Charon

In Greek mythology, Charon is the ferryman in Hades who takes the dead across the River Styx. Generally the dead must give a coin to Charon in order to cross from the land of the living into Hades.

In The Song Of Orpheus, Neil Gaiman takes Charon and places him within the Sandman universe. In this story, Orpheus enters Hades in hopes of rescuing his recently deceased wife Euridice. When he encounters Charon, Orpheus gives him a sprig of Mistletoe, which is the payment from a living person to enter Hades. Along the way, Charon asks Orpheus to play his lyre and the music was so moving that it made Charon weep.

Demon # 01

Since we are on a roll with the characters from Ramadan I thought it might be nice to show another Demon from the story.

Like the others, this demon was imprisoned in The Globe Of Sulaiman Ben Daoud, which Haroun Al Raschid threatened to shatter if Dream did not visit him.

The Enchanters

In the time of Haroun Al Raschid Baghdad had "Enchanters from China and the Mongol lands, with high fur hats and log sleeves filled with secrets."

Here are the four Enchanters who frequented the palaces of Al Raschid.

Demon # 17

This is one of the demons trapped within The Globe Of Sulaiman Ben Daoud.

The Grape Seller

When Haroun Al Raschid and the King Of Dreams walk through the Baghdad market place this Grape Sellers sells some grapes to the Caliph for two dirhams after some negotiations.

Ghost Boy # 04

This ghostly boy is one of the many boys listening to Headmaster Parkinsons speech at St. Hilarions when the dead return to earth in the Season Of Mists storyline.

Emissary # 02

This Emissary is one of the guests of The Dreaming who hope to gain control of Hell from the King Of Dreams.

He is in attendance when Dream announces who will take the key and become the new rulers of Hell.

Demon # 18

This demon is not a demon from Hell. Instead, this demon was imprisoned within The Globe Of Sulaiman Ben Daoud. Inside the globe were nine thousand and nine Demons, Ifrits and Djinn.

This is one of the demons.

Chamberlain To Emperor Norton

The Chamberlain to Emperor Norton appears in Three Septembers And A January in the Fables And Reflections collection.

The Chamberlain brings a message to Emperor Norton that is presence is requested at the Cobweb Palace. The Chamberlain accompanies Norton to the bar where they meet with The King Of Pain, an envoy of Desire.

The Hunchback

When Haroun Al Raschid was the ruler of Baghdad things he would often wander the city at night.

On one occasion he witnessed the death of a hunchback. Seven strangers claimed to be the one who murdered him, but in actuality the hunchback choked on a fish bone.

Here is the hunchback. I hope you enjoy him.

The Old Ones

In the third chapter of Brief Lives we are introduced to the concept of The Old Ones (Bernie Capax is one of them).

"There are, for example, less than ten thousand humanoid individuals alive on this planet today who have personal memories of the saber-toothed tiger, the megatherium, the cave bear. There are today less than a thousand who walked the streets of Atlantis (The first Atlantis. The other lands that bore that name were shadows, echo-Atlantises, myth lands, and they came later). There are less than five hundred humans who remember the human civilizations that predated the great lizards. (There were a few; fossil records are unreliable. Several of them lasted for millions of years.) There are roughly seventy people walking the earth, human to all appearances (and in a few cases, to all medical tests currently available), who were alive before the earth had begun to congeal from gas and dust. How well do you know your neighbors? Your friends? Your lovers? Walk the streets of any city, and stare carefully at the people who pass you, and wonder, and know this: They are there too. The Old Ones.

Here are some of the unnamed Old Ones who appear in the fourth panel of the third chapter of Brief Lives.


The Old One # 1



The Old One # 2



The Old One # 3



The Old One # 4




The Old One # 5

Ghost Boy # 02

This is one of the several ghost boys who appears at St. Hilarions when Hell is empties and locked by Lucifer.

This ghost boy is sitting in the auditorium listening to the dead Headmaster Parkinson speak at the assembly.

He is sitting in the front row between Roland and Paine.

Demon # 104

This Demon is from the Hellfire Club in Preludes And Nocturnes.

