbie’s dream and rescue her. Because Wanda is still technically a man (due to her penis and fear of surgery) she must remain behind to watch over Barbie's physical body.
As a result of the ritual and calling upon the moon to grant the three women passage into Barbie's Dreams, the weather in New York becomes erratic and the severity of the storm destroyed the apartment building with Wanda still inside.
Barbie, Hazel, Foxglove and Thessaly return to the waking world to discover that Wanda is dead.
When Wanda’s body is returned to Kansas for the funeral, her family cuts her hair, making her appear like a man and buries her in a suit, as if Wanda was still a man. The tombstone says Alvin Mann.
After the funeral, Barbie writes the name "Wanda" in lipstick on the tombstone before getting on a bus and leaving Kansas.
Wanda is an absolutely fantastic character and I think that Scott did a wonderful job with this portrait!!!
