Neil Gaiman's the Sandman

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Andrea Goldbergerová

Themes as Characters: Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman Bachelor‟s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Michael Matthew Kaylor, Ph. D.

2011

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Author‟s signature

Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor Michael Matthew Kaylor, Ph.D. for his kind and valuable advice, and for suggesting this topic to me in the first place.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………….……..5

2. Comics as a Narrative Medium……………………………………………….………7

2.1 Defining Comics…………………………………………………….……….7

2.2 Vocabulary of Comics………………………………………………….…..14

2.2.1 Panels, Closure, and the “Gutter”…………………………….…..14

2.2.2 Word Balloons and Lettering…………………………….….……15

3. The Sandman: Analysis of the Endless……………………………………….……...16

3.1 Characterization and Visual Depiction of the Endless…………………..…18

3.1.1 Dream……………………………………………………………..18

3.1.2 Death……………………………………………………………...24

3.1.3 Destiny……………………………………………………………27

3.1.4 Destruction………………………………………………………..28

3.1.5 Desire……………………………………………………………..30

3.1.6 Despair…………………………………………………………....31

3.1.7 Delirium………………………………………………………..…32

3.2 Themes as Characters: Analyses of Endless-Centered Stories……….….…33

3.2.1 “The Sound of Her Wings”………………………………...….….33

3.2.2 The Wake……………………………………………………....….35

4. Portraying Personifications in Comics…………………………………………...... 38

5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...43

6. Works Cited………………………………………………………………………….44

7. Résumés……………………………………………………………………………...46

1. Introduction

As a boy growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s, Neil Gaiman1 had already been an avid reader – having taught himself to read at the age of three – when he discovered the medium of comics. This discovery would soon turn into an addiction, and addiction into an ambition. When his dream of becoming a professional comic writer was brushed off as a teenage whim by a career counselor, he swore off comic books until the mid-1980s. In the meantime, he decided not to give up on writing and, after having no luck with selling his fiction, he launched his professional writing career as a journalist, primarily working for men‟s magazines.

In 1984, he began reading Alan Moore‟s monthly comic, The Swamp Thing which made him fall in love with the medium all over again. He then befriended Moore who also taught him how to write a comic script. The understanding of the process enabled Gaiman to attempt writing scripts of his own but he would not publish anything until meeting his future friend and collaborator, illustrator Dave McKean (who would later design the cover to every issue of The Sandman). Their first assignment together was to make a five-page comics strip for Escape magazine which would, however, turn into their first graphic novel: Violent Cases. Eventually, the two of them started working for DC Comics, writing and drawing a three-part miniseries Black Orchid based on an obscure female superhero from a 1970s comic. It was at this time that Gaiman started considering a different type of a character: one that would be open to many possibilities and experimentation. He pitched his idea of writing a story using the 1970s character

Sandman to Karen Berger, a DC Comics editor. Since the editorship of DC Comics was uncertain whether Black Orchid would sell – for neither the authors nor the character were particularly well-known – Berger proposed that Gaiman should first start writing a

1 All biographical information was taken from The Sandman Companion (pp. 12-24).

5 monthly comic, while McKean was assigned to illustrate a Batman graphic novel,

Arkham Asylum, thus ensuring that both of them would get the needed name recognition. In the end, this was not necessary, but Gaiman started working on his monthly comic nevertheless. Owing to the fact that another writer was already using the

Sandman from the 1970s, Gaiman was granted permission to create a completely new, original character with the same name and thus The Sandman was born.

Gaiman‟s Sandman is, unlike its 1970s equivalent who fought crime using sleeping gas, a personification of dreams themselves and a ruler over the domain of dreaming. The Sandman – who is also known as Dream, Morpheus and a variety of other aliases – was gradually given a family of other immortals ruling over their own domains: Destiny, Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium. The series, however, does not only concentrate on Dream and his brothers and sisters; The

Sandman features a wide range of characters: some were based on actual historical figures (including William Shakespeare or Maximilien Robespierre); others depict mythological figures, classic superheroes and an assortment of less known characters from various DC comics. Still others are unique to Gaiman‟s fictional universe. With that in mind, it is necessary to note that the characters and multiple storylines are interconnected in ways that are often hard to anticipate or decipher at first reading. In a way, The Sandman is not only the story of the Sandman himself; the stories are the sole focus of the series. The Endless function as catalysts which bring things about and as constants which install a very particular – and peculiar – kind of order in the Universe.

The main objective of this thesis is to prove that the medium of comics is ideal for the portrayal of personification. The first chapter will lay out the theoretical basis of the thesis by presenting an overview of the attempts to define comics, as well as a brief analysis of the main elements of its structure. The following chapter will deal with the

6 characters themselves in two ways: firstly by summarizing their characteristics; secondly by explaining their function within the story through the analysis of two concrete stories (or rather, of a story and a separate story arc) that concentrate on the relationships and interactions between the Endless, and which demonstrate how they not only rule their domains, but are also ruled by them. In other words, how they are presented both as characters and as the themes (or concepts) they personify. The last chapter will encapsulate and elaborate on what has been written in the preceding parts of the thesis.

2. Comics as a Narrative Medium

2.1 Defining Comics

“Comics” may seem as a rather simple term to define. As it turns out, however, it is a word that is both familiar and alien: familiar to the millions of people who have become acquainted with the medium at some point in their lives; alien to those who never dared to venture beyond the comic strips in periodicals or series starring their childhood heroes, as well as those who view and treat comics with prejudice. While there may be an understanding – albeit not a universal one because there is no universal way of experiencing and exploring the medium – of what a comic is, putting this knowledge in actual words may prove to be a little more difficult. This is easily illustrated by a quick journey into the heart of comic criticism and theory.

Coulton Waugh was among the first people to deal with comics critically. In his

1947 book, simply titled The Comics, he asserts that a comic usually consists of the following three elements: “(1) a continuing character who becomes the reader‟s dear friend, whom he looks forward to meeting day after day or Sunday after Sunday; (2) a sequence of pictures, which may be funny or thrilling, complete in themselves or part of a longer story; (3) speech in the drawing usually in blocks of lettering surrounded by

“balloon” lines” (14). Harvey elaborates on this definition by pointing out that the very first element – that of a continuing character – was added by Waugh “under false pretenses . . . to eliminate anything that came along before the Yellow Kid2” (“Defining

Comics Again”). The latter part of the definition would, however, come to serve as the basis for other, less outdated descriptions of the medium.

One such definition was conceived by Will Eisner – a comic writer and theoretician – in the introduction to his Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative.