He is visible in the panel where Dream is triumphant in his duel with Choronzon.

Weirdzo Lila

Weirdzo Lila was a character in the Hyperman comic, which Wanda read when she was a little boy.

During the A Game Of You storyline, Weirdzo Lila appears to Wanda in a dream caused by the messengers of the Cuckoo,

Here is Weirdzo Lila. I really like this one!!!

Ogre

Like the Eggman from yesterday, this Ogre appears in only one issue of A Game Of You...and it's even the same panel as the Eggman. The Ogre can be seen walking toward the Isle of Thorns and into oblivion as the skerry is uncreated.

The Eggman

Nope...this is not John Lennon.

This character, who I have called The Eggman, appears in one panel of A Game Of You. He can be seen, slightly off panel, walking along the causeway to the Isle Of Thorns and into Dream's embrace.

And by the way, I think Eric Burdon was The Eggman. John was the Walrus (according to his song "God").

Serial Killer # 20

This serial killer is one of the many serial killers sitting in the audience listening to The Corinthian's speech at the Cereal Convention.

This killer is very easy to spot. He has super flat '80's hair. Scott modernized him a bit...and made him a bit more gloomy than the super excited killer in the published comic. I sort of liked the '80's hair.....

Dickon Hawksthorne

While Dream, Destruction and the original Corinthian visited the waking world, Dickon Hawksthorne attempted to steal Dream's ruby. When caught, Hawksthorne spoke rather harshly to the Dream King. He threatened "Hold Your tongue, sir, or I'll whet my needle and sew your lips together."

Dream was not pleased with this mortal and Dream tells Hawksthorne that he rarely tells fortunes, but in this instance he will. He tells the thief "Tyburn tree haunts your dreams, Master Hawksthorne, and it will continue so to do, until you are hung there in chains, without benefit of clergy. And your death shall come as a relief to you. For every night, from now until then, you will dance on air with a hempen rope around your neck, and the jeers and catcalls of all those you have ever cared for echoing in your ears..."

Dickon Hawksthorne quickly returned the jewel to Dream.

Scott did a great job with this one. If you look closely you will see Tyburn tree in the background....

The Clown

This Clown is one of the citizens of Barbie's world.

This clown appears in one panel from the A Game Of You storyline and can be seen as Barbie is being marched through town by The Black Guard.

I really like this one.

The Black Guard

The Black Guard is an elite army who serves the Cuckoo.

The Black Guard were sent out in search of Barbie and her friends and at one point they came close to finding her. Thankfully Barbie, Primando, Luz and Wilkinson were able to avoid detection by hiding under a snow drift.

Eventually the Black Guard captured Barbie while being directed by the traitor Luz. She was marched through town and into the clutches of the Cuckoo.

Egyptian Bird Creature

Okay, I seriously have no idea what to call this character and so I'll just stick with the "Egyptian Bird Creature."

This creature is in only one panel of A Game Of You and is seen in a group of citizens of Barbie's world marching toward the Isle of Thorns and entering Dream prior to the skerry being destroyed.

Yellow Fuzzy Creature

This Yellow Fuzzy Creature appears in one panel of A Game Of You.

You can spot him in the scene where Barbie is being marched through town on her way to the Cuckoo.

This is a particularly cool painting because the character in the published comic is seen from the back and so it's face isn't visible at all. Scott took the character and did his own interpretation of what the character will look like. This is one of my favorite things about this project and Scott did a fantastic job with this character.

I hope you like it.

Rednecks

When Barbie visits Wanda's home town to attend the funeral, she meets Wanda's Aunt at a diner and these two rednecks are sitting in a booth and as Barbie walks past them, one makes a rude comment to her.

Scott painted these two rednecks in suck a way that they can be combined into one single painting. I really like redneck # 2. He sort of reminds me of Elmer Fudd.

Here are the rednecks...


Redneck # 1





Redneck # 2




Here are the rednecks combined into a single image.

Snake Creature

This snake creature makes a brief appearance in A Game Of You as Barbie is being marched through town on her way to the Cuckoo.

He is one of the many strange creatures in Barbie's world.

