Dead Man # 25 (illustrated by Joelle Jones)

In The Sandman Special # 1, Orpheus journeys to the Underworld to rescue his recently deceased wife. As he enters the throne room of Lord Hades and Queen Persephone he encounters a large group 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 5.

Joelle did a great job with this portrait. The contrast between the blackness of the background and the stark whiteness of the dead man is intense and makes the character pop. I really like the blankness in his eyes.

Franklin (illustrated by Anna Hybsier)

After Dream regains his tools of office he took the opportunity to sit in the park and feed the pigeons. In this park, Franklin and some friends were paying soccer. At one point he accidentally kicked his ball toward Dream, who caught it and gave it back to him.

When Death joined her brother, Franklin once again accidentally kicked his ball in her direction, perhaps as an excuse to ask her out on a date. She accepted saying “Sure, Franklin. You’ll see me again soon.” He was baffled how she knew his name.

Dream spent the day with Death and at the end of the day they return to the park. Franklin was talking to his friends about Death and the ball flew over Franklin’s head and he ran into the street and was hit by a car and died instantly.

Franklin saw Death again and they talked for a few moments before she walks him over to the car and tells him that there’s “something you maybe oughta see.”

Franklin appears in Sandman # 8.

Anna did a fantastic job with this portrait. I like his happy and carefree expression. It really fits well with this character in the published comic.

Actor Playing A Werewolf (illustrated by Lars Brown)

In Preludes And Nocturnes, as John Dee begins to use Dream’s ruby to assert his control over reality, the customers at a small diner in Mayhew are the first to feel the effects of the chaos.

As time passes and the customers of the diner begin to feel the influence of John Dee’s will, they become violent or overly sexual acting out things that they may have only experienced in their dreams or nightmares.

John Dee, at one point, forces two of the men in the restaurant to fight. Garry and Mark begin fighting in the crowded diner. In the background a monster movie is playing on the television.

This man is the actor who plays the werewolf in the movie being broadcast on television.

Based on the dialogue from the movie, this seems like it may be the 1941 Wolfman movie released by Universal Pictures. If this is the case then this actor is Lon Chaney. The thing is…this werewolf is does not look like the Wolfman from the 1941 movie. This comic was published in June 1989. From 1988-1989 there was an American tv show called Werewolf that was basically about a college student who succumbed to the curse of the werewolf and his quest to lift the curse. If the show on tv is Werewolf the actor may be John J. York. The image of the werewolf on the tv screen seems to fit that show and the time frame works, but I cannot say if that exact line appears in the television show since I have not seen this show since it was originally broadcast and it's not available on dvd.

This character appears in Sandman # 6 on page 19 in panel 6.

Lars did a fantastic job with this portrait. I love his depiction of the werewolf and the details he added to the character. I also really like that he used the television as a framework for this portrait. It’s a nice touch and makes me smile when I see it in context with this character.

Witch # 2 (illustrated by Anna Hybsier)

After deciding that he was too afraid to continue the production of his play Typhoid Mary Blues, Todd Faber falls asleep and dreams of climbing a tall rock face. Upon reaching the top he encounters Dream of The Endless.

Todd, realizing that he is in a dream and recounts, to the King of Dreams, a nightmare he had when he was five or six. He tells Morpheus that in his dream he was trapped in a house full of witches and to escape he climbed onto the roof of the house. The roof then tilted and he fell off. He knew that if he hit the ground he would die and he pulled himself out of the dream because he didn’t know how to wake himself up. Dream gives Todd some advice and tells him that there is an alternative to dying if he falls.

This Witch is one of the witches from Todd’s nightmare.

This Witch appears in Fear Of Falling (originally published in Vertigo Preview # 1 on page 5.

This witch is frightening and it’s easy to see why Todd might be afraid of her. Anna did an excellent job making this character scary, someone any six year old would be horrified to meet, even in a dream.

Dignitary # 46 (illustrated by Lukas Ketner)

Dream and his lover, Killalla Of The Glow, travel to the palace to attend the parliament concerning zones of responsibility and the merits of obligation for creation.

This Dignitary is one of many who gathered at the palace.

He appears in the background in Endless Nights, in the story, The Heart Of The Star, on page 7 in panel 1.

I really like this portrait for a variety of reasons. Lukas did an awesome job bringing this character, which is no more than a colored shape in the published comic, to life. You can see a definite personality that was formed as Lukas drew this character. One thing that I really like is that Lukas’ portrait makes me want to know more about this obscure character. Who does he represent and why is he at the parliament? We will never know, but he certainly feels like he has a story waiting to be discovered.

Babylonian Woman # 4 (illustrated by John Carmine)

Tiffany and Ishtar meet Nancy outside the strip, Suffragette City, where they work as dancers. They get into a conversation about dancing versus prostitution.

Nancy tells them about temple prostitution. Every Babylonian woman went into the Temple Of Ishtar and waited for a man to come to them. They would give them a coin and the women would go into one of the temple rooms and make love to them. Once they had made love, they were free to leave the temple and begin their lives.

Ishtar commented that that after awhile this ritual began to decay and fall to the wayside. She considered this ritual to be one of the most important and terrifying rituals of the civilization for both men and women because they were to give themselves up to lust and previously unknown pleasures.

This woman is one of the Babylonian women waiting in the temple courtyard.

This Babylonian Woman appears in Sandman # 44, page 12, panel 6.

I love this portrait from John. I enjoy how John draws women and this is no exception. I like the sideways glance that this character is doing and I like the colors used in this portrait. I can’t quite make out the expression on her face and perhaps that is one of the things that really draws me into this portrait.

Here is a beautiful portrait of one of the Babylonian Women…

Cat # 25 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

Sorry for disappearing for the week. It's been a crazy busy week and I kept trying to find the time to post new characters and failed. I'm feeling a little more caught up and so I'll be more consistent....

In Dream Of A Thousand Cats, a wise storyteller cat recalls her encounter with Dream and the tale he imparted to her.

He told her that once cats ruled the world and humans were subservient to them. One day a Golden Haired Man told his fellow humans that if they dreamed of an existence where humans were no longer hunted and killed by cats it would be so because “Dreams shape the world.”

In time enough humans had this dream and the next day the world changed and cats were no longer dominant.

This cat is one of the cats in the Storyteller cat’s tale. He appears in Sandman # 18, on page 18, in panel 3.

Max modeled this cat after his brother’s cat, named Toby. This is a fantastic portrait. I love the colors and the realistic nature of the cat’s fur. I really like this portrait!!!