Man # 6 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

In Worlds’ End, Mister Gaheris tells a tale about a man named Robert who becomes lost in city that is asleep and dreaming. When Robert discovers a doorway he walks through it and enters his own world, his own reality once again.

This man, walking with a woman, is the first to encounter him.

He appears in Sandman # 51 on page 22, in panel 6.

I really like Max’s portrait for this character. It’s colorful (as Robert would have seen him emerging from the city into the bright sun) and very well executed. I think he did a great job with this character.

Jenny-Sue (illustrated by Lars Brown)

Jenny-Sue works in a diner that Barbie and Dora visit on the day of Wanda’s funeral somewhere in Kansas.

Jenny-Sue went to school with Wanda and when talking to Barbie she addresses him as “The Mann Boy” and aid that he was a “weird kid” probably because he did not conform with the backwater red neck attitude it seems is prevalent in the town where Wanda spent her childhood.

She appears in the final issue of A Game Of You, Sandman # 37 and on pages 10-14.

Lars did a great job with this portrait. His approach was pretty straightforward and she’s even serving up a piece of that blueberry pie that Barbie hardly ate.

Here’s Jenny-Sue….

Bondage Boy # 2 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

In Brief Lives, Delirium wanders into a bondage club. The club is filled with people having a good time and Delirum’s stands out a little bit, probably because she is not dressed as extreme as some of the others.

This man is one of the people in the club.

He appears in Sandman # 41 on page 9 in panel 5.

In Brief Lives, the bondage club does not seem particularly dark (I mean, they are listing to Tori Amos, after all), but Max’s approach to this character is definitely darker than in the published scene, which I appreciate. He uses complex line work and not much color, which really adds to the contrast and awesomeness of this portrait.

Dead Man # 51 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

When Orpheus decends into Hades to rescue Eurydice, he encounters many dead men and women lingering throughout the underworld.

This man is one of the many dead men who appear in The Sandman Special.

He appears in The Song Of Orpheus, page 33, panel 2.

I like this portrait from Lars. It’s nice to get an alternate perspective of one of the dead people. I like that he appears to be a little emaciated and that you can see the knots of his spine along his back.

Ken’s Dream Whore (illustrated by Max Rugers)

When Rose, in her aspect of the Dream Vortex becomes more and more unstable, the people living in the house begin having strange and disturbing dreams.

Ken, Barbie’s husband at the time, dreams of power and money and sex.

This woman is Ken’s Dream Whore.

She appears in The Doll’s House, in Sandman # 15 on page 12 in panel 1, 2 and 3.

This is a fantastic portrait from Max. I think he really brought in the disturbing nature of dreams to this character. She is frightening and hauntingly sexualized. Here is Ken’s Dream Whore…

Dog (illustrated by Lars Brown)

While this dog may not have directly encountered Dream he was in the pub that Dream and Death visited sometime between 1360-1387.

This dog was given table scraps by a particularly kind bar patron. He appears in Sandman # 13 page 1.

This Dog was drawn by Lars Brown, who did an amazing job with the character. I think he gave the Dog a lot of character with his portrait.

Bar Patron # 49 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

In the 1400’s Dream and Hob meet in the pub for their regular meeting. They discuss printing and Hob does not believe it will catch on.

This man is one of the bar patrons in the pub during this meeting. This man is playing cards which seems to be a common occurrence in pubs throughout the centuries.

This man appears in Sandman # 13, on page 8, in panel 4.

I really like Lars’ interpretation of this character. It’s not a variation from the published comic and Lars even added the playing card as a reference to the comic.

Bar Patron # 38 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

Dream and Hob began meeting every hundred years sometime between 1362-1370, developing their friendship over the centuries. In the early 1990’s Dream and Hob meet once again in a pub.

There are a lot of similar conversations and situations happening in 1990 as there were in the 1300’s, showing that some things never change.

Like in previous centuries, there are people playing cards in the pub. This man is playing cards. He appears in Sandman # 13 on page 24 in the first panel.

