#the wake

[thefugitivesaint]

Michael Zulli, 'The Sandman: The Wake', (Retail Poster), 1995

#Michael Zulli #american artists #the sandman #the wake #vertigo comics #vertigo #poster art #neil gaiman

[writing-for-life]

“Transfigured”—Jill Thompson

“A fine existence”—Jill Thompson

#the sandman #dream of the endless #daniel hall #sandman #sandman spoilers #fiddlers green #mervyn pumpkinhead #the wake #the kindly ones #jill thompson #sandman x art #queue crew

[what-do-you-mean-you-ate-it]

Nine Lives

CW: discussions of suicide and suicidal ideation. The Sandman fanfic, Fix-it for the Wake, ergo cannon divergent. Dreamling feels, but Hob is at the ren-faire with Gwen, and Death of the Endless gives him a present. I have used up my whole year's supply of cuteness on this fic.

Read here on AO3; or here:

If Morpheus is the King of Cats surely he has Nine Lives

Hob sighs as he nurses his too good beer. He’s been morose, passive aggressive, superior, and short with Gwen. She deserves better, she deserves to be with the man she thinks she is dating, Robbie, educated, moderately wealthy, emotionally aware, attentive, and born in the 20th century. Hob clutches the pint mug with both hands and tries to scry its depths. He is nursing not only a pint of beer, but a case of despair, both of which—or at least the despair—he should set aside, and instead find Gwen and a fine old time. But if he goes out there he will need to not be an arse at a Ren-Faire that has little attachment to accuracy. No one believes him though. He is here for Gwen and she didn’t bring him here to make a fool of himself. Best to keep a handle on how much beer he drinks. The beer is better than it was those years ago. But while the beer is smooth and sweet his thoughts are bitter this evening, and lonely enough that he wishes for the piss that passed for ale that evening. There is a different Dream now, or so he thinks. It’s not the same. He’s not the same. Hob is lonely for his friend and homesick for 1389. He takes a swig of his too good beer, and then startles.

Death looks lovely. She always does, but more so this afternoon. He thinks of taking her hand, asking for a last dance, it would be a good way to go out, dancing with a beautiful woman. They would find his body here later, a tragedy, they would call it, dead at only thirty-two! That should raise a smile. It doesn’t.

Hob doesn’t remember Dream’s - Morpheus’ - wake clearly, but he knows that he damn well could have. He should have been told, properly, that Morpheus was gone. Morpheus should have told him about how bad it was getting. Hob knew something was up. He didn’t ask Morpheus, he didn’t want to cause spook him again, have him run off again. Morpheus should have told him what was happening. Hob should have said more, been direct, blunt, overly curious. There were an awful lot of things that should have been properly said. No one told him, he was left to his own suppositions. Could he ask her if Morpheus were as dead as he would be should he ask her for her hand? She looks lovely today

But he needs it confirmed. “It’s true? Isn’t it?” Hob says to Death, “he’s gone?” He can’t help the question in his voice. Hob knows Death, so he has said, he knows what she will say.

Instead, she rummages in her shoulder bag. Then her face lights up, and with two hands she reaches in, she smiles brightly and broadly, and she pulls a small black blob of fur from the depths of her bag, and hands it over to Hob. He doesn’t have time to refuse

It is soft, it is small, it is rumbling with purrs and life and Hob holds it gently cupped in large strong immortal hands. He raises it to his face, not kissing noses of new acquaintances be damned, he is over 650 years old, today his heart just won’t stop breaking, and he’s damned if he’s not going to give a little love to a little cat fluff. He has plenty of spare love, love that was meant for Morpheus, best that love find a new home now. Hob is looking at the soft new thing, knowing that he will keep and protect it for as long as it lives, and his heart is already trying to break again.

