How They Met Themselves

Neil Gaiman, Michael Zulli

• Standalone story, originally printed in Vertigo: Winters Edge #3
• Audible Act III Chapter 13

Page 1#

• Panel 1

  The drawing is "How They Met Themselves" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti after which this short story is named.

• Panel 2

  Annie Miller modelled for many Pre-Raphaelite artists.

Page 2-3#

• A Double page Splash.

  Laudanum: A medicinal syrup containing about 10% opium by weight. Commonly used in Victorian times as a pain killer and a sleeping aid.

  Lizzie here, is Lizzie Siddal, an accomplished artist, model and poet in her own right.

Page 4#

• Panel 1

  The man looking out of the window is Algernon Charles Swinburne an English Poet and Playwright.

• Panel 2

  Sat next to Lizzie is Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lizzie's husband, and renowned poet and illustrator, among many other talents.

• Panel 3

  Lizzie had been sick for a long time - possibly tuberculosis, and also likely addiction to the Laudanum.

• Panel 6

  And here we meet desire, which is made clear by the distinctive lettering, and the amber eyes.

Page 5#

• Panel 1

  Even Rossetti finds Desire's eyes remarkable.

Page 6#

• Panel 1

  "All the land hereabouts belongs to me"... - I believe this is the first we've heard of Desire owning land, unless this is no longer England they're in...

• Panel 3

  Swinburne picks the name "Dolores" for Desire

• Panel 4

  Rossetti certainly sees Desire as female too, but from our viewpoint (that of Lizzie remembering), Desire is clearly male.

• Panel 6

  Swinburne was a known sadomasochist, which had a major influence on his work.

Page 7#

• Panel 1

  The group have got separated. It's definitely clear they're not in a normal place any more.

• Panel 2

  Time doesn't seem to work normally here, either.

• Panel 3, 6-10

  Is Swinburne meeting Desire again, or just remembering them.

• Panels 4, 5

  Lizzie and Rossetti seem to have met themselves.

• Panel 10

  Back to the sadomasochism. The "he" here refers to Swinburne, rather than Desire.

Page 8#

• Rossetti's true love was really himself.

Page 9#

• Panel 1

  Rossetti found Lizzie overdosed, after returning from a talk, as described here.

• Panel 2

  This is also true.

Credits

• Greg "elmo" Morrow created the Sandman Annotations.
• Originally collated and edited by Richard Munn.

Last modified by Richard Munn on 2023-09-13 - Minor edits
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