tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87522350410150722722024-02-19T00:31:22.847-08:00comicspeakPatrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-10639891753126541342021-10-13T08:28:00.001-07:002021-10-16T09:58:44.868-07:00Chronologie d'un flashback dans New Invaders 7<p>Dans ce billet, je vais montrer comment je combine des recherches historiques pour construire la chronologie de personnages fictifs.<br /></p><p>Le comics New Invaders 7 résume l'histoire du super-héros des années quarante Thin Man (créé dans Mystic Comics 4) avec plusieurs pages de flashbacks.<br />
<br />
Page 8 découverte de la cité cachée de Kalahia (Mystic Comics 4)<br />
Page 10 dialogue avec la native Olalla, scène inédite, entre les cases 3 et 4 page 4 de Mystic Comics 4<br />
Page 11 demande de quitter la cité (Mystic Comics 4)<br />
Page 12 avec Captain America vs Agent Axis, scène inédite, avant le flashback de Marvel Comics Presents 34<br />
Page 13 résumé du flashback dans Marvel Comics Presents 34 (Kalahia détruite par des V-2)<br />
Page 14 résumé de Marvel Comics Presents 34 (Thin Man tue Agent Axis par vengeance)<br />
Page 15 procès de Thin Man, scène inédite<br />Page 16 en prison, scène inédite </p><p> <br />Quand a lieu la scène de la page 12 ? Aucune année ni aucun mois ne sont fournis pour cette scène.<br />
D'après New Invaders 7, Thin Man a 27 ans quand il découvre la cité secrète de Kalahia en 1939, et 33 ans quand les habitants sont assassinés par des missiles V2. S'il est né mi 1911, il aurait 33 ans de juin 1944
à juin 1945. Selon sa date de naissance (qui n'est pas connue), la destruction de Kalahia peut donc varier de deux ans (février 1944 à décembre 1945) :<br />
Né le 31 janv. 1911, 27 ans de févr. 1938 à janv. 1939, 33 ans de févr. 1944 à janv. 1945.<br />
Né le 31 déc. 1911, 27 ans de janv. 1939 à déc. 1939, 33 ans de janv. 1945 à déc. 1945.<br />
<br />Le flashback avec Captain America a lieu trois semaines avant la découverte de la destruction de la cité par les missiles V-2. Les missiles V-2 ont été produits de mars 1942 à 1945. L'Allemagne ne peut atteindre l'Himalaya avec ces missiles étant donné leur portée de 320 km... la puissance de l'Axe la plus proche du Tibet était le Japon, présent en Birmanie de mai 1942 à début 1945. <br />
<br />
Mes recherches ont montré que les Japonais avaient permis aux Allemands d'utiliser leurs bases de sous-marins en échange de missiles et de technologie de propulsion.
D'après des messages décryptés envoyés par l'ambassade japonaise à l'Allemagne,
douze missiles V-2 (A-4) démontés ont été expédiés par sous-marins au Japon. Ils ont quitté Bordeaux en aoùt 1944 à bord des sous-marins U-219 et U-195 et sont arrivés à Djakarta en décembre 1944. <br />
<br />la distance de la ville de Bhamo, occupée par les Japonais en Birmanie à Nyingchi, au Tibet est de 324 km, ce qui est la limite de la portée des missiles. Les premiers missiles V-2 lancés contre les Alliés l'ont été à partir de septembre 1944. Il faut tenir compte du temps pour acheminer les missiles jusqu'à la Birmanie puis Bhamo, et du fait que cette ville est capturée par les Alliés en le 15 décembre 1944. Après cette date, les forces Japonaises reculent vers le sud, ce qui place l'Himalaya hors de portée. La fenêtre est donc les deux premières semaines de décembre 1944. <br />
<br />En plaçant les destruction de Kalahia en décembre 1944 juste avant le départ de Bhamo par les Japonais,
"trois semaines avant la destruction" nous amène à fin novembre 1944 pour ce flashback de la page
12. </p><p>Voilà comment, malgré l'absence de repères précis, j'ai pu placer très précisément ce flashback dans la chronologie de Captain America à l'aide d'informations historiques. <br /></p>Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-62012074895961232902020-05-29T16:26:00.000-07:002020-06-22T01:22:07.352-07:00Spider-Man: Blue ChronologySpider-Man: Blue<br />
<br />
<br />
The events of this mini-series have been omitted from the official Marvel indexes. I worked it out ten years ago. It is provided here for those who wish such an index.<br />
<br />
#1<br />
p1-5 present time (2002), Spidey puts a rose on the Brooklyn Bridge on Valentine's Day<br />
p6-15 = ASM #40 pages 1-18 (fight vs Goblin)<br />
p16-17 Peter, JJJ, Joe Robertson (before his first appearance in ASM #51) <br />
p18-19 Peter meets Harry and Norman in the hospital (both last in ASM #40), then Flash and Gwen (both last in ASM #39)<br />
p20 Peter Parker, May Parker = ASM #41 page 10<br />
p21-23 Peter Parker buys a motorbike and presents it to the gang, same as ASM #41 page 19-20 pn 1-2<br />
p24 MJ and May (occurs between ASM #41 and #42)<br />
<br />
#2 <br />
p1-3 Spider-Man reads newspaper about Goblin<br />
p4 Kraven (last in ASM #34)<br />
p5-7 Peter, Flash, Gwen, Pr Warren in class (=ASM 42 between page 8 and 9)<br />
p8 Kraven, Rhino (last in ASM #42)<br />
p9 JJJ, Betty Brant, Peter Parker, Joe Robertson (=ASM #43 page 2 and/or 14)<br />
p10-13 fight vs Rhino = ASM #43 pages 7-12<br />
p14-15 Spidey and Dr Connors = ASM #43 page 15<br />
p16-19 Spidey beats Rhino = ASM #43 pages 18-19, Kraven looking at the scene<br />
p20-22 May, Peter meets MJ = ASM #42 page 20<br />
<br />
#3<br />
p1-6 Peter introduces MJ to Flash, Gwen, Harry. (=ASM #44, pages 10-11) <br />
p7-10 TV announces a search for the Lizard at Penn Station. Pete and MJ
ride there (mirroring ASM #43 pages 3-4,6 when Pete and MJ react to the
TV announcing the rampage of the Rhino)<br />
p11 Spidey meets Martha and Billy Connors (= ASM #44, page 6)<br />
p12-15 Spidey fights Lizard, Kraven helps Lizard escape (=ASM #44 pages 14-18)<br />
p16 Peter joins MJ outside the station (mirrors ASM #43, p 14)<br />
p17-20 Spidey subdues Lizard, Dr Connors reunited with family (=ASM #45 page 4,7-19)<br />
p21-22 Peter goes home at night, meets Harry asking him to be his roommate (mirroring ASM #46 page 6 but must happen page 19)<br />
<br />
#4 <br />
p1-6 Peter asks May if he can move in with Harry (=ASM #46 page 10 but must happen on page 19)<br />
p7-8 Vulture and Blackie Drago in prison (=ASM #48 page 3)<br />
p9-10 Peter brings May to Anna Watson (=ASM #46 p10 or 19-20), MJ goes out and leaves in car with Harry <br />
p11-12 Drago escapes prison (with Kraven's help) and recovers Vulture's costume (= ASM #48 pages 5-6)<br />
p13-14 Gwen, Flash, MJ and Harry have a housewarming party <br />
p15-17 New Vulture fights Spidey (=ASM #48 pages 12-18)<br />
p18 Gwen, Flash, MJ and Harry at the housewarming party<br />
p19-22 Spidey defeated by new Vulture (=ASM #48 pages 19-20)<br />
<br />
#5<br />
p1-4 Harry shows the apartment to Peter (mirroring ASM #46 page 20) who, sick, goes to bed (mirroring ASM #49 page 3)<br />
p5 Kraven finds Spidey's tracks in the snow<br />
p6 Kraven cures the Vulture (Toomes) so he can do what Drago couldn't<br />
p7-11 MJ and Gwen tend to the sick Peter while Flash and Harry play billiards (between pages 9 and 10 of #49)<br />
p12-15 Spidey joins the battle between the two Vultures (their battle
reflects the battle between the two Vultures in ASM #63 and the battle
between Kraven and Drago in ASM #49)<br />
p16-18 He saves Flash<br />
p19-20 Spidey beats the two Vultures<br />
p21-22 Peter joins the others in the apartment. Flash announces he
joined the army (he was drafted in ASM #43 page 20). Kraven looks from
outside.<br />
<br />
#6<br />
p1-4 Kraven reviews the fights Spider-Man had vs his enemies<br />
p5-9 Peter and Harry receive guests Gwen, MJ, Flash and other students for a party.<br />
p10-17 Kraven bursts in and kidnaps Harry, Spidey beats him under
Norman's eyes (=ASM #47 pages 11-19, the defeat of Kraven at the hands
of Spidey is from ASM #49 page 19)<br />
p18-19 Peter and Gwen make out <br />
p20-22 Peter completes his recording, MJ joins him (in the present)<br />
-------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
So an index for the individual issues would look like this:<br />
<br />
#1 <br />
Spider-Man (from SM: Quality of Life #4 '02, also concurrent with ASM #40-41 '66)<br />
<br />
J. Jonah Jameson (between ASM #40 and #41 '66)<br />
Joe Robertson (from ASM Annual #37/2 '09)<br />
Harry Osborn (from ASM #40 and concurrent with ASM #41 '66)<br />
Norman Osborn (between ASM #40 '66 and #47 '67)<br />
Flash Thompson (from ASM #39 '66 and concurrent with ASM #41 '66)<br />
Gwen Stacy (from ASM #39 '66 and concurrent with ASM #41 '66)<br />
May Parker (concurrent with ASM #41 '66)<br />
Mary Jane Watson (from ASM #38 '66)<br />
<br />
Villain: Green Goblin (concurrent with and continuing from ASM #40 '66; next in ASM #47 '67)<br />
<br />
Note: this issue includes memories (reminder flashbacks) of<br />
- ASM #40 (fight with the Green Goblin),<br />
- ASM #41 (Peter tells May he wants to buy a motorbike; he buys it and presents it to the gang). <br />
<br />
It shows the following new scenes (plain flashbacks): <br />
- Peter sells photos to JJJ and meets Robbie (between ASM #40 and #41). <br />
- Peter visits Harry and Norman at the hospital and meets Flash and Gwen there (between #ASM 40 and #41). <br />
- MJ comes looking for Peter but May tells her he isn't there.<br />
<br />
#2<br />
Spider-Man (from ASM #41; concurrent with ASM #42 and #43 '66)<br />
<br />
Gwen Stacy (concurrent with ASM #42 '66)<br />
Flash Thompson (concurrent with ASM #42 '66)<br />
Pr Warren (between ASM #39 '66 and #48 '67)<br />
Jonah Jameson (concurrent with ASM #43 '66)<br />
Joe Robertson (next in ASM #51 '67)<br />
Betty Brant (concurrent with ASM #43 '66)<br />
Curt Connors (concurrent with ASM #43 '66)<br />
May Parker (concurrent with ASM #42 '66)<br />
Mary Jane Watson (concurrent with ASM #42 '66)<br />
<br />
Villains: Kraven (from ASM #34 '66)<br />
Rhino (concurrent with ASM #43 '66)<br />
<br />
Note: this issue shows memories (rfb) of <br />
- ASM #43 (fights Rhino then defeats him after getting help from Dr Connors) <br />
- ASM #42 (Peter meets MJ for dinner). <br />
These two previous events are chronologically inverted in his recollection.<br />
<br />
New scenes (fb): <br />
- Spidey reads newspaper in newsstand about Green Goblin's death and is
watched by Kraven (this must be in the evening of the first fight vs
Rhino). <br />
- Peter with Gwen and Flash in Pr Warren's class. <br />
<br />
#3<br />
Spider-Man (concurrent with ASM #43-46 '67)<br />
<br />
Mary-Jane Watson (concurrent with ASM #43 '66 and #44 '67)<br />
Flash Thompson (concurrent with ASM #44 '67)<br />
Harry Osborn (concurrent with ASM #44-46 '67)<br />
Gwen Stacy (concurrent with ASM #44 '67)<br />
May Parker (concurrent with ASM #46 '67)<br />
<br />
Lizard (concurrent with ASM #44-45 '67)<br />
Kraven<br />
<br />
Martha Connors and Billy Connors (concurrent with ASM #44-45 '67)<br />
ESU students<br />
<br />
Note: This issue shows memories (rfb) of<br />
- ASM #44 (introducing MJ to the gang; meeting Martha and Billy Connors
at Penn Station; fighting the Lizard in the underground), <br />
- ASM #43 (Peter and MJ learn of a super-villain rampage, go there by
bike, Peter changes into Spider-Man, reunites with MJ after battle; this
actually happened with the Rhino but here Peter misremembers it as
happening with the Lizard), <br />
- ASM #46 (Harry asks Peter to be his roommate; originally asked Peter
while driving him in his car; this is either a previous or a later talk
about it), <br />
- ASM #45 (The Lizard smashes his lab, Spidey subdues the Lizard and Connors is reunited with his family).<br />
<br />
New scenes (fb): <br />
- Kraven helps the Lizard escape. <br />
- Harry has a talk at night with Peter (that cannot be when he asks him
first to be his roommate, it's probably when Harry asked Peter to
confirm between panels 2 and 3 page 19 of ASM #46)<br />
<br />
#4<br />
Spider-Man (concurrent with ASM #46 and #48 '67)<br />
<br />
May Parker (concurrent with ASM #46 '67)<br />
Anna Watson (concurrent with ASM #46 '67)<br />
Harry Osborn (concurrent with ASM #46 and #48-49 '67)<br />
Gwen Stacy (concurrent with ASM #46 and #48-49 '67)<br />
Flash Thompson (concurrent with ASM #46 '67)<br />
Mary Jane Watson (concurrent with ASM #46 and #48-49 '67)<br />
<br />
Vulture (concurrent with ASM #48 '67)<br />
Blackie Drago (concurrent with ASM #48 '67)<br />
Kraven <br />
<br />
Note: This issue shows memories (rfb) of <br />
- ASM #46 (Peter and May have a talk about moving out; originally this
happens at the train station when May comes back from Florida), <br />
- ASM #48 (Blackie Drago gets the secret place of the Vulture's costume; beats Spidey).<br />
<br />
New scene (fb): Harry, Flash, MJ and Gwen have a housewarming party at
Harry's apartment (new but similar to partying scenes in #46, #47 and
#49; Flash had already left for the army when Drago fought Spidey; the
fight with Drago occurred after Kraven had kidnapped Harry at Flash's
leaving party; between pages 19 and 20 of ASM #46)<br />
<br />
#5<br />
Spider-Man (concurrent with ASM #46 and #49 '67)<br />
<br />
Harry Osborn (concurrent with ASM #46 and #49 '67)<br />
Mary Jane Watson (concurrent with ASM #46 and #49 '67)<br />
Gwen Stacy (concurrent with ASM #46 and #49 '67)<br />
Flash Thompson (concurrent with ASM #46 '67)<br />
<br />
Kraven (concurrent with ASM #49 '67)<br />
Vulture (from ASM #48 '67)<br />
Blackie Drago (concurrent with ASM #49 '67 and #63 '68)<br />
<br />
Note: This issue shows memories (rfb) of <br />
- ASM #46 (Harry shows the apartment to Peter; originally this occurred before the fights with Kraven and Drago), <br />
- ASM #49 (Peter sick, goes to bed; MJ, Harry and Gwen partying while
Peter is in bed; Spider-Man fights the new Vulture and another
super-villain; originally Flash had already left for the army; actually
Mary Jane Watson and Gwen came to see Harry to go out with him while
Peter was in bed), <br />
- ASM #63 (the two vultures fight; this actually happened much later but Peter confuses it with the Kraven/Drago fight), <br />
- ASM #44 (Flash is going to join the army; this originally happened
much earlier and cannot have been a result of Spidey fighting Drago). <br />
<br />
New scenes (fb): <br />
- Flash and Harry play billiards, <br />
- Spidey saves Flash's life (both must have happened before ASM #47)<br />
<br />
#6<br />
Spider-Man (next in ASM #43 '02; also in flashback concurrent with ASM #47 and #49 '67)<br />
<br />
Harry Osborn (concurrent with ASM #47 '67)<br />
Gwen Stacy (concurrent with ASM #47 '67 and following from it)<br />
Mary Jane Watson (next in ASM #43 '02; also concurrent with ASM #47 and #49 '67)<br />
ESU students<br />
<br />
Norman Osborn (concurrent with ASM #47 '67)<br />
Kraven (concurrent with ASM #47 and #49 '67)<br />
<br />
Note: This issue shows memories (rfb) of <br />
- ASM #47 (Kraven crashes Flash Thompson's leaving party and kidnaps Harry Osborn) <br />
- ASM #49 (Spidey beats Kraven)<br />
<br />
New scene (fb): Gwen and Peter make out (between ASM #47 and #48 '67)<br />
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
Individual chronologies:<br />
<br />
Spider-Man <br />
ASM 40<br />
SM:Blue 1-FB (16-19)<br />
ASM 41<br />
SM:Blue 2-FB (1-3) (evening of the first fight vs Rhino, the newspaper still features death of Green Goblin)<br />
ASM 42 (1-8) (arrives at school)<br />
SM:Blue 2-FB (5-7) (Peter in class)<br />
ASM 42 (9-20)<br />
...<br />
ASM 46 (1-19 pn 1-2)<br />
SM:Blue 3-FB (21-22)<br />
ASM 46 (19 pn 3)<br />
SM:Blue 4-FB (1-6)<br />
ASM 46 (19 pn4-5)<br />
SM:Blue 4-FB (9-10)<br />
ASM 46 (20)<br />
...<br />
ASM 47<br />
SM:Blue 6 (18-19) <br />
ASM 48<br />
...<br />
ASM 49 (1-9)<br />
SM:Blue 5 (7-11)<br />
ASM 49 (10-20)<br />
...<br />
SM: QOL 4<br />
SM: Blue 1 (1-5) (deposits a rose on Brooklyn Bridge)<br />
SM: Blue 6 (completes his recording)<br />
ASM 44/485<br />
<br />
<br />
Mary-Jane Watson<br />
ASM 38<br />
SM:PL (37) (arrives in NY)<br />
SM:Blue 1-FB (tries to meet Peter)<br />
SM: PL (38) (leaves her NY apartment to go to the dinner with the Parkers)<br />
...<br />
ASM 46<br />
SM:Blue 4-FB<br />
ASM 47 <br />
...<br />
ASM 49 (1-9)<br />
SM:Blue 5 (7-11)<br />
ASM 49 (10-20)<br />
...<br />
ASM 43/484<br />
SM: Blue 6 (joins Peter)<br />
ASM 44/485<br />
<br />
J. Jonah Jameson<br />
ASM 40<br />
SM: Blue 1-FB (16-17) (buys photos from Goblin fight)<br />
ASM 41<br />
<br />
Joe Robertson<br />
ASM@ 37/2<br />
SM: Blue 1-FB (16-17) (buys photos from Goblin fight)<br />
SM: Blue 2-FB (informs his staff Rhino has escaped) <br />
ASM 51<br />
<br />
Harry Osborn<br />
ASM 40<br />
SM: Blue 1-FB (18-19)<br />
ASM 41<br />
...<br />
ASM 46 (10-11)<br />
SM:Blue 3-FB (21-22) <br />
SM:Blue 4-FB <br />
ASM 46 (20)<br />
...<br />
ASM 49 (1-9)<br />
SM:Blue 5 (7-11)<br />
ASM 49 (10-20)<br />
...<br />
<br />
Gwen Stacy<br />
ASM 39<br />
SM: Blue 1-FB (18-19)<br />
ASM 41<br />
ASM 42 (Peter arrives at school)<br />
SM: Blue 2-FB (5-7) (Peter in class) <br />
ASM 43<br />
...<br />
ASM 46<br />
SM:Blue 4 (13-18)<br />
ASM 47<br />
SM:Blue 6 (18-19)<br />
ASM 48<br />
...<br />
ASM 49 (1-9)<br />
SM:Blue 5 (7-11)<br />
ASM 49 (10-20)<br />
...<br />
<br />
Flash Thompson<br />
ASM 39<br />
SM: Blue 1-FB (18-19)<br />
ASM 41<br />
ASM 42<br />
SM:Blue 2-FB (5-7)<br />
...<br />
ASM 46<br />
SM:Blue 4 (13-21)<br />
ASM 47<br />
<br />
Norman Osborn<br />
ASM 40<br />
SM: Blue 1-FB<br />
ASM 47<br />
<br />
May Parker<br />
ASM 41<br />
SM:Blue 1-FB (24)<br />
ASM 42<br />
...<br />
ASM46<br />
SM:Blue 4-FB (1-6)<br />
ASM 46 (19)<br />
<br />
Kraven<br />
ASM 34<br />
SM:Blue 2-FB<br />
SM:Blue 3-FB<br />
SM:Blue 4-FB<br />
SM:Blue 5-FB<br />
SM:Blue 6-FB (1-6)<br />
ASM 47<br />
<br />
Pr Warren<br />
ASM 39<br />
SM:Blue 2-FB<br />
ASM 48<br />
<br />
Vulture <br />
ASM 48<br />
SM:Blue 5-FB (cured from poison by Kraven)<br />
ASM 63<br />
<br />
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
List of differences between the two narratives<br />
<br />
In Blue:<br />
May doesn't leave for vacation<br />
Spidey doesn't have a broken arm<br />
He meets MJ after his second and third fights with the Rhino<br />
Peter rides with MJ to see the Lizard (#3)<br />
Spidey has one fight with the Lizard (#3)<br />
May overhears when Harry proposes his flat to Peter (#3)<br />
Peter tells May in the morning about Harry's proposal (#4)<br />
Kraven is behind the scenes for Rhino's, Lizard's and Vultures' (Drago, Toomes) attacks (#2-6)<br />
Peter occupies the apartment after fighting Drago (#5)<br />
Spidey has one fight with Kraven (#6)<br />
Drago fights with Toomes (#5)<br />
The two vultures fight (#5)<br />
The first fight with Drago occurs before Kraven's attack at Flash's party (#4)<br />
Flash announces he leaves for the army after Spidey's second fight with Drago (#5)<br />
<br />
In ASM:<br />
May leaves for a vacation (#44-46)<br />
Spidey has a broken arm (#44-46)<br />
Peter meets MJ before his second fight with Rhino (#42)<br />
Peter rides with MJ to see the Rhino (#43)<br />
Spidey has two fights with the Lizard (#44-45)<br />
Harry proposes his flat while May is in vacation (#46)<br />
Peter tells May about Harry's proposal when she arrives from vacation (#46)<br />
Peter occupies the apartment before fighting Drago (#46)<br />
Spidey has two fights with Kraven (#47,49)<br />
Drago fights with Kraven (#49)<br />
The two vultures don't fight before ASM #63<br />
The first fight with Drago occurs after Kraven's attack at Flash's party (#48)<br />
Flash announces he leaves for the army after Spidey's third fight with Rhino (#43)<br />
<br />
Remaining problems in the chronology of the new sequences: <br />
There are no spots to explain Flash's presence while Peter is sick in bed (ASM #49, Blue #4-5)<br />
Gwen makes out with Peter after Flash's leaving party (ASM #47) but
before she tends for him in ASM #48. Two possible solutions: either this
occurs after Kraven's defeat in ASM #49, or Harry, Flash, Gwen and MJ
crashed Peter's house to party while he had a broken arm and when May
was in vacation (#45)<br />
<br />
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
My approach was the following:<br />
1) identify where the scenes from Blue come from, which are reminder flashbacks (rfb)<br />
2) identify the new scenes, new flashbacks (fb)<br />
3) only add the new scenes to the chronology<br />
<br />
Examples: <br />
1) The battle vs the Goblin occurs differently in each series, I just
figure it's the same battle (rfb) even if the recollection (Blue)
doesn't match the recalled event (ASM);<br />
2) In ASM there are twin battles with Lizard and with Kraven. In Blue
these are combined into one, with the end of the second battle attached
to the first. I don't consider them new flashbacks, but a shortened,
conflated version (rfb);<br />
3) In Blue, MJ and Peter learn about the Lizard's rampage and go there
by bike. Peter goes beyond the police line, changes into Spidey and
fights Lizard. Then goes back to MJ. But<br />
in ASM, it's Rhino who is rampaging (ASM 43). Rather than figure that
Pete went twice with MJ to see a villain, I consider the parts where he
goes and leaves with MJ the same and so don't include them as they
aren't new information. They are all reminder flashbacks but
misremembered in their sequence.<br />
<br />
<br />
When reading ASM #40-49, one finds repeat battles with the villains and
other repeated motifs because it was a monthly series. In Blue, Loeb
reorganised the material to avoid repetition and so that it would make a
narrative with a beginning and end. He starts with the Goblin fight and
finishes with Kraven's defeat (in #49 but using the earlier Kraven
fight's circumstances from #47). So Peter getting an apartment becomes a
major theme (rather than the one issue affair in ASM #46) as it is a
symbol of reaching adulthood along with falling in love with Gwen.
Kraven is given as the thread for the villains' attacks (he sets up the
villains vs Spidey then attacks himself), including the Vulture (Drago)
even though in ASM Kraven fought Spidey (#47) before Drago (#48). This
remains entirely possible if we consider the scenes of Drago in prison
with Toomes in #48 as flashbacks occurring before ASM #47. One could
ask, "Why does Kraven set up the escapes of Drago and Toomes (before
#47) to fight Spidey if he then doesnt wait for them to attack Spidey
himself?" but ASM Annual '96 provides an answer, this shows Kraven again
attacking Harry; i.e. there was an attack vs Harry before Drago
attacked Spidey and another one after, and Peter conflated these events
just as he conflated many other similar ones in the Blue flashbacks.
This later Kraven attack conveniently occurs after Drago's (#48) and the
two vultures' (#63), as well as after the reappearance of the Goblin
(ca ASM #66) who was thought dead after #40 (Kraven reads the Bugle
reporting his death in Blue). Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-42504262709398163292020-05-07T10:37:00.000-07:002020-05-07T10:37:28.201-07:00Mythes autour du Yellow KidLe Yellow Kid est une des premières stars de la BD. Il en a longtemps été considéré comme le premier héros, comme le diffuseur de la bulle comme code des paroles humaines, comme une caricature de Chinois. <br />
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Ces informations méritent ajustement et correction. <br />
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Rien ne présageait son succès. Le personnage apparait d'abord en 1894 dans le décor de scènes dessinées par Outcault, il n'a pas de nom, pas sa couleur jaune, pas de texte et encore moins de dialogues. Selon l'historien de la BD Ian Gordon, Outcault ne le considère pas comme un individu mais comme un archétype.<br />
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Ces scènes ne sont pas des bandes dessinées, juste des cartoons, qui deviendront des planches entières.<br />
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Sa couleur jaune sera le fait du responsable de la couleur Charles W. Saalburg (par ailleurs auteur de la première série en couleur en 1894). Le nom « Yellow Kid » viendra des lecteurs. Outcault le baptisera Mickey Dugan.<br />
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Au départ il n'est donc même pas le héros des planches hebdomadaires dans lesquels il apparait. Ces séries de planches ne portent pas son nom. Elles sont dénommées <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>Hogan's Alley, </em>puis <em>McFadden’s Row of Flats</em>