2 The Yellow Kid was the lead character of a late 1890s American comic strip, “Hogan‟s Alley.”

According to him a comic is “a form of sequential art, often in the form of a strip or a book, in which images and text are arranged to tell a story” (xvii). The coinage of the term “sequential art” is especially important because it is this particular term that another comic theoretician, Scott McCloud, uses as the basis of his own definition. In his seminal work, Understanding Comics, McCloud analyzes the medium and, in doing so, attempts to provide convincing arguments that are meant to aid in erasing the borders that have separated comics from public discourse. He suggests a rewording of

Eisner‟s definition, in which he describes comics as a hybrid medium consisting of

“juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer” (9). He elaborates on this definition by including forms which are sequential in their nature, but are nevertheless not considered comics (e.g. instructional diagrams). He also notes that single panels – or “cartoons” – are not comics because there is “no such thing as a sequence of one” (20). He admits that there is a connection between comics and cartoons because both “[juxtapose] words and pictures” (21). But as he has already made clear in his definition above, the linguistic element of comics is not essential to him. McCloud‟s primary understanding of the term “comics” leaves out most of the elements which are typically associated with the medium. It is not so much that he completely disregards them; in fact, he continues his mock dictionary entry by adding the following three alternative definitions: “2. Superheroes in bright, colorful costumes, fighting dastardly villains who want to conquer the world, in violent sensational pulse- pounding action sequences! 3. Cute, cuddly bunnies, mice and rolypoly bears, dancing to and fro, Hippity Hop, Hippity Hop. 4. Corruptor of our Nation‟s Youth” (9). This inclusion is, however, meant to be purely humorous, as Dylan Horrocks observes in his essay “Inventing Comics: Scott McCloud‟s Definition of Comics.”

What McCloud achieves by concentrating on the form of comics is the gradual erasure of limits that have been imposed on the medium. In other words, it becomes clear that there is no single way of writing a comic. Instead, McCloud alludes to the fact that there exists a variety of different approaches comic artists might use and of objectives they might have. This includes – but is not limited to – choosing the appropriate length of the work in question, its subject, its artistic modes, and so forth. A comic can be presented in numerous ways: in a periodical, as an episodic series, a graphic novel or even a web comic. It can be entirely fictional, or a work of non-fiction.

There is also no limit to the number of people participating in the creative process, although Eisner argued that “in a perfect (or pure) configuration the writer and the artist should be embodied in the same person. The writing (or the writer) should be in control to the very end” (Comics and Sequential Art 172).

Since the early 1990s, Understanding Comics has attracted a great number of comic writers and readers – even becoming a sort of gospel to them – some of whom include the aforementioned R. C. Harvey and Dylan Horrocks who examine various issues in McCloud‟s book. Horrocks expresses how influential the work was to him precisely because, as he puts it, McCloud “argues persuasively for comics‟ limitless potential – that they needn‟t be restricted by any particular styles, formats, subject matter or media” (Inventing Comics 6). One does not need to look further than

McCloud‟s book to see that this is an accurate statement: after all, McCloud utilizes the medium of comics to show just how versatile it is; every visual metaphor and employment of various techniques that would not work as easily in written text drive his point home and prove the lack of limits he argues for. At the same time, Horrocks realizes that McCloud‟s definition is not without a fault. The problematic part of

McCloud‟s theory is that he creates his own version of the history of comics by

“employing a handy old dichotomy: form vs. content” (Horrocks 2). To get his point across more succinctly, McCloud uses the metaphor of “form as vessel” and, by doing so, symbolically separates one half of the dichotomy from the other: the form from the content. He even warns his reader not to “mistake the message from the messenger”

(Understanding Comics 6). Horrocks observes that McCloud “has removed all other considerations – genre, style, publishing formats; in short, the whole embarrassing history of comics – and focused our attention on their pure, shiny form … [w]hich is an equal sister to such respected media as the written word, music and visual art” (2).

McCloud makes it clear that he wants to elevate comics‟ status in respect to other media. He does this by revisiting various time periods, in which the ostensibly purer, pictorial way of conveying a message prevailed over more straightforward, written representations of spoken language, or in which the two cooperated on some level – just like they typically3 do in comics.

Among McCloud‟s examples of the ancestors of contemporary sequential art are

Egyptian paintings4, the Bayeux Tapestry, the so-called “Ocelot‟s Claw,” the early results of the re-discovery of printing (10-16) and finally, the work of a man whom

McCloud calls the “father of comics” (17): Rodolphe Töpffer. From Töpffer onward, the medium of comics truly starts to take shape. This does not mean that the precise beginning of the history of comics can be pinpointed this concretely and easily. Nor

3 “Typically” meaning that while it is necessary for a comic to have a graphic element, words are mainly added to describe that is not obvious or to imitate sounds (by employing word balloons and sound effects). Some comics, therefore, might not actually contain any elements of written language. This may impact the intelligibility of the images significantly (and, needless to say, negatively), as there are no linguistic elements preventing possible ambiguity.

4 Egyptian paintings – rather than the hieroglyphics which were the “descendents of written word and not comics” (McCloud, Understanding Comics 13) because the glyphs “[represented] sounds, not unlike our own alphabet” (12).

11 does this imply that the history of the medium proposed by McCloud is entirely erroneous, for every early example of sequential art has possibly contributed to the creation of the form of comics that people are familiar with today. What is erroneous about McCloud‟s take on the evolution of the medium is the fact that he essentially treats the artworks he uses to support his thesis as comics themselves. R. C. Harvey points out this error when he writes that “there are stories, narratives. There are verbal narratives (epic poems, novels), and there are pictorial narratives. . . In my view, comics are a sub-set of pictorial narrative; therefore, all comics are pictorial narratives, but not all pictorial narratives are comics” (“Defining Comics Again”). In other words, the

Bayeux Tapestry can be seen as a predecessor of the comic form, but not as an example of it; it does tell a tale and the narrative itself is conveyed in a pictorial form, but it is not a comic. However, it should be noted that while McCloud may not be right in his treatment of the artworks mentioned above, the mere fact that he tries to prove the potential cultural significance of comics in respect to a hypothetical larger whole (i.e.

Harvey‟s “pictorial narrative”) gives the medium an advantage of being seen as the next step on the evolutionary ladder of a specific cultural expression (the pictorial narrative) that has been present for several millennia.

The true flaw in McCloud‟s analysis lies in his view that the visual component is the most important element of comics. The specific form of comics differentiates it from literature, or from other graphic or sequential art. It has already been mentioned that comics do not have to contain any written language per se. On the other hand,

Harvey observes that some works are subjected to critique because they “[describe] key dramatic events with words rather than [show] them with pictures” or that they are not

“dominated by [pictorial narrative]” (“Defining Comics Again”). He states that “[t]he thing that comics do that no other graphic art does is to weave word and picture together

12 to achieve a narrative purpose. Comics are a blend of word and picture – not a simple coupling of the verbal and the visual, but a blend, a true mixture” (The Art of the

Funnies 9). No definition mentioned in this subchapter determines the ratio of words to pictures. It is entirely up to the author to choose their particular blend of “the verbal and the visual.” In addition to that, while some comics may not require any verbal narration, most would not be fully comprehensible without at least a hint of it. Film may work without sound but it is fairly rare to see a silent motion picture without intertitles explaining the situation or expanding on it by adding “dialogue”. Similarly, a comic conveys its message more effectively if it contains separate panels or word balloons that ideally provide information that is not clear from the pictures themselves.