Max did a great job with this portrait. I think he did a good job reflecting the early 1990’s styles and he did a pretty straightforward interpretation of this bar patron. Although you can’t see it in the scan, Max also put gold highlights on this character. I really like this little detail. This portrait has Max’s signature texture, which really makes this portrait stand out!!!

Bar Patron # 2 (illustrated by Ron Chan)

As with the previous bar patron, this man was in the pub that Dream and Death visited sometime between 1362-1370.

He appears in Sandman # 13 page 1. He is seen in the lower right corner holding a mug of ale.

When Ron gave this portrait to me he said that he was experimenting with using brown ink instead of his typical color pencil style. I really like the result. It worked well for this character.

Bar Patron # 1 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

Sometime between 1362-1370, Dream and Death visited a pub in England. Death felt it was important for Dream to visit the mortal realm and experience humanity to understand them a bit better. It was during this visit that Dream first encountered Hob Gadling who was given the gift of immortality and agreed to meet Dream in the same pub in one hundred years time.

This man is one of the bar patrons who is in the pub on the day when Dream met Hob. He appears in Sandman # 13 page 1. He is feeding the dog some table scraps.

This Bar Patron was drawn by Lars Brown. This is a wonderful portrait for such an obscure character in the Sandman universe.

Greek Citizen # 3 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

As people gather for the wedding of Orpheus and Eurydice this woman can be seen talking with a Greek man near one of the temples.

She appears in The Sandman Special # 1, “The Song Of Orpheus,” on page 3, in panel 1.

I like how Max approached this character and I like the colors he chose. The grays and whites used for the character definitely give it a classical feel to the portrait. I think it reminds me of the Greek statues I remember from visiting the Louvre.

Guy Gardner (illustrated by Lars Brown)

Guy Gardner is one of a handful of DC Universe characters to appear in Sandman and, I’ll admit, I am not very familiar with this character.

I know that Guy Gardner is a member of the Green Lantern Corps and of The Justice League.

Within the Sandman Universe, Guy Gardner did not play a significant role. He appeared in one issue and in one panel while Dream is speaking with the Hecateae trying to determine the location of his stolen tools of office.

He appears as a vision in Sandman # 2 on page 23 in panel 5.

When deciding who should draw Guy Gardner, Lars was the obvious choice. Guy Gardner has a specific disposition that I thought Lars would capture…and he did. This is a great portrait and I love what Lars did with his hair…

Abudah (illustrated by Anna Hybsier)

Abudah is a mysterious character that appears several times throughout the Sandman series.

He first appears in a single panel of Sandman # 22, standing near Merv Pumpkinhead. He then re-appears in The Kindly Ones and is helping Merv Pumpkinhead move a volcano and later carrying a large box of ammunition for Merv to attack The Kindly Ones with. He later appears at the wake for Morpheus.

Abudah appears in Sandman # 22, 60, 66 and 71 on various pages.

Anna did a fantastic job with Abudah. In The Kindly Ones Abudah appears to be a little...mentally challenged and so it is nice to see that Anna did not take that approach with this character. He’s pretty straightforward and, as always, I like the little details in his face and the pencil lines that hopefully will come through in the portrait you are seeing.

French Citizen # 9 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

This is one of the many French Citizens that appear in the Fables And Reflections story “Thermidor.” He is one of the people gathered to watch the corpse puppet show in the courtyard outside Johanna Constantine’s prison cell.

He can be seen in Sandman # 29, on page 12, panel 3. He is standing in the crowd wearing a reddish jacket.

Max did a great job with this portrait. I really like the vibrant colors with this character and, as always, the detailed work on his face is awesome.

Citizen Of Barbie’s World # 14 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

When Barbie was a young girl she dreamed of a magical world where she was a princess. As she grew older her dreams faded and she no longer visited this world.

Her world changed when she encountered one of her imaginary dream friends on the streets of New York.

