The Annotated Sandman

               Edited by Ralf Hildebrandt and largely written by Greg Morrow

                                Issue 26
              Neil Gaiman, Kelley Jones, and George Pratt

                       Season of Mists Chapter 5

                      In which a banquet is held,
                        and of what comes after;
       concerning diplomacy and bedrooms, blackmail and threats;
                  and an unusual recipe for sausages.

                  Not yet reprinted in any other form

Page 1 panel 2:  The guardians of the gate are as seen before; Cluracan of
Faerie is new to _Sandman_.  The realm of Faerie has played a large role in two
previous Gaiman works, _Sandman_ #19 and _Books of Magic_ #3.
	Cluracan (with accents over the `u' and second `a') is a dimunitive
old-man fairy of Ireland, traditionally believed to inhabit wine cellars.  he
takes care that the beer barrels and wine casks are not left running, and for
reward is always given his supper.  In County Cork, the cluracan is often
associated with the leprechaun, but this is because of the physical similarity
and the fact that both know the whereabouts of hidden treasure.

Page 2 panel 2:  The Lord and Lady of Faerie were seen in _Sandman_ #19, and
bear the traditional names Auberon and Titania.  Nuala is new.

Page 3:  I will only note any beings who were not seen in _Sandman_ #24.  A
knowledge of what has gone before is essential to the understanding of the
events of this issue.  The servitor here, and the female one on page 5, are
dressed in  nightclothes, and one infers that Dream has summoned two dreamers
to act as servants at his banquet.
	Panel 1:  Symbolically, Mjolnir is an agent of destruction, fertility,
and resurrection.  It was used to hallow brides before weddings; its phallic
nature is obvious here.  It was also used to raise Thor's goats from the dead,
and is able to shrink so that it may be hidden inside Thor's shirt as needed.
Perhaps rubbing is how it is made to return to normal size.  As the story
goes, Loki made a bet with the dwarves in which they would have to produce
three objects for the Aesir.  If the gods were pleased, then Loki would lose
his head.  As the dwarves worked at their forges to produce the gifts, Loki
came in the form of a biting fly or a bee to harass them, which introduced
flaws into each gift.  Thus Mjolnir had a short handle (for more, see the
annotation to _Sandman_ #24).  To compensate, the dwarves further gifted Thor
with a magic glove (of strength?  Possibly also a belt of strength?  What were
the other gifts?)  Although Loki lost the bet, the dwarves were not allowed to
take his head, since they were not allowed to harm his neck.

Page 4 panel 2:  The tithe was mentioned in _Books of Magic_ #3.

Page 6 panels 6-7:  Pain is a facet of flirtation, to a demon.

Page 7:  This is a splash panel.  Note the figures below the angels; we did not
see these beings in _Sandman_ #24, where the gods were introduced.  We infer
these to be more figures interested in obtaining Hell.  The leftmost figure
resembles the traditional depiction of wizards, with long beard and
astrologically-bedecked pointy hat.  He is possibly the wizard Merlin, of the
Arthurian cycle.  The others' identities are not readily apparent.

Page 8 panel 7:  Sif is Thor's wife.

Page 9 panel 1:  Gregory is the foot off to stage right.

Page 10 panel 1:  Sawing a person in half is a common illusion practiced by
stage magicians.  However, Cain here has really cut Abel in twain, not just by
illusion.
	Panel 7:  "Pooey man" is just a childish way of expressing distaste or
disgust for the hapless Abel.
	Panel 9:  The angel Duma may be smiling at Cain's tricks in this panel.

Page 12 panel 1:  A stooge bears the brunt of the tricks and jokes perpetrated
during an act.
	
Page 13 panel 7:  Note that Loki is being left essentially alone.

Page 15 panel 1:  The warriors in the notional Ragnarok are the legendary
Justice Society of America, who went there to save the world, or so they
thought, in _Last Days of the JSA_ Special #1.  In the ball we can see the
Hawkman, a giant (probably Surtur), and Wesley Dodds in his guise as the
Sandman.  We saw Wesley in the first issue of this series.
	Panel 3-4:  Dream's lines here are reminiscent of the lines uttered by
the heroine of _Sandman_ #18:  "I am a cat, and I keep my own counsel."

Page 16 panel 2:  It appears that Jemmy is wearing a bra, like a child playing
dress-up.
	Panel 3:  The forces of Chaos mentioned here are unique to Gaiman.

Page 17 panel 2:  The Lord of Order here refers to a thread that engendered two
stories, in _Justice League_ #6 and _Justice League International_ #7, and
later in a crossover between _Justice League America_ and _Justice League
Europe_.  The agent collecting the dream essences for Order was known as the
Grey Man; he rebelled and subsequently attracted the attentions of
super-heroes.

Page 18:  Note the Japanese-style art.  One would normally expect
Susano-O-No-Mikoto, a boisterous, shouting thunder god, to be characterized
more like Thor.  Here, however, he appears to be the Western image of a
Japanese business executive.  This is an example of one of Gaiman's theses,
that myths are colored by those who tell them and by those who hear them.
Here, a Shinto myth changes to satisfy Western expectations.  The Japanese
would likely be startled to see the Floating Bridge of Heaven as a zaibatsu and
the kami as sararimen, save in parody.
	[N.B. Zaibatsu:  a collection of allied firms.  Neither a vertical nor
a horizontal trust but more akin to the entire economy in microcosm.
Sararimen:  Company men, middle level workers who devote their careers to one
company.]

Page 19 panel 4:  Dream's brother is the prodigal Endless, who has been
mentioned before, although his identity will not be revealed until _Sandman_
Special #1.  His location has not been revealed.

Page 24:  Is the Key to Hell ever-changing, or is it a function of imprecise
artwork?  I lean toward the latter, myself.

Contributors include:
	Lance "Cogsworth" Smith  gave some info on Thor's
hammer.
	Michael Bowman  researched Cluracan and
also found more on Mjolnir.
        Jim W Lai  noticed an angelic smile, gave
more thought to the portrayal of the Shinto god, and observed the Key to Hell's
apparent changes.
	Mike Collins, The One and Only Killans, (mcollins@isis.cs.du.edu) gave
forth with great eloquence upon the origin and meaning of "pooey man".