To summarize, defining comics is an overwhelmingly problematic task which has been undertaken by many but unfortunately, has not been successfully resolved thus far. While most definitions focus heavily on the sequentiality present in comics, others also point out the marriage of words and pictures as one of its defining elements. At the same time, there is an important issue to be considered. If a concrete work contains all the necessary elements to be considered a comic, is there any addendum that would prevent certain types of narratives (such as children‟s stories which contain both pictures and words) from being included in the category of comics? The answer to this most likely lies in the dependability of words on pictures and vice versa, which Harvey alludes to in “Defining Comics Again.” A comic, therefore, may include panels in which either the verbal or the visual element is redundant to a certain extent, but most of the time, the two units should be put together in order to complete one another.

2.2 Vocabulary of Comics

2.2.1 Panels, Closure, and the “Gutter”

A comic is, first and foremost, composed of panels. According to Markstein, a panel is “an individual picture” and – unless it is a cartoon – it is a part of a sequence.

The reading order of these panels is, as Neil Cohn writes, similar to the culturally standardized way of reading texts: “… [R]eading order in English blocks text in horizontal rows, and runs left-to-right and downward (a “Z-path”), while Japanese uses the opposite. . .” (2) However, he also notes that “comic pages often use far more complicated arrays in their layout” (2). To ensure that the text is read in the order necessary to easily understand the content, comic artists sometimes either numbered the panels or they used so-called “trails” (McCloud, “I Can‟t Stop Thinking!”) which literally serve as connectors between panels. This is far less common in modern comics; as a consequence, while the artist is free to experiment with the form, the ability to easily follow the narration is jeopardized if the layout of the comic is too confusing.

Another element that is part of the structure of comics is closure. This refers to the “phenomenon of observing the parts but perceiving the whole” (McCloud,

Understanding Comics 63). McCloud specifies that closure as such is part of our daily lives; the type of closure that is more relevant to the comics is the kind which is used to

“produce suspense or challenge audiences” (63). If two or more panels utilizing seemingly non-related imagery are juxtaposed with one another into a sequence, the spaces between the panels are what McCloud refers to as the “gutter” (66). “The gutter” is essentially the blank space in which certain events are supposed to have taken place; the readers are forced to use their imagination to complete the sequence.

2.2.2 Word Balloons and Lettering

Markstein‟s glossary defines a word balloon as “the area in which a comic character‟s speech appears, usually with a “tail” pointing to the one speaking.” Word balloons are one of the most essential elements of comic storytelling. Imagery provides the setting, shows the characters, and depicts various situations; word balloons and captions (i.e. the space on top or within a panel which narrates the scene) elaborate on them and explain what is not apparent from the visual half of the narrative. They may take on various forms in order to visually represent the type of speech being employed; speech either reflects the tone of the character‟s voice (regular, loud, a whisper) or their emotions.

Another element which is necessary to discuss in relation to word balloons is lettering. In Comics and Sequential Art, Eisner writes that lettering “treated

„graphically‟ and in the service of the story, functions as an extension of the imagery. . .

[I]t provides the mood, a narrative bridge, and the implication of sound” (10). This is especially useful when dealing with stories like The Sandman, in which it is used to differentiate characters from one another – and from other subsets of characters (in The

Sandman, these subset exist mostly as dichotomies: mortal vs. immortal, regular vs. supernatural beings, and so forth). The lettering may, therefore, become an integral part of the storytelling – even though it should be noted that most often, the lettering is standardized and changes very little.

3. The Sandman: Analysis of the Endless

The seventy-five issues of which The Sandman is primarily composed can be essentially divided into ten units which have been collected into separate “graphic novels.” Most of these volumes – or graphic novels – consist of a single, main narrative which, to some extent, is able to exist independently from the main story, but is also a vital part of it. Four volumes – Dream Country, Fables and Reflections, Worlds’ End, and the latter half of The Wake – are collections of stories and stand outside the main arc; at the same time, however, they comment on the events in the volumes preceding them, and explain or elaborate on certain elements of the story. An additional volume titled Endless Nights is part of the canon and will also be referred to in this thesis.

The main protagonists, the Endless, appear in nearly every story, with Dream being the key character and the primary focus of the series as a whole. Although he does not appear in every issue – and even when he does, his role in some chapters or issues is very brief, cameo-like – his story evolves not only within the confines of his own narrative, but within every tale and every dream that takes place in the series. He is, after all, the personification of the imaginary, the fictional; of stories and storytelling.

The series‟ main plotline begins in 1916 when an occultist Roderick Burgess attempts to invoke Death but ends up summoning her younger brother, Dream. Sensing his opportunity, Burgess decides not to free him; instead, he places Dream (also commonly referred to as Morpheus, or the Sandman) into a glass cell which is meant to

“imprison [Dream‟s] material aspect” (i.e. his body) and he draws a circle around it to

“[trap] [Dream] incorporeally” (Preludes and Nocturnes 12), while also taking away his tools: a helm, a pouch of sand, and a ruby moonstone. This causes the sleepers and dreamers around the world to fall prey to “sleepy sickness” which manifests itself in

16 different ways: some do not wake up at all, whereas others find themselves unable to fall asleep. Dream is kept prisoner for seventy-two years – first by Burgess himself, then by his son – until a mistake on his captor‟s part allows him to escape. This experience affects Morpheus immensely, and sets off a chain of events that ultimately lead to his death. With that in mind, it should be noted that this is in no way Dream‟s actual end. To paraphrase Cain, one of the inhabitants of the Dreaming: an idea or a personification of an action cannot be killed (The Wake 44). At Morpheus‟ wake,

Destiny eulogizes his late brother by declaring that the mourners gathered there to “pay

[their] respects, and then … to forget him” (The Wake 71). Concurrently, Dream‟s new aspect, Daniel, has already assumed his role as the lord of his realm.

The lengthy process which eventually leads to Morpheus‟ death begins to unfold within the multiple story arcs. If the story is analyzed chronologically – starting long before his imprisonment – the main event that eventually leads to his death and the transformation from one aspect (Morpheus) to another (Daniel) starts with his son

Orpheus who decides to go to the Underworld to seek his love Eurydice who has died on the day of their wedding. This leads to a series of events, of which the five most crucial ones include (1) the Sandman‟s conflict with Desire who swears it will make him “spill family blood” and that it will consequently bring “the Kindly Ones down on his blasted head” (Fables and Reflections 21); (2) Dream‟s capture, his escape and the following quest for his stolen tools depicted in Preludes and Nocturnes; (3) the discovery of the so-called “dream vortex” in The Doll’s House – i.e. Rose Walker – and the introduction to her family – including her brother Jed, in whose dreams resides

Hippolyta Hall, along with her unborn child and dead husband; (4) Dream‟s decision to assist Delirium in her search for their long lost brother in Brief Lives, which also brings

17 about Morpheus‟ murder of his own son, Orpheus; (5) Hippolyta‟s desire for revenge when her son Daniel gets kidnapped in The Kindly Ones.