Then the little thing opens its eyes.

not the blue of seas nor the blue of skies, not the blue of cornflowers or topaz, or bluebells, nor lobelia, nor flax, nor hydrangeas, not bluebirds, or Lourie birds, or blue-tits, or blue jays or herons or swallows, or tanzanite or opal or sapphire

Hob runs a hand over the kitten’s little fuzzy black head, rubs a finger along its puffy cheek, he smiles at it, touches a finger to its nose briefly, and then plants a kiss on the top of it’s head. The kitten purrs, giant whirling purrs. Happy purrs.

blue of the night sky lit with hope

There is a moment in this world and Hob and a blue-eyed cat are in it.

Hob brings the kitten tight against his chest, hopes it will be comforted by his steady heart. He doesn’t know how long he has been standing there. He should go find Gwen, she will be looking for him. But for now he just holds the kitten tight. Forever, he thinks, forever.

Fin. Thanks for reading!

#the sandman #hob gadling #dream of the endless #the wake #the wake fix-it #grief #hob gadling loves dream of the endless #we know that even if he doesn't

[the-cloudy-dreamer]

Sandman Inktober 2023, Day ? ( or the one WIP I discarded)

I wanted to post this as a reminder that sometimes creating for this challenges comes with it’s own set of difficulties.

I started with a very specific idea which was recreating this look / panel from Sandman, The Wake;

But no matter how much I fiddled with it I couldn’t quite make it work with the idea in my head that I wanted to do! Everything just felt wrong and I got frustrated with it.

So I started another WIP ( which ended up being the final thing I posted yesterday ) and called it a day because sometimes you got to start over and pray for the best result.

So.

Reminder to all artists that sometimes you’ll get stuck but you got to be patient with yourself! It’s okay to switch ideas, start over or even not do a thing if you are not feeling it! Your brain will thank you in the end.

( And I might not have finished this but I sort of like it so — I shall put it here to live in my tumblr archive!)

#death of the endless #the sandman #sandman comic spoilers #sandman comics #the wake #the sandman fanart #neil gaiman #cloudy illustrates #art #inktober #illustration #sandtober2023

[two-hands-toward-the-sun]

(spoilers for the wake!!!!!)

i love calliope i really do but i would like to gently question the appropriateness of bringing up how good of a fuck dream was. at his FUNERAL.

#the sandman spoilers #ITS SO FUCKING FUNNY #i mean to be fair i really do love the way she describes him in that scene it’s cute #like how she felt treasured and how his skin was like white silk against hers #all super cute i love it but. babe read the room #calliope the sandman #the sandman #the sandman comics #the wake #sandman spoilers

[comparativetarot]

The Star. Art by Shannon Hochman, from the Sandman Tarot Deck.

#Shannon Hochman #Sandman Tarot Deck #The Star #Major Arcana #Tarot #The Sandman #The Wake #Dream of the Endless #Daniel Hall

[balu8]

Michael Zulli: Sandman-The Wake

#michael zulli #sandman #the wake #poster art #the endless #comics #vertigo comics

[joanofarc]

plastic flowers, the wake (1987, 2015).

i’m looking for something that no one else could bring yes, for something

#the wake #1987 #something that no one else could bring #factory records #here comes everybody #factory benelux #plastic flowers #indiepop #indie pop #synth pop #synthpop #post-punk #sing a song #ah ah ahah ah ah #been listening to this all day

[rey-jake-therapist]

Hob Gadling's wives and girlfriends, the forgotten women of The Sandman

DISCLAIMER: the following posts contains major spoilers for Season of Mists, World's Ends, The Kindly Ones and The Wake.

A couple of weeks I told @writing-for-life my next meta would be about the women who shared Hob's life. There's not much to work on in the comics for most of them, but the fact remains that they exist and that Hob probably loved them all. And his second wife in particular, Margaret/Peggy aka Jim, had a story dedicated to her journey, in World's Ends.