(18 octobre 1896-10 janvier 1897), enfin <em>Around the World with the
Yellow Kid</em> (17 janvier 1897-30 mai 1897), et <em>Ryan’s
Arcade. </em>Aucune de ces séries n'est une bande dessinée.<em><br /></em></span><br />
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Il semble que très tôt, le personnage ait été pris pour un Chinois. Dans la planche du 6 septembre 1896 qui décrit la visite de Li Hung Chang à New York, le Yellow Kid parade en tête, déguisé, et s'amuse de cette confusion : « He thinks I'm a Chinaman.» Qui voit cette image sans lire le texte sur la chemise peut s'y méprendre.<br />
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Le lendemain, Outcault essaye de déposer la marque « The Yellow Dugan Kid ».<br />
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Une note sur le bras le nomme Mick Dugan le 4 octobre juste avant qu'Outcault change d'éditeur.<br />
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C'est alors que concurremment à la planche hebdomadaire <i>McFadden's Flats</i>, le <i>Yellow Kid</i> apparait dans une véritable bande dessinée à son nom qui commence le 25
octobre 1896. C'est celle où une bulle sort d'un phonographe, puis de la
bouche du Yellow Kid et enfin d'un perroquet. Il semble que ce code
soit d'abord celui du langage non humain car dans les épisodes suivants le Yellow Kid continue de porter ses dialogues sur sa chemise tandis que les bulles sont attachées au perroquet, à un chien, une chèvre, un réveil, une pie, un chat, etc. Jamais, ni dans la BD ni dans les planches, la bulle ne devient le code habituel des paroles humaines.<br />
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Le Yellow Kid apparait dans une planche de Buster Brown de 1907, il est nommé « Petit Chinois » lors de sa parution en France en album, perpétuant sur notre territoire une confusion qui semble avoir déjà existé.<br />
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Peu étonnant que les historiens de la BD y aient parfois perdu leurs petits.Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-57696540037678787822020-04-17T07:51:00.000-07:002020-04-17T07:51:26.250-07:00Mémoire de Master sur Neil Gaiman<title></title><style> <!-- @page { size: 21cm 29.7cm; margin: 2cm } P.sdfootnote { margin-left: 0.5cm; text-indent: -0.5cm; margin-bottom: 0cm; font-size: 10pt } H1.western { font-family: "Times New Roman", serif } H1.cjk { font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode" } H1.ctl { font-family: "Tahoma" } H2.cjk { font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode" } H2.ctl { font-family: "Tahoma" } H3.cjk { font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode" } H3.ctl { font-family: "Tahoma" } A.sdfootnoteanc { font-size: 57% } </style><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Master 2 d'anglais</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Patrick Lemaire</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mémoire</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">Myths in the novel <i>American Gods </i>by Neil Gaiman</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Myths have long been a subject of study. According to George Dumézil, they reveal the structure of societies and these myths evolve along with society. This new understanding of the myth is so useful that the word <i>myth</i> has gained increased currency. It is now applied to actual contemporary living or dead persons, fictional characters, companies, cultural forms, etc.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">America's relation to myths is singular. For thousands of years its existence was unknown, though there were myths about faraway lands beyond the Atlantic for Europeans or beyond the Pacific for the Chinese. However, even after its discovery it kept its mythical quality and has retained it longer than the Orient or Africa. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As a meeting place of all kinds of cultures, it retained or modified old myths and developed new ones. It was interesting how people who settled there broke with old myths. Gaiman's novel starts with this quote from Richard Dorson:</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">One question that has always intrigued me is what happens to demonic beings when immigrants move from their homelands. Irish-Americans remember the fairies, Norwegian Americans the <i>nisser</i>, Greek-Americans the vrykolakas, but only in relation to events remembered in the old country.” (Dorson, “A Theory for American Folklore”) </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">And then there is also the propensity to turn the oddest things into religion, often with attendant myths. Editor Bruce David Forbes in <i>Religion and Popular Culture in America</i> assembled essays which describe the following as religion: Star Trek, sports (especially baseball), rock 'n' roll, Coca-Cola, female dieting. They each have fervent followers, some of these activities have their hall of fame, their legends, but overall they give meaning to and shape the lives of their supporters according to them</span></span></span></span><sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup>1</sup></a></span></span></span></span></sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">. Religion is that thing to which one sacrifices one's time, money. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">W. H. Auden in his lecture on <i>The Tempest </i>published in <i>Lectures on Shakespeare</i> wrote of modern myths:</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="fr-FR">The great myths in the Christian period are Faust, Don Quixote, Don Juan, the Wandering Jew. Among the great modern myths are Sherlock Holmes and Li'l Abner, neither of which exhibits a talent for literary expression. Rider Haggard's She is another example of a myth in which literary distinction is largely absent. Comic strips are a good place to start in understanding the nature of myths, because their language is unimportant.</span><span lang="en-US">”</span><span lang="fr-FR"> (<i>Lectures on Shakespeare</i>, p. 297.)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Mircea Eliade <span style="font-style: normal;">mentions how comic characters and celebrities are made into myths:</span> </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Des recherches récentes ont mis en lumière les structures mythiques des images et des comportements imposés sur les collectivités par la voie des <i>mass-media</i>. Ce phénomène se constate surtout aux Etats-Unis.”</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Les personnages des '<i>comic strips</i><span style="font-style: normal;">'</span> présentent la version moderne des héros mythologiques ou folkloriques. Ils incarnent à tel point l'idéal d'une grande partie de la société que les éventuelles retouches apportées à leur conduite ou, pis encore, leur mort, provoquent de véritables crises chez les lecteurs; ceux-ci réagissent violemment et protestent, en envoyant des télégrammes par milliers aux auteurs des <i>comic strips</i>.”</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Si l'on va au fond des choses, le mythe du <i>superman</i> satisfait les nostalgies secrètes de l'homme moderne qui, en se sachant déchu et limité, rêve de se révéler un jour un 'personnage exceptionnel', un 'héros'.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">On a également démontré la mythisation des personnalités au moyen des <i>mass-media</i>, leur transformation en image exemplaire.” (<i>Aspects du mythe, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">pp. 226-227)</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">This evolution has continued to this day. News media reported the death of Captain America in 2007</span></span></span></span><sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote2sym" name="sdfootnote2anc"><sup>2</sup></a></span></span></span></span></sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"> and Paris Hilton announced in August 2008 that she and Stan Lee (co-creator of Spider-Man) had created a super-hero based on herself.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is also the use of the words “canon” and “apocryphal” to qualify stories happening in a fictional universe such as those of Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek and Star Wars. While I just mention this in passing, a look at the Wikipedia entry on “canon (fiction)” and all its links will show how much time and effort goes into these considerations. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Myths aren't limited to characters. Everyday fixtures of our life are also described this way. In the 1950s, Mircea Eliade wrote:</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">On découvrirait des comportements mythiques... dans le déchainement affectif de ce qu'on a appelé le 'culte de la voiture sacrée'. Comme le remarque Andrew Greeley, 'il suffit de visiter le salon annuel de l'automobile pour y reconnaître une manifestation religieuse profondément ritualisée'.” (<i>Aspects du mythe</i>, p. 228)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Roland Barthes expressed similar views:</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Je crois que l'automobile est aujourd'hui l'équivalent assez exact des grandes cathédrales gothiques : je veux dire une grande création d'époque, conçue passionnément par des artistes inconnus, consommée dans son image, sinon dans son usage, par un peuple entier qui s'approprie en elle un objet parfaitement magique.” (<i>Mythologies</i> p. 140) </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Gaiman's friend J. Michael Straczynski recognized how religion is an enduring part of human society: </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">If you look at the long history of human society, religion - whether you describe that as organized, disorganized, or the various degrees of accepted superstition - has always been present. And it will be present 200 years from now... To totally ignore that part of the human equation would be as false and wrong-headed as ignoring the fact that people get mad, or passionate, or strive for better lives.” (</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.babylon-5/msg/fc782309e6eb9a6f)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Indeed, in spite of the secularisation of modern society and the setbacks encountered by traditional religions, one can observe an ongoing need for meaning and belief. This is what drove me to choose <i>American Gods</i> as subject of my essay since this was something that Gaiman not only recognised but associated especially with the American experience. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The use of myths in fiction can be more than the perpetuation of common, traditional tropes, it can be a way for a writer to comment on society. It is my conviction that this is what Neil Gaiman attempted to do in writing <i>American Gods.</i></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">However, the novel is hard to categorise and it would be unfair to reduce it to an inquiry on belief. The book designers seemed to experience some difficulty in the choice of a cover. A sample of the covers used can be found on the site </span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://pigface.club.fr/Illustrations/Illustrations-American-gods.htm"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">http://pigface.club.fr/Illustrations/Illustrations-American-gods.htm.</span></span></a></u></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"> Its first cover, a road with two lanes and a storm on the horizon, marks the novel as the literary equivalent of a mythological road movie, itself similar to an epic journey or a heroic quest. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The two covers of the French editions take a different approach. One (</span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.fr/gp/reader/2846260338/ref=sib_dp_pt/403-5237845-0482830#reader-link"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">http://www.amazon.fr/gp/reader/2846260338/ref=sib_dp_pt/403-5237845-0482830#reader-link</span></span></a></u></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">) describes a bottle of Coca-Cola, the American dollar bill, and a viking character with a hammer (Thor?) drawn in the super-hero style made popular by American comic book icon Jack Kirby (who himself co-created a popular super-hero comic book version of Thor for Marvel Comics). The reference to American super-hero comics and to their development as modern myths is thus made explicit. It links the novel with Gaiman's work for American comics publishers.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The second cover (</span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://www.jailu.com/albums_detail.cfm?id=13538"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">http://www.jailu.com/albums_detail.cfm?id=13538</span></span></a></u></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">) also uses a super-heroic version of Thor against the background of the American dollar bill. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As such these two covers showcase the integration of mythic elements reworked as popular culture against the backdrop of the economic necessity that drives the actions of the old gods in the novel, as well as the consumerism of modern society.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Gaiman is aware of the polymorphism of his novels. In an interview he declared, </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">I do know they're going to be all over the place. When I finish writing them, it's going to be bloody hard to rack them, because they aren't going to slide neatly into the horror or the humor or the fantasy or science fiction or the mystery or the mainstream sections of the book shelf.” (</span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2001_02_01_archive.html"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2001_02_01_archive.html)</span></span></span></a></u></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en-US">He even has something to say about the classification used by the Library of Congress: </span><span lang="fr-FR">1.National characteristics, American -- Fiction. 2. Spiritual warfare - Fiction. 3 Ex-prisoners - Fiction. 4. Bodyguards - Fiction 5. Widowers - Fiction I. </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;">And I wonder, who picks these categories? What do they base them on? I mean, while it is undoubtedly true that Shadow, our more-or-less hero, is an ex-prisoner, and that his wife is killed in a car crash early in the book; but I feel deeply sorry for anyone who goes into it looking for fiction about widowers, ex-prisoners or bodyguards; while all the people looking for the things it has in abundance, like history and geography and mythology, like dreams and confidence tricks and sacrifice, Roadside Attractions and lakes and coin magic and funeral homes go by the wayside.</span></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">”</span></span></span></span><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;"> (</span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2001_02_01_archive.html"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;">http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2001_02_01_archive.html)</span></span></span></a></u></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As for this specific novel he described it in these words in post 2 of his blog: </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">It's a thriller, I suppose, although as many of the thrills occur in headspace as in real life, and it's a murder mystery; it's a travel guide, and it's the story of a war. It's a history. It's funny, although the humour is pretty dark.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">It's the story of a man called Shadow and the job he is offered when he gets out of prison.”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">(</span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2001_02_01_archive.html"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2001_02_01_archive.html)</span></span></span></a></u></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The outline he wrote in Iceland in 1998 read this way:</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">If </span><i>Neverwhere</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> was about the London underneath, this would be about the America between, and on-top-of, and around. It's an America with strange mythic depths. Ones that can hurt you. Or kill you. Or make you mad.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>American Gods</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> will be a big book, I hope. A sort of weird, sprawling picaresque epic, which starts out relatively small and gets larger. Not horror, although I plan a few moments that are up there with anything I did in </span><i>Sandman</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, and not strictly fantasy either. I see it as a distorting mirror; a book of danger and secrets, of romance and magic.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">It's about the soul of America, really. What people brought to America; what found them when they came; and the things that lie sleeping beneath it all.” (Gaiman, op. cit.) </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The central idea is that people brought the gods and creatures they believed in with them but, as is stated several times, this land isn't good ground for gods. As the old gods got forgotten when their believers passed away, they had to make a living without the offerings they used to receive. The current American population now makes their offerings (time, money, blood) to cars, television, the Internet, etc. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But in the end the war between these gods is a lie and the opposition between tradition and modernity isn't the soul of America that Gaiman is writing about. There are three distinct endings to the novel. After the war of the gods ends in anticlimax, the mystery of Lakeside is solved, then Shadow goes to meet his fate at the hands of Czernobog and then there is a postscript. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The reader is left with many questions and the lack of resolution may have been intended. It was deliberate in a companion piece; in his introduction to “Pages From A Journal Found In A Shoebox Left In A Greyhound Bus Somewhere Between Tulsa, Oklahoma, And Louisville, Kentucky” in <i>Fragile Things</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,</span> Gaiman writes, </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">I wanted to write something about identity and travel and America, like a tiny companion piece to <i>American Gods</i>, in which everything, including any kind of resolution, hovered just out of reach.”</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What are myths?</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Karin Heller in <i>La bande dessinée fantastique à la lumière de l'anthropologie religieuse </i><span style="font-style: normal;">aims to demonstrate that fantasy comics create modern myths. She starts by defining myths: </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Selon Lévi-Strauss, l'objet du mythe est de fournir un modèle logique pour résoudre une contradiction ; pour lui les mythes ne disent rien sur l'ordre du monde, sur la nature du réel, sur l'origine de l'homme, sur sa destinée. Mais l'étude des mythes permet de dégager certains modes d'opérations de l'esprit humain.” (</span></span></span></span><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">La pensée sauvage</span></span></span></span></i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">, Paris, 1962, p. 123 and following, p. 303-305; as quoted by Heller on p. 10)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">She proceeds to list the functions of myths according to Saucin:</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Fonctions du mythe: ludique, psychologique, éducative et initiatique. J. Saucin, <i>Le conte au milieu des images. Essai d'interprétation symbolique par la méthode d'amplification de Carl Gustav Young de quelques bandes dessinées francophones</i>. p. 8 Pont-à-Celles 1995; as quoted by Heller on p. 12)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">She then quotes Louis-Vincent Thomas on the links between science fiction and mythology: </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">La science-fiction développe une mythologie moderne où se dessine un destin qui ressemble fort à l'apocalypse” (p. 12 <i>Civilisations et divagations. Mort, fantasmes, science-fiction</i> Payot, Paris 1979; as quoted by Heller on p. 14)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Her basic assumption is relevant to Gaiman's use of myths: </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Le terme anglais </span></span></span></span><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">fantasy</span></span></span></span></i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"> exprime en général toute production de l'imaginaire ayant pour but de divertir ou d'illustrer un message. Certes la BD dite fantastique peut parfaitement distraire ou illustrer un message. Mais ne fait-elle que cela? Sa fonction n'est-elle pas bien plus étendue? N'est-elle pas une expression du mythe qui fonde un monde, le justifie, lui donne un sens ou des sens? Telle a été notre hypothèse de départ.” (Op. cit. p. 14)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Modern man needs myths with which he can structure the world he lives in. Myths provide patterns he can use in his day-to-day living and thinking. Yes, they are founding tales, they tell us about origins but as Claude Lévi-Strauss says: </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">La valeur intrinsèque attribuée aux mythes provient de ce que les événements, censés se dérouler à un moment du temps, forment aussi une structure permanente. Celle-si se rapporte simultanément au passé, au présent et au futur.” (<i>Anthropologie structurale</i><span style="font-style: normal;">)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);">This essay will first examine the American identity crisis since this is the context in which we can better interpret <i>American Gods. </i><span style="font-style: normal;">The second part</span> will be devoted to the first work of Gaiman to explore myths and modern America. After this preliminary work, we will examine <i>American Gods </i>properly in the last two parts, first from the traditional myths and a possible explanation of why they are used, t</span>hen from myths in their modern (anthropological) meaning, including the new gods of modern life and technology and Americana. Finally in the conclusion, we'll look over our findings and make new hypotheses on the message and purpose of the novel. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Part One: The American Identity Crisis</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">In his book <i>La crise de l'identité américaine</i>, Denis Lacorne described “multiculturalism” in these terms, </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Le mot, d'origine anglaise, est d'usage récent et il renvoie à la diversité culturelle; politique, religieuse des immigrés qui ne cessent d'affluer aux Etats-Unis depuis le vote, en 1965, de la plus libérale des lois d'immigration américaines. Cette diversité n'est pas seulement la conséquence des politiques d'immigration ; elle est aussi liée au mouvement des droits civiques des années 1960, qui incita les Noirs à prendre conscience de la richesse de leur identité ethnique. Peu à peu, par effet d'imitation, d'autres 'minorités' prirent l'habitude de célébrer leur identité, au point, parfois, d'en réécrire l'histoire et de s'inventer des mythes fondateurs, étrangers à l'histoire du pays.”</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I would argue however, that all founding myths are invented. Even when they are held as historical facts, they are told with a special reverence which sets them apart from historical objectivity. Multiculturalism divides the whole society. On one hand, the society aims to assimilate everybody ; on the other hand it aims to promote underprivileged groups. To the degree that assimilation meant everybody had to agree to the WASP model, it was bound to fail. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In the nineteenth century, Chinese workers immigrated to work on railways but a law was passed to forbid them from acquiring propriety. There was one population however, that couldn't be so summarily dismissed, the Blacks. Their original identity had been purposefully erased to limit possibilities of revolt. Within a few generations, they forgot their original language, their country and their customs. While African traits survived, they were a new common identity. They could not easily be returned to their original land, though it was tried with the creation of Liberia. Furthermore they could not be assimilated in the WASP model. While many other populations could simply adopt English names to hide their origin, Blacks could not disguise their physical features. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Catholics, South Europeans, Jews weren't that different from the WASPs but if some children of Black concubines passed into white society, the vast majority could not be “assimilated”. It is no surprise, then, that the Blacks would challenge this assimilation into the WASP model. Especially as it was a model of escaping the old world to find freedom, religious freedom. The Africans found slavery on the new continent and could not identify with their oppressors. Yet they came to share values with the Whites since they had been converted to Christianity and this made possible a new national model of “coming to the Promised Land.” American Indians do not fit that model. If history has shown that they were also immigrants tens of thousands of years ago, they don't consider themselves as sons of immigrants. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Denis Lacorne describes the process by which multiculturalism came to be: </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Par effet d'imitation, d'autres groupes ethniques (Chicanos, Amérindiens, Cubains...), et religieux (catholiques, juifs orthodoxes, amish...), jusque-là marginalisés, allaient proclamer leur 'différence' et célébrer la grandeur d'identités redécouvertes. Dans la même veine, le mouvement féministe mettrait l'accent sur un irréductible' droit à la différence', avant d'être imité à son tour par le mouvement de la <i>Gay Pride</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. (</span><i>La Crise de l'identité américaine</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, p. 20)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While Lacorne traces the rise of the Gay Pride movement to feminism, I think that the Supreme Court's decision to declare anti-miscegenation statutes unconstitutional in the Loving vs Virginia case also challenged traditional views of the American family. The case has been mentioned in courts, unsuccessfully, in legal attempts to establish a same-sex marriage jurisprudence. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In addition to the national identity crisis and the rise of ethnic minorities, America had to face changing values as many lifestyles have vied for recognition. New immigrants want to be acknowledged as full Americans without giving up their names, traditions or heritage. Indeed some want to live there without having to be Americans. Huntington mentions the case of the Mexican Americans who booed the American national anthem and American players during a Mexico-USA soccer match. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Likewise, the USA has sometimes been compared to the Roman empire as an empire with freedom of religion but with that difference: you can practise any religion as long as it is Christianity. Today Islam and Asian religions are growing. Moreover, religious practices who used to be recognised not as such but as superstition, such as paganism (such as Wicca) or voodoo, ask for equal treatment. Even some non-believers organise themselves to fight the stereotypes. Non-theists have renamed themselves “Brights” to avoid the negative associations linked to the words “atheist” and “godless.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The fall of the Soviet Union is another factor in the American identity crisis. For a nation thriving on war, the existence of an identifiable enemy is essential. During a period of fragmentation of their identity, the existence of a clear enemy-other provided the US with something against which to define themselves. On pages 254-259 of <i>Qui sommes-nous? Identité nationale et choc des cultures</i>, Huntington develops this “quest for an enemy” idea and concludes that fundamentalist Islam became that enemy on September 11, 2001. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The work of Gaiman acknowledges the ethnic diversity in his cast of characters. <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;"><i>The Sandman</i> not only shows various divinities, it shows human characters believing or practicing different religions. The “I believe” speech of Samantha Black Crow on pages 394-395 is a glimpse of the various beliefs that can be held concurrently in modern America.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">What is missing then, in this abundance of myths generated by the ethnic groups, is a single unifying myth for the new multicultural United States. This is the significance of Neil Gaiman's <i>American Gods </i>and the previous exploration of this theme: <i>The Sandman.</i></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Part Two: Gaiman's <i>The Sandman</i></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">A. The Genesis of <i>The Sandman</i></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The tension between reality and fantasy which is at the core of <i>American Gods</i> has been extensively used by Gaiman in his comic book <i>The Sandman</i> (1988-1995). As a foreign writer trying to break into the American comic scene, Gaiman faced quite a challenge. His own interests lied in the field of fantasy but there was nearly no market for it in the Anglo-Saxon world. British comics specialised in boys humor comics and science-fiction (Judge Dredd in the magazine <i>2000AD</i>). </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">With the British public favoring future war stories and the American public favoring super-heroes, Gaiman seemed doomed to fall in a rut if he wanted to reach a large public. The successful approach for new writers was to take over a lesser known character and make it succesful. Gaiman's mentor, Alan Moore, had done that with a horror character, the Swamp Thing. Originally the story of a man turned into a vegetal monster who was trying to regain his lost humanity, Moore took apart the original limited premise by redefining the character as a plant creature who believed it was a man and used the series as a vehicle to deliver an ecological message. The series quickly garnered the most prestigious comics awards. Fellow Britisher Grant Morrison had succeeded in reviving an obscure character from the sixties, Animal Man, which he had turned as a vehicle for animal rights. That was the stage when Gaiman entered it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Gaiman pitched and then wrote a 3-issue limited series about a very obscure sixties spy female character called Black Orchid and told a story about saving the Amazonian forest. He successfully used other characters with plant motifs, thus integrating Swamp Thing, Poison Ivy (a Batman adversary) and Black Orchid. Although he took a cue from Moore in this regard, his deftness at combining characters from different genres was evident from the start and foreshadows his later combination of various mythologies, classic and modern. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">His editor, Karen Berger (also Alan Moore's editor on <i>Swamp Thing</i>), then looked at the other pitches that Gaiman had sent her. One was about an obscure seventies character called Sandman. The name Sandman had been a property of DC Comics since 1939. The first iteration was a pulp avenger in the style of The Spider and The Shadow. He wore a trenchcoat, a gas mask, and a gas pistol with which he put his adversaries to sleep (hence the name). In the seventies DC Comics created a new character with that name. This new character started as the master of dreams but a later writer made him a psychologist who lived in the collective subconscious of mankind. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Karen Berger told him he had the go-ahead for a regular series but to come up with an entirely new character with the same name. Gaiman came up with the Sandman of legend, a character existing in dreams, called Dream but who was also Morpheus and Oneiros of greco-latin myths. In order not to alienate the readership of his publisher he tied his series with the previous Sandman characters as well as with other DC properties. However it is with issue 8 that the series gains its distinctive voice. In this issue Gaiman introduces Dream's elder sister, Death, a teenage lively goth girl, a radical departure from traditional representations of Death. This is the start of Gaiman's own pantheon, seven characters called the Endless, which are both “above gods and less than gods” and whose names all start by the letter D. One of these characters already existed in DC Comics, Destiny. All the others are Gaiman's creations but their identities will slowly unfold in the 75-issue series. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">B. The Context of the Creation of <i>The Sandman</i></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Uninterested in costumed super-heroes, Gaiman used marginal DC characters, freaks, witches, demons, angels but in a contemporary setting. His America and England aren't the fictionalised versions found in super-hero comics, but countries populated by marginals: homosexuals, transvestites, transsexuals, abused children, vagrants, serial murderers. </span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">Such subjects were long taboo. In <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);">the spring of 1954, the </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: black;">Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency conducted its investigation of the comic book industry. </span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">As a result, </span></span></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">the US comics indus</span></span></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">try created a self-censoring organisation called the Comics Code Authority which delivered a seal without which comics could not be distributed on newsstands. However the eighties had seen the growth of specialty bookstores where the CCA seal wasn't required. This was the fertile ground where grew the Vertigo revolution and <i>The Sandman</i>. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Vertigo is the name of the imprint from DC Comics headed by Karen Berger and dedicated to mature comics. Berger has heavily relied upon British writers: Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Jamie Delano, Peter Milligan, Garth Ennis. This Vertigo revolution has been the subject of a modern literature thesis by David Beau in the University of Cergy-Pontoise: </span><span style="color: black;"><i>Le complot Vertigo, la bande dessinée nord-américaine en quête <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);">d'une nouvelle identité</span></i><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);"> in 1997. The work of Gaiman is itself the subject of a number of books in the English-speaking world as can be seen in the bibliography. </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="CITEREFBender.2C_Hy2000"></a> <span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: none;">After Professor Frank McConnell's 1995 article, we started seeing books, at first companions to enrich the experience of reading by providing background information. So, while some of them, like Hy </span></span>Bender's 2000 <i>The Sandman Companion : A Dreamer's Guide to the Award-Winning Comic Series, </i><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;">are here to supplement the series, </span></span></span>Stephen Rauch's <i>Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and Joseph Campbell: In Search of the Modern Myth</i> from 2003 has been described as “the first scholarly book-length examination of the work of comics legend Neil Gaiman.” 2006's <i>The Sandman Papers: An Exploration of the Sandman Mythology</i>, edited by Joe Sanders, continues the research. In Summer 2008, the English Department at the University of Florida devoted an entire issue of <i>ImageText</i> to his works. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">In his paper, David Beau describes how the growing popularity of fantasy in the 1970s and 1980s created the conditions for a mature comic book like <i>The Sandman</i>. Whether through motions pictures, music, board games, card games or video games, fantasy had become omnipresent and closer to realise the aim of science fiction pioneers: achieve the status of a mainstream genre rather than that of a marginal one. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">This trend grew more pronounced in the 1990s. Angels became a popular trope in theater and <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> and its spin-off <i>Angel </i>were highly influential TV series which adopted and adapted conventions from American super-hero comics to a fantasy setting while also being recognised for raising issues of identity, gender relations and family just like <i>The Sandman</i> had done. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The kinship between fantasy and science fiction has long been recognised and the Science Fiction Writers of America was renamed the Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards of America. The main SF awards, the Hugo and the Nebula, now are often given to pure fantasy works, accounting for Gaiman's awards and nominations. </span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">C. The Reality/Fiction Tension in <i>The Sandman</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">SF has always been best used as a commentary on the present. SF masterworks like Aldous Huxley's <i>Brave New World</i>, George Orwell's <i>1984</i> and Ray Bradbury's <i>Fahrenheit 451 </i>are a reflection on society and SF lends itself well to works of parody. The fictional and future setting provides the necessary distance by which the reader can mentally step out of the society he lives in and look at it with fresh eyes.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Voltaire used extraterrestrial beings to satirise French society but Rabelais had used a fictional race of giants to do the same. Thus fiction and fantasy are used as tools to comment on society without being preachy. Readers don't put up the mental defenses they would if they were reading a sermon. Because it is a fiction work, they suspends disbelief, which makes them more receptive to new ideas.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is Beau's opinion as well in analysing modern fantasy writers, </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">En posant un regard plein de lucidité, malgré son habillage fantaisiste, sur le monde qui les entoure, ils reviennent à plus de réalisme. Le fantastique leur est un outil qui, par son opposition liée à sa définition face aux thèmes concrets qu'ils développent dans leurs différents titres, renforce du point de vue en rétablissant l'homme à sa juste valeur.” (Beau, Op. cit. p. 115)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Beau sees a continuation from classical thinking,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Platon affirmait que le poète était un menteur, parce qu'il représentait la réalité au lieu de simplement l'évoquer. (...) <i>The Sandman</i> est un comics.” (Beau, Op. cit. p. 80)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">He hastens to add that this is deliberate from because Gaiman has one of his characters, the writer Erasmus Fry, say,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Writers are liars” (Gaiman, <i>The Sandman, Dream Country</i>, p. 17)</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The tension between reality and fiction appears in many places in the series. For instance there is a library of fictional books in the Dreaming (the domain of Morpheus) where, between <i>The Return of Edwin Drood</i> by Charles Dickens and <i>The Dark God's Darlings</i> by Lord Dunsany, one finds <i>The Hand of Glory</i> by Erasmus Fry. Fry, a character of the series, is mixed with real authors. Even in the epigraphs of the collected graphic novels, a sentence from actual books is next to a line from one of the series' characters. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">While Gaiman is influenced by literature, he reverses the causation within his narrative. For instance, while he uses Titania, Auberon and Puck from <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream </i><span style="font-style: normal;">in </span><i>The Sandman </i><span style="font-style: normal;">#19, Shakespeare gets the inspiration for the characters from the actual fairies he meets in the story. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Several issues feature historical figures. A list of them can be found in the Appendix C. </span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">D. Gaiman's Mythology in <i>The Sandman</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Late UC Santa Barbara Professor of English Frank McConnell wrote, “Gaiman has invented (...) a mythology not just of the comics but of storytelling itself.”</span></span></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote3sym" name="sdfootnote3anc"><sup>3</sup></a></span></span></span></sup></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><i>The Sandman</i> straddles three domains: traditional mythology, DC Comics mythology and the modern world, which Gaiman depicts with a seldom seen realism. But he weaves these three domains in such a way as to make a coherent whole. This is accomplished by superimposing his own mythology on these structures. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">More than a unifying structure, this modern mythology embodies a philosophy of existence. The Sandman (the character) is part of the Endless. From the oldest to the youngest, they are Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, Delirium. Though this is never properly explained, we can conjecture that this sequence is supposed to parallel the history of the universe. With Destiny starts time, with time life starts and thus death. With living creatures and consciousness, Dream appears. It is stated in the series that at the end of the universe, the last life Death will take will be that of Destiny and she will “close the door” on that universe (after having extinguished all the lights). </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In issue 30, Dream says to Roman emperor Augustus, “All gods begin in my realm, Caius Octavius. They walk your world for a span, and when they are old they return to my world, to die.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">In <i>The Sandman</i> #48, Destruction describes the Endless: </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">The Endless are merely patterns. The Endless are ideas. The Endless are wave functions</span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_function"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote4sym" name="sdfootnote4anc"><sup>4</sup></a></span></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">. The Endless are repeating motifs. The Endless are echoes of darkness, and nothing more... And even our existences are brief and bounded. None of us will last longer than this version of the Universe.”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The use of quantum physics terms to describe his fantasy characters shows a will to produce a philosophical work, not just an entertaining fantasy. Karin Heller's working hypothesis that fantasy's function isn't just to illustrate a message or to entertain but that it is an expression of “the myth which founds a world, justifies it, gives it a meaning or meanings” seems to be borne out.</span></span></span></span><sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote5sym" name="sdfootnote5anc"><sup>5</sup></a></span></span></span></span></sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="cite_ref-dc-ency_0-1"></a> <span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The origin and exact nature of the Endless is unknown. Few hints are ever given in the series as to exactly <i>why</i> the Endless exist. They seem to be natural forces. They have at times been described as “a creation of the consciousness of living beings.”</span></span></span></span><sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote6sym" name="sdfootnote6anc"><sup>6</sup></a></span></span></span></span></sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">T</span></span><span style="color: black;">he Endless are as old as the concepts that they represent. The Endless are said to be older than the fairy folk, gods, and other supernatural beings. Their exact ages in years are unknown, but they are known to have existed long before life on Earth. They have manifested themselves in alien civilizations from long before the creation of the Earth in <i>The Sandman'</i>s universe (and DC Comics continuity in general). </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The chapter “Dream: The Heart of the Star” in the anthology <i>Endless Nights </i><span style="font-style: normal;">is said to</span> take place before our sun's planets have “awakened” with life. Death has claimed that she was there when the first living thing stirred, and Destiny has said that Dream gave the Earth itself the fond dream of being able to support life. Dream was created shortly after Death, as living things could die before they could dream. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">David Beau describes the Endless in this way,</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Death régit le domaine de la vie et de la mort, Destiny représente l'histoire du monde, Destruction est lié à tout ce qui change et se transforme, Desire est à l'origine des tentations et des sentiments, Despair se complait dans l'observation des gens accablés par le malheur, Delirium est la personnification du plaisir et de son ultime expression : la folie.” (Op. cit. p. 98)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Toward the end of the series, we get an inkling of the nature of the Endless. They stand both for what their names entail and for the opposite concept. For instance, Death stands for death but also for life as death defines (limits, bounds) life. In issue 70, we see her give life rather than taking it. We can infer that Destiny also encompasses the concept of free will. By the same token, Dream defines reality (<i>Morpheus</i> means the Shaper) and we find here the realisation of the fantasy-reality dichotomy which lies at the core of <i>The Sandman </i>and <i>American Gods</i>. To know reality, one has to know fantasy. If <i>American Gods</i> can be approached as a serious piece of literature on American myth and identity, it is because we can know the reality of America by the underlying myths of America (dreams) that shape that reality. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">E. The Modern World in <i>The Sandman</i></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">By “reality” here, we mean the current state of the country in its diversity and complexity. “Reality” is opposed to “myth”. If <i>The Sandman </i>has earned some acclaim, it is as much for its fantastical universe as for its depiction of underrepresented segments of the population. American comics are known for appealing more to boys than girls, a fact specifically mentioned when Disney recently announced their decision to purchase Marvel Comics, the leader of the comics industry and long-time rival to DC Comics.