Summarizing the many storylines would take up too much space and since this thesis concentrates on personifications depicted by the Endless, the goal of this chapter is firstly to provide a descriptive analysis of the seven characters, along with visual aids in the form of specific panels from the series. Due to their prominence in the series,

Dream and Death will be the first characters to be analyzed; the other Endless will be listed by their given age (i.e. beginning with Destiny, and ending with Delirium).

3.1 Characterization and Visual Depiction of the Endless

3.1.1 Dream

Being the personification of dreams and stories, it is no surprise that the

Sandman is a multi-faceted and complex character. His anthropomorphic representation is only a fragment of his whole being which also consists of his realm – the Dreaming – and all its subjects. On the one hand, he is an ever-changing character, who has a

“virtual army of names” (Bender 97) and, correspondingly, a wide array of physical manifestations. On the other hand, Bender observes that Dream defies the reader‟s expectations because although one “might expect someone who rules over dreams and stories to display flexibility, openness, sensitivity, and even a certain amount of flightiness” (47), the story of the Sandman proves this assumption to be incorrect.

Bender describes the first aspect of Dream as “inflexible … insular … closed off to people‟s feelings … and entirely devoted to his duties and responsibilities” (47).

Furthermore, while his appearance often changes according to the expectations of those

18 who are watching him5, it becomes quite clear that he does this mainly because of his adherence to rules. In other words, below the surface, he remains a rigid being who is extremely set in his ways, while on the outside, he is able to morph himself into the projections of his onlookers‟ specific identities (which are primarily determined by their race, culture and the time period they live in).

After more than seventy years of imprisonment, Morpheus starts crossing the borders that previously mapped out his attitude toward his responsibilities, and his relationships with other beings. His slow transformation notwithstanding, Dream gradually begins to realize that he “[cannot] go back to the way he was, but he [cannot] move all the way forward either” (Bender 189). Lucien, the librarian of the Dreaming, expands on this in The Wake by suggesting that “there were, perhaps, limits to how much he could let himself change” (59). Although Morpheus begins to demonstrate signs of kindness and understanding6, he knows that he cannot be a “potentially wiser and humane … Dream” (Bender 207) without sacrificing his original aspect. From the

“stuffy and irritated” Dream (Bender 210) and a “brooding … self-absorbed young man” (The Wake 60), he transforms into a Dream who is far more empathic than his predecessor, all while retaining attributes and memories of his past self.

Binaries are one of the central themes and motifs of The Sandman. Dream himself exists as a binary of two different aspects which are one and the same, and yet very different. Similarly, the graphic depiction of Daniel (i.e. both the aspects of his

5 Correspondingly, he also appears to speak the language his listeners understand, as demonstrated in

Brief Lives when the three guards watching over Orpheus‟ temple each hear Dream speak a different language at the same time – two hear him talking in Greek, while the other in English (“Chapter 7” 17).

6 The comparison of, for example, “Tales of Sand” (The Doll’s House ) and the concluding chapter in

Season of Mists illustrates the extent of this change.

19 physical form, and the comic components which designate speech: word balloons and lettering) is effectively the negative of Morpheus‟ primary form. When shown in the later form, Morpheus appears as a tall, thin man with ghostly white skin, slightly messy black hair (see fig. 1). In The Doll’s House, his eyes are described as “stars in deep pools of water” (25). Dream notes that his appearance changes “[depending] on who‟s watching” (Fables and Reflections 21). Indeed, he takes on other forms (see fig. 2) which typically correspond with respective dream gods. Along with his appearance changes the title or name by which he is being referred to; as Bender notes, these titles include “King of Dreams, Master of the Realm of Sleep, King of the Nightmare Realms,

Monarch of the Sleeping Marches, Lord of the Dreamworld and Prince of Stories. . .

[Gaiman] also created names for Dream used by various cultures, such as Lord L'zoril, which is what the Martians called him, and Kai'ckul, which is what Nada's African subjects called him; and a variety of other names, such as Oneiromancer, Lord Shaper,

Shaper of Forms and His Darkness Dream of the Endless” (97).

Fig. 1. Dream in “The Sleep of the Just” (Preludes and Nocturnes 44).

Fig. 2. Dream‟s form changes in-between panels. (Season of Mists, “Epilogue” 3).

As an addendum to the preceding summary, Gaiman clarifies that neither

Dream, nor any other Endless, actually has a name and that “[a]ny possible name for any dream god will attach itself to Dream, but none of them are really his name. Even

“Dream” isn't a name; it's a function, a word that describes his area of responsibility”

(97). In other words, Dream‟s “name” serves purely to establish his role within a larger scope of things.

The Sandman‟s realm is called the Dreaming (or, alternately, the Dreamworld) to denote the space in which dreams take place and also to refer to the activity itself. In other words, the place itself also has a double meaning. It is, therefore, something which is both concrete and corporeal, and abstract. Since Dream and the Dreaming are interconnected, the realm may be affected by its lord‟s various emotive states (Brief

Lives, “Chapter 2” 4, 7). It is also stated that he can feel it when the Dreaming is being destroyed (The Kindly Ones, “Part Thirteen” 9). The heart of the Dreaming is commonly supposed to be the castle in which Dream resides, although it is also mentioned in The Wake that there are actually several hearts of the Dreaming (63). The realm itself is mutable, although it changes very rarely. Even the inhabitants usually get recreated after they have been destroyed, to denote Dream‟s aversion to change.

The last graphic element that needs to be discussed is the design of Morpheus‟ word balloon7 and the specific lettering used therein. Morpheus‟ dialogues and thoughts are presented in word balloons that have a black base outlined with a white border; they are irregular in shape and feature white lettering (see fig. 1). Whereas most of the written word in comics – The Sandman included – utilizes uppercase lettering,

Morpheus and a handful of other characters have their dialogues written in regular caps.

7 The word balloons (WB) in The Sandman can be divided into three main groups: (1) standard WB which are mainly used for mortal characters, and do not deviate from the usual format (i.e. shape, coloring, and lettering); (2) modified WB which consist of different subtypes, and are meant to denote their users‟ unique attributes. For that reason, this type is typically used for the inhabitants of the

Dreaming, angels, demons, fairies, and additional types of supernatural beings. And finally, there are (3):

Endless-specific WB which differ from character to character to visually portray their specific, defining features through the graphic rendering of their speech and thoughts.

