Janet (illustrated by Anna Hybsier)

Todd Faber, the writer and director of the play Typhoid Mary Blues, decided to quit the performance because he is scared.

Janet, one of the actors in the productions visits him on the night he decided to leave. She wanted to talk about her thoughts of how Mary felt to be on the island (but what this is referring to we don’t know since we do not get even a glimpse the performance in the comic).

Todd tells her that he is leaving the production because he is scared. This visibly upsets Janet.

The following day Janet is about to tell the rest of the crew about Todd’s departure, but he arrives for rehearsal rejuvenated after his dream where he encounters Morpheus who inspires hope. Todd tells Janet that “Someones you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes when you fall, you fly.”

Fear of Falling originally appears in Vertigo Preview # 1 and was later collected as the opening story in The Kindly Ones. Janet appears on pages 1, 2 and 10 of this story.

Anna really enjoys this story and so I wanted her to draw Janet. She did an excellent job with this portrait and with this character. I like the shape of her face. It gives her a sense of friendliness. I also like Janet’s hair. The line work within the hair gives the impression that it is incredibly wavy and it definitely complements the Janet from the published story. This is a fantastic portrait from Anna.

Cat # 40 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

In Endless Nights we get a glimpse of 15 portraits of Despair. One of my favorite and most heart-felt portraits involves cats.

The story tells us about a man who loves cats and lives in a trailer. He adopts stray cats and eventually he has sixty or maybe seventy cats living with him in the trailer. One day the man leaves to take a job and is unable to return to feed the cats.

This is one of the saddest and most horrific stories in Endless Nights.

This cat is one of those cats.

Max did a wonderful job with this portrait. He modeled the cat after his brother’s cat, Mindy, who is well taken care of and loved…and is neither mistreated nor abandoned like the cats in this story. Once again I love the colors of this portrait. They are muted and beautiful and really highlight the colors of the cat.

Dead Man # 13 (illustrated by Lukas Ketner)

Orpheus journeys to the Underworld to rescue his recently deceased wife, Eurydice.

As he enters the great hall with the thrones of Lord Hades and Queen Persephone he encounters an audience of the dead.

This Dead Man is one of the many dead men in the Underworld.

He appears in The Song Of Orpheus, on page 31, in panel 2. I really like Lukas’ style and he does an awesome job with details. This portrait is no exception. The line work on this dead man’s face is exceptional and the shading adds so much depth to the tone of the character. This is a pretty minor character within the Sandman Universe, but Lukas’ approach to this really makes him stand out as a memorable character.

Dave And Lambkin (illustrated by Russel Roehling)

In the epilogue of The Wake, Hob Gadling and his girlfriend Gwen attend a Renaissance Faire.

As they arrive Dave runs up to Gwen, who apparently has attended Renaissance Festivals in the past. Dave shows Gwen his sheep puppet and introduces him as Lambkin The Humiliator.

Later, after Hob has had a few glasses of beer, Dave sees Hob and goes up to him. Hob is curious about the sheep puppet and Dave explains that he’s made of cotton, which Hob finds amusing. He explains that “in the olden days” people used to call the cotton bush a vegetable lamb.

He continues and complains about the Renaissance Faire saying that it’s nothing at all like the time they are romanticizing. He says that there is no shit, no lice, no nits, and no rotting face cancers. He finds the whole thing a little ridiculous.

As Hob and Dave part ways, he asks Dave to tell Gwen where he is so she can find them when she is finished with her time at the faire.

Dave And Lambkin appear in Sandman # 73.

Russel did an awesome job with this portrait. He managed to capture the geekiness of the character and I love Lambkin. He’s so adorable. The detail on this portrait is over the top and completely fantastic. As always this portrait is exceptional and I love it!!!

Small Mindless Insect-Like Creature # 4 (illustrated by John Carmine)

Here is another character from Sandman Overture.

There is a distant planet where one of the three dominant life forms is a small mindless insect-like creature.

These creatures are not intelligent and they are primarily interested only food and in laying eggs, but they do have a tendency to swarm and when they swarm they are capable of making art or “exploring the solar system.”

This is one of those small minded insect-like creatures.

It is visible in Sandman Overture # 1, on page 1, in panel 3.

These creatures are sort of creepy and John’s approach to this character seems to intensify the creepiness, by giving us a close up look at the creature. The details on the legs, giving the insect joints, really adds a realistic touch to this bizarre character. I also really like the varying depths of red used on this creature. It definitely adds to the disturbing quality of this insect.

French Citizen # 19 (illustrated by Anna Hybsier)

In the days that followed the escape of Johanna Constantine (with the head of Orpheus) Louis-Antoine St. Just , once known as a great orator, was speaking before the National Convention. He faltered and fell silent.

This French citizen was one of the men who was present at the National Convention.

He appears in Sandman # 29, on page 23, in panel 1.

I really like this portrait from Anna. In the published comic we get a vague sense of what this character looked like, but Anna really fleshed him out and gave him more defined facial features. I really like his beard and mustache.

Baku # 1 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

Sorry for being quiet for the last week or so. Things were pretty crazy around here for the holidays and I just found myself without enough time to post...sorry. It won't happen again (I hope). We have a lot of exciting characters to showcase in 2015 and I hope you'll enjoy them!!!

The first character of the year is one of the Baku from the Amano Dream Hunters book...

As the Fox journeys into The Dreaming she encounters Dream as a large black fox.

She stands before the Dream Lord and stares across the wasteland. She sees a group of Baku grazing. The fox knew that if a dreamer wakes from a dream of ill-omen they could invoke the Baku in hopes that they would eat the dreams and prevent the events the dream foretold.

The Fox asked Dream if she were to catch a Baku after it consumed a dream what would happen. Dream replies that the Baku and crafty and hard to catch and if they are caught they are harder to contain.

This is one of the Baku.

It appears in The Dream Hunters on pages 34-35.

Max did an excellent job with this portrait. I like the line work on this character, creating the fur. Each line looks intentionally placed and is perfect. The muted blues also work really well with this character and the background is a nice contrast. I really like this portrait from Max.

I hope that you all have a great 2015!!!