That evening, when Barbie fell asleep she dreamed of this world once again and became trapped in the mystical dream by an emissary of The Cuckoo.

While in this Dream, Barbie had to confront the Cuckoo, which ultimately lead to the destruction of her world. This creature is one of the residents of Barbie’s World. He appears in only one panel and is seen leaving this world and entering Dream’s cloak to live on in the dreams of others.

This creature can be found in Sandman # 36, on page 34 in panel 1.

I have no idea what this creature is, but it’s pretty cool looking and Lars did a great job with this portrait. I love the colors and the depth of the colors used to bring this creature to life.

Ash’s Kin # 2 (illustrated by Anna Hybsier)

Vassily tells his grand daughter Celeste a story of how he met his wife and her grandmother, although on the surface his tale appears to he layered in a fairy tale, when in actuality it is not.

While on his journey he encounters a deer and chases it for many miles, enjoying the thrill of the hunt. Just as he was about to kill the deer, a young girl names Ash leapt on the deer and broke it’s neck.

Ash returned to her people, with Vassily, bring the fallen animal for their meal.

This man is one of the men in Ash’s tribe. He has a slight wolfish look about him, which is appropriate because we later learn that Vassily and Ash, as well as her kin are shape-shifters and have the ability to transform themselves into wolves.

He appears in Sandman # 38, page 15, panel 1.

Anna did a great job with this portrait. He has a kindness in his green eyes, which I can really appreciate. I think that Anna has an amazing ability to capture the gentler side of people in her portraits and she definitely did that with this character.

Woman # 44 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

When Richard Madoc, the famous writer, breaks down in the street, suffering from too many ideas, this woman is one of the people who have gathered to see his breakdown.

Nobody tried to help him.

She appears in Sandman # 17, page 19, panel 5. She is standing on the far right.

I like this portrait. Max really created a portrait that looks like a real person and not a comic book character. He did an excellent job with this character.

Kitten # 1 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

In Dream Of A Thousand Cats, the storyteller cat tells a tale of how he dreamed of change. The storyteller cat started out as any other cat, comfortable and taken care of by her humans….until the day she had kittens.

She was a pure-bred Siamese cat and the father of the kittens was a stray Tom Cat and the kittens were not “worth diddly-squat” to her humans. Her owner put the kittens in a bag with a rock tied to weigh it down and threw the bag into a pond.

It was at this point that the Storyteller cat decided to try to make a change for her and her kind.

This is one of the kittens that was senselessly killed for no reason other than it was not a pure-bred. I like this portrait from Lars. He definitely draws cute kittens and this one is adorable…a little bundle of fluff…

Little Wyvern (illustrated by Anna Hybsier)

After Daniel wanders into The Dreaming, Cain, Abel and Eve tell stories to entertain the child.

Abel tells the story of two brothers who fought often. After one particularly bad fight, Little Dream offered him a house and a job in his garden and a place where he could be happy. His job would be telling secret stories (which is a reference to Abel living in the House Of Secrets and the comic series guest staring Abel published by DC from 1956-1966).

One day when Little Abel was lonely he visited Little Dream’s castle and at the gate was a Little Wyvern and a Little Pegasus.

This is the Little Wyvern who guarded the doorway to Little Dream’s castle.

Little Pegasus appears in Sandman # 40, on page 20, in panel 2.

Anna did a fantastic job with this portrait. It goes really well with the Little Pegasus portrait, which Anna also did. This dragon does not appear to be anything other than happy and cuddly, which works well for Abel’s story.

Old Man # 1 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

When Ellie Marsten wakes, she is in a charity home for those suffering from the sleeping sickness. There are many other people in the same ward as she is.

This old man is one of the people that shared the hospital wing with Ellie Marsten.

He appears in Sandman # 1, on page 33, panel 3. He is in the upper left corner, mostly a silhouette. This is another great portrait from Max. I really like the line work on his face and his use of white out to add highlights.