In contrast with Morpheus, the color coding of Daniel‟s word balloons – after he becomes Dream, that is – is inverted which corresponds with his overall look (see fig.

3). Although he resembles the old Dream, he is literally his less dark counterpart, with entirely white robes, and silvery white hair – a genetic trait inherited from his mother.

Fig. 3 Daniel becomes Dream (The Kindly Ones, “Part Thirteen” 22).

3.1.2 Death

Death is the second eldest of the Endless. Initially, Gaiman envisioned the story of the Sandman as a tale of three brothers: Death, Sleep and a third sibling on whose identity he was as yet undecided (Bender 234). The original concept soon evolved into the first three of the Endless: Dream, his brother Destiny – who was, as Gaiman readily admits, adapted from the eponymous character created by Marv Wolfman (234) – and their sister Death.

Gaiman‟s initial idea was likely a reference to Greek mythology wherein the god of death was called Thanatos and whose twin brother was the personification of sleep,

Hypnos (Vernant 54). However, apart from Thanatos, there also existed the feminine figures of death: namely Gorgo and Ker (54). Karl S. Guthke also observes that various feminine personifications of death are quite common in certain cultures – “Spanish,

French, and Polish, for example” (7) – whereas in others, most prominently the Anglo-

Saxon culture, “Death more often than not appears as a man, and . . . in a large number of variations” (7). He postulates that the variations in Death‟s gender from one source to another cannot be studied in a universal, homogeneous way; they are not necessarily founded upon patriarchal/matriarchal dichotomy, on psychoclinical observations (20), or even on the grammatical gender of death in languages that divide nouns into masculine and feminine (24). Similarly, Gaiman‟s reasoning8 for his final choice suggests that he does not wish to adhere to any standardized way of portraying Death:

“One of the basic things that runs all the way through Sandman is the male/female dichotomy, male/female friction and the difference in men's and women's outlooks on the world. . . I feel that women are far more sensible than men and I like the sensible characters. Death is a million times more sensible than Dream himself.” Death is, in

8 Available at http://www.comicoo.com/sandman/index.htm

24 many ways, Dream‟s antithesis. In The Sandman (and in the spin-offs whose central character is Death, i.e. Death: The High Cost of Living, and Death: The Time of Your

Life), Gaiman altogether avoids the cliché of Death being “scary, humorless, implacable” (Bender 238) due, in part, to the fact that he “already had a lead character .

. . who was pale, tall, brooding, dark, relatively humorless, and Byronic in a late adolescent way . . . I thought it would be fun to turn expectations upside down, and to provide some contrast as well by making Death small, funny, cool, and nice” (238-39).

Indeed, Death is, for the most part, depicted as a composed, perky, kind being.

In spite of her level-headedness and an air of serenity, she sometimes has outbursts of justified anger and shows signs of annoyance, which are chiefly directed at Dream.

Death also exhibits empathy which likely results from the fact that once a century she spends a day as a mortal being9. This in turn allows her to connect with people on a level that is not possible when she performs her duties. It should also be noted that her function is not merely to lead people to the proverbial “other side” – which differs from one being to another, and depends on their beliefs and wishes. In “The Song of

Orpheus,” it is stated that people do not only meet Death when they die; she is also present when they are born (19) although they never remember this. This is the reason why the Endless never refer to her as “Death”; doing so would be “too restrictive a way of describing her functions” (Bender 138).

As for her physical form, the illustrators of the series depict her as an attractive pale-faced, black-haired young woman who usually dresses casually. Instead of a scythe, which has become a symbol typically connected with some Western

9 This is the premise of Death: The High Cost of Living.

25 personifications of death, she wears an ankh10 cross around her neck, and her right eye is typically lined with a shape similar to the eye of Horus11.

On the subject of her physical beauty, Gaiman remarks that “[t]he Cabala says that the Angel of Death is so beautiful that when you see her, you fall in love. And you love her so hard that your soul leaves your body, drawn out through your eyes” (Bender

240). In the Death-centered story featured in Endless Nights, Gaiman touches upon this by telling a story of a boy who, during a holiday stay in Italy, meets Death on an island near Venice and develops romantic feelings for her which remain even as he gets older, knowing that no other woman will ever compare (25).

Death‟s word balloons and lettering are shown to be done in the same style as those of (mostly) mortal characters (see fig. 4) which signifies her ties to human beings.

Her closeness to humanity is also mirrored in her realm which resembles an ordinary house, complete with a family portrait of the Endless and a pair of goldfish (Fables and

Reflections 171). It is made clear that she can change her realm at any given moment if she so desires (or if she senses that her visitor‟s expectations have not been met).

Fig. 4. The word balloons of Rainie and Death are done in the same style (Dream Country 104).

10 In Egyptian mythology, an ankh is the “symbol of life” (Coleman 72).

11 The eye of the Horus symbolizes healing (Coleman 353).

3.1.3 Destiny

Destiny takes on the form of a blind man dressed in a plain, hooded robe, whose hand is chained to a book which he always carries around. He is stoical and somewhat detached in nature. His word balloon has a regular shape and his lettering is italicized

(see fig. 5), which denotes his tie to the inevitability of death and thus is also representative of an ending that even the immortal will have to face at some point

(although it is never explicitly stated what this ending will be like).

Destiny is usually depicted as a singular entity, but in The Kindly Ones, when numerous possible fates are being written simultaneously in his book, Destiny is shown to have multiplied as well. His realm – demonstrating this multiplicity of fates and decisions – is visualized as a maze-like garden which consists of many paths that “fork and divide” and “with each step … you make a choice, and every choice determines future paths … However, at the end of a lifetime of walking you might look back, and see only one path stretching out behind you, or look ahead, and see only darkness”

(Season of Mists 13).

Fig. 5 Destiny (Brief Lives, “Chapter 7” 8).

3.1.4 Destruction

Gaiman based the appearance and personality of the anthropomorphized

Destruction on the actor Brian Blessed, “[a] big bearded, booming character who loved to laugh” (Bender 242). This inspiration directly translates itself into the depiction of

Destruction as a robust, ginger-haired man, who is – along with Death – the most human-like of the Endless. Likewise, his word balloon bears a strong resemblance to its standard rendering, except that its outline is bolder (see fig. 6) to suggest his uproarious, exuberant persona.

Destruction is the personification of change and he is shown to be both the master and subject of transformation. Of the Endless, he is the least prominent character, owing to the fact that roughly three centuries prior to Dream‟s imprisonment, he abandoned his post and his subsequent whereabouts have remained unknown until the events of Brief

Lives. As a consequence, from that point onward, his siblings have only referred to him as “The Prodigal” because abandoning his function and leaving his realm means that he

“[has] also in effect abandoned his name” (Bender 98). He becomes a nameless, wandering being who tries to come to terms with the consequences of his function.

