Dr. John Hathaway (illustrated by Russel Roehling)

Hi...remember me. Okay, yes, it's been a while and I feel guilty, but things have been incredibly busy here at the Sandman Portraits HQ and sadly I've been neglecting all of you... Sorry. It won't happen again. Honest.

I do have some exciting announcements, which I'll save for another time.

Next week is the release date for the first issue of Sandman: Overture. I am sure that you are all as excited as I am.

To celebrate the release next week I've decided to post new portraits every day until next Wednesday!!!

First up is...well, the first character to appear in Sandman....

John Hathaway was the senior curator at the Royal Museum in London.

On June 6th 1916 Hathway visited Roderick Burgess at his manor in Wych Cross, England and brought him a copy of The Magdalene Grimoire, which belonged to the museum. Hathaway’s son, Edmund, was killed the previous week when his Destroyer was sunk off Jutland (in the Battle Of Jutland in WWI). Burgess believed that with this book he could capture Death and prevent people from dying again, a subject which spoke to Hathaway after his recent tragedy.

In June 1920 during an overdue inventory of the Royal Museum’s catalogues it is discovered that several books and manuscripts were missing and John Hathaway came under suspicion.

Hathaway planned to kill himself and in his suicide note he implicated Burgess in blackmailing him to obtain books and documents that originally belonged to the museum. Hathaway used a knife, one of the museum artifacts, to kill himself. Unfortunately the letter was destroyed, through magical means, by Burgess and so the truth about his involvement was never discovered.

John Hathaway appears several times in Sandman # 1. He is actually the first person to appear in the entire Sandman series.

This portrait was painted by Russel. He did a stunning job with this character. Not only did he capture the personality of the character perfectly, but he also managed to capture a creepy atmosphere around him. This is a fantastic portrait!!!

Man At The Renaissance Fair # 20 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

Hob and his girlfriend Gwen attend a Renaissance Fair, in the epilogue to The Wake. Hob is, of course, disillusioned with the fair, mostly because he lived through the Renaissance and finds the whole thing inaccurate and over romanticized. At one point he is talking Dave (and his sheep puppet Lambkin) telling him that back in the day people would talk about a “vegetable lamb,” which was a lamb that grew on a bush. This was, of course, cotton.

While Hob is talking to Dave, this man is walking past them.

He appears in Sandman # 73, on page 10, panel 5. He is on the far left.

I like this portrait from Max. It’s simple and yet intricate at the same time. I really like the detail on his beard and hair.

Foreign Soldier (illustrated by Max Rugers)

While Cluracan is in Aurelia, a Foreign Soldier tells an innkeeper that the Carnifex is planning on selling the citizens of Aurelia into slavery to cover the debts of the Church treasury. The innkeeper then tells some of his customers this shocking news, which quickly spreads throughout the city.

This is one of the several rumors circulating through Aurelia causing a revolt against Carnifex Carys XXXV.

What the citizens of Aurelia do not know is that this Foreign Soldier, and the other people who started the rumor, were really Cluracan in disguise attempting to prevent the alliance between Aurelia and the Plains Folk.

This Foreign Soldier appears in Sandman # 52, on page 20, panel 4.

Max did an awesome job with this portrait. I really like the detail work on the soldier’s face. He definitely looks battle worn. I also like the orange background. It creates an interesting contrast to the soldier.

Max also drew a neat sketch of the character on the back of the Foreign Soldier.

Roman Citizen # 1 (illustrated by Emonic)

This man is one of the men who works in the Roman Marketplace.

He appears in August from Fables And Reflections. He can be seen in Sandman # 30, on page 6, panel 2. He is lifting a table and is partially off panel.

One of the things I really like about this project (and I'm sure I've said this a thousand times) is that there are a lot of characters in the Sandman universe that are either obscured by being off panel or are too tiny to recognize their features. This project brings those characters to the forefront and makes them more important than obscure background characters.

Emonic did a wonderful job with this Roman Citizen. He made him a character instead of some guy without a face in Rome.

Book Release Party Guest # 17 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

When Richard Madoc’s book “And My Love She Gave Me Light” was released in May 1987 a book release party was held.

This man was one of the people who attended the party. He is standing near the sign featuring the cover of the novel.

This man appears in Sandman # 17 on page 12, in panel 1.

I like this portrait from Max. While this character does not appear to be as happy and carefree as he does in the published comic, I like the depth of this portrait. I enjoy the use of the heavy blacks and the white out to add highlights. It’s a great portrait.

Faery # 10 (illustrated by Joëlle Jones)

This Faery is one of the Faeries who crossed over into the mortal plane with Titania and Auberon to see the first performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

He appears in Sandman # 19, on page 5, in panel 4. He is obviously the giant pink Faery in the background of the entourage.

I love this portrait from Joëlle. The colors on this Faery are fantastic and I really like how he turned out. He sort of looks electric!!!

Emissary # 20 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

When Dream becomes the caretaker of the Key To Hell, Emissaries from various cultures and pantheons gather in hopes of obtaining the ownership of Hell for their own uses.

This man is one of those emissaries.

Who does he represent and why does he want the Key To Hell?

These are questions that are never answered, nor do we even get a very clear view of this character or any of the characters dressed similarly.

This Emissary appears in throughout the Season of Mists storyline, but specifically can be seen in Sandman # 27, on page 3, in panel 7. He is in the middle.

This is another cool portrait from Max. I really like his interpretation of this character.