The Annotated Sandman

               Edited and largely written by David Goldfarb

                         Issue 53: "Hob's Leviathan"

		   Third story in anthology, "Worlds' End"

 Neil Gaiman, Michael Zulli, Dick Giordano, Bryan Talbot, Mark Buckingham

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
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Cover: Note the photograph in the lower left, which was used in the
cover to issue #51. The covers to "Worlds' End"  are nested and inter-
relate, just as the stories do.

Page 1 panel 1: This is not the same person who brought Brant the stew in 51:9: 
the neckerchief is green instead of red, and there is no beard stubble.
"Call me Jim": An allusion to the opening line of Herman Melville's _Moby-
Dick_, "Call me Ishmael"; possibly combined with Joseph Conrad's _Lord
Jim_.

Page 2 panel 1: "The great ship": No refs. Mother Carey: An Anglicization of
the Latin "Mater Cara", an epithet of the Virgin Mary. She was known as a 
protector of sailors.
           panel 6: The title is a pun on the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes
(1588-1679), whose best-known work was called _Leviathan_. 
"Leviathan": A great sea monster referred to in the Bible; see for instance
Isaiah 27:1.

page 5 panel 1: Hob Gadling has appeared before, in issues 13 and 22.

page 6 panel 3: Note the tattoos...

page 9 panel 7: _Salt Water Ballads_: By the English poet John Masefield
(1878-1967); first published in 1902.

page 10 panel 5-6: Rhyming slang. "Khyber [Pass]" -- "Ass". "Apples and
Pears" -- "stairs".

page 11 panel 4: Note the resemblance between this king and the stow-
away.  The story itself is apparently an old Indian folk tale.

page 13 panel 4: "Rukh": from context, the surrounding countryside.
Anyone have a definitive meaning?

page 14 panel 3: The phrase "Golden Road to Samarkand" turns up in the 
works of British poet James Elroy Flecker. I haven't been able to find this
specific passage, though.

page 22 panel 3: It's clear that the stowaway is an immortal. If this is
indeed the king from the tale, then he very likely has a perfect right to 
call Hob Gadling "young".

page 24 panel 2: There is a sea-ballad called "The Handsome Cabin Boy".
Kate Bush has recorded it, among others.

Release History: 
Version 1.0 released 10 May 94.
Version 2.0 released 30 May 94.

Credits: 
	Greg "elmo" Morrow (morrow@physics.rice.edu) created the Sandman
Annotations and forwarded much useful information regarding "Worlds' End". 
He also caught "Call me Jim" and identified the rhyming slang.
	Lance "Squiddie" Smith (lsmith@cs.umn.edu) noted the relationships
between the covers.
	Abhijit Khale (Abhijit_Khale@transarc.com) identified the Indian
story.