The Sandman, Volume 4, Season of Mist

The Sandman, Volume 4, Season of Mist-Neil Gaiman

How I found this book: There were better things I could have been doing with my time, I’m sure, but then there was this whole other comic book…

Setting: Circa 1992

Main Characters:

Dream/Morpheus: The personification of dreams, Morpheus hasn’t always made the best of decisions with his former lovers. He had Nada imprisoned in hell for rejecting him ages before, and now he’s being called out on it by his brother/sister, Desire. When he goes to remedy the situation, he finds Lucifer, whose still not happy with Morpheus, waiting with a little surprise…the keys to Hell for anyone who cares for them.

Nada: A former queen of some unnamed, ancient African kingdom, Nada killed herself when her people were destroyed after she took Morpheus as her lover. When she rejected him fully for it, he cursed her to Hell. Now, unknown ages later, Desire has stirred up the pot by mentioning Nada to Dream, who is seeking to right a horrible wrong he committed then.

Lucifer: The ruler of Hell, Lucifer is both irked with Morpheus for his behavior while trying to get his helmet back, (in the first volume), and a bit tired of dealing with Hell and all the politics and whatnot that go with it. He locks the place up, cuts off his wings, and gives the keys to Morpheus, tell him to do with it as he wishes.

A plethora of gods and goddesses and other beings: All who are wishing to get control of hell for their own wishes.

Cluarcan: A representative of the fairies.

Nuala: Cluarcan’s sister, another fairy representative who ends up staying with Morpheus in the dreaming.

Plot: Desire is up to its tricks again, and when the Endless meet at Destiny’s domain, Desire provokes a fight with Dream, causing him to storm out. He decides that his brother/sister is at least partially right, and tries to undo the wrong he did to a former lover, Nada, many years before. However, when he goes to Hell to bargain for her release, Lucifer announces he is done with the joint, and is striking out on his own, tired of ruling as the Lord of Hell. He gives the keys and control of the entire place to Morpheus. Now besieged by the many deities and entities who wish to have a piece of Hell for themselves, Morpheus thinks on what to do, those on Earth are effected by the fact that Hell has no place for the souls of the damned anymore. It is up to Morpheus to decide who gets to have the keys to the kingdom, and everyone is eager to get their hands on it.

Themes:

The sins of your past: All of this is brought on to Dream because of the bad way he ended his relationship with Nada, (perhaps the worst of his romantic temper tantrums). Nada is forced to suffer because of Morpheus’s wounded pride, when in reality she had tried to be the wiser of the two. Just goes to show that even the Endless can be idiots, especially someone who literally lives with his head in the clouds.

Everyone wants a peace of Hell: You would think that this would be the least desirable space in the entire known universe, but apparently not so much. Some want it to turn it into their own playgrounds; others want to keep it out of the hands of people they don’t like. Ultimately though, as Morpheus realizes, Hell really only belongs to that which created it, else it doesn’t really function much like hell.

Every book sucks somewhere: I was a bit disappointed that the story of Nada wasn’t expanded upon more.

What did I like: I personally like Lucifer a lot, I think this portrayal of him sort of got me on my own germ of what I wanted Lucifer to be in a story I'm ruminating on. I also liked how the other gods and goddesses were presented, and how Gaiman doesn't ignore any of them. If anything, these are as much the manifestations of the dreams of the people they serve as anything else in his world, but with far greater power.

How would I rate this wormy book: I would rate this a FAT WORM, I like how neat the story is and unique, and it isn’t a fancy repeat of the story of Orpheus, (who ironically is Morpheus’s son, and we will meet him in future episodes), but rather it is much more of a way for Morpheus to contemplate what an utter berk he has been in the past. As much of the series revolves around Dream realizing that perhaps he has made mistakes and is having trouble adapting himself after all these billions of years, we begin to see the first inklings of what will become a major issue for him in the future.