The execution of his duties is what contributed to his departure: knowing that humanity would discover and utilize new means of destroying their own world, he realized that he did not want to be blamed for it anymore. He took his sigil12 – a sword – along with him because he also did not want a different aspect of him to take his position. This is why his sigil never appears in the galleries of the other Endless.

12 In The Sandman, a sigil is a symbol by which the Endless may conjure one another in their respective galleries, and which tie them to their realms. Every sigil is connected to their respective functions, and is represented either by an object they use, or which they embody.

Fig. 6. Destruction with Barnabas (Brief Lives, “Chapter Six” 1).

Fig. 7 Desire in its more masculine form (Brief Lives, “Chapter 5” 24).

3.1.5 Desire

Desire embodies “everything one might desire” (Bender 243).. It is most commonly referred to by neutral pronoun, although others may use all three grammatical genders while speaking about it. This is because Desire “has never been satisfied with just one sex” (The Doll’s House 40). Its form is, naturally, sexualized and sensual, androgynous and ever-changing – sometimes more masculine than feminine and vice versa, or a perfect blend of the two. Desire‟s realm, the Threshold, is a statue that is the perfect replica of its own body; it dwells in the statue‟s heart. Its word balloon has a regular shape and a specific letter type reminiscent of Art Nouveau (see fig. 7).

Within the series, Desire is portrayed as an antagonistic, scheming character. It fathers Unity Kinkaid‟s child (i.e. Rose Walker‟s mother) and therefore creates a dream vortex, only because it wants – or desires – to get back at Dream. In a way, it is also a subject of its own realm, and its machinations affect it in some ways. Rodney Sharkey notes that Desire / desire also has a profound effect on its siblings: “Dream desires Nada and Destruction desires peace of mind, away from killing fields. Death too desires to help Dream in the difficulties that lead to the „birth‟ of Daniel as Dream King” (par.

19). They are, however, “conscious of [its] machinations” and cannot be “manipulated unconsciously” because they “know the role Desire plays in their choices.” Sharkey also points out that while “Desire frequently attempts to drive Dream toward Destruction …

Dream – by his/its very nature – is a mechanism for releasing Desire‟s worst excesses”

(par. 20). As concepts, dreams and desire intermix and mingle; their co-existence is the very nature of their respective functions.

3.1.6 Despair

Despair is Desire‟s younger twin sister. In the series, she personifies the second aspect of Despair because the first one was – similarly to Dream‟s – destroyed although it is never implicitly stated by whom or how. The second Despair is squat, pale, has pointed teeth and never wears clothes. She regularly carves her flesh with a hooked ring. Her word balloon (see fig. 8) features standard lettering, but is otherwise shaped irregularly to graphically represent her voice that is “little more than a whisper” (Season of Mists 21). Her realm is foggy, inhabited by her pet rats and filled with mirrors through which she is able to observe people who are experiencing despair of some kind.

She is shown to be quiet, and she often participates in her siblings‟ (particularly

Desire‟s) scheming. At the same time, she does express some affection toward the other

Endless, albeit in a subdued way.

Fig. 8. Despair (Fables and Reflections 21).

3.1.7 Delirium

Delirium is the youngest of the Endless. Throughout the series, it is mentioned that she was once Delight and this earlier version of her is shown in Endless Nights. It is unclear what turned her into Delirium and it is hinted at that the reasons for her transformation remain unknown even to Destiny (Season of Mists, “Chapter Seven” 11)

She appears as a young girl typically wearing mismatched, punk-style garments.

Due to her erratic, unstable personality, her form changes frequently; the only constant are her mismatched eyes, one blue and the other green. Her word balloon (see fig. 9) has an irregular shape, and its base is multicolored. The lettering used for this character is slightly distorted. Her realm is chaotic and it has no true shape or form; it is filled with colours and images which seem to be positioned randomly.

Her behavior may seem odd and unpredictable at times, and she often trails off in her thoughts, or says things that seem nonsensical. On the other hand, she often exhibits unexpected maturity and collectedness, thus proving the duality hypothesis. In Brief

Lives, Delirium also mentions that she is aware of things that are not written in

Destiny‟s book, and of paths that exist outside his garden.

Fig. 9. Delirium changes forms (Brief Lives, “Chapter 8” 4).

3.2 Themes as Characters: Analyses of Endless-Centered Stories

It has already become apparent that the respective functions of the Endless also affect the seven siblings themselves. In Endless Nights, it is stated that “[w]ithout triumph, without love, without joy, [Despair‟s] work would be for nothing” (88). The concepts they represent do not exist in a vacuum; destinies end in death, dreams are built on desire and may cause despair, and so forth. In other words, as each Endless is a duality in his or her own right, the Endless do not only form a rather ordinary, dysfunctional family: they are concepts that cannot exist without one another, even though they may often clash. This is the basis of another duality inherent in The

Sandman: of themes which also function as characters. This will be explored in the following analyses.

3.2.1 “The Sound of Her Wings”

“The Sound of Her Wings” concludes the very first volume of the series,

Preludes and Nocturnes. Having successfully managed to escape Roderick Burgess‟ mansion and get back all his tools, Morpheus is shown feeding pigeons in a park. The setting alone serves as a sharp contrast between this issue (or chapter) and the rest of the volume: even when the events in the respective chapters do not take place in Dream‟s realm or in Hell, they always take on an element of the surreal which turns an otherwise ordinary location into something strikingly terrifying. In “Dream a Little Dream of Me,”

Dream is accompanied by John Constantine – a DC Comics character – who knows where Dream‟s pouch is. As it turns out, Constantine‟s ex-girlfriend Rachel is both in possession of and possessed by it, and they go to her father‟s house to retrieve it. Before they get to her, Constantine and Dream have to pass through a room in which the body

33 of Rachel‟s father has expanded and spread out so that it no longer resembles a human being, but it remains alive (97).

In “The Sound of Her Wings,” however, to terrify is no longer Gaiman‟s objective. This issue serves as an ironic antithesis to the preceding chapters in Preludes and Nocturnes. The irony lies in the fact that “The Sound of Her Wings” marks the first appearance of Death, a character who may (and often does) inspire terror in others.

Dream, however, finds this quite curious. To him, his sister has “a function to perform, even as I do. The Endless have their responsibilities” (230). Dream decides to go along with Death as she visits people who are about to die. He further reflects on humanity and their attitude to what he calls “[his] sister‟s gift”: “Why do they fear the sunless lands? It is as natural to die as it is to be born. But they fear her. Dread her. Feebly they attempt to placate her. They do not love her” (229). In a way, his observation is not entirely incorrect: whether it is the people who have died, or people who have lost somebody, nobody appreciates or loves death/Death, at least not when she performs her function. On the other hand, people fall for her quite easily if they meet her by chance

(221). Death herself notes that people‟s misunderstanding of her role upsets her, especially considering that people “enter [Dream‟s] realm each night without fear”

(227). Death is an inevitable finality, while dreams are continuous and a self-reflective activity which, in Morpheus‟ words, makes them (and, by extension, him) “far more terrible than [his] sister” (227).

