The Sandman: The Wake

The Sandman: The Wake
Cover of The Sandman: The Wake  (1997), trade paperback collected edition.Art by Dave McKean.
Publisher	DC Comics
Publication date	August 1995 - March 1996
Genre	Dark fantasy Mythology in comics
Title(s)	The Sandman #70-75
Main character(s)	Dream
ISBN	ISBN 1563892871
Creative team
Writer(s)	Neil Gaiman

The Wake is the tenth and final collection of issues in the comic book series The Sandman. Written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Michael Zulli, Jon J. Muth and Charles Vess, and lettered by Todd Klein.

The collection opens with James Elroy Flecker's poem "The Bridge of Fire," which acts as a prologue and description of the events that occur.

The stories in the collection first appeared in 1996. The collection first appeared in paperback and hardback in 1996.

Synopsis

As a collection it more or less stands alone. It forms an epilogue to the entire series, its mood being restrained and reflective.

The first half of the collection is a storyline which follows the wake for Morpheus, who died at the end of the ninth collection, The Kindly Ones. Many characters from the series appear. A series of speakers, ending with Death, appear to give their point of view on Morpheus' life. Meanwhile, the new aspect of Dream, who used to be the child Daniel, starts to build relationships with the inhabitants of the Dreaming.

After this come three seemingly unrelated short stories.

"Sunday Mourning"

"Sunday Mourning" follows the immortal Hob Gadling and his girlfriend at a Renaissance fair in modern day America. Hob, now going by Robbie, complains about the fair's sugar-coated depiction of the past, and regrets his past as a slaver. In a lousy mood to begin with, he gets very drunk and enters a condemned building, where he encounters Death. Death confirms to him that Morpheus has died, and offers to let him die as well, now that he no longer has his agreement with Morpheus to fulfill. After some consideration, Hob turns her down. Hob then falls asleep and dreams of meeting Morpheus, who confirms that he has died, and Destruction, another of the Endless who no longer inhabits his own realm. The three walk off together. Awakening, Hob returns to his girlfriend after the fair, his mood much improved.

Gaiman mentioned wanting to do a Renfaire issue with Hob in it because he thought it would be funny for several reasons: Gaiman himself mentioned in "The Sandman Companion" that he never liked Renfaires, particularly in America and wondered what it would be like if someone from the time popped in.

"Exiles"

"Exiles" is something of a companion to a story from Fables and Reflections, "Soft Places". It features a man, an adviser to the Emperor of China, who is sent into exile after his son allied himself with a take-off of the historical White Lotus Rebellion. In the course of the story we are drawn through a contemplative narration which sometimes leads one to think the old man has gone senile. With a significant nod to the parable style the old man's act of saving and caring for a stray kitten saves his life when he is lost through a soft place in reality and meets Morpheus, recently released from his imprisonment (Preludes and Nocturnes), and still weak. He alludes to both former and future events. In the end the old man is reunited with his guide, his loyalty to the Emperor intact.

"The Tempest"

"The Tempest" is a companion piece to "A Midsummer Night's Dream", from the third collection, Dream Country. "The Tempest" is more reflective than "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and features less of the original play, though it echoes it cleverly in several ways and sequences. It is principally about Gaiman's Morpheus and his issues with himself and his place in things. Here we see in detail the Morpheus only briefly fleshed in former issues - the vulnerable, emotional, confused Dream King. Gaiman uses "The Tempest", a play fundamentally about change, endings, and new beginnings, to finish the series.

References to other characters

During the wake, Superman, Batman, and the Martian Manhunter discuss their dreams. Most of the dreams told by Superman and Batman are actual imaginary stories from the Silver Age, and references to their adventures in other media. Superman and Batman mentioned how they have dreams of being actors playing themselves, but Martian Manhunter claims he never has that dream (referencing how Martian Manhunter never had a television show). John Constantine, Doctor Occult and Phantom Stranger are also seen chatting. Constantine says "Nice trench coat", referring to the description of the three of them, plus Mister E, as the Trenchcoat Brigade in the Books of Magic miniseries..

Issues collected

Issue	Title	Writer	Penciller	Inker	Colorist	Letterer	Ast Editor	Editor
70	Chapter 1, Which Occurs in the Wake of What Has Gone Before	Neil Gaiman	Michael Zulli	n/a	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Shelly Roeberg	Karen Berger
71	Chapter 2, In Which a Wake is Held	Neil Gaiman	Michael Zulli	n/a	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Shelly Roeberg	Karen Berger
72	Chapter 3, In Which We Wake	Neil Gaiman	Michael Zulli	n/a	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Shelly Roeberg	Karen Berger
73	An Epilogue, Sunday Mourning	Neil Gaiman	Michael Zulli	n/a	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Shelly Roeberg	Karen Berger
74	Exiles	Neil Gaiman	n/a	Jon J Muth	Jon J Muth	Todd Klein	Shelly Roeberg	Karen Berger
75	The Tempest	Neil Gaiman / William Shakespeare	Charles Vess / Bryan Talbot / John Ridgway / Michael Zulli	Charles Vess	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Shelly Roeberg	Karen Berger

• Issues 70-73 did not have an inker, and were done only in pencils and color.
• Issue 72 contains additional pages in the Wake bound collection versus the original comic.
• Issue 74 did not have a penciler, and was done entirely in inks.

References

• Bender, Hy (1999), The Sandman Companion, New York: Vertigo DC Comics, ISBN 1563896443 

External links

• The Annotated Sandman