Hob's canon romances always interested me because these women were all mortals, while he was not. We know he had at least one kid who died, and he saw almost all his lovers/wives die while knowing he would never follow them in the grave unless he wanted it. We didn't see it happen with Gwen, but it will, eventually.

It makes me wonder: how does he do it? How does he manage to be completely invested in a relationship knowing that the people he loves will all grow old and die, while he will stay the same and live forever? I would have loved it if the comics had him discussing that, and I still hope in the show he will. We never saw what his last conversation with Hob was, after all... I like to think that Dream stayed a bit longer than usual with Hob, and that they opened up about their respective lives and experiences with love. Audrey is still alive and probably in Hob's life at this point, it would be nice if she showed up, met Dreams and asked him embarrassing questions... but I digress haha

Before I continue I'd like to confess that not being a shipper, I don't read Dreamling fics - I rarely read fics revolving a ship in general... I prefer Morpheus x oc or non romantic fics -, so any comment I can make about the fandom is based on what I see on social media, and not on fanfic contents. I'm sure that Hob's wives and girlfriends are often evoked and maybe sometimes, even more developed there than they are in canon.

Hob's first wife: Eleanor

Eleanor's just a portrait, we don't know much about her except that Hob probably cared about her since in the show he still calls her "my Eleanor" long after she died.

She exists only to show that Hob's situation stabilized after he started making money. Also, their son's death and hers may have been the first time that it hit Hob in the head that while he could live forever, he couldn't prevent his loved ones from dying. The loss of his family affected him very much and yet, he still wanted to live. I'll probably write a meta later about how his situation purposely mirrors Morpheus', about how they both lost everything they loved at some point but reacted in a completely different manner.

Hob's second wife: Peggy/Jim

We meet Margaret/Peggy/Jim in World's End. She pretends to be a man hence why she calls herself Jim, as she did during all the trip during which she met Hob Gadling. It's quite obvious that she did it for safety issues, as she would have probably not been allowed to travel on a boat let alone work on one if she had revealed as girl without a chaperon, and she clearly enjoyed the freedom and advantages she got as passing for a man. It's good to emphasize how brave she was to do that, as if her secret had gone out it could have put her in great danger.

Hob was the only one who saw through her, but he protected her secret. He also confirmed her doubts that he was much older than he seemed, a secret she protected as well. It seems she never believed he was immortal though - see the part about Audrey - .They bonded over having secrets they could possibly not reveal to anyone else, so it's a really sweet love story.

Later, in The Kindly Ones, we learn that Peggy died in his arms, during the Blitz. If they had kids, he doesn't say, but it's obvious he loved her very much and was deeply affected by her death, as he says on Audrey's grave, in The Kindly Ones, that Audrey's the first woman he was with since Peggy died.

Now I know that certain fans want Peggy to be trans or non-binary because she disguises as a man and asks to be called Jim. It's generally not as much because they care about her character or representation,than because it would make Hob canonically queer. Now I have no problem with anyone's headcanons: there are no right or wrong headcanon, no stupid or offensive ones - as long as they're not hateful, homophobic, racist, transphobic etc. - and whatever makes people feel represented and happy is fine by me. That said, I personally believe it's a bit simplistic to reduce a woman's refusal to follow societal norms to her being a man or non-binary, but again, whatever floats your boat guys.

I personally think that Peggy/Jim was written as a strong young woman who wanted to travel and see the world, knew she couldn't do that if she was seen as a woman, so she disguised as a man, took a man's name and enjoyed the role because let's be honest: the life for white men during this period was wayyyyyy funnier and easier than for women. What do you mean, it still is? I don't understand, are you saying institutional patriarchy is still very much a thing? *pretends to be shocked*.

You can find many stories like Peggy/Jim's in modern literature, and of course, in real life!