The very focus of this issue is the ability of the Endless to analyze their functions. In doing so, they breach the lines of their fictionality by being self-referential and by showing their awareness of their roles. This is most prominently done by Death who – having had to endure Dream‟s egocentric introspections – calls her brother “the stupidest, most self-centered, appallingest excuse for an anthropomorphic

34 personification on this or any other plane” (219). This demonstration of a certain degree of self-consciousness is exhibited throughout the series and it is done purposefully and highly effectively. The themes the Endless represent are recurring: characters die; they desire, despair, destroy themselves or others, are driven to madness. To paraphrase

Despair, they fulfill their destinies (Brief Lives, “Chapter 1” 23). The Endless also have their own destinies to fulfill: to guide the living from one end of existence to the other.

3.2.2 The Wake

The culmination of the events in The Sandman is foreshadowed throughout the series and, at times, even deliberately shown. One such event is Dream‟s wake in the last volume of the main series which is already depicted at the end of Worlds’ End; the death of Dream‟s first aspect causes the “reality storm” which forces the characters to take refuge in the eponymous inn. While The Kindly Ones provide the context needed to understand this scene, The Wake concludes Morpheus‟ story. For the purposes of this thesis, only the first half of the volume shall be discussed; the remainder of The Wake collects tales which are not specifically connected to the main plotline, but expand on issues present in The Sandman from the very beginning of the series.

The volume begins with a chapter titled “Which Occurs in the Wake of What

Has Gone Before.” Therein, a winged messenger is sent out to each of the Endless to inform them of their Dream‟s death: Destiny receives the message from a dove, Despair from a vampire bat, Death from an eagle, Desire from a parakeet, and Delirium from a magpie (15-18). All five of them meet at the entrance to Litharge, a necropolis already introduced in Worlds’ End, where they need to collect Dream‟s cerements and the books of ritual. In the catacombs below the necropolis is a room where the cerements are kept; since none of the Endless may enter the catacombs, they create an envoy out of

35 mud (21). This is an interesting moment because it contradicts the usual understanding of Death‟s role; it is her who brings the envoy to life (22), thus confirming the binary of life/death that she embodies.

Once the cerements are collected, the wake begins in the Dreaming. Some of the mourners get there simply by falling asleep, while others have their own ways of attending. Nevertheless, in the second chapter – “In Which a Wake Was Held” – the narrative captions inform the readers that they are also among the attendees. This is a captivating spin on the story. What happens is that Neil Gaiman and Michael Zulli – the illustrator of the first three issues collected in The Wake – gradually begin to breach the lines between reality and fiction. This is a wake in the sense of giving the readers the chance to bid farewell to a character whose journey they have been a part of, figuratively speaking. This journey had many aspects, just like Dream did: it followed a more classical narrative of a hero meeting his tragic end; at the same time, neither the journey, nor the story itself was bound by any temporal or spatial setting. Practically nothing was out of limits; the only true limit was Morpheus himself.

In the third chapter, it is shown that Sandman‟s cerement does not cover an actual body (see fig. 10). As Hy Bender notes, this is because “an idea doesn‟t have a body” and therefore “the cerement itself takes on the shape of a body” (205). This further supports the notion that Dream has never truly died; all that is gone is a part of him, a certain idea of what he used to be like. In a way, Dream finally becomes the hope he is meant to represent. In the same chapter, Despair addresses the mourners and tells them that she admired her brother because “he was a creature of hope, for dreams are hopes, and echoes of hopes” (The Wake 10). On the other hand, Rodney Sharkey suggests that

“[a]lthough he [was] responsible for dreams as the predominant human symbol of hope, it [was] a responsibility entrusted upon Morpheus by others rather than one that derives

36 from his own beliefs.” Ergo, since Morpheus knew that the end was, to an extent, inevitable and that he no longer truly believed that he was performing his function as he perhaps should have, he realized that it was necessary for him to transfigure into a being that would fulfill the same duties, but with a more human(e) outlook and approach.

The volume also echoes the relationships – and, by extension, conflicts – between the respective Endless and Dream. Desire‟s speech brings forth comparisons between their earlier clashes, the most notable being the one at the end of The Doll’s House. If desire and despair are the cause and the result of dreaming, then Desire and Despair are natural collaborators; Dream, on the other hand, shapes them and is shaped by them and their scheming. This is, in essence, involuntary and a product of chance; in other words, just like anyone else, none of them can choose their family. The concepts cannot choose how they will affect one another and how they will be affected themselves.

Fig. 10. Dream‟s cerements are laid down (The Wake 70).

4. Portraying Personifications in Comics

Personifications have been a part of human cultural expression since time immemorial; anthropomorphizing is a seemingly natural activity, although as Pascal

Boyer notes in his essay, what actually makes it natural is the fact that it is counter- intuitive (95). In other words, while anthropomorphism is widespread and a somewhat standard way of depicting the world around us, that does not mean that it cannot be contradicted with common sense. On the contrary; anthropomorphisms “violate intuitive ontological expectations delivered by domain-specific principles” (92). When we see a statue, we know that it has been created from stone and that it does not have any properties of living beings; in spite of that, we may assign the statue the property of

“sitting” or “looking.” In reality, the position the statue is in only resembles the action which is seemingly being performed. If certain concepts are anthropomorphized in works of art, it can be understood either as the inability of humans to transcend their own experience, or as a way of approaching the world in terms of the familiar.

In The Sandman, Neil Gaiman – along with a number of artists who contributed to the general mythological level of the story with their own vision and individual styles

– personifies concepts which are common themes in art, literature, film, and so forth.

Each art form offers a different angle from which the story and the characters may be approached. In The Sandman‟s case, this form happens to be widely spread and yet relatively little acknowledged or seriously considered: comics. It has already been mentioned that comics are not bound by any limits – other than the talent of those who create them, perhaps. On the topic of the (dis)advantages of comics, Hy Bender wrote the following: “The visual of a comic tend to make it more accessible than straight prose, easing you into a narrative by giving you a foundation of images to play with. At the same time, a comic is static and can provide only selected details of a scene, so it

38 forces you to fill an enormous amount of information with your imagination.” (4) This revisits the concept of the so-called “gutter” which has already been discussed and explained in section 2.2.1. Whether or not this is an advantage or vice versa, depends partially on the readers themselves. All the same, it is up to the creator(s) to put the panels together in a way that will make them comprehensible and captivating at the same time.