</span></span></span></span><sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote7sym" name="sdfootnote7anc"><sup>7</sup></a></span></span></span></span></sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">While the Endless are seven, a male-female parity is maintained. Destiny, Dream and Destruction are male, Death, Despair and Delirium are female and Desire is androgynous. In the structure of the series, another parity exists as Gaiman purposely tried to appeal to both genders. In his essay “All Books Have Genders,”</span></span></span></span><sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote8sym" name="sdfootnote8anc"><sup>8</sup></a></span></span></span></span></sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"> he writes,</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">When I wrote the ten volumes of Sandman, I tended to alternate between what I thought of as male storylines, such as the first story, collected under the title <i>Preludes and Nocturnes</i>, or the fourth book, <i>Season of Mists</i>; and more female stories, like <i>Game of You</i>, or <i>Brief Lives</i>.” </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">He must have been successful since the audience for </span><i>The Sandman</i> was quite unlike that of mainstream comics: half the readership was female, many were in their twenties, and many read no other comics at all. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><i>American Gods</i> contains another example of the male-female parity in Sam Black Crow: she is a female double of Shadow as she also dreams of a buffalo god--a female god, as opposed to the male god Shadow dreams about. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Gaiman didn't stop at the male/female dichotomy. As mentioned, one of the Endless is androgynous but other sexual identities are acknowledged within the course of the series. In the first issue, the male character who keeps Dream imprisoned has a male lover; in the fifth volume, <i>A Game of You</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Gaiman features a lesbian couple and Wanda, a pre-operative transsexual. </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">Mortality is common theme from the first issue, where the central character tries to trap Death in order to gain immortality, to the last one, where we are told of the death of William Shakespeare. The main story concerns the death of the title character. In one of the most significant line of the series, in <i>Brief Lives,</i> Death tells to a fifteen thousand year old man, “Y</span></span><span style="color: black;">ou lived what anybody gets, Bernie. You got a lifetime.”</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;"> In the series, people die from electrocution, cot death, AIDS, fire, accidents, murder, starvation, overdose. Death can be long and protracted or sudden and unexpected. The characters also age in real time. This is quite at odd with an American comics tradition where characters don't age (or age very slowly) and often come back from death.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">F. Traditional Mythology</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The Sandman, under his name of Morpheus, Greek god of dreams, is the perfect example of the merging of Gaiman's mythology with traditional mythology. He fathered Orpheus with Calliope, thus substituting in this role for Apollo. The three witches, Mildred, Mordred and Cynthia, are redefined as the Triple Goddess. As such they can become any set of three goddesses, such as the Fates (Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos) interchangeable with the Roman Parcae or Germanic Norns; the Furies (prominent in <i>The Kindly Ones</i><span style="font-style: normal;">) or the maiden-mother-crone of neo-pagan movements</span>. As the three witches, they are also a reference to the Weird Sisters of Shakespeare's <i>MacBeth</i>. They appear as old women in a retirement home visited by Rose Walker.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The Judeo-Christian mythology is the most represented. It bears the influence of John Milton. The Presence/Creator/Yahweh is the creator of the universe. Lucifer abandons Hell which devolves to two angels, Duma and Remiel, to rule. Demons Azazel, Beelzebub and Mazikeen are from the Jewish tradition while Choronzon is a recent creation. The use by Gaiman of the Miltonian Lucifer will be so compelling that it will spin-off its own 75 issue series. Cain, Abel and Eve are characters which, like the three witches and Destiny, Gaiman picked from old horror anthologies but he redefines them as the Biblical characters. Even Eve gets mixed up with the pagan triple goddess in <i>Sandman</i> #40 where the three wives of Adam are described as mother, maiden and crone. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Odin, Thor and Loki represent Norse mythology and their use is consistent with their appearance in <i>American Gods</i>. To a public used to the popular Marvel Comics version (one of the bestselling American comic book in the sixties), this was the first time a writer wrote the characters like they appear in the Norse literature. Contrary to many other deities, those aren't affected by the modern world. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Faeries are regulars in the series but there again, it owes a lot to Shakespeare.</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Ishtar and Bast (also used in <i>American Gods</i>) round up the list of traditional gods. Both suffer from the lack of worshippers. While Bast stays away from the modern world, Ishtar works as an exotic dancer and kills herself.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The character Pharamond is a fictional god who reinvents himself as a god of travel to avoid fading with the times. While he looks Babylonian, the name is that of a legendary King of the Franks and is used by Shakespeare in Henry V, Act I, Scene 2 as the originator of the Salic law. This is very likely where Gaiman found the name.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">G. DC Comics Mythology</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">The Sandman was originally a proposal to use the 1970s character who </span></span><span style="color: black;">lives in the Dream Dimension and protects children from their nightmares and occasionally from real-life menaces. While the character was dressed as a super-hero, he had been intended to be the Sandman of popular myth, eternal and immortal, however a later writer turned him into a human. In being given carte blanche to come up with a new character Gaiman was free to create a new design. But he had plans to use lesser known characters and effectively managed to make them prominent. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">In his second issue, “Imperfect Hosts” he reintroduces horror comic book hosts: Cain from <i>House of Mystery</i>, Abel from <i>House of Secrets</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, and the three witches from </span><i>The Witching Hour</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. Cain and Abel also co-hosted </span><i>Plop!</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> and </span><i>Secrets of Haunted House </i><span style="font-style: normal;">with Eve. Their use by Alan Moore in just one issue of </span><i>Swamp Thing </i><span style="font-style: normal;">redefined them as closer to their biblical counterparts. Alan Moore's run on </span><i>Swamp Thing</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> had made the series the best comic in America; Gaiman continued this characterisation and set out to do the same with the three witches. In the same issue, he also mentioned two lesser known hosts: the Mad Mod Witch (as the Mad Yuppie Witch), host of </span><i>The Unexpected</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> and Lucien, host of </span><i>Tales of Ghost Castle</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. Lucien would become a regular supporting character. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">In his third issue, Gaiman uses an Alan Moore character, occult detective John Constantine, but the character already has his own series. Later he will create 18<sup>th</sup> century supernatural adventuress Lady Johanna Constantine. In the fourth issue, he uses Etrigan the Demon, a seventies character created by Jack Kirby but reimagined in the eighties by Alan Moore. Soon, he also introduces Matt, a raven who used to be a human who died in his sleep. This is another character inherited from Alan Moore and another sign that Gaiman was setting himself up as his successor. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">In issue 7, Destiny, host of <i>Weird Mystery Tales</i> and <i>Secrets of Haunted House </i><span style="font-style: normal;">is revealed as the eldest of the Endless. Eve from </span><i>Secrets of Sinister House</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> and </span><i>Weird Mystery Tales </i><span style="font-style: normal;">appears later but in a reimagined version both as the Biblical character and as an aspect of the triple goddess, the old woman of the maiden-mother-crone trinity, thus merging the DC character with Judeo-Christian and pagan myths. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Gaiman's use of other DC characters is peripheral but can be quite potent. Issue 20 remains a favorite for the treatment of obscure character Element Girl. She received powers and immortality from Ra to serve as warrior in his battle against the god Apep (who died 3000 years ago). Death, coming for an upstairs neighbour who has fallen off a ladder, visits her, sensing her longing to die, but is unable to take her, though she informs her that Ra (the sun) can take her power back so she can die. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Lyta Hall is the only major character of the series who has been a super-hero. She was known as Fury, daughter of a Greek super-heroin, a fact that Gaiman makes use of when Lyta contacts the mythological Furies (the Kindly Ones) to inflict her vengeance on Morpheus when she believes him responsible for the disappearance of her son. She never appears in costume, only as a normal woman though with superhuman force as she is able to break a man's arm without effort.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So, with the costumed Sandmen explained as the universe's attempt to fill the void left by the imprisonment of Morpheus and with the use of super-heroes with mythological connections, Gaiman maintains a unity of tone.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">H. Literature</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Literature is a distinct source. Professor McConnell told us that Gaiman invented a mythology not just of comics but of storytelling itself, and as such writers are prominently featured. Writers Mark Twain, Marco Polo, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare appear as characters. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Richard Madoc is a fictional writer who gets his inspiration by keeping the muse Calliope as his prisoner. The works of Shakespeare, John Milton, John Dee, Robert Graves, L. Frank Baum provide characters. Crowley and G. K. Chesterton are the inspiration for the characters Roderick Burgess and Fiddler's Green respectively. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Finally, Gaiman features Shakespeare and uses “The Tempest,” a play fundamentally about change, endings, and new beginnings, to finish the series. </span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">On the occasion of Gaiman's earning of the Hugo award for <i>The Graveyard Book </i><span style="font-style: normal;">in August 2009 </span>Damien G. Walter heaped praise upon Neil Gaiman in <i>The Guardian</i>: </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Neil Gaiman has won over his audience one-by-one with stories in which readers find intense personal meaning. But that audience is now numbered in its millions because of Gaiman’s understanding of the primal role of myth in our lives, and our hunger for myths that suit our modern age. His stories stitch together a 21st-century mythology, woven from the legends of ancient Greece and the Norse pantheon, eastern European folktales and the British literary tradition of Milton and Shakespeare, to name just a few of his sources. Into this fabric are embroidered modern mythic figures for our age: Dream and his family of the Endless; the bespectacled boy wizard; and now the child raised by nightmares in a graveyard.” </span><span style="color: blue;">(</span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/aug/10/myth-genius-neil-gaiman"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/aug/10/myth-genius-neil-gaiman)</span></span></span></a></u></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">He wrote the following about <i>American Gods</i>:</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">But it was with the release of <i>American Gods </i>in 2001 that Neil finally captured a mainstream readership. The story of an America populated by all the gods who had ever washed up on its shores, and a war between ancient magic and modern technology, resonated deeply with millions of readers who did not know how much they longed for myth until they were given one. (Walter, op. cit.)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">We have seen with the Sandman how myths are said to underlie the structure of existence. So in the next part, let's look at what myths are used and figure what reality they define in <i>American Gods</i>.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Part Three: Old Gods</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Emile Durkheim, the famous French sociologist/philosopher posed the question that this novel explores: That the old gods have died, and he feared for the future of society, because he could not imagine what new gods could come along and replace them. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I. Norse mythology</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In his blog entry of 7 March 2001 Gaiman mentions “twelve years spent getting as deeply into Norse stuff as anyone who doesn’t do it for a living” and indeed Norse mythology is at the heart of the story. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A. Odin</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1. Background</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It takes some time to figure out where the story is going. The first mythological character to appear and to be recognizable is Odin. He appears under a recognizable name, Wednesday, i.e. Day of Woden, his name in English (German: Wotan). The Slavic gods call him Votan on page 74. The constellation Ursa Major is called Odin's Wain on page 89.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">His story is the following: he appears to recruit Shadow as a bodyguard while he is recruiting an army. It turns out that he's recruiting old gods to fight the modern gods. In the end he turns out to have orchestrated the conflict with Loki as he benefits from the dedication of the battle to him just as Norsemen did. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">He's a one-eyed god since he sacrificed an eye to gain knowledge and he is described as having a glass eye. Walking disguised among men is typical of his legendary characteristics. </span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">Odin come to America in AD 813 when Norsemen first arrived there. They made a human sacrifice to him by hanging a Native American (which they called a <i>scraeling</i>, </span></span><span style="color: black;">the name the Norse Greenlanders gave to the people they encountered in Greenland; they used the same name for the inhabitants of North America, specifically present-day Newfoundland [“Vinland”]</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">).</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Which aspect of current American life he describes isn't easy to find. He's described as a hustler. He isn't worshipped in any way and has to live as a con artist. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">In the end, Odin is revealed to be behind the war of the gods when Loki dedicates the battle to him. This war of the gods is akin to Ragnar</span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnar%C3%B6k"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">ö</span></span></a></u></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">k, the fate of the gods, the eschatological story in which the Aesir (the Norse gods led by Odin) die in their final fight against their enemies. In the old myths, Odin is obsessed by this upcoming event, trying to gather foreknowledge of its circumstances. But in the novel, this event is necessary to his continued survival as a god. Indeed Odin receives the souls of warriors who fell in battle in his hall. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The sinister nature of Odin is foretold when Samantha tells of a legend about him (p. 171). Some Vikings hang their king in effigy as they had promised a human sacrifice to Odin but didn't actually want to kill their king. The mock hanging and the mock spear become real ones and kill the king. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">He's accompanied by two ravens Huginn and Muninn (p. 132, 157, 158), as well as two wolves, Geri and Freki (p. 128, 132) and has an eight-legged horse, Sleipnir. The horse and the name don't appear in the novel but are mentioned obliquely; Wednesday says, “my horse is the gallows” (p. 132) and on page 68 the four Norsemen carry a body to be sacrificed to Odin “making him an eight-legged horse.” </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2. Odin as the aging American identity </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Odin is the chief Anglo-Saxon god. He started as a minor god but took on the attributes of majesty in the same way the USA was a European nation which gradually became the superpower which it is. </span></span> </div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="btAsinTitle"></a> <span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Odin is the god of commerce, an attribute which he shares with the Roman god Mercury and explains why they share same day of the week (Wednesday = Woden's day = Mercuri dies). Commerce has always been a characteristic of the USA as demonstrated in Fareed Zakaria's <i>From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role</i>. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">But more than anything else, as emphasized in <i>American Gods</i>, Odin is renewed by deaths on the battlefield. Walter Hixson in <i>The Myth of American Democracy</i> tells us that the American identity is renewed by war. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">US foreign policy is a lethal, pathological force, emanating from a self-serving national mythology. To the extent that we can we must unpack the 'myth to power' and replace it with an alternative hegemony that will enable us to transcend the nation's congenital and pathological aggression against enemy-others in deference to genuine efforts at global community.” (Hixson, op. cit. p. 307)</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Samuel Huntington concurs, </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Quarante années durant, l'Amérique a été le chef de file du 'monde libre' contre 'l'empire du mal'. Cet empire disparu comment l'Amérique devait-elle se définir?”</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">'C'est la guerre, a dit Heinrich Treitscheke, qui fait d'un peuple une nation.' La Révolution a donné naissance au peuple américain, la guerre d'indépendance à la nation américaine et la Seconde Guerre mondiale a été l'épiphanie de l'identification des Américains à leur pays.”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">B. Loki</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Before Odin appears, the reader has been presented with another Norse myth though this is revealed much later in the novel (p. 443). Loki first appears as Shadow's inmate, Low Key Lyesmith, a transparent name. Lie-Smith (maker of lies) is one of the names he is known by in the Eddas. The embers that dance in his eyes (p. 442) and his orange-blond hair are marks that further distinguish Loki, whose name may be related to <i>loga</i>, fire. Orange, fiery hair is also used in the visual depiction of Loki in two volumes of Neil Gaiman's graphic novel <i>The Sandman--Seasons of Mists</i> and <i>The Kindly Ones</i>. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">In the Norse myths, he is a troublemaker, a god of mischief and god of evil who ends up causing the death of Baldur and hence Ragnar</span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnar%C3%B6k"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">ö</span></span></a></u></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">k, the final battle in which the gods die. In the novel he plays a double game by appearing as Mister World, one of the modern gods. His ability to take on other shapes is part of his folklore (Shape-Changer is another of his names). He's the progenitor of monsters: Jormungand, the World Serpent, Sleipnir, Odin's eight-legged horse (which he carried as a mare) and Fenrir the giant wolf who eats Odin at Ragnar</span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnar%C3%B6k"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">ö</span></span></span></a></u></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">k. The eight-legged horse made by the four Norsemen carrying the Native American is the result of deceit (= Loki). His scarred lips (p. 442) refer to his punishment: sewn lips. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While the identity of Low Key Lyesmith as Loki is not too hard to figure out to those who are familiar with Norse myths, Mister World is obscure. As a name it reminds us of Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia, bodybuilding titles, but the names of his acolytes, like Mr. Town, head us in a different direction and it isn't clear how and why this is a modern god since it evokes no form of worship. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Yet there is maybe one connection between Loki and the world. As punishment for causing the death of Baldur Loki is bound under the earth where his writhing is supposed to be the origin of earthquakes. His child, Jormungand, lives in the ocean and is so big that he encircles the Earth. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">D. Shadow as Baldur</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">Shadow is the hero of the novel. His real name is not given. He doesn't appear as a god, but is revealed ultimately as a son of Odin. As Odin explains, he was conceived to be sacrificed since “there is much power in the sacrifice of a son.” In the original myths, Odin is the all-father, the father of many gods and it is the death of his son Baldur that causes the coming of Ragnar</span></span><span style="color: black;">ö</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">k. Since his other son Thor is revealed as having committed suicide in 1932, he needed to conceive another son. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Shadow can be seen as a new Baldur. His wife Laura says he shines like a beacon. Baldur was so beautiful that he was luminous. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On page 167 he accurately predicts Samantha's occupation, possibly a telltale sign that he has divination abilities like his father Odin. On page 203 he doesn't cut himself when using a straight razor for the first time just like Baldur was invulnerable to most weapons.