London Citizen # 2 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

The morning John Constantine woke with a feeling that someone was trying to tell him something he went about his day as he always would. He brushed his teeth, got dressed, putting on his favorite overcoat and left the house at 11:25am to go to the Easy Diner to get some breakfast.

As Constantine left his house and said good morning to London he passed by several people in the streets.

This girl is one of the people Constantine passed.

She appears in Sandman # 3, on page 3 in panel 6.

This is a fantastic portrait from Lars. In the published comic London looks a little dark and dreary (but maybe that’s just the neighborhood Constantine live in). This character certainly brings light and happiness to that neighborhoo. I love her cute smile and the yellow rain jacket. This is a great interpretation of a character that is barely visible in the comic.

Woman # 34 (illustrated by Anna Hybsier)

In 1920, in London, there is many rumors and speculations about Roderick Burgess and this Order of Ancient Mysteries. Once Professor John Hathaway commits suicide it brings even more attention to Burgess’ Order.

There are people on the streets talking about this and eventually there is an inquest into Burgess. This woman is one of the woman seen on the streets of London.

She appears in Sandman # 1, on page 14, in panel 1.

This is a fantastic portrait by Anna. I like that she managed to capture the feeling of the 1920’s in this character based on her clothing and jewelry. I really like how Anna manages to make everyone seem beautiful.

Military Doctor # 2 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

Stefan Wasserman was treated by this doctor while in the military. The doctors thought it was some form of shellshock.

This doctor appears in Sandman # 1, on page 11, in panel 2. He is on the right.

I’ve read the entire Sandman series more times than I can count and despite multiple readings and even closely examining each character I never noticed that this doctor had a curly mustache. It wasn’t until I saw Max’s portrait that I took a closer look at the published comic and realized that the doctor did indeed have a curly mustache. Max did a great job with this Military Doctor.

Ghost Boy # 33 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

In Season Of Mists, Lucifer abdicates his position as the ruler of Hell and decides to send all of the residents away. He empties Hell of all the demons and tortured souls and locked the doors behind him as he leaves. Some of them returned to where they died, others went to visit their living relatives.

This Ghost Boy returned to St. Hilarion’s School For Boys.

He can be seen sitting in a classroom, in the back row, as Charles Rowland is in class.

The Ghost Boy appears in Sandman # 25, page 16, panel 1.

I absolutely love what Lars did for this Ghost Boy!!! I like the cool colors and the dead black eyes. I also like that the boy is in a school uniform. He really captured the sadness of this ghostly boy.

This is an amazing portrait!!!

Nada’s Palace Guard # 1 (illustrated by Anna Hybsier)

Nada was a wonderful ruler of her desert kingdom. It is said that she was a wise ruler and she ruled well. She had many loyal subjects.

This man is one of Nada’s loyal Palace Guard.

This Palace Guard appears in Sandman # 9, on page 6, in panel 3. He is standing near the wall.

This is another great portrait from Anna. I like his stoic expression and his unflinching stare. I think Anna did a great job capturing his loyalty to Nada in this portrait.

Dead Man # 36 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

This Dead Man is one of the many that resides in the Underworld and encounters Orpheus when he stands before Lord Hades and Queen Persephone and implores them to return Eurydice to him.

He appears in The Sandman Special # 1, on page 32, in panel 2. He is located behind Orpheus’ word balloon.

This is another excellent portrait from Max. He did a great job through the use of colors. The blues and grays make the portrait feel cold, which I think is appropriate for someone living in the Underworld.

Roman Citizen # 119 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

Okay…here we have another Roman Citizen.

In August, from Fables And Reflections, Augustus Caesar and the dwarf Lycius sit on some steps near the marketplace dressed as beggars and discussing politics, power and personal legacy.

This citizen is spending the afternoon in the Roman market and is in one of the panels that contains a large number of other Roman citizens.

This panel is in Sandman # 30, page 13, and is panel 4.

I like this portrait from Lars. He brought some color into a typically white Roman Empire. This character definitely has more flash than a lot of the other Roman Citizens.

Here’s the Roman Citizen…