As for Hob, he knew Peggy was a woman quite early, and when he talks about her on Audrey's grave he says "Peg' ", not "Jim", which tells me he kept seeing her as a woman. But again, that's my headcanon and I won't argue about that, I just feel like Peggy/Jim deserves better than being discussed solely regarding Hob's sexuality. Her story is one of my favorite in the comics :)

Talking about the particular subject of Hob's sexuality is immortal and even though the comics doesn't mention any male boyfriend, he seems open minded and hedonistic enough to have at least tried... I always headcanoned Hob Gadling as pansexual, because it doesn't make sense to me that a man who lived for hundred of years would be straight, simply.

I really hope that the show will give us Peggy/Jim's story on screen, she highly deserves it. I love this character, I just wish it would be clearer in the comics that she's the future Mrs Gadling... I learned through social media that the Peg' he mentioned on Audrey's grave was the Peggy he met in World's Ends. It's very confusing, the way it's written.

Hob Gadling's girlfriends

We of course don't know every girlfriend that Hob had, in the comics we're just introduced to two: Audrey, and Gwen. We learn a couple of other names in The Kindly Ones though: Lisabet and Anne.

Audrey

Audrey's another woman who's never part of the conversations, yet the panel dedicated to Hob's reaction to her death is the first panel that made Hob sympathetic to me. But whenever this panel is discussed, everything that's related to Audrey is ignored so the focus is entirely on Hob's concern for Morpheus. Before I read the comics, I had no idea that Hob had just buried his lover, and begged Morpheus to resurrect her because the pain of losing her was too hard to handle.

A bit like for Margaret/Peggy/Jim, it's not clear at all that in Season of Mists, the woman we see with Hob in bed is Audrey, the woman whose grave he visits in The Kindly Ones.

It's really in The Kindly Ones that we can see how much he cared for Audrey, as he cared for all the lovers he had before but died. The reaction he has, he admits it himself, responds to a question we probably all asked: does he ever get used to it? Become insensitive, with time?

The answer's no:

I always wondered why Morpheus visited him at this moment: was it because he felt his pain and wanted to be here for him? Or was it because he wanted to say one last goodbye and it happened to coincide with the moment Hob was drowning in his grief? Was it because he himself needed a friend, more than ever?

Anyway he certainly didn't expect Hob's request. For the first time that we know of, Hob asked Dream to use his supernatural powers. Hob, the immortal who saw all the people he knew die, not only wasn't used to it but asked Dream basically the same thing as Orpheus asked him: help him to get his lover back. It must have been very painful for Dream, but poor Hob couldn't know that. I doubt he even knew that Dream had once been married and had a son.

So yeah, afterwards he runs after Morpheus and tries to make him confide in him, he even feels his friend's death is imminent and he shows a deep concern, but that's not all that this panel is about. I think it's about saying that no matter how old you are, how many lives you lived, how many people you loved and loved you.... The death of a loved one is always painful.

2. Gwen

Gwen is Hob's last girlfriend that we know of. She's also, in his own admission, the first Black woman he dates. Considering that Hob used to be an enthusiastic slave trader who needed an ethereal entity to tell him that slavery was wrong to think that he should find another way to become rich, I find this information.... interesting. After 600 years, it was about time... did he refuse to date Black women because of guilt for what he did? Or because he remained racist for a long time and didn't think Black women were worth his attention?

I feel very protective of Gwen, first because I dislike how she was written as a moral caution for Hob, as she absolves him for his sins but without knowing the extent of his sins - she has no idea he's immortal and was a slave trader - . When she appears in the show - and I really hope she will! - , I hope she'll be written in a way that she doesn't exist solely for Hob to express his guilt while being too coward to tell her the truth about what he did.

I was going to say something very personal about me, but I'm not sure the comparison I want to make would work, so I prefer keeping it for me, finally. If anyone's interested in knowing me better they can join me in private though :)

The second reason why I'm very protective of her is that as Audrey, on social media she's generally treated as non existent by the fandom - who focuses entirely on Hob's grief regarding Morpheus' death - . I recently saw a wish regarding Gwen that made my blood boil and almost made me hit the 'deactivate' button, but I'm not here to start a war, let alone to point fingers. I just really wish some people paid more attention to what they wrote, because some stuff I've read these last days came off as very insensitive.

