From: morrow@fnalb.fnal.gov (The Third Elmo)
Subject: SANDMAN:  And Annotation 27, too!
Organization: Muppetgame IV
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 04:40:52 GMT

                         The Annotated Sandman
    
               Edited and largely written by Greg Morrow
      
                                Issue 27
             Neil Gaiman, Kelley Jones, and Dick Giordano

                       Season of Mists Chapter 5

                     In which the vexing question 
             of the sovereignty of Hell is finally settled,
                     to the satisfaction of some;
                   the finer points of hospitality;
                    and in which it is demonstrated
                       that while some may fall,
                          others are pushed.

                  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.

Notice:  Commentaries and additional information should go to
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from theory.lcs.mit.edu in pub/wald/sandman.  Please contact the editor if you 
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Page 1 panel 2:  It is assumed that the reader recognizes the significant
characters, and recalls the significant events, of this storyline.
	Panel 3:  No reference for Seneferu.

Page 2 panel 4:  Bast claimed to know the exact whereabouts of the Prodigal
Endless.
	Panel 6:  We saw the bloke in the pointy hat briefly last issue.
The faceless figure is unknown.  According to _Wonder Woman_, the Greek gods
have forsaken this plane for another, unknown destination.

Page 3 panel 1:  "Veratyr" is an unknown appelation for Odin.

Page 4-5:  This is a two page splash panel spread.  Note the cherubs spreading
the tarpaulin.  Beyond those figures gathered below that we have already seen,
we may note a figure in a fur cloak and wooden mask, possibly African; a figure
in Greco-Roman armor, who resembles _Wonder Woman_'s depiction of the Greek god
Ares, and who may therefore be the Roman god Mars; an American Indian in 
chief's headdress; and a serpent-headed being of unknown provenance.  The
pictures and designs on the ceiling do not appear to have any obvious
significance.

Page 6 panel 4:  Note that, unsurprisingly, Dream does not sleep.

Page 9:  The flip panel effect of Dream and Duma is somewhat odd, since Duma
apparently disappears from panels 2 and 3.  I reconstruct the sequence as
follows:
	Panel 1:  Duma floating above and to the right of Dream, his feet about
30" above the level of Dream's hair.
	Panel 2:  Pan down, so that only Dream is visible.  (Note that the
scale actually suggests that Duma's toes should be visible at the upper
boundary of the panel.)  Dream and Duma have not moved.  Perspective is skewed,
since we do not get a different view of Remiel.
	Panel 3:  Pan further down.  Dream is almost entirely visible.  Our
view of Remiel still has not changed.
	Panel 4:  Camera still, but Duma dropping very quickly.
	Panel 5:  Duma lands.  Note that Remiel has rebelled, thus condemning
him to Hell, a nice piece of irony on the Creator's part.  (That's a pun, boy,
couldn't find your nose if'n it wasn't screwed on :-)  There is no indication
that Remiel has landed.

Page 10:  Remiel's speech on this page is a swipe of the Sermon on the
Mount, the sequence in the Bible where Jesus asks his father if he may avoid
the suffering that he will face in the next day.  "Let this burden pass" and
the cup metaphor are exactly taken from the Sermon.

Page 11 panel 1:  Thor's joke depends on a lisp, a speech impediment in which a
person pronounces /s/ and /z/ like an unvoiced and voiced /th/ sound.
  	Panel 3:  No reference for Niddhog.

Page 15 panel 4:  "Got the balls" is an idiom for "courageous enough".  "Balls"
is, of course, slang for testicles.  This sounds odd coming from a demon.

Page 19 panel 4:  Did anyone _not_ see this conclusion coming from a couple of
light-years away?

Page 22 panel 8:  Loki's remark will be expounded upon next issue.

Page 23 panel 2:  Matthew's remark has ominous reverberations.
-- 
"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)