An obsessive collection of portraits from the Sandman comic series.
She is in Sandman # 4, page 15, panel 3. She is sitting with her back to the reader wearing a white tank top and jean shorts.
I really like how Scott envisioned this character. Since we, the readers, cannot see her face, Scott has given us his vision of this demon and it’s wonderful!!!
In “Tales In The Sand” (Sandman # 9) we learn the story of Nada and her ill-fated relationship with The King Of Dreams.
Nada was the queen of a great city and incredibly beautiful, but at the age of sixteen she was still not married, which troubled some of the women of her tribe. One evening a stranger entered the city and stood on the street looking up at the queen’s tower and when she looked out her window and saw him she was immediately in love.
She ordered the men of the tribe to find the stranger and when they failed she asked for the help of the King Of Birds in locating this man. It was the Weavebird who told Nada how to find the stranger (by eating a flaming berry from the sun-tree) and Nada found herself at a palace and it was then that she discovered that the stranger was none other than Kai’Ckul, the Dream King.
Nada ran in fear, knowing that no mortal can ever love one of The Endless, but Dream pursued her. Dream asked Nada to be his queen, but Nada said no, because “love is no part of the dream-world.” (Gaiman, Sandman # 9, page14, panel 5) Nada fled again, but Dream followed her unrelenting and when he caught up with her he once again expressed his love for her. They made love that night and “every living thing that could dream dreamed of love.” (Gaiman, Sandman # 9, page 16, panel 6)
When the sun rose, it saw Nada and Kai’Ckul together and as a consequence of their union, a ball of fire fell from the sun and destroyed Nada’s city. She blamed herself for the destruction of her city and so she leapt from the edge of the cliff, killing herself.
As Nada arrived in the land of the dead she discovered the King Of Dreams waiting for her and he offered his love to her one final time. He told her that she would forever be his queen, but if she refused she would be condemned to eternal pain.
While this story does not tell us what Nada’s decision was, we know from his encounter with her in Sandman # 4 that she once again rejected his advances and he sent her to Hell.
In the Prologue to Season Of Mists (Sandman # 21) Destiny calls together the family for a meeting and it is at this point that Dream discovers that he may have been a bit childish in sending Nada to Hell. Dream then decides to go into Hell once more and rescue Nada, even if it means a war with Lucifer.
When Dream returns to Hell he discovers that it’s empty and that Lucifer has released everyone. His final actions as the ruler of Hell is to give the Key To Hell to Dream.
After returning to the Dreaming, Emissaries from various nations come to Dream’s palace and appeal to him to allow them to become the new rulers of Hell. One of these groups of emissaries includes Azazel, The Merkin and Choronzon, one time inhabitants of Hell. Azazel offers Dream the demon Choronzon (who had once stolen Dream’s helmet) as well as the soul of Nada in exchange for the Key To Hell. Azazel threatened to devour Nada’s soul if they key did not end up in the possession of the demon.
When the final decision was made regarding the ownership of Hell, Azazel furious about Dream’s decision once again threatened to destroy Nada’s soul and Dream entered Azazel and rescued both Choronzon and Nada and then imprisoned Azazel in a glass bottle.
Once the emissaries left, Dream went to Nada and apologized to her for acting immaturely and for acting heartless and foolish and unfair to her. Dream once again offered Nada a place in his palace…a chance to be his queen, but once again Nada declined.
Dream enabled Nada’s soul to be reborn in a human child. She would never know that Dream loved her although he did tell her that she would always be welcome in the Dreaming regardless of what body she wore.
Here is Nada…both a rough pencil sketch and the finished painted portrait....
He cut the gold earring off of Orpheus’s head as a payment to the people of France.
Later, Orpheus tells Johanna that the earring will bring Guillaume nothing but misery.
Guillaume appears in “Thermidor” (Sandman # 29) on pages 2-4.
I am really struck with Scott’s interpretation of this character. It’s simple, but there’s something about it that really makes it stand out as being one of my favorite portraits he’s given me lately.
Here is Kubilai Kahn’s Priest…
Ixion was king of the Lapiths (who resided in a city called Thessaly on Mount Pelion), who killed his father-in-law (by throwing him on a bed of burning coals) and was apparently insane.
Zeus took pity on Ixion and invited him to Olympus, but Ixion was lustful for Hera. Ixion made a could shaped like Hera and Zeus tricked him into having sex with the cloud (how, I have no idea) and their union brought about the birth of Centauros (the father or Centaurs and are sometimes called Ixionidae).
Ixion was banished from Olympus by Zeus and commanded Hermes to bind Ixion to a fiery wheel that was always spinning.
In “The Song Of Orpheus” when Orpheus travels down to the Underworld and sings a song in hopes of rescuing his bride Eurydice, Ixion’s wheel stops spinning for a moment as his song touches everyone who can hear his voice.
Ixion appears in only one panel of The Song Of Orpheus. He appears in The Sandman Special # 1 on page 34, panel 2. This story appears in the Fables And Reflections trade paperback.
On the night, Haroun al Raschid was feeling melancholy, Jafar suggested that they disguise themselves and wander through the city looking for adventure. His king rejected the offer, to which Jafar suggested listening to the storytellers tell strange tales, but once again Haroun al Raschid said no and that he wanted to be alone.
Jafar The Barmakid appears in Ramadan (Sandman # 50) on page 9.
The biggest announcement so far (at least in my opinion) is the new Sandman limited series, which will be released in November 2013!!!
So far we don't have many details. It will, of course, be written by Neil Gaiman and will feature the art of J.H. Williams III. He's a fantastic artist and I'm very excited to see what he brings to the Sandman saga. The series is supposed to be a six issue limited series and it takes place prior to Sandman # 1 (but during a single panel in Brief Lives...Sandman # 47, page 14, panel 1).
Here is a link to a video where Neil announces the project.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=39721
And yes...we will be including the new characters from this book into our Portraits series...