Aisleen

Aisleen is Pharamond's receptionist at Farrell Travel.

She informs Mr. Farrell (Pharamond's current name) that he has two incredibly odd visitors, who just happen to be Dream and Delirium.

She appears in only a few panels in the Brief Lives storyline.

Egg Headed Man

This character is one of the characters that is standing on the sidelines while Barbie is marched through town after being captured by the Black Guard.

This character appears in only one panel of A Game Of You, but he's still a very striking and memorable character.

Weirdzo No. 1

Today is Neil's birthday and I wanted to try to find something special to post here (I really wish I had Neil's portrait...but not yet, maybe next year) and so today I thought that I would share Weirdzo No. 1.

I chose this character because Wanda read the Weirdzos comic, Hyperman, when she was a little boy and and the characters really stuck with her, much like Neil's characters in the Sandman universe have stuck with us...at least that's why I'm assuming you are here.

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Neil!!!

Serial Killer # 21

This killer is in the audience listening to The Corinthian's speech at the Cereal Convention.

This guy could be anyone....he looks completely normal and unsuspecting.....

I like that Scott used a bit of blood splatter on these recent serial killers. It sort of makes them a bit for frightening.

Serial Killer # 22

Of course this guy is a serial killer...it's pretty obvious even without the blood splatters!!!

This killer is in the audience listening to The Corinthian's speech at the Cereal Convention.

Serial Killer # 10

This is one of those characters that Scott REALLY out did himself.

This character is one of the many serial killers listening to Nimrod's speech at the Cereal Convention.

Scott took this random and background character and made him severely creepy, in my opinion.

I hope you enjoy him!

Kris and his Son

Today we have two characters.

Kris and his son, along with Andros help protect Orpheus from danger.

Kris' son (who is never named) is the first one to encounter Dream and Delirium as they arrive on the island.

After Dream has a conversation with his estranged son, Kris takes Dream and Delirium to Destruction's island.

Dream and his sister return to the island one final time to grant Orpheus his greatest wish, his death, and afterwards, Kris' son digs the grave for Orpheus.

Here are Kris and his son...

Demon# 144

As Morpheus leaves Hell, a sea of demons part to let him pass.

This demon is one of the many demons who moves aside to let the King Of Dreams leave Hell.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Demon # 112

Happy Halloween!!!!

This demon appears in Preludes And Nocturnes and is one of the demons who appears in the Hellfire Club.

He is in the audience and is stunned by Dream's victory over Choronzon.

Serial Killer # 23

This serial killer is in the audience watching the Religion panel at the Cereal Convention.

While he is watching the panel, The Corinthian is talking to Philip Sitz, asking him to have a chat in his hotel room.

Serial Killer # 25

This serial killer appears on the title page of this incredibly creepy, but awesome story.

Serial Killer # 19

This serial killer attended The Corinthian's speech at the Cereal Convention.

This particular had the unique pleasure of sitting next to Morpheus as he sat in the audience listening to the speech.

Demon # 120

This demon is one of the Demons from The Hellfire Club.

This horse-faced demon is easily visible and can be seen holding the chain, which is around the neck of a penis-shaped demon.

Isn't Hell such a goofy place???

Serial Killer # 11

This serial killer is sitting in the audience listening to Nimrod's opening speech at the Cereal Convention.

I always thought it was interesting that there were a handful of female serial killers at this convention. I wonder how they were treated at the convention since a majority of the serial killers were male and some serial killers only killed women. Were these women at risk or is there some sort of bond between serial killers that prevents them from killing each other.

Demon # 162

This demon is listening to Azazel give his speech about reclaiming Hell for demon-kind.

Now, I want to know....in the particular panel he appears in, all of the demons are very bizarre looking, but way in the back there is this blue haired punk looking guy. Does anybody else think he doesn't quite fit in with the other demons???

Serial Killer # 3

This serial killer is one of the many killers who attended the Cereal Convention.

This man is most recognizable by his conversation with a few other men saying that he could "murder a steak, a good bloody steak."

I think Scott did a great job making this guy seem super creepy. Maybe it's the bloody backgrounds....