And I'll conclude with one last panel featuring the gorgeous Gwen:

Also tagging @violetoftheendless and @tickldpnk8 , in case you're interested in discussing this subject :)

#sandman women #hob gadling #hob gadling's lovers #hob and women #the sandman #season of mists #the kindly ones #the wake #sandman comics #sandman spoilers #the sandman meta #fandom misoginy #fandom racism #fandom critical

[uovoc]

Extremely funny how Thessaly recounts the story of their breakup as "Yeah I told him I never loved him and he was just like 'Ok' and went back to work. Stone cold bastard." except that 30 issues ago we saw what Dream was doing after she left and it was all screaming wailing crying in the rain etc

#the sandman #brief lives #the wake

[panzerdrako]

THE SANDMAN

The Wake

An Epilogue: Sunday Morning

#the sandman #vertigo comics #neil gaiman #the wake #comic #death of the endless #hob gadling #epilogue

[writing-for-life]

“Into the end of the story”—Jill Thompson

Daniel!Dream is in this concept art for the movie (Neil and Jill created these for a pitch).

If you want to read why that’s important, about Sunday Mourning in general and a few other things, you can do that here.

Or here (Why the order of the last three issues matters).

#the sandman #dream of the endless #morpheus #sandman #hob gadling #destruction of the endless #daniel hall #the wake #sunday mourning #jill thompson #sandman x art #queue crew #no this is not what this one’s about #and that’s not what I’m implying #that’s why there’s links in there

[thelastofthebookworms]

I couldn't include Endless Nights or Overture. Don't throw rocks at me.

And please reblog so we have some voters.

#polls #sandman #sandman's volumes #preludes and nocturnes #the doll's house #dream country #season of mists #a game of you #fables and reflections #brief lives #worlds' end #the kindly ones #the wake

[notallthosewho-wanderarelost]

Morpheus’ interactions with the kitten Walks the Night Alone in “Exiles” (The Sandman #74)

Bonus:

#the sandman #morpheus #dream of the endless #walks the night alone #cats #exiles #the wake #my stuff #i just thought this was really cute #i also love how we have *overwhelming* evidence that morpheus is a cat person (…being. you get the idea)

[shipwreckedcomedy]

Shipwrecked Comedy proudly presents: The Wake Theatre Commercial

A Sleepy Hollow Public Access commercial for The Wake Theatre, featuring Ramona Trousers.

The Wake Theatre was created for Sleepy Hollow by our executive producer, Paul Komoroski, and this in-world commercial is a Kickstarter Perk.

Headless: A Sleepy Hollow Story - Available in full on Shipwrecked Comedy's channel!

#headless: a sleepy hollow story #headless series #shipwrecked comedy #the wake #ramona trousers #kim whalen #commercial #sleepy hollow #Youtube

[stuckasmain]

Why is there a insistence within the fandom to call New Dream Daniel? Is it because it is easier or am I missing something that was not in the main run and overture. Last time I remember new dream denied the right to be called Morpheus while also expressly stating many times he is not Daniel to lyta.

I thought it was pretty clear that whatever was Daniel the toddler was gone. What remained was … well… dream. In the same sense that all dreams and the dreaming are technically apart of him? Daniel maybe more so because he had sort of the succession/backup plan. Added to this even if it was Daniel… he was like 3 there’s nothing there? By that I mean no concrete personality and stuff like that because baby. However— new dream is sort of old dream but just- refreshed? Kinder? Sort of ‘I want to be these things so next time I will be.’ Change.

#the sandman #sandman comics #the sandman spoilers #lyta hall #Daniel hall #dream of the endless #dream #Morpheus #new dream #the wake #sandman fandom