The Sandman: Worlds' End

The Sandman: Worlds' End
Cover of The Sandman: Worlds' End  (1995), trade paperback collected edition. Art by Dave McKean.
Publisher	DC Comics
Publication date	July–December 1993
Genre	Dark fantasy Mythology in comics
Title(s)	The Sandman #51-56
Main character(s)	Dream
ISBN	ISBN 1417686170
Creative team
Writer(s)	Neil Gaiman

Worlds' End (1994) is the eighth collection of issues in the DC Comics series The Sandman. It was written by Neil Gaiman; illustrated by Michael Allred, Gary Amaro, Mark Buckingham, Dick Giordano, Tony Harris, Steve Leialoha, Vince Locke, Shea Anton Pensa, Alec Stevens, Bryan Talbot, John Watkiss, and Michael Zulli; colored by Danny Vozzo; and lettered by Todd Klein. The events in it are loosely associated with Zero Hour. The stories in the collection first appeared in 1993. The collection first appeared in paperback and hardback editions in 1994. The collection's title, setting, and a number of its themes and images are also found in G.K. Chesterton's poem "A Child of the Snows".

Synopsis

Like volumes 3 and 6, Dream Country and Fables and Reflections, this is a collection of (mostly) single-issue short stories, mostly not directly related to the main storyline of the series. Unlike those collections, however, the issues in Worlds' End were clearly written with this end in mind, and as a set form a frame tale.

This is the story of Brant Tucker and Charlene Mooney, who are involved in a car crash during what seems to be a snowstorm (in the Northern Summer). Charlene is badly hurt, and Brant is directed by a Mysterious Voice (a hedgehog) to a strange inn — "Worlds' End, a free house", as the pub sign outside declares it. It transpires later that this is one of four inns where travellers between dimensions, between realms and kingdoms, shelter during reality storms — the consequences of particularly momentous events. Throughout the reading of the collection, then, the reader is aware that some kind of momentous event has occurred, and the conclusion of the collection gives us an inkling of what it is; the revellers at the inn gather by its windows to watch a funeral procession cross the sky, which ends with Death looking sadly into the inn and then looking down sadly at her crossed hands, as the crescent moon behind her slowly turns red. The framing sequence is penciled by Bryan Talbot and inked by Mark Buckingham, Dick Giordano and Steve Leialoha, with the exception of the funeral procession, which is penciled by Gary Amaro and inked by Tony Harris.

The stories within the collection are each narrated by a different person during a storytelling session at the inn; as the introduction notes, this is similar to the device used in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. This gives each a distinct style both in the telling and in the illustration, with the collection drawn together by the short sequences between stories set at the inn itself. Each story told contains at least one character telling a story within the story.

Contents

(#51) "A Tale of Two Cities"

The first story is perhaps the most distinctive in graphical style; it eschews the traditional comic style, with linked panels containing speech bubbles and panels which narrate the story. The narration appears as prose, with illustrations interrupting to provide snapshots of the action in the story. Gaiman had asked artist Alec Stevens to model the approach after that which he had employed in The Sinners, published by DC's Piranha Press imprint in June 1989. This approach is a unique, stained-glass-like style that takes a nod to the German Expressionists of the early 20th century.

"A Tale" concerns a city dweller who finds himself one day in what he believes to be the dream of the city in which he lives, where he encounters another stranded city dweller, Morpheus, and a woman who looks like Death, but who Gaiman has said is not. When asked, Stevens said that he drew his own 'Mona' character from his Hardcore graphic novel, published by Piranha Press in January 1990. It ends with the frightened city dweller returning to "reality", whereupon he moves away from the city to a small village, where the story-teller meets him. He fears that one day, the cities will awaken. This story is heavily influenced by the work of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, especially in its thematic concerns of a character nearly driven to madness after discovering a truth that humans were never meant to know. In his introduction to Lovecraft, The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death, Gaiman writes, "There's something about Lovecraft's fiction, about his worlds, that is oddly alluring for a writer of fantasy and horror. I've written three Lovecraftian stories: one obliquely, in Sandman—a quiet, dreamlike story (it's the first story in the Worlds' End collection. You can tell it's Lovecraftian, because I use the word "cyclopean" in it)."

(#52) "Cluracan's Tale"

The second story is a fantasy adventure yarn, spun by the flamboyant representative of Faerie introduced in Season of Mists, Cluracan. He is sent to the city Aurelian to represent the interests of Faerie in the political upheavals currently occurring in that distant place, and causes uproar with a prophecy to the autocratic ruler of Aurelian. He is imprisoned as a consequence, but freed by Morpheus, who is alerted to his plight by Cluracan's sister, Nuala, currently in Morpheus' service. Using his faerie powers to disguise himself, Cluracan provokes the inhabitants of Aurelian to rebellion against their corpulent and corrupt ruler. John Watkiss draws this story with swashbuckling brushstrokes.

