Movie Premier Guest # 33 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

Foxglove attends the A Day In The Park movie premier. She has a song on the soundtrack and is a guest at the premiere.

This woman is one of the guests at the movie premiere. She is sitting in the row in front of Foxglove and is mostly off panel.

She appears in Death: The Time Of Your Life # 2, on page 2 in panel 2.

In the published comic, I thought that this character was a man based on his hair, but Lars interpreted the character as a woman. I really like this portrait. I like the expression on her face. She seems to be enraptured with the movie, which oddly seems appropriate based on how Lars drew her and Foxglove’s comments about the movie.

Aurelian Citizen # 18 (illustrated by Andy Fish)

Cluracan is sent, by Queen Titania, to Aurelia to prevent an alliance between the numerous Plains.

He recalled Aurelia as being one of the greatest cities of the Plains. It was a city of influence and class. It has magnificent palaces and grand temples. The city has wide streets and fountains surrounded by green parks and beautifully carved marble statues. It was a glorious city to visit.

Unfortunately when Cluracan returns many years later the city is not quite as glorious as he remembered.

This man is standing on the steps of one of the temples, in Cluracan’s recollection of the beauty of the city.

He appears in Sandman # 52, on page 3, in panel 1.

Nancy Cromstock (illustrated by Max Rugers)

In 1939, Roderick Burgess invited a host of guests to one of his grand parties at Fawney Rig.

Nancy Cromstock was one of the people invited to the party.

When she received the invitation, she clutched the paper in her hand as she furiously masturbated with the other hand, the idea of snakes slithering through her mind.

At the party she has the opportunity to meet many of the other guests. She speaks to Randall Murphy, the renowned artist, about possibly painting a priestess of Isis with a very big boa constrictor. It is likely that her idea is sexual in nature given that Murphy says something rude to Nancy, causing her to complain about him to one of the other guests.

Later, she encounters Wesley Dodds and speaks to him about the serpent from the Bible being seen as the bringer of life and not a tempter, as it is usually depicted. When the party is over, Nancy Cromstock, and the other guests, retire to rooms within the estate.

Nancy dreams that her fingers have been transformed into tiny snakes and when she wakes up she realizes that she cannot feel her hands, but can hear her fingers sliding underneath the sheets, away from her.

Nothing else is known about Nancy Cromstock. I find her to be an interesting character and I would love to see her story revisited at some point.

She appears throughout Sandman Midnight Theatre.

I really like Max’s portrait for Nancy. I think that perhaps his interpretation of the character makes her more interesting to me than her depiction in the published comic. Max made Nancy pretty and somewhat elegant. I love how he positioned her body. There is something quite beautiful about how the lines flow to make up her body. I also really like her lips and and the line work that builds her face. The textured background is also a really nice touch and I think it really makes the portrait stand out.

Here is Nancy Cromstock…

Wierdzo Surgeon # 2 (illustrated by Kai Martin)

In A Game Of You, Wanda, a pre-operative transsexual, has a dream, influenced by a minion of The Cuckoo, in which she enacts her fear of having her sexual reassignment surgery. The surgeons in this dream are comic book characters from her childhood.

This Weirdzo Surgeon is one of the people that appear in her dream. He is holding a large hammer, which is very dreamlike, but not very practical when it comes to surgery.

He appears in Sandman # 33, page 13, panel 3.

Police Officer # 9 (illustrated by Te’Shawn Dwyer)

In Endless Nights, we get a glimpse at Despair in her 15 Portraits story.

There is a man who was hurt in an accident and was forced to move into a trailer at the edge of town.

A stray cat wanted to the trailer and the man put down a saucer of milk for the cat.

Over time sixty or seventy cats are living with him in the trailer. They are his family.

One day the man leaves to take a job as a farm hand and is unable to return to feed the cats.

This police officer comes to the farm and speaks to the man, telling him that maybe only five of the cats were somehow still alive, while sixty, maybe more were found partially eaten inside the trailer.

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

This police officer appears in Endless Nights on page 85, which is the 6th page of the Despair Story.

Baku # 14 (illustrated by Carl Sciacchitano)

After discovering the plans of the Onmyoji, the Fox took a jade dragon and threw it into the ocean as an offering to the King Of Dreams. That evening as the Fox slept she visited The Dreaming and found herself standing before The Dream King.

The Fox asked Dream what were the creatures she noticed in the distance. Dream told her that they were Baku, the dream eaters.

The Fox had heard of the Baku. If a Dreamer wakes of a nightmare or a dream of ill-omen, the Dreamer may call upon the Baku to eat the dream and all that it foretells away.

She asks what would happen if she caught one of the Backu after it had consumed a dream.

The King Of Dreams responded with silence.

This is one of the Baku that grazes in the distant regions of The Dreaming.

The Baku appear in the P. Craig Russel version of Dream Hunters…in issue # 1, on page 33, in panel 5.

Man # 130 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

In November 1930, Ruthven Sykes, the second in command of the Order Of Ancient Mysteries and Ethel Cripps, the mistress of Roderick Burgess, run away together. They take a ship to America to start a life together outside of the watchful eye of the Magus.

This man is standing at the counter in the ship station, probably buying passage to America along with Sykes and his mistress.

He appears in Sandman # 1 on page 16 in panel 2.

This is a fantastic portrait from Max. This man has a very distinctive feel that he is from the 1930’s and hoping to find a better life in America. There is a sadness in his eyes that I am impressed with. Max definitely captured some real emotions in this portrait!

Here is Man # 130…