From: morrow@fnalb.fnal.gov (The Third Elmo)
Subject: SANDMAN: At long last, #26
Organization: Muppetgame IV
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 04:40:04 GMT

                         The Annotated Sandman
    
               Edited 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

Disclaimer:  Sandman and all related characters are copyrights and trademarks
of DC Comics Inc.  Sandman and this annotation are intended for mature
audiences only.

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Page 1 panel 2:  The guardians of the gate are as seen before; Cluracan of
Faerie is new.  The realm of Faerie has played a large role in two previous
Gaiman works, _Sandman_ #19 and _Books of Magic_ #3.

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.  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:  I am not familiar with a legend in which Thor's hammer gets
larger when rubbed (ignoring the obvious phallic connotations).  The
traditional story holds that the dwarves manufactured Thor's hammer, but were
tricked (by Loki, I believe) into making the handle too short; this does not
normally encumber Thor's ability to wield or hurl the weapon.

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:  What, do you suppose, is a "pooey man"?

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.
	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 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.
-- 
"On the campaign trail, the President tends to jerk his arms around a lot and
 speak in little bursts of sentence fragments that sound as if they might be
 part of some other conversation carried on by two other people somewhere else 
 on a different subject."
--Calvin Trillin

elmo (morrow@fnal.fnal.gov,morrow@physics.rice.edu)