(#53) "Hob's Leviathan"

The third is a sea chanty told by a girl who poses as a boy, Jim, in order to be able to go to sea. It concerns the difficulties presented by extraordinary truths, and reintroduces Hob Gadling, whose story is first told in The Doll's House. Jim makes a voyage from Singapore to Liverpool, stopping in India. He meets Hob, who is presented as a guest on the ship, and an Indian stowaway whom Hob convinces the captain to let stay. The Indian tells a tale about a king who gives his beloved wife the fruit of immortality, who in turn gives it to her secret lover, which then passes to a concubine, then back to the king. The king in shame or despair leaves his city after having his wife and her lover executed, and wanders the earth, having finally eaten the fruit of immportality himself after all. The Indian stowaway shows a clear resemblance to the king in the story, and in a later scene, Hob remarks to him that helping him was the least he could do, seeing that there's so few of them (implying the two share something important, likely their immortality).

Before the end of their journey, a massive leviathan appears and surrounds the ship in a terrible display, then disappears. Jim is eager to tell people what he saw, but Hob states that the sea holds many secrets that sailors know but don't and can't talk about. The story ends with Hob revealing he knows Jim's true identity and Jim learning Hob actually owns the ship he sails on. The tale of Jim may be inspired by the traditional folk song "The Handsome Cabin Boy." The story is penciled by Michael Zulli and inked by Dick Giordano.

(#54) "The Golden Boy"

The fourth story is a story about America, told to Brant alone by an Asian man he meets upstairs in the inn.

In this America, Nixon is not re-elected in 1972; instead, he is succeeded by a young man named Prez Rickard, as American youth — allowed to vote for the first time with the lowering of voting age to 18 — also vote to lower the required age for president and get behind one of their own. Prez is a great president, averting a conflict in the Middle East, solving the energy crisis and putting the USA's house in order.

Before he becomes President he is visited by Boss Smiley, a sinister figure with the "have a nice day" smiley face for a head. Smiley tempts Prez, offering him the presidency in exchange for allegiance. Prez refuses the offer, and is elected regardless.

During his successful first term, he is revisited by Smiley, who warns him not to seek a second term. Prez again disregards Smiley, and is re-elected. In Prez's second term, a deranged woman wounds Prez and kills his new fiancee to get a celebrity's (Ted Grant) attention (similar to John Hinckley, Jr.). Smiley tempts Prez one last time, offering to restore her to him if he will serve Smiley. Prez finishes his term and retires to his hometown, declining many requests to return to public life and eventually vanishing altogether.

The man recounts "a matter of personal belief and revelation," that at the end of his life, Prez is taken by Death to heaven, where Boss Smiley warmly claims him as a good servant and offers Prez a job as a praiser. Dream arrives and takes Prez away from an angry Smiley, and Prez begins wandering between worlds to help out other Americas. Prez is ultimately a Messiah figure for the American dream; young, perfect, idealistic and brilliant, and therefore essentially fleeting and transitory. Prez's role as an ecumenical religious figure is emphasized throughout; his parallels with Jesus Christ are demonstrated through parallels with stories from the Gospels, including events similar to Jesus's discussions with the temple elders or the temptation of Christ, and stories from other religious traditions such as Taoism are included. There are also subtle homages to Watchmen. The deranged woman who kills his new fiancee wears a smiley button. The panel which shows a zombie version of hers even has a blood spot on the smiley button identical to the one in Watchmen. Prez's backstory as a watchmaker also mirrors that of Dr. Manhattan.

(#55) "Cerements"

The fifth story is told by an apprentice from the necropolis Litharge, a city devoted to the dead; its inhabitants know countless methods of burial from manifold realms and cultures. The most complex of the stories in Worlds' End, at one point it itself features a storytelling session - thus leading to a point where five frames exist at one time (taking into account the fact that the central plot is, at the end, revealed to be a frame). Petrefax tells of his apprenticeship, and relates the stories told by other masters and apprentices at an air burial to which he is sent. One of these features Destruction, who tells of an earlier, less fastidious, necropolis; this story, and the one that follows it, are important to events in the tenth collection, The Wake. Petrefax's story is penciled by Shea Anton Pensa and inked by Vince Locke.

Issues collected

Issue	Title	Writer	Penciller	Inker	Colorist	Letterer	Asst Editor	Editor
51	A Tale of Two Cities	Neil Gaiman	Alec Stevens / Bryan Talbot	Alec Stevens / Mark Buckingham	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Shelly Roeberg	Karen Berger
52	Cluracan's Tale	Neil Gaiman	John Watkiss / Bryan Talbot	John Watkiss / Mark Buckingham	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Shelly Roeberg	Karen Berger
53	Hob's Leviathan	Neil Gaiman	Michael Zulli / Bryan Talbot	David Giordano / Mark Buckingham	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Shelly Roeberg	Karen Berger
54	The Golden Boy	Neil Gaiman	Michael Allred / Bryan Talbot	Michael Allred / Mark Buckingham	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Shelly Roeberg	Karen Berger
55	Cerements	Neil Gaiman	Shea Anton Pensa / Bryan Talbot	Vince Locke / Mark Buckingham	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Shelly Roeberg	Karen Berger
56	Worlds' End	Neil Gaiman	Gary Amaro / Bryan Talbot	Dick Giordano / Steve Leialoha / Tony Harris / Mark Buckingham / Bryan Talbot	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Shelly Roeberg	Karen Berger

References

Further reading

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

External links

• The Annotated Sandman