In the introduction to The Kindly Ones, Frank McConnell points out that a scene portrayed in the eleventh chapter would not have the same impact as it does if it were presented in a different form. In this scene, the fairy Nuala – who, for a brief time, resided in the Dreaming – summons Dream and then asks him a question; McConnell adds to this that the “next panel, Dream‟s response, is simply a wordless, tight close-up of his tortured face” (see fig. 11). McConnell explains that this scene would not work in a novel or in a film because a novel “would have to describe his face” and a film “could only give us an actor trying to imitate that bleak mask of regret” (3).

In the first chapter of this thesis, it has been emphasized that the medium of comics is as open to experimentation as any different type of media. What sets it apart from either literature or visual arts in general is not only the fact that the prosaic element usually accompanies the visuals. McCloud himself points out that comics are

“not a mere hybrid of the graphic arts and prose fiction” (92). The medium of comics is entirely unique and it engages the reader in a manner not found elsewhere. In Graphic

Storytelling and Visual Narrative, Will Eisner explains this thusly (and, therewithal, also makes a commentary – never mind how brief – on the history of the medium):

“The comic storyteller is free to invent and distort reality by using caricatures and devised machinery . . . The use of costumed heroes . . . was the result of the innovative freedom comics storytellers enjoyed because they were unfettered by the confines of the

Fig. 11. Nuala confronts Morpheus (The Kindly Ones, “Part Eleven” 6). realism in live theater or film” (73). On the other hand, even though the specific form of comic may permit unlimited experimentation, it is perhaps less desirable to experiment for the sake of experimenting, and thus let the content slip away in the ever-present struggle between form and content. This is particularly true when stories like The

Sandman are concerned, regardless of the medium through which they are presented.

Bender notes that the process of writing a comic book has been compared to creating a screenplay “because in both cases the author is working with words and images” (250). Films are, in some respects, a form of sequential art; the main difference

40 is – as McCloud points out – that they are “sequential in time but not spatially juxtaposed as comics are” (Understanding Comics 7). In addition to that, he also posits the notion that while the viewer of a film is, to an extent, passive, a comic involves the reader in a more evident manner. To McCloud, the audience of comics is a “willing and conscious collaborator” (65). The act of closure is the most telling sign of how cooperative a comic is, and how the story relies on the reader.

It is precisely due to this involvement of the reader that characters in general may have more impact. That is not meant to assert that novels or films do not impact their readers and viewers in similar ways; Samuel R. Delany points out that “[e]ach medium does things the other can‟t . . . and one isn‟t replaceable by another” (qtd. in

The Sandman Companion 4). In other words, different narratives – as well as all other kinds of writing – should be dealt with in different ways, because each necessitates a specific approach (and a particular medium). If The Sandman were adapted into a film, the story would most likely suffer from the transition from comic book pages to the screen. This is because the story works on various levels; it is layered and complex, and among its complexities are its characters, namely the Endless.

The act of distinguishing between various types of beings is utilized in the series quite heavily; some characters (such as the fairies or demons) have features which make them look ostensibly different from ordinary human beings and which are part of a more generalized myth, or of fairytales that makes them instantaneously recognizable.

Since the Endless (or at least the specific forms of some of the siblings) are, largely, the product of the series, it is important to allude to their status by any means available. If the Endless are not humans but take on humanlike properties, it is necessary for them to exhibit signs that will make them resemble humans, all while retaining their other characteristics. This statement remains true even when they change their form because

41 this change reflects what is imprinted in the mind of the viewer. In other words, the

Endless are anthropomorphized precisely because they are perceived by someone. The readers of The Sandman themselves are the perceiving eyes through which the story begins shaping up. Moreover, even when the Endless are not seen in their personified forms, they tie each tale to the core of the series by appearing as common themes. The recurrent use of symbols like heart (Bender 61) or the motifs of dreaming all denote this duality of theme and character. Even though the same symbols, motifs or themes could be presented in any other type of medium, comics-specific elements are ideal for narratives like The Sandman mainly because certain things are easier to show than tell.

In addition to that, it is important to note that while too much experimentation may devaluate the overall product, the artists do not have to stick to the standard form at all costs. The Sandman features a wide array of different styles; some of them change from one volume to another, while some volumes are actually composed of tales illustrated in several distinctive ways. However, just like certain formats are more preferable for various kinds of narratives, this too cannot be employed in all comics. At the same time, since the character of the Sandman – who embodies the series as a whole – is the master of that which shifts and changes, it makes sense that the graphic element of the comics mirrors this.

5. Conclusion

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman is essentially a set of stories within one larger story. The protagonists of this story are the Endless who are the personifications of their eponymous functions. However, they defy the classic understanding of the term

“character” because their physical forms do not appear in every issue of the comics. On the other hand, since they are personifications of themes that are commonly used throughout the series, they do take part in the narrative even when they are not explicitly shown.

This thesis analyzed the respective Endless as characters on three levels: on the first level, a generalized summary of each of the seven characters was provided. On the second level, the interactions between the Endless and what they signify have been discussed. And on the final level, I have focused on the visual properties of their characterization. In doing so, I have presented some of the reasons why the medium of comics is ideal for narratives like The Sandman.

In short, comics as a narrative medium are suitable for the depiction of personifications because there are very few limits imposed on its form and it is, therefore, open to a number of different approaches. Furthermore, the visual aspect of the narration makes it more straightforward.

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Eisner, Will. Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative. N.p.: W. W. Norton, 2008.

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Résumé in English

The subject of this thesis is to analyze the main protagonists (the Endless) of the

Neil Gaiman‟s comic series The Sandman, and to demonstrate why the medium of comics is suitable for the depiction of anthropomorphic personification. The first chapter is dedicated to the issue of comics, first by listing several possible definitions of the term “comics” itself (including the definitions of Will Eisner or Scott McCloud), and then by explaining several key terms. In the second chapter, I deal with the characterization of the Endless through the description and analysis of their personality traits and graphic depiction. Furthermore, two stories – in which the Endless are prominent and which elaborate on their relationships – are analyzed. The last chapter summarizes the findings of the preceding chapters and explains why the medium of comics is ideal for portraying the duality of the Endless as themes and characters.

Resumé v češtině

Předmětem této práce je analyzovat hlavní protagonisty (tzv. Věčné) komiksové série Sandman od Neila Gaimana a dokázat, proč je zrovna pro antropomorfické personifikace komiks vhodné médium. První kapitola se věnuje problematice komiksu, počínaje vyjmenováním několika možných definic samotného termínu „komiks“

(například Willa Eisnera či Scotta McClouda) a konče vysvětlením některých klíčových pojmů. V druhé kapitole řeším samotnou charakteristiku Věčných skrze popis a analýzu jejich povahových rysů a grafického ztvárnění. Dále jsou taky rozebrány dva příběhy, v nichž Věční figurují a v nichž jsou přiblíženy jejich vztahy. Poslední kapitola je souhrnem poznatků z kapitol předešlých a je v ní vysvětleno, proč je pro ztvárnění duálnosti Věčných coby postav a témat zároveň komiks tak vhodné médium.