Issue 27: "Season of Mists Chapter 6"

Neil Gaiman, Kelley Jones, and Dick Giordano

• Sixth part of storyline, Season of Mists
• Seventh story reprinted in trade paperback Season of Mists
• Audible Act II Chapter 7

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.

Page 1#

• Panel 2

  It is assumed that the reader recognizes the significant characters, and recalls the significant events, of this storyline.

• Panel 3

  Seneferu is the founder of the 4th Dynasty of Egypt, the father of Cheops. This dynasty is remembered primarily for building the great pyramids of Egypt. A number of folktales about these god-kings exist; interested readers are invited to look in M. Lichtheim's Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 1, and Simpson, Faulkner and Wente's Literature of Ancient Egypt. [Note the inventive titles!]

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 and the faceless guy briefly last issue. According to Wonder Woman, the Greek gods have forsaken this plane for another, unknown destination, although similar circumstances did not prevent the folk of Faerie from sending representatives.

Page 3#

• Panel 1

  "Veratyr" is an appelation for Odin meaning "Lord of Men".

  Kvasir is a dwarf, who was referenced in the annotation to Sandman #24.

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. Note that the armored figure may be the same figure that appeared briefly in the previous issue.

Page 6#

• Panel 1

  Thor has a hangover, which has manifested itself as a storm cloud above his head in deference to his nature as God of Thunder.

• 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 :-) [Note for Bill Sherman: Creator = creator, Neil Gaiman] There is no indication that Remiel has landed.

Page 10#

• Remiel's speech on this page is a swipe of a speech preached upon the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane, 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 that soliloquy.

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

  In the primary Norse myths, Niddhogg was a nasty serpent or dragon that lived in Hel's domain and spent its days gnawing at one of the roots of Yggdrasil, the World Ash. Nidhogg (also spelled Nidhoggr, Nithogg) is described as a flying, corpse-eating dragon in other accounts. His name means "Hateful".

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 20#

• Panel 1

  The skull in Dream's souvenir chest is that of the Corinthian, from The Doll's House. Note the penny: There is a giant penny in Batman's Batcave, a souvenir of one of his early cases, although it is unlikely that Dream would have a copy.

  The Audible narration lists the contents as:
  
  

  • A small square leatherbound box,
    
  • A ring,
    
  • A coin,
    
  • An old fashioned pocket watch,
    
  • A human skull possessing two mouths with tiny teeth where its eye sockets should be.
    

  The leatherbound box seems to have gone so far unmentioned - does that have relevance to other events?

  jurph@gondor.org says:

  The city in a bottle is indeed Baghdad ("Ramadan") and the pocket watch belongs to Prez ("The Golden Boy", world's end #5), as seen on page 24, panel 2. Its history is given in the preceding few pages.
  There is also a tankard shown. Perhaps this is the tankard Dream first drank from when meeting Hob Gadling?
  

Page 22#

• Panel 8

  Loki's remark will be expounded upon next issue.

Page 24#

• Panel 2

  Matthew's remark has ominous reverberations.

Credits

• Originally collated and edited by Greg Morrow.
• Bill "Peach Melba" Sherman, sherman@math.ucla.edu, corrected my New Testament recollections, recalled a point of similarity between Faerie and Olympus, and hadn't seen the revised edition of 24, which explains Kvasir. He also spotted the Corinthian's skull amongst other treasures.
• Mark A Biggar (mab%wdl39@wdl1.wdl.loral.com) also corrected my New Testament scholarship.
• Glenn Carnagey glenn_carnagey@memphis-orinst.uchicago.edu identified Seneferu.
• dennis c hwang hwa5@midway.uchicago.edu referenced Nidhogg.
• Michael Bowman mbowman@andromeda.rutgers.edu checked Veratyr, Niddhogg, and corrected one of my page numbers.
• Jim W Lai jwtlai@jeeves.waterloo.edu spotted a previous appearance of Faceless, Thor's headache, and the Corinthian's skull.
• jurph@gondor.org noticed the bottled city and pocket watch
• Richard Munn noted the description of the chest given on Audible, notably the leatherbound box, which has previously gone unmentioned.

Last modified by Richard Munn on 2023-08-22 - Added some notes from Audible
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