Dead Man # 12 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

This Dead Man was illustrated by Max Rugers and is one of the many dead people lingering in Hades when Orpheus journeys to the underworld to rescue his wife.

This Dread Man appears in The Sandman Special # 1, page 31, panel 3. He is in the right up front and has dark eyes.

Max did an excellent job with this Dead Man. I like the perspective of this portrait.

Dead Man # 2 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

I thought it might be time to kick off a week long character event. This week, for the next 7 days, we will be focusing on those sad and often forgotten residents of Hades, the Greek Underworld.

When Orpheus travels to the underworld to rescue Eurydice he enters a cavern filled with dead men and women lingering and roaming around the landscape. The dead, in Greek mythology, are not often tortured as in Christianity, but Hades is simply where the dead go.

This Dead Man is one of the first that Orpheus encounters. He is visible in The Sandman Special # 1 (Song Of Orpheus) page 32, panel 3. He is in the front row and is located on the left.

There are so many dead men and women in this scene it’s probably going to be difficult to distinquish one from another. I think that with certain characters I will post the panel that the character originally appears in to make it easier for you to find the character in the published comic. Click on the image to enlarge.

I love how Lars interpreted this character. I love the blue/gray that he used to create the perfect atmosphere surrounding this character.

Dream Ghosts Who Left Glowing Footprints (illustrated by Lars Brown)

There are a few characters within the Sandman universe that present unique challenges when it comes to drawing their portraits. This is one of those characters.

On Truesday, in the afternoon, Dream spoke to the Dream Ghosts Who Left Glowing Footprints As The Only Evidence Of Their Passing. It is not known what they discussed.

The Dream Ghosts Who Left Glowing Footprints appear in one panel of The Kindly Ones. They can sort of be seen in Sandman # 64 on page 5, panel 3.

I think Lars did an awesome job with this portrait. I sometimes imagine that when Lars receives a list of characters for the portraits that he has a confused and perhaps amused look on his face because, seriously, how often does someone get asked to draw Dream Ghosts Who Left Glowing Footprints? Well, now Lars can say that he’s drawn them…

Zubaidah (illustrated by Ron Chan)

Zubaidah is the wife of Haroun al Raschid.

During Ramadan, when al Raschid was troubled by the possibility that the beauty of his kingdom would be forgotten, Zubaidah came to him offering to “sooth away the darkness in your soul between my thighs” as a way for him to forget his troubles. He declined.

Ron did a wonderful job with Zubaidah. I think his approach to this character is really interesting and it’s a really gorgeous portrait!!!

Embryonic Silicon Dreams (illustrated by Max Rugers)

In The Kindly Ones, Dream spends the week leading up to his confrontation with The Kindly Ones doing his regular duties.

On Truesday, in the afternoon, he went to the far ballroom and spoke to the cluster of Embryonic Silicon Dreams. He told them about other machines that once dreamed.

The Embryonic Silicon Dreams appear in one panel of The Kindly Ones. They can be seen in Sandman # 64 on page 5, panel 4.

Max did an absolutely amazing job with this character. Sadly, the scan cannot capture the beauty of this piece. Some of the colors don’t work the way that they should. There are a lot of bits of gold throughout the painting and there is a texture to his portrait that I really like. I wish that you could see this in person. It’s pretty spectacular.

The Innkeeper (illustrated by Lars Brown)

In “The Hunt” we hear the story of a young man named Vassily and one of his adventures, told to a young girl named Celeste by her Grandfather.

Vassily leaves his family home and travels to find a girl he sees in a locket. While travelling he stops by an Inn for the night. The Innkeeper, thinking that he must have treasures in his bag, sneaks into Vassily’s room that night hoping to kill him and steal the bag. The Innkeeper opened a secret panel above the bed and swung an axe down into the bed. Unfortunately for the Innkeeper, Vassily was not sleeping in his bed.

While we never learn the fate of the Innkeeper, I think it’s safe to assume that Vassily probably killed him.

Lars did a great job with this portrait. I like the bit of humor he added to this otherwise seedy character.

Roman Citizen # 3 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

In August, from Fables And Reflections, Emperor Augustus and Lycius sit in the market place, disguised as beggars, and talk as people pass buy and go about their daily business.

This Roman Citizen is one of the many citizens who visit the marketplace on this particular day. He can be seen admiring the small statues at one of the booths.

He appears in Sandman # 30, on page 7, panel 1.

I really like how Max approached this character. It’s a pretty straight forward portrait, but I like the colors that he chose and the detailed line work on the character really gives the portrait a very “Romanesque” feel to me.