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">His real name is not given and he “loses” it by the end of the novel in exchange for his life. It is common in magic that names have a mystic significance. “Shadow” is just a name he goes by. However the last name of his wife (practically unused) is Moon (p. 16, p. 27), which strengthens the Baldur connection since Baldur's wife is Nanna, the moon-maid. However we find out that Laura's family has the last name McCabe (p. 257), hence Moon is her married name and the last name of Shadow. Shadow isn't a solar deity like Baldur or Apollo but a lunar one like Artemis or Selene. He's not a destructive male but a male with female qualities (while Samantha Black Crow, being bisexual, has male qualities). </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">In a follow-up short story, “<span style="font-style: normal;">Monarch of the Glen”</span> published in the collection <i>Fragile Things</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, his name is given as Baldur Moon.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">II. Non-Norse myths</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A. Egyptian pantheon </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Gods of the Egyptian pantheon play a strong role in the story, especially in the death, judgement and resurrection of Shadow. </span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Mr. Ibis is first mentioned on page 92 as the fictional author of the second “Coming to America” story but only appears on page 180 where we find out he runs a funeral parlor with Mr. Jacquel. In a postmodern trick, he is later revealed to be the fictional author of all of the “Coming to America” stories that the reader read earlier. He's the Egyptian god Thoth. His attributes fit with his actions in the novel, whether as a writer, a mortician or a coroner. He is the inventor of writing, assisted in the resurrections of Osiris and Horus and without his words the gods would not exist. If for Derrida, Thoth is the god of the secondary language, acting for Horus (“</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">Tout ce qu'il doit énoncer ou faire connaître avec les mots, Horus l'a déjà pensé”), for Gaiman the writer is the ultimate creator, including the creator of gods.</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"> Appropriately, Gaiman has often contributed to the fight for creators rights in comics. Mr. Ibis helps Shadow in the afterlife to survive his judgement and come back to life.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jacquel is Anubis, the god with a jackal head associated with mummification and acting as judge in the afterlife.</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Bast, a solar and war goddess depicted with a cat's head, appears as a cat on pages 180 and 202. She can observe whatever cats anywhere can see, just like the Bast which Gaiman used in </span><i>Sandman</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The god Set is said to have left the group of Egyptian deities 200 years ago to go exploring (p. 202) and to have sent a postcard from San Francisco circa 1905-1906 (probably not so coincidentally the time of the earthquake). As the god of the desert, storm and chaos, one wonders if he is the forgettable god that appears as a man in a dark suit on page 141 and then on page 285 in Las Vegas. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Horus has gone crazy and remains in the form of a hawk most of the time until he appears at the crucifixion of Shadow.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">B. Others </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">More myths appear than I need to catalog though I researched them all. Gaiman makes extensive use of allusions. Meredith Collins, Rodney Sharkey, James Fleming, and Zuleyha Cetiner-Oktem have commented on it, mostly positively, while Clay Smith argues that it tends to assert Gaiman as an authorial voice and therefore to exclude his collaborators as authors, and that reading Gaiman becomes a sort of game to entice readers to identify references with the result of investing time and money in his works.</span></span></span></span></span><sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote9sym" name="sdfootnote9anc"><sup>9</sup></a></span></span></span></span></span></sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"> (Since whatever obtains a sacrifice of time and money is potentially a god, one must wonder what Gaiman thinks of his self made apotheosis.)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While Gaiman will vaguely mention a character on one page, only to give more information much later that allows the reader to connect the dots, this is a common practice for writers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">III. Gaiman characters</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Gaiman created his own mythology in his </span><i>Sandman</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> graphic novels, notably the personifications called the Endless: Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, Delirium. He describes them as more than gods but less than gods. Unlike gods, their existence precedes words and depends not on worshipers but on the existence of living beings since they're supposed to represent features common to all life. While gods are fictional constructs, they're as powerful as people imagine them to be and so can be more than the Endless. In the letters to </span><i>Sandman</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, a reader wonders about the existence of an ultimate Christian God along with the Endless. If gods came to existence after living beings used their power of imagination (as represented by the Sandman), how could there be an ultimate Creator? As an answer he proposes that humans created Yahweh and Yahweh evolved in their consciousness and tales from a Jewish storm god to the ultimate god eventually described by Milton (since Milton is the inspiration for Gaiman's Yahweh), he became that ultimate god. As per Jean Baudrillard, the simulacrum comes before the real. Thus we have a reality with multiple strata. </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Some of the Endless make veiled appearances in the novel, which is fitting: his work and his creations have a following of their own and Gaiman has been credited with creating a mythology. The voice encouraging Shadow to cut his throat is Despair. Delirium appears on page 306 (“A young girl, no older than fourteen, her hair dyed green and orange and pink, stared at them as they went by. She sat beside a dog, a mongrel, with pieces of string for a collar and a leash.”) The goth girl on page 489 with her black silk top hat and her black hair fits the description of both Death in </span><i>Sandman</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> and Didi, the incarnation of Death in Gaiman's </span><i>Death: The High Cost of Living</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">In addition, as another wink to his fans, there is no author called Jenny Kerton (p. 297) but this is the name of a character in the Gaiman short story </span><i>Wall: A Prologue</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">IV. Christian parallels</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In the first part, we have identified Shadow as Baldur. He's the son of a god and a mortal, which by definition makes him a hero in the classical tradition. Sons of god are very popular myths: Hercules has arguably been the most popular mythological character of the western world. As an employee of Odin, he is in a position to accomplish legendary works of his own.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But in an examination of American myths set in the modern world, one wonders how come Yahweh and Jesus are not prominent characters. In his blog entry of June 22, 2001, Gaiman had this to say on that point: </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="fr-FR">Jesus actually did turn up in a scene which I cut, as it just didn`t work, but I figured a book about American Religion was not the book I wanted to write, which was about American Belief, so I let some things go...<span style="font-style: normal;">”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">However parallels between Baldur and Jesus aren't new. The similarities between the two would have been used by Christian missionaries to convert Germanic people. In his autobiography “Surprised by Joy: the Shape of my Early Life” in which he tells of his conversion to Christianity, the British scholar and writer C. S. Lewis said he “loved Balder before Christ”. Baldur is the son of the chief god, the all-father, he is loved by all that lives except Loki (the main antagonist of the gods, who brings about the end of the world), dies from a spear, and is reborn after the end of the world to lead humanity. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">With Shadow we have additional parallels: Shadow is thirty-three when he is crucified on the tree and dies, he has a bleeding wound on his side (caused by a stick which is a spear) and is revived by the goddess Eostre (Easter). On page 14 his head is filled with ghost images that remind us of Jesus going out of prison: </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“</span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In his imagination he was leaving another prison, long ago. He had been imprisoned in a lightless room for far too long: his beard was wild and his hair was a tangle. The guards had walked him down a gray stone stairway and out into a plaza filled with brightly colored things, with people and with objects. It was a market day and he was dazzled by the noise and the color, squinting at the sunlight that filled the square, smelling the salt-wet air and all the good things of the market and on his left the sun glittered from the water...” </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">The battle at Rock City is a Ragnar</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">ö</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">k deliberately engineered by Odin. The battle is dedicated to Odin so he can feed off deaths. Shadow makes the following accusation: </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">You wanted a massacre. You needed a blood sacrifice. A sacrifice of gods.”</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Later, to stop the battle, he explains the situation in these terms: </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">There was a god who came here from a far land, and whose power and influence waned as belief in him faded. He was a god who took his power from sacrifice, and from death, and especially from war.” </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">This is consistent with Odin's usual attributes: he would collect the slain in battle in his hall, the Valhalla. He is also associated with cunning, trickery and deception. Ragnar</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">ö</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">k is not unlike the Apocalypse: it is the final fight between the forces of good and evil. And although there are no parallels between the Christian devil and Loki, we can draw some in the novel. </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en-US">Loki comes from one side, the old gods, but leads the new gods. This parallels the fallen angel Lucifer leading the demons against God. The ability of Loki as a shape-changer is one attributed to the devil. The name used by Loki, Mr. World, is very close to the title of the devil as Prince of this World. He also leads the spook show, i.e. government agents (from spook = </span><span lang="fr-FR">an espionage agent; a spy). They are described as Men in Black, a term which first meant real or pretended government agents suppressing UFO evidence and now refers to </span></span></span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">any generic suited government/corporate official. Folklorist Peter Rojcewicz noted that many Men in Black accounts parallel tales of people encountering the devil: neither Men in Black nor the devil are quite human, and witnesses often discover this fact midway through an encounter.</span></span></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote10sym" name="sdfootnote10anc"><sup>10</sup></a></span></span></span></sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Gaiman would then have used and reinforced parallels between Norse myths and Christian belief to comment on the latter. Odin's statement that “</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">there's power in the sacrifice of a son-power enough, and more than enough, to get the whole ball rolling”</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">applies equally to Odin-Balder, Odin-Shadow and Yahweh-Jesus. When the non-Christian native American Sam Black Crow remarks that “White people have some fucked-up gods,” she probably expresses her view on Christianity as well even though she cited an example involving Odin. She's using the present tense and white people overwhelmingly believe in the Christian god. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Part Four: Gods and America</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I. Modern Gods</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In the Acknowledgements section, Gaiman credits other authors in tackling these themes: James Branch Cabell, Roger Zelazny and Harlan Ellison. However, whereas his use of old gods owes nearly everything to research and is remarkable in its power to evoke pictures, he has to create the new ones and he only describes a couple of them. For the rest he gives only broad strokes:</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">there are new gods in America, clinging to growing knots of belief: gods of credit card and freeway, of Internet and telephone, of radio and hospital and television, gods of plastic and of beeper and of neon.”</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">(p. 138)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">But the spook show, the ones you met, they're something else. They exist because everyone knows they must exist.” (p. 309)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">The techies want it in Austin, or maybe San Jose, the players want it in Hollywood, the intangibles want it on Wall Street.” (p. 346)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">I've checked with the crew at Radio Modern, and they're all for settling this peacefully; and the intangibles are pretty much in favor of letting market forces take care of it.” (p. 505)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">gods of the airplanes” (p. 537)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Except for the one called Media, they are typically nameless. The most featured one is just called the technical boy or the fat kid. Apart from a couple of examples, Gaiman doesn't delve much into the form of belief they receive. For instance this dialogue on page 175 reveals the mechanism that deifies TV:</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">I'm the TV. (...) I'm the little shrine the family gathers to adore. (...) The TV's the altar. I'm what people are sacrificing to.”</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">What do they sacrifice?”</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Their time, mostly. Sometimes, each other.”</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And this passage page 537 does the same for cars:</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale un- dreamed-of since the Aztecs.” </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">II. American identity</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Shadow, however, isn't reducible to Baldur nor to a metaphor of Jesus. For one thing, he isn't trapped in America the way the old gods are. Odin says “</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">I've been trapped in this damned land for almost twelve hundred years.”</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Shadow was born abroad, lived abroad with his mother when he was young and goes to Iceland at the end. He is above all an American and that may be part of the reason why he's so important to both sides. The new gods make a lot of effort to recruit him. We can see him as the synthesis of the dichotomy between new and old gods. There are several clues to this basic American identity.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Shadow starts as an ex-convict. This places him in the tradition of Tom Joad in </span><i>Grapes of Wrath </i><span style="font-style: normal;">and, more loosely, of all the convicts that were transported to America to start a new life. Reminding us that the original Americans were convicts is another denial of the “Pilgrim Fathers” origin.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In Chapter Eight, Shadow learns from Mad Sweeney that he was given a coin meant for royalty by mistake, for “the king of America himself.” However we can surmise that he didn't get the coin by mistake but by design since the sequence of events that unfold due to the coin lead to the failure of the plot of Odin and Loki. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">There are recurring hints that Shadow might be of mixed heritage. In Chapter One, while he's in prison, an inmate and a guard inquire about his origin; in Chapter Seven page 166, Sam Black Crow asks him if he has Indian blood. </span></span></span></span><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;">Shadow's mother must have had African ancestry as she dies of complications of sickle-cell anemia, a disease which occurs most commonly in people (or their descendants) from sub-Saharan Africa. </span></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">He dreams of the buffalo-headed god and of thunderbirds. The buffalo god provides him with clues and tells him that he is the land and the reason why people and their gods came to America.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">Even though he might be the king of America, he has no desire for this, which is also an American characteristic. Article One of the United States Constitution expressly excludes such titles (“</span></span><span style="color: black;">No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.”</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">) </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">There is even a comparison with the game of checkers which Shadow plays with Czernobog (p. 79-83). The text tells us the rules: “</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span lang="fr-FR">no longer forced to move only forward on the board, a sideways slip at a time, the kings could move forward or back, which made them doubly dangerous. They had reached the farthest row, and could go where they wanted.</span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US">”</span></span><span lang="fr-FR"> Until his crucifixion and death, Shadow is a pawn of Odin, only able to move forward. After he dies he becomes a king, able to go where he wants. He's able to go backstage, the place where only the gods can go, to stop the battle. He also manages to put roses in the hands of Sam without her noticing. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">We can even establish a parity and find a female counterpart. As he explains in his essay “All Book Have Genders”</span></span></span></span></span><sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote11sym" name="sdfootnote11anc"><sup>11</sup></a></span></span></span></span></span></sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Gaiman thinks there are male stories and female stories and he alternated them when he was writing </span><i>Sandman</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. Naturally he would avoid sexism in having the American being a male. </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Though she plays no major role in the story, Sam Black Crow keeps crossing the path of Shadow. We see her in five scenes during the story. She has a mixed heritage with her father being Cherokee and her mother's family being European Jewish. She also has dreams and believes in a buffalo divinity, but a female one. When she states her beliefs she says, “I believe that one day White Buffalo Woman is going to come back and kick everyone's ass.” And when she tells of her dreams she recounts, “</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">Sometimes I'm underground, talking to a woman with a buffalo head.” It is quite possible that her Indian father is himself a god, fathering children here and there as Odin did since we are told he leaves his family after ten years to make a new child. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Both Shadow and she have memories of a past life and each knows things about the other which they have no reason to. When Shadow hazards a guess as to what she's doing, he says:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">I figure you're at school.” (...) “Where you are undoubtedly studying art history, women's studies, and probably casting your own bronzes. And you probably work in a coffeehouse to help cover the rent.” (p. 167)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Which happens to be exactly what she's doing, to their common surprise. She also sensed that he had dies, and then wasn't dead anymore.</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">A few weeks back, I was certain he was dead. ESP. Or whatever. Like, I knew. But then, I started to think maybe he wasn't. I don't know. I guess my ESP isn't that hot.” (p. 576)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But what makes her the expression of the American Belief that the book is about is her long soliloquy pages 394-395 where she states her beliefs. Many of these beliefs are mutually exclusive, like a personal god, an impersonal god and a godless universe or a woman's right to choose and a baby's right to live. Their coexistence here is a reflection of their coexistence in America. That multiplicity makes her an everywoman in the same way that Shadow's lack of name makes him an everyman. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The inclusion of two quantum physics statements, “light is a wave and a particle” and the reference to Schroedinger's cat, validates the multiplicity since both possibilities are true at the same time. In this worldview, it isn't necessary to choose a belief to the exclusion of another which would normally be deemed incompatible. In other words such dichotomies are outmoded. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">III. America is the myth </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The buffalo-headed god that haunts Shadow's dreams explains that he is not just a god but that he is “the land” and that it was he who attracted all the peoples who came to inhabit it. We can break down this mythical America into three components: Americana, geography, history.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A. Americana</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The semantic field of </span><i>myth</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> has exploded to the point that, as the quotes of Eliade, Barthes and Forbes in the introduction show, the concept now extends to names, places, customs, personalities, TV series, manufactured objects, etc. </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In Appendix A, I made a list of Americana. They are the elements which give America its distinctive allure. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Gaiman isn't shy about citing names and brands and uses it to achieve what Roland Barthes calls the “effet de réel.” Their omnipresence evokes the American day-to-day life itself as the average American is bombarded daily with advertisements and trademarks. Whenever possible Gaiman uses the brand name directly without the generic descriptor, even praising his copy editor for capitalising Dumpster in the American Gods Blog (March 2, 2001). So that a distributor is rather called a Coke machine. This is a novelty since writing manuals advocate using the descriptors for a proper use of trademarks. Gaiman the novelist chooses the opposite direction. He doesn't restrict his use to American marks though. Foreign marks are used when they are omnipresent and part of American life, so we find Toyota or Nissan and Nokia along with Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart or KFC. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Beyond the “effet de réel” Georges Lewi, in </span></span><span style="color: black;"><i>Les marques, mythologies du quotidien : comprendre le succès des grandes marques</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, has demonstrated how brand names have their own life cycle parallel to the development of myths. From heroic origins, characters then become models providing inspiration for the way to conduct one's life. Brand names become mythical to the degree they can evolve from the heroic to the wisdom stage. </span></span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);">Lewi explains what is a myth: </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Le mythe est un récit fondateur si ancien qu'on ne lui connait pas d'origine. Il continue cependant de se transmettre. C'est un système porteur de sens et de vérité dont les deux principaux acteurs sont l'homme et le cosmos.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ce récit anonyme et collectif est réapproprié par la collectivité.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Il a une fonction d'intégrateur social, en proposant un sens au présent ainsi que des modèles de conduite. Il aide à comprendre la place de l'homme dans la société.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">On le juge vrai et il s'appuie sur des éléments de vraisemblance.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Les héros qui peuplent le mythe sont des monotypes dénués de fine psychologie. Ils incarnent des forces, des archétypes. Ils fascinent parce qu'ils sont absolus. (Lewi, op. cit. p. 216)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">In <i>The Sandman</i>, we have a founding myth of the universe in the Endless. They are the wave patterns of existence. In <i>American Gods</i> we have a founding myth of America, the land attracted the inhabitants. <i>The Sandman</i> provides meaning and truth as outsiders are part of the same whole that the rest of society belongs to. They even define normality if we are to follow the philosophy of the series. People are equal before death, everybody gets a lifetime whether it lasted a few hours or fifteen thousand years. Even gods can die and fade away. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">It has no origin. While old myths have no origin, it is interesting to notice that recent characters who reach mythical status have unresolved questions and arguments about their origin so that if the origin is known, it gets confused with time. In the matter of Shakespeare and his works, scholarship has unveiled the many sources and inspirations for the plays. This tends to diminish Shakespeare as sole originator. The author's identity itself is put in question. Was the Shakespeare of Stratford the writer of the plays? Other aspects are challenged, what was his religion? What was his sexual orientation? Characters created in the twentieth century aren't immune to this process, While Spider-Man has been created by writer Stan Lee and penciler Steve Ditko, the contributions of each are debated and other creators, like Joe Simon, Jack Kirby and Eric Stanton have claimed to have created various aspects of the character. We even find disagreements on the creation of recent characters like Wolverine 1974) and Venom (1988). Writer Al Nickerson believes “that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created the Spider-Man that we are familiar with today [but that] ultimately, Spider-Man came into existence, and prospered, through the efforts of not just one or two, but many, comic book creators.”</span></span></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote12sym" name="sdfootnote12anc"><sup>12</sup></a></span></span></span></sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I would posit the following law: The more a creation achieves mythical status, the more its original creator will get if only because later contributors add to it or alternately it requires a fuzzy origin for a creation to achieve mythical status. </span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">The group or community makes it his own. This has started with <i>The Sandman</i> where other artists have started using some of Gaiman's characters such as Death. Old myths get reused all the time but in popular culture, we have the phenomenon often fiction (starting with Star Trek). There is also the feeling that the fans are the true depository of popular characters and that they are entitled to boycott the publisher to revert the decisions they don't like about the character. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Lewi tells us:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">La marque raconte. C'est ce qui la différencie du produit. (Lewi, op. cit. p. 225)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">From this we can see that the abundant use of trademarks in a work concerned with myths is pertinent after all. This reminds us of professor McConnell's stating that Gaiman invented a mythology of storytelling itself. The world is shaped by those who can describe it. Each writer is a creator. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But Lewi's best remark or at least the best suited to our examination of myths and America is here:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mythe et marque sont avant tout de formidables intégrateurs sociaux.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mythes et marques sont là pour rappeler à l'individu son importance, ses droits, et ses devoirs vis-à-vis du groupe.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">« Les rapports de l'individu et du groupe sont au centre des tragédies d'Eschyle et d'Euripide. »</span></span></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote13sym" name="sdfootnote13anc"><sup>13</sup></a></span></span></span></sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Ce fut le rôle du mythe d'exprimer ces rapports difficiles. Il n'y a pas eu de marques avant le 19e siècle, car jusqu'alors l'<i>individu</i> n'existait pas. Le concept de marques est né aux Etats-Unis d'Amérique, où l'individu est au centre de la société. (Lewi, op. cit. p. 256)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);">The trademark is an American phenomenon originally. Myths provide a model of belonging. The outsiders in Gaimans's novels interact with the rest of society and sometimes come to represent it. The former convict Shadow, who could be king of America, is the perfect example of that.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">B. Geography </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The novel is quite appropriately a road trip. Road trips are convenient because they relate to the immigrant experience and this has been used in great American novels: </span><i>The Grapes of Wrath</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, </span><i>On the Road, Lolita</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. The path followed by Shadow is given in Appendix B. </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Roadside attractions are one of the themes of the novel. “It is a holy place” says Odin of Mount Rushmore. It is stated that such places have power. These places of power are where in the Old World, people built churches and other religiously significant places. In America these places become popular attractions, touristic sites such as the House on the Rock or Rock City. But arbitrarily chosen places such as the motel in the center of America do not function this way. It's the land who decides such things. They are a microcosm of America as a whole. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">The novel also describes the charm of small town life. Englishmen like Gaiman have a saying, “England has history while America has geography.” Small towns are a peculiar experience because the population density is lower than in Europe. In keeping with the road trip motif, these small towns are enumerated, often with their population: </span></span></span></span><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;">Our Town, Peru, El Paso, Normal, Bloomington, Lawndale, Middletown, Red Bud, Chester, La Crosse, Pinewood, Ironwood, Green Bay, Humansville, Cherryvale. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A good part of the novel is devoted to describing life in the small town of Lakeside. This is where the secondary plot of the novel takes place: the yearly disappearance of children due to a kobold perpetuating human sacrifices dating from the pagan era. Small towns are charming but also ugly. Gaiman doesn't present us with a positive view of beliefs: they come with a price. This is no Promised Land. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Though they are visited, little attention is paid to big cities except to explain they exist in their own space. On page 306, Wednesday explains that San Francisco isn't in the same country as New Orleans, New York or Miami though it's the same </span><i>land</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. Historically these towns each started in different countries. San Francisco and Miami were part of Spain. New Orleans was French and New York was Dutch. Is it what Gaiman means? </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The unity of the land is asserted through the buffalo god when he claims to have been the reason for the waves of immigration or, better, when he says, “I am the land.” But history cannot be the only criterion since San Francisco and Miami would be part of the same country. Their recent evolution have made them distinct. San Francisco is now renowned for its homosexual population and Silicon Valley (and for Chinatown or drug use in the past). Miami, long a haven for retired people, was changed by the arrival of Cuban immigrants including its prison population. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">In 2000, 31.1 % of adults denizens of Miami said they spoke English very well, 39 % for Los Angeles, 42.5 % for San Francisco and 46.5 % for New York</span></span></span></span></span><sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote14sym" name="sdfootnote14anc"><sup>14</sup></a></span></span></span></span></span></sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">. So not even half of the population spoke the language of the country very well.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The reason why the novel doesn't focus on these big towns, then, is because of their strong identity. They are not the heartland, they have been shaped by outside forces and are subject to recent trends. Physically they are far apart and have their own customs.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">C. History</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As readers, we have been subjected to a deluge of names and many locations but it is in the historical myths that our desire for a single picture gets the most challenged. The novel gives multiple accounts for the creation of the Earth, for the discovery of America and for the migration to the Americas. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1. The Creation Myths</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On page 246, we have four creation myths.</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">This land was brought up from the depths of the ocean by a diver”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">It was spun from its own substance by a spider”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">It was shat by a raven”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">It is the body of a fallen father, whose bones are mountains, whose eyes are lakes”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">The first is similar to the creation myth of the Cherokees. </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">In the beginning, there was just water. All the animals lived above it and the sky was overcrowded. They were all curious about what was beneath the water and one day Dayuni'si, the water beetle, volunteered to explore it. He explored the surface but could not find any solid ground. He explored below the surface to the bottom and all he found was mud which he brought back to the surface. After collecting the mud, it began to grow in size and spread outwards until it became the Earth as we know it. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">The second is similar to the Kiowa Apache's. </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">In the beginning nothing existed, only darkness was everywhere. Suddenly from the darkness emerged a thin disc, one side yellow and the other side white, appearing suspended in midair. Within the disc sat a small bearded man, Creator, the One Who Lives Above. When he looked into the endless darkness, light appeared above. He looked down and it became a sea of light. To the east, he created yellow streaks of dawn. To the west, tints of many colours appeared everywhere. There were also clouds of different colors. He also created three other gods: a little girl, a sun god and a small boy. Then he created celestial phenomena, the winds, the tarantula, and the earth from the sweat of the four gods mixed together in the Creator's palms, from a small round, brown ball, not much larger than a bean. The world was expanded to its current size by the gods kicking the small brown ball. Creator told Wind to go inside the ball and to blow it up. The tarantula, the trickster character, spun a black cord and, attaching it to the ball, crawled away fast to the east, pulling on the cord with all his strength. Tarantula repeated this with a blue cord to the south, a yellow cord to the west, and a white cord to the north. With mighty pulls in each direction, the brown ball stretched to immeasurable size--it became the earth! </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">The third could be a variant of the Christian flood story as well as the Eskimo myth: </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">In the beginning, Raven was born out of the darkness. Weak, unknowing of himself or his purpose, he set out to learn more about the area where he was walking. He felt trees, plants, and grass. He thought about such things and soon realized that he was the Raven Father, Creator of All Life. He gathered strength and flew out of the darkness and found new land, called the earth.</span></span></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote15sym" name="sdfootnote15anc"><sup>15</sup></a></span></span></span></sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">The fourth evokes the Norse myth where the bones of the giant Ymir (the first being) are cast to create mountains. On page 67 a Norseman recalls that myth: “The All-Father made the world. </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">He built it with his hands from the shattered bones and the flesh of Ymir, his grandfather. He placed Ymir's brains in the sky as clouds, and his salt blood became the seas we crossed. If he made the world, do you not realize that he created this land as well?”</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Ymir, the frost giant, appears in another creation myth with parallels with an American myth. He was the first living creature and fed from the primeval cow Audumla's four rivers of milk, who in turn fed from licking the salty ice blocks. Her licking the rime ice eventually revealed the body of a man named Buri, the first of the Aesir. Buri had a son called Borr, who had three sons of his own, including Odin called the All-Father. This comes from an account of Icelander Snorri Sturluson. The image of Ymir and Audumla evokes that of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe, who are both giants living in cold areas. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Doubts have been cast at one time about the authenticity of the Bunyan tales. They would be the work of clever writers to advertise the Red River Lumber Company in the 1910s. However, interviews with retired lumberjacks turned up good evidence that Paul Bunyan stories had circulated at logging camps in the U.S. and Canada in the 1880s and 1890s and possibly earlier. Yet, none of that really matters. Georges Lewi, in <i>Les marques, mythologies du quotidien : comprendre le succès des grandes marques </i><span style="font-style: normal;">explains the principles on which trademarks gained prominence to and proposes a comparison between the narratology of myths and the narratology of trademarks. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2. The Discovery of America</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Before America was discovered, there were myths about faraway lands. On page 197, Mr. Ibis tells of the people who discovered America: the Ainu, the Polynesians, the Irish, the Welsh, the Vikings, the Africans, the Chinese, the Basque, the Egyptians. Gaiman didn't make that up. Here are the claims that have been made of discovery by these people.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ainu</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">About these he says, “Here's a skull that shows the Ainu, the Japanese aboriginal race, were in America nine thousand years ago.” This is a reference to the Kennewick Man, skeletal remains found on a bank of the Columbia river in 1996 in the state of Washington. First thought to be European, it most resembled south Asians and the Ainu. This discovery furthered the debate over whether there was a single or multiple waves of migration for early Native American people.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Polynesians</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Mr. Ibis says, “Here's another that shows there were Polynesians in California nearly two thousand years later.” Certainly, the dissemination of people across the Pacific was a curiosity for Western scholars. The Atlantic was difficult to get across and so the Pacific got its name from its calm waters. Even so, the crossing of thousands of miles of water in rudimentary embarkations was no mean feat. If Easter Island was reached, then there are reasons to think Polynesians would have reached the American continent. </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Chinese</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">There is a mention of Fusang, a land described by a Chinese traveler of the fifth century</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">, as a place 20,000 Chinese <i>li</i> (circa 7,000 to 10,000 kilometers, depending on the definition of the <i>li</i> ) east of Da-han, and also east of China. Da-han is described as a place north-east of the country of Wo southwestern Japan). Hui Shen went by ship to Fusang, and upon his return reported his findings to the Chinese Emperor. His descriptions are recorded in the 7th century <i>Book of Liang</i> by Yao Silian. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">An earlier account, from the annals of the Han dynasty, also declares that in 219 BC emperor Shi Huang sent an expedition of young men and women to a wonderful country lying far off to the east, across the ocean, called Fu-Sang. The young people settled there and were happy. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A common interpretation of the term “Fusang” is Japan, although in Hui-Sheng's report Fusang is presented as distinct from the statelet of Wo, another name associated with ancient Japan and probably could have been describing Japanese communities in the island of Kyushu or Ryukyu Kingdom.</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">According to some historians since the work of Joseph de Guignes (</span><i>Le Fou-Sang des Chinois est-il l'Amérique?</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, tome 28, Paris, 1761), the distances given by Hui Shen (20,000 Chinese </span><i>li</i><span style="font-style: normal;">) would locate Fusang on the west coast of the American continent, when taking the ancient Han-period definition of the Chinese </span><i>li</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. Some 18th century European maps locate Fusang north of the State of California, in the area of British Columbia. </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Europeans</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Europeans had mythical islands such as St. Brendan's Island, the Isle of Brazil or Hy-Brazil, both of Irish origin. </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><b>Brazil</b> and <b>Hy-Brazil</b> are thought to come from the Irish <i>Uí Breasail</i> (meaning “descendants (i.e., clan) of Breasal”), one of the ancient clans of northeastern Ireland. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Saint Brendan was a monk who is said to have discovered an island while traveling across the ocean. The island appeared on numerous maps in Christopher Columbus’ time, apparently acting as one of the things spurring him on to explore the ocean westwards. </span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">It sparked the claim that Saint Brendan arrived at the Americas first, around the 6th century (530 AD). The island was first mentioned in a Latin text of the ninth century, <i>Navigatio Santi Brendani Abatis</i> (Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot), placing the island into Irish and European folklore.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">In 1976, an Irish explorer, Tim Severin</span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Severin"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">,</span></span></a></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"> undertook the same voyage, using a leather boat, to see if it was possible. He managed to arrive at Newfoundland, following the records of the Latin text, confirming that it was possible, but he couldn’t find the mysterious island.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">According to British legend, Madoc was a prince from Wales who explored the Americas as early as 1170. While most scholars consider this legend to be untrue, it was used as justification for British claims to the Americas, based on the notion of a Briton arriving before other European nationalities. A memorial tablet erected at Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay reads: “In memory of Prince Madog, a Welsh explorer, who landed on the shores of Mobile Bay in 1170 and left behind, with the Indians, the Welsh language.” Gwydion, Merlin, is stated as having come in the 7<sup>th</sup> century (p. 428)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;">3. Migration</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">The text is interspersed with interludes called “Coming to America.” There are four of them. They are on pages 66, 92, 321, 412. The story “Somewhere in America” on page 181 is related but occurs in the present rather than in the past. The tale of Mad Sweeney told by Mr. Ibis from his book on page 226 is related but isn't focused on immigration to America. These tales are supposedly written by Mr. Ibis in a book. This first appears on the second account on page 92: “T</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">he important thing to understand about American history, wrote Mr. Ibis, in his leather-bound journal, is that it is fictional, a charcoal-sketched simplicity for the children, or the easily bored.” As a character Mr. Ibis is properly introduced on page 180. </span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">On page 194 he states that he writes “books of tales, accounts of lives” and on page 196, “There's nothing special about coming to America. I've been writing stories about it</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">, from time to time.” </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;">This makes him the fictional author of parts of this novel and possibly all of it since Thoth was considered the true author of every work of every branch of knowledge. His point is that the founding story of “pilgrims seeking the freedom to believe as they wished is a fiction, the American colonies were as much a dumping ground as an escape, a forgetting place.” Each of these stories shatter the myth. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;">In AD 813, we see how the Vikings first brought Odin, Thor and Tyr to America. Thor is thanked for being with them through thunder and the storm, Odin is mentioned as creator of the Earth and is especially invoked by a human sacrifice. In fact the four vikings bearing the Native American make an eight-legged horse, a reference to Sleipnir, the fantastic mount of Odin. They arrive on the day of Tyr, Tuesday. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">Coming to America 1721” tells the story of a young woman brought to America for “transportation,” i.e. deportation as a criminal. Far from religious pilgrims, criminals then made a large part of the immigrant population. The fact that Shadow is an inmate is a tie to that American identity.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">Somewhere in America” isn't a flashback but it is very much related as it includes the same thematic elements: an immigrant who didn't especially want to get there, who is an outcast from his social group due to being homosexual and who meets a fantastic being from his culture brought to America (though not by him) and it is told at the end of a chapter.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;">The origin of Mad Sweeney told by Mr. Ibis from his book (p. 226-227) is different as there is no human at the center of the story. Nevertheless it describes the phenomenon of the evolution of mythical beings, from gods to folklore, as new beliefs enter a culture.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">Coming to America 1778” (p. 321) tells the story of two African slaves, a brother and a sister. The brother is sent to the West Indies where he gets bitten on the back of his hand by a spider (a possible reference to Anansi) and loses his arm but fights for the independence of St. Domingue. The sister winds up in New Orleans where she teaches voodoo. So he brings freedom to African slaves while she brings religion. </span></span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">Coming to America 14,000 B.C.” (p. 412) tells the story of the first settlers who crossed the Alaskan land bridge with their mammoth skull god Nunyunnini and its priestess, who both appeared in a dream on page 58. The short story “Coming to America 14,000 B.C.” reminds us that native Americans were also immigrants to the continent. </span></span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;">None of these stories is about religious persecution or the freedom to believe as one wishes. What are we to make of all these accounts? Simply accept them all in their diversity. The question of who discovered America is obsolete and the novel brings its own solution: America wasn't discovered, it brought people in. Each immigrant experience is singular and interesting in its own right. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Conclusion</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">I mentioned that myths revealed the structure of societies. The myth that pilgrims founded America told more about the domination of the W.A.S.P. than about American history. Of this history Mr. Ibis says, “</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">For the most part it is uninspected, unimagined, unthought, a representation of the thing, and not the thing itself.” What has been done in this novel is that it has been inspected, imagined and thought. As such it aims to complete the breakdown (literally the breaking in many parts) of American myths. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This multiplicity of America isn't a weakness. When Shadow meets Czernobog, the latter insists that has been a long winter. He's not talking of the season but of a longer period that has now ended and he feels such gratitude that he doesn't kill Shadow like he was going to. An Eastern Europe representative felt at one time his society would bury America but that time is now over.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The old gods were never a danger to the new ones. The power of the new gods in the story expressed the American preference for what is new over what is old. They prefer modernity to tradition and even these modern gods will give way to newer ones. Mr. Nancy sums it up, “The new gods rise and fall and rise again. But this is not a country that tolerates gods for long.” In a world of impermanent myths and of changing societal structures, one has to be able to create a destiny for oneself by choosing one's own myths. Shadow's fake name provides a clue. Mike Ainsel sounds like My Ainsel, which means my own self. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We can see in this novel a reflection on the American identity. This identity has been in crisis during most of the twentieth century. Publishing such a novel on the first year of the twenty-first century was an opportune move. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Traditionally, America claimed its roots from Anglo-Saxons and built a myth around that idea. America started with the Mayflower even though French and Spaniards had earlier colonies. As the WASPs receded from massive nineteenth century immigration, that myth faded. Italians celebrated Columbus Day to assert their own claim as original Americans. In the novel Gaiman drags all the discovery myths or facts about previous settlements. In the Odin-Shadow tension, we can see the resolution of the WASP/mosaic tension. Odin is a Germanic god, a god of knowledge, war, and commerce preoccupied by the end of the world. He represents the Christian and even messianic Anglo-Saxons who find repeated renewals of their national identity in war and the sacrifice of life it implies. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Walter L. Hixson in </span><i>The Myth of American Diplomacy, National Identity and U.S. Foreign Policy</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> powerfully argues for this identity as I described it. Far from a peaceful nation, he sees a nation conceived in the Anglo-French war, baptised in the American Revolutionary War, confirmed in the War of 1812, etc. Rather than seeing a nation at peace from 1815 to 1914, he sees a nation involved throughout this time in the Indian Wars. </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">To complete Hixson's view, I would say that if the government declared war on crime in the 1930s, war on poverty in the 1960s, war on drugs in the 1980s and war on terror in the 2000s, it is because war remains a popular concept which can thus be used to qualify government measures in order to gather agreement for said measures. This possibly makes the USA the only western country where “war” is a word that keeps being used to gain public endorsement of government policies. In Europe, World War I, World War II and decolonization made war unpopular. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Shadow, who could be king of America, doesn't have the moral uprightness to think a war righteous. He was in prison for participating in a heist. He doesn't want to be a ruler. He doesn't have the hegemonic identity that Hixson links to America. Rather than a conqueror who oppresses others, Shadow is chosen by the land. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">With its theme of magic and of the invoking power of language, we must wonder if the whole novel isn't a sort of spell supposed to put an end to the old identity and bring out the new one. Two of Gaiman's British contemporary comics writers, Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, are practicing magicians (occultists) and believe in the ability of words to produce change. If this was an attempt at abandoning the old Anglo-Saxon bellicose identity, it temporary failed since 9/11 led to two wars. As for the idea that the land is the true God of America, we have have echos of that in Americans' outrage at being attacked on their soil but if a spell it was, it didn't produce immediate change. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Gaiman's own background is interesting in this regard since he must have some occult knowledge. I have uncovered little known information about his background. Though his family has a Polish Jew origin, they converted to Scientology in the sixties and the young Neil grew up as a second-generation Scientologist. His father was a Scientology official, a fact which became public when he died earlier this year. Gaiman was temporarily barred from school when he was seven due to his father's membership in this cult</span></span></span></span></span><sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote16sym" name="sdfootnote16anc"><sup>16</sup></a></span></span></span></span></span></sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">. The founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, had occult connections and believed that each individual was a fallen Supreme Being, something that a trained Scientologist like Gaiman would know. I should point that there is no evidence that Gaiman pursued with Scientology on reaching adulthood and it is difficult to state whether he is still influenced by their beliefs. </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">According to Scientology literature, individual are immortal spirits trapped in human bodies. Originally these spirits were all-powerful. The text The Factors calls them viewpoints, i.e. a point from where to observe. We find a trace of that in </span><i>Sandman</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> #71 when the Endless prepare the funeral of Dream. A new Dream has been created. An envoy gathers the mourners and picks up Lucien, librarian of the library of dreams who requests a leave of absence from the new Dream. The Envoy asks to Lucien, </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Sir librarian—The young lord in white... Who was he?” </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">He is Dream of the Endless.”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">He is? But the wake. The ceremony. I was told that Dream of the Endless was no more.”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Yes.”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">So... who died?”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Nobody died.”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">How can you kill an idea? How can you kill the personification of an action?”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Then what died? Who are you mourning?”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">A point of view.”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">This is consistent with Scientology's description of beings as viewpoints in The Factors</span></span></span></span></span><sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote17sym" name="sdfootnote17anc"><sup>17</sup></a></span></span></span></span></span></sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">. After reading about mortality we're told that nothing dies. Dream is reborn with a different aspect, while Shadow experiences a resurrection. Myths do the same--they keep changing. Perhaps, then, Gaiman is telling us that we are like myths and that would be why we recognise ourselves in them. </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bibliography:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Primary sources:</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Gaiman, Neil, </span><i>American Gods</i>, HarperCollins, New York, 2001</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Gaiman, Neil, </span><i>The Sandman</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> published serially in 75 issues and collected in ten graphic novels (</span><i>Preludes and Nocturnes, The Doll's House, Dream Country,</i></span><i><span style="color: black;"> Seasons of Mists, A Game of You, Brief Lives, Fables and Reflections, World's End, The Kindly Ones, The Wake),</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"> DC Comics, New York, 1990-2006</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Gaiman, Neil, </span><i>Endless Nights</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, DC Comics, New York, 2003 </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Journal and articles on the creation of </span><i>The Sandman</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> and </span><i>American Gods:</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Gaiman, Neil, </span><i>American Gods</i> blog Feb-Sept 2001 </span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Journal/Archives"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Journal/Archives</span></span></a></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gaiman, Neil, “Book Have Genders” </span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Other stories by Neil Gaiman with characters from <i>American Gods</i>:</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Gaiman, Neil, </span><i>Anansi Boys, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">HarperCollins, New York, 2006</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Gaiman, Neil, “</span>Monarch of the Glen” in <i>Fragile Things, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">William Morrow and Company, <span style="text-decoration: none;">New York, </span>2006</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Gaiman, Neil, </span><span style="color: black;">“Pages From A Journal Found In A Shoebox Left In A Greyhound Bus Somewhere Between Tulsa, Oklahoma, And Louisville, Kentucky” </span><span style="color: black;">in </span></span><span style="color: black;"><i>Fragile Things, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">William Morrow and Company, New York, 2006</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Books and scholarship on Neil Gaiman, </span><i>The Sandman </i><span style="font-style: normal;">and </span><i>American Gods:</i></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<cite><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Beatty, Scott </span><i>et al</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, </span><i>The DC Comics Encyclopedia</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, DC Comics, New York, 2006</span></span></span></span></span></cite></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="CITEREFBender.2C_Hy20001"></a> <span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Bender, Hy, </span><i>The Sandman Companion : A Dreamer's Guide to the Award-Winning Comic Series</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. DC Comics. New York, 2000</span></span></span></span></div>
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<cite><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies</span></span></span></cite><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"> Vol. 4 No. 1, “The Comics Work of Neil Gaiman” </span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/#Articles"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/#Articles</span></span></span></a></u></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">, Summer 2008</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="btAsinTitle2"></a> <span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Kwitney, Alisa, <i>The Sandman: King of Dreams</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2003</span></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="btAsinTitle1"></a> <span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">McCabe, Joe, <i>Hanging Out With the Dream King: Interviews with Neil Gaiman and His Collaborators</i>, <span style="font-style: normal;">Fantagraphics, Seattle, </span>2005 </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">McConnell, Frank, “Epic Comics: Neil Gaiman's </span><i>Sandman.</i><span style="font-style: normal;">” </span><i>Commonweal</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> 122, no. 18 (20 October 1995) </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Rauch, Stephen, </span><i>Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and Joseph Campbell: In Search of the Modern Myth</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Wildside Press, Holicong, 2003</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Sanders, Joe (edited by) </span><i>The Sandman Papers: An Exploration of the Sandman Mythology</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Fantagraphics, Seattle, </span>2006 </span></span></span> </div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="btAsinTitle4"></a> <span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Schweitzer, Darrell, <i>The Neil Gaiman Reader</i>, Wildside Press, Holicong, 2006</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="btAsinTitle3"></a> <span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">Wagner, Hank</span></span><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><i>et al.</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, </span></span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;"><i>Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">St Martin's Griffin, New York, 2008</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Other works dealing with modern gods:</span></span></div>
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<span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Ellison, Harlan, </span><i>Dangerous Visions</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Sphere Books, London, 1974</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Moore Alan, </span><i>Light of Thy Countenance</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Avatar Press, Rantoul, 2009</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;">Another </span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">“</span></span><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;">American Novel</span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">”</span></span><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;"> on American identity:</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Steinbeck, John, </span><i>Grapes of Wrath, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">Penguin Books, New York, 1997</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Books on American identity:</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Hixson, Walter, </span><i>The Myth of American Diplomacy</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2008</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Huntington, Samuel P., </span><i>Qui sommes-nous? Identité nationale et choc des cultures</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Odile Jacob, Paris, 2004 </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Lacorne, Denis, </span><i>La crise de l'identité américaine</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Fayard, Paris 1997</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="btAsinTitle5"></a> <span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Zakaria, Fareed, </span><i>From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Princeton University Press, 1999</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Books on mythologies:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">A. America and the modern world</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">Auden, W.H., </span></span></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;"><i>Lectures on Shakespeare</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, </span></span></span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">Princeton University Press, 2002</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Beau, David, <i>Le complot Vertigo, la bande dessinée nord-américaine en quête d'une nouvelle identité</i> (mémoire de lettres modernes sous la direction de Michel Rolland) Cergy, 1997</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Cazemajou, Jean et Martin, Jean-Pierre, <i>La crise du melting-pot</i>, Aubier, Paris, 1983</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Combesque, Marie Agnès and Warde, Ibrahim, </span><i>Mythologies américaines : repères pour un autre voyage, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">Paris, Ed. du Félin, 1996</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Dorson, Richard, </span><i>American Folklore and the Historian, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">University of Chicago Press, 1971 </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Dubuisson, Daniel, </span><i>Mythologies du XXe siècle : Dumézil, Levi-Strauss, Eliade</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Lille, Presses universitaires de Lille, 1993</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Forbes, Bruce David, </span><i>Religion and Popular Culture in America</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, University of California Press, 2000</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Heller, Karin, </span><i>La bande dessinée fantastique à la lumière de l'anthropologie religieuse, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">L'Harmattan, Paris, 1998</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Lévi-Strauss, Claude, </span><i>Anthropologie structurale</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Paris, Plon, 1958</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Lewi, Georges, </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><i>Les marques, mythologies du quotidien : comprendre le succès des grandes marques, </i>Paris, Village mondial : High Co. institute, 2003 </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Morency, Jean, </span><i>Le mythe américain dans les fictions d'Amérique : de Washington Irving à Jacques Poulin</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Québec, Nuit blanche éd., 1994</span><i> </i></span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Pommier, Frédéric, </span><i>Comment lire la bande dessinée</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, 2005</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Strazyncski, J. Michael, <span style="text-decoration: none;">http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.babylon-5/msg/fc782309e6eb9a6f</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">B. Traditional myths</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Barthes, Roland, </span><i>Mythologie</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1970 </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Dumézil, Georges, </span><i>Mythes et dieux de la Scandinavie ancienne, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">Paris, Gallimard, 2000</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Dumézil, Georges, </span><i>Loki</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Paris, Flammarion, 1995</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Dumézil, Georges, </span><i>Mythes et dieux des Indo-Européens</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Paris, Flammlrion, 1992</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Eliade, Mircea </span><i>Mythes, rêves et mystères, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">Paris, Gallimard, 1989 </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Eliade, Mircea </span><i>Le mythe de l'éternel retour</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Paris, Gallimard, 1995</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Eliade, Mircea </span><i>Aspects du mythe</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Paris, Gallimard, 2001</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Eliade, Mircea </span><i>Histoire des croyances et des idées religieuses</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Paris, Payot, 1989</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">C. Newspaper articles</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Los Angeles Times</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, March 8 2007</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Newsweek</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, March 19, 2007</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Time Magazine</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, March 26, 2007</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>U.S. News and World Report</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, March 19, 2007</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Wall Street Journal</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, March 13, 2007</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Appendix A</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">immaterial girl living in a material world” (p. 376, refers to a Madonna song)</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">3M (</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation with a worldwide presence, p. 318)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">4-Runner (p. 267, 295, 384, 392, Toyota SUV)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Alka-Seltzer (p. 249, 315, 320)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amsterdam, Morey (p. 174, actor)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Apple Johnny (p. 350, = Johnny Appleseed, folklore hero who introduced apples to Ohio, he drinks apple cider in the novel; John Chapman was his real name)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bakelite (p. 222, plastic)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Beatles, The (p. 263,</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"> 394, 440)</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bic lighter (p. 442, 525)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Bleak House</i> (p. 584, novel)</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Blockbusters (p. 293, video rental store, the term </span><i>blockbuster</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> is American and its usage </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">coalesced </span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">i</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">n 1975 around Steven Spielberg's <i>Jaws, </i>and came to be perceived as something new: a cultural phenomenon, a fast-paced exciting entertainment, almost a genre. Audiences interacted with such films, talked about them afterwards, and went back to see them again just for the thrill. It created the “blockbuster era” and also consolidated the “summer blockbuster” trend, through which studios and distributors planned their entire annual marketing strategy around a big release by July 4.