The Annotated Sandman Edited and largely written by Greg Morrow Issue 47: Brief Lives Seven Neil Gaiman, Jill Thompson, and Vince Locke Disclaimer: Sandman and all related characters are copyrights and trademarks of DC Comics Inc. Sandman and this annotation are intended for mature audiences only. Notice: Commentaries and additional information should go to morrow@physics.rice.edu (Internet) or morrow@fnal.BITNET. Additional material in this series is also available via anonymous ftp from theory.lcs.mit.edu in pub/wald/sandman. Reproduction in any form without permission of the editor (as agent for the contributors) is forbidden. Notes: See #41. Cover: Maps on the cover: The map to the right seems to be a map of China. It is several centuries old, since the typography uses the `long s' form of the letter. The map behind the _Sandman_ logo is unidentified. The object that Dream is holding is the M.C. Escher woodcut "Four-Faced Planetoid" from 1954. 1: Cooking Considered as One of the Fine Arts Page 1 panel 2: Note the ecologically-correct webbed shopping bag. Panel 4: As theorized in #48 page 16, the Endless embody both their name and their opposite. Hence, Destruction includes creation, which explains his sculpture, painting, and cooking. Page 2 panel 6: Is this meant to represent Ishtar? Page 3 panel 6: Barnabas is a *real* dog. Admittedly, he's a real *talking* dog, but he's not a human in a dog's body the way Matthew is a human in a raven's body (the superficial characterization of #40 aside, Matthew still *acts* human). Incidentally, chocolate is not particularly healthy for dogs; they have trouble digesting it and they, like the rest of the Carnivora, overreact to stimulants. 2: "My Envelope Isn't Any Good Anymore" Page 5 panel 2: Note the curlicues used for Del's eyes. The envelope is addressed to "Santa Claus/The North Pole". Santa Claus is an American mythical figure who brings gifts to children; he is said to live at the North Pole. Children write him letters. 3: Where All Mazes Meet Page 6 panel 3-7: This sequence is reminiscent of _The Chronicles of Amber_, by Roger Zelazny. In that book, the members of the royal family of the eternal city Amber are able to walk among the shadowy reflections of Amber, adding and subtracting bits of reality until they get to a reflection which matches their desired destination. Gaiman's description of Dream and Delirium's walk is very similar to Zelazny's description of shadow-manipulation. Note that the maze gradually changes from man-made to naturally grown. 4: The Other Side of the Coin Note that throughout this sequence, Dream stays on the path, Destiny stays off the path, and Delirium charts her own course. Page 8 panel 3: The statue of Destruction is facing in the opposite direction as the statues of the rest of the family. There is no obvious path leading to it. Page 10 panel 6: Del may be imitating the posture of her statue. Page 11 panel 2-5: Note the white core to Del's balloons. In panel 4, Del's eyes should be the same color. (Del is repeating what she said in #21.) Page 12 panel 2: Del's eyes should be the same color again. 5: Life as a Glass of Bitter Wine Page 13 panel 2: Delirium considers Destiny's "little flappy things" equivalent to Dream's ravens or Despair's rats (#41). Page 14 panel 1: This event (as yet undetailed) occurs just before #1 and is referred to in the "What Has Gone Before" introduction to _The Doll's House_. Panel 2: See Dream's description in #21, and the _Death: The High Cost of Living_ miniseries. According to Jill Thompson, the ox drover is no one particularly important. Panel 3: It seems probable that this is a depection of a future event; the color of Dream's clothing and hair is significant. 6: Cherries Are Counted, and a Bargain Is Made Page 15 panel 2: Dream's cloakpin is supposed to be colored silver. It is not Dream's ruby, which was destroyed in #7. Panel 3: Orpheus as "not very old": All lives are brief, from the perspective of the Endless. Panel 5: Note that Del has given the flower wings. Page 19 panel 3: Delirium is using an old counting rhyme which is supposed to reveal your occupation when you grow up. (Modern readers may be familiar with its use as a title for a couple of works: _Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy_ by John LeCarre and _Rich Man, Poor Man_ and _Beggarman, Thief_, novels and television miniseries by Irwin Shaw.) Del omits "thief" in her rhyme; the continuation in panel 5 is her own invention. Page 20 panel 5: See #41 for the source of the epitaph. Page 21 panel 3: This island, Destruction's refuge, was seen in #41. 7: An Unlikely Growth Page 24 panel 1: Troth: An archaic term for faithfulness or a promise, especially a promise to marry; extended by similarity to equal "truth". Panel 4: Dolmades: a Greek dish, grape leaves stuffed with ground meat. /-es/ is a Greek plural ending. Release history: Version 1.0 released 31 May 93 Version 2.0 released and archived 29 Aug 93 Contributors include: Enrique Conty (conty@cbnewsl.cb.att.com) pointed out the connection between Destruction and creation and confirmed the existence of Del's little song. Carl Fink (carlf@panix.com) passed along Neil Gaiman's report of yet another coloring error, this time in Dream's cloakpin. Lance Smith (lsmith@cs.umn.edu) extracted salient points from Jill Thompson's interview in _Musings_ #1, noted Del's envelope's address, the posture of statues, and the wings of flowers. Jeff Bulf (jbulf@balsa.Berkeley.EDU), Jeff White (pweent@cats.ucsc.edu), and Steve Ward-Smith (pcxsws@unicorn.ccc.nottingham.ac.uk) ID'ed "dolmades". Andrew Solovay (solovay@netcom.com) and Francis Uy (fuy@nyx.cs.du.edu) disagree with my assessment of Matthew's humanity. Francis also contributed an observation on how the Endless follow paths. Ian Taylor (ian@airs.com) notes the concluding word of Del's rhyme. "Bright-eyed" Bill Sherman identified the Escher woodcut and noted Destruction's statue. Jim Lai noted the degeneration of the maze and Destruction's statue. Byron Go (bgo@ucsee.Berkeley.EDU) IDed