</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Borglum, Gutzon (p. 341, sculptor of Rushmore Memorial)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Brooks, Louise (p. 429, silent era movie star, like old gods she has been forgotten and both Shadow and Mr. Town have no idea who she is. This oblivion is likely related to her status as a “silent” star)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Budweiser (p. 511)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Buick (p. 511)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Burberry (p. 507, clothing with a distinctive plaid pattern)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Burger King (p. 46, 49, 194, 421)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Canada Bill Jones and George Devol (p. 285, two con men of the nineteenth century)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cap'n Crunch (p. 428, cereals breakfast)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Carrie </i>(p. 450, movie adapted from a Stephen King novel)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cary Grant (p. 440)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Cheers</i> (p. 405, sitcom 1982-1993)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Chevy Nova (p. 161, 230, 259, car)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Chi-Chi's (p. 17, 493, Mexican restaurant chain that ceased to exist in the US in 2004)</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Chicago Sun-Times</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (p. 581)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">chili, recipe of (p. 33)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Chrysler (p. 251)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Clean U-Up Kit (p. 44)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cline, Patsy (p. 35, singer)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Coke (p. 35-36, 39, 52, 177, 436, 437)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Coke machine (p. 5)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Conan (p. 227, though this is here an Irish character, the name is now identified with American author R.E. Howard's famous creation, Conan the barbarian, the most popular hero of heroic fantasy, for whom stories are still being made to this day in comics, novels and video games.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Country Chicken (p. 70, restaurant)</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Dallas</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> and </span><i>Dynasty </i><span style="font-style: normal;">(p. 276, 80s TV shows)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Dick Van Dyke Show</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (p. 173, TV program)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Disney's </span><i>Hercules </i><span style="font-style: normal;">(p. 278, an animated film and TV series, a typical Disney bastardization of European myths to conform to American taste, for instance this Hercules is the legitimate son of royal couple Zeus and Hera instead of the product of Zeus' extramarital affair with Alcmene. )</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Disneyland (p. 477)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dixie Cups (p. 33, music band)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Doublemint (p. 428, chewing gum) </span></span> </div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="fr-FR" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dumpster (p. 53, 223, 375)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">eagle stones (p. 290, 295, 527</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Elvis (p. 394)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">faces on the milk carton (p. 341, refers to the American practice since the 1980s to put faces of missing children on milk cartons)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ford Explorer (p. 495-499, 521-529)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Four Seasons (p. 431, world famous restaurant in New York)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Frisbee (p. 441)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Fugitive, The </i>(p. 393, TV series)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Garland, Judy (p. 429)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Get Smart</i> (p. 345, TV comedy series by Mel Brooks satirising the spy genre)</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Gravity's Rainbow </i>(p. 473, Thomas Pynchon's postmodern novel)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Greyhound (p. 8, 242-243, 249, 256, 264, bus lines)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Grisham, John (p. 60, novelist)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Guinness (p. 36)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Harlequin (p. 297, romance books)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Herbie the Love Bug (p. 377, the sentient Volkswagen Beetle in a number of films)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Houdini, Harry (p. 180, 320, 561)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">House on the Rock (p. 117-141, 148)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Humvee (p. 430, 435, 439, 442, 448-449, 493, High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">hush puppies (p. 192, </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">deep-fried ball of cornmeal commonly eaten in the Southern United States and at fish and chip restaurants across the USA</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>I Love Lucy</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (p. 174, TV series)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">inside the Beltway (p. 345, refers to Capital Beltway, i.e. Interstate 495, a circumferential highway circling Washington, D.C., the phrase refers to the offices of the federal government, etc.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>It's a Wonderful Life</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (p. 192, movie)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jack Daniel's (p. 21-24, 36, 40, 285-287, 445, 453)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jameson Gold (p. 226, 229)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jameson Irish (p. 223)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">K-9 (p. 316, refers to a variety of entries, most related to dogs. The term originated in the military, where designations such as <i>G-2</i> are common, making <i>K-9</i> a rare official pun, being similar to “canine.” The term, originally referencing war dogs, has since carried over to police, and sentry and assistance dogs as well. From Wikipedia. Neil Gaiman would have first discovered the name from watching the TV show <i>Doctor Who</i> where this is the name of a robotic dog.) </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kelvinator (p. 202, refrigerator)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="fr-FR" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">KFC (p. 210-211, Kentucky Fried Chicken) </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kinko's (p. 107-108, Copy Center)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kleenex (p. 183)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Laveau, Marie (New Orleans practitioner of Voodoo who has entered folklore, p. 334)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Leno, Jay (p. 403, host of <i>The Tonight Show</i>)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Levi's (p. 215)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Lincoln Town Car (p. 281, </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">one of the best-selling American luxury cars, America's most used limousine and chauffeured car and the most expensive American luxury sedan)</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lucille Ball (p. 174, TV series character)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lucky Strikes (p. 35, 424, 525, cigarettes)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ludlum, Robert (p. 297, thriller author)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Luxor and Tropicana (p. 285, casinos in Las Vegas)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">M*A*S*H (p. 173, TV series)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">M&I Bank (p. 314, </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">largest Wisconsin-based bank)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mall of America (p. 352, super-regional shopping mall of Minneapolis)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Man from U.N.C.L.E.</i> (p. 345, famous spy TV series)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Manson (p. 440, Charles, serial killer)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Marlboro (p. 487, cigarettes)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Marquis, Don (p. 394, humorist, journalist and author) </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">MasterCard (p. 243)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">McDonald's (p. 193, 306, 436, 441)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Men in Black (government agents covering UFO conspiracies, p. 396)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Miata (p. 512, Mazda roadster)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Milky Way (p. 184, first filled candy bar, created in 1924)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mister Ed (p. 394, a talking horse from a 1960s sitcom) </span></span> </div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Monroe, Marilyn; The Beatles; Elvis (p. 394, show-biz legends) </span></span> </div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tyler Moore, Mary (p. 174, actress)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Motel 6 (p. 242, 244, 578, largest owned and operated hotel chain in North America)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Motel America (p. 47-60, 299)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mount Rushmore (p. 340, “that is a holy place”)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>New York Post</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (p. 183)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Newsweek </i><span style="font-style: normal;">(p. 400)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Night's Inn (p. 173, reference to Knights Inn?)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="fr-FR" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nissan (p. 223, car manufacturer)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nokia (p. 30, mobile phone)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">NutraSweet (p. 352, brand name for aspartame)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Odd Fellows (p. 241, society)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Onion, The</i> (p. 575, satirical newspaper)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Oshkosh B'Gosh (p. 452, clothing manufacturer)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Paramount Hotel (p. 181, a famous landmark, redesigned by Philippe Starck)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Paul Bunyan (p. 352, giant mythological lumberjack, created by an itinerant news reporter, the myth was popularized by advertising pamphlets for the Red River Lumber Company)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">pay-per-view (p. 173)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Plexiglas (p. 185-186, 477)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Pop-a-Top Lounge (p. 178, restaurant)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Popsicle (</span></span></span><span style="color: black;">most popular brand of ice pop in the </span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">U.S., p. 275)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">RC Cola (p. 428, Royal Crown Cola, 3<sup>rd</sup> most popular cola drink)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Reader's Digest</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (p. 80-81, 211-212)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ricardo, Lucy (p. 174, actress)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rock City (p. 485 and following)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">rootbeer float (p. 441, a type of ice cream soda)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rose Marie (p. 174, actress)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sitwell, Edith (p. 394, poet) </span></span> </div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Steel, Danielle (p. 297)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">S.W.A.T. team (p. 347)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Santa Claus, Easter Bunny (p. 394) </span></span> </div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="fr-FR" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Saran Wrap (p. 225)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Scientific American</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (p. 197)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Scooby-Doo (p. 462, cartoon character)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Snickers (p. 147, 158, 159, 361, best-selling chocolate bar of all times)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Songbirds of North America calendar (p. 4)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Southern Comfort (p. 35, </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">fruit, spice, and whiskey flavored liqueur</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Sports Illustrated</i> (p. 400)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Stone, Sharon (p. 439, actress)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Stranger in a Strange Land </i>(p. 359, the 1961 science-fiction novel by Robert Heinlein which inspired the counter-culture of the late 1960s)</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Super 8 Motel (p. 234, </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">world's largest budget hotel chain)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">SUV (p. 271, 343, 494, 552)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Taco Bell (p. 172, restaurant)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">thunderbirds (p. 290, 295, 302, 304, 313, 354, 522, 523, 526, 527, 529, 530, 560, mythical native American birds)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Taylor, Liz (p. 439)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Tonight Show </i><span style="font-style: normal;">(p. 306, 405, third longest running entertainment program starring Johnny Carson for 30 years and Jay Leno since 1992)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Toyota (p. 25, 267, 271, 487)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Treasure Island (p. 286, attraction in Las Vegas)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tupperware (p. 222, 225, 226, 229, 306, 351)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">U-Haul (p. 487, equipement rental company)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Velvet Underground (p. 39, rock band)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Virginia Slims (p. 60, cigarettes)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wal-Mart (p. 193, 318)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -0.04cm;">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>War of the Worlds </i><span style="font-style: normal;">(p. 394, though the novel was British, both the 1938 Orson Welles' radio adaptation and the 1953 movie imprinted it on American consciousness)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Washington Post </i>(p. 524)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wendt Phoenix (p. 251, 255, car brand)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Whiskey Jack (p. 350, Wisakedjak, also called Inktomi, American Indian trickster god, also the name of the gray jay, the character in the novel has a nephew called Harry Bluejay)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Winnebago (p. 340-359, 511, 535, vehicle, but it's also the name of a tribe now called the Ho Chunk, p. 355)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Wizard of Oz </i>(p. 388, movie)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Woolworth (p. 193)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>X-Files </i>(p. 345)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Zippo (p. 53, 217, lighter)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Appendix B</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">A calculation of the distance covered by Shadow is 23000 miles. Here is the list of points described:</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;">Unknown location (Prison) - local bus station - unnamed airport - St. Louis Airport - unknown location (about 250 miles from Eagle Point) - Nottamun - </span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">“</span></span><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;">Jack's Crocodile Bar</span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">”</span></span><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;"> - Eagle Point - Chicago - Madison - Spring Green, Wisconsin - unknown location - Muscoda - El Paso, Illinois - Middletown - St. Louis - Red Bud - Chester - Cairo, Illinois - Super 8 Motel south of La Crosse - northern central Wisconsin - Pinewood - Lakeside (southwest of Michigan state) - Madison - Las Vegas, Nevada - Lakeside - San Francisco - Lakeside - Wisconsin - Minnesota - North Dakota - South Dakota - Reservation Country - </span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">“</span></span><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;">Backstage</span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="color: black;">”</span></span><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="color: black;"> - Reservation - Sioux Falls - gas station 25 miles outside of Lakeside - Lakeside - Rhode Island - Seattle - Dallas - Boulder - Lakeside - Minneapolis - Kentucky - Humansville - Kansas - Cherryvale, Kansas - Lebanon, Kansas (Center Of America) - Princeton, Missouri - the worldtree an hour south of Blacksburgh, Virginia - Rock City on Lookout Mountain, Georgia - Fort Pierce, Florida - Lakeside - Madison - Chicago - Reykjavik, Iceland.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Appendix C Characters in The Sandman</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The Sandman began as an offshoot of the DC universe, drawing characters from the long history of the publisher, in particular hosts from horror anthologies appearing from the late sixties to the early eighties. However it evolved into its own universe. In many cases Gaiman reinvented the characters to ground them in mythology. Thus Eve, Cain and Abel became the biblical characters, the three witches became the Triple Goddess, etc. The following appendix from Wikipedia's List of Characters in the Sandman was retrieved on the 20<sup>th</sup> of September 2009 (</span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_characters_in_The_Sandman"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_characters_in_The_Sandman</span></span></span></span></span></a></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="fr-FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">). I have shortened and edited it to remove characters that Gaiman never used and to omit mentions to stories written after </span><i>The Sandman</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. Mentions of the characters before Gaiman used them have been kept to show, on the one hand, the debt Gaiman owes to DC creators from the late sixties and early seventies under Joe Orlando, to Jack Kirby and Alan Moore, as well as to works of literature by Milton and other fantasy writers and, on the other hand, Gaiman's own work in reinventing the characters.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<h2 align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="fr-FR" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; text-decoration: none;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="The_Endless"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Endless</b></span></span></h2>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The <b>Endless</b> are a family of seven anthropomorphic personifications of universal concepts, around whom much of the series revolves. From eldest to youngest, they are:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Destiny<br />Death<br />Dream (formerly Morpheus, succeeded by Daniel)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Destruction<br />Desire<br />Despair<br />Delirium (formerly Delight)</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">All debuted in the <i>Sandman</i> series, except Destiny, who was created by Marv Wolfman and Berni Wrightson in <i>Weird Mystery Tales </i>#1 (1972). A more traditional version of Death had appeared in various previous stories, however. </span></span></span> </div>
<h2 align="JUSTIFY" class="western" lang="en-US">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Dreams_and_nightmares"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Dreams and nightmares</b></span></span></h2>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">These inhabitants of the Dreaming are often former gods, myths, and even ordinary human beings who later became dreams.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Cain_and_Abel"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Cain and Abel</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Cain</b> and <b>Abel</b> are based on the Biblical Cain and Abel adapted by editor Joe Orlando with Bob Haney (writer) and Jack Sparling (artist) (Cain), and Mark Hannerfeld (writer) and Bill Draut (artist) (Abel). They were depicted together in Abel's first appearance, and they parted to their respective Houses at the end of the story, the House of Secrets having been recently moved, with Cain promising things not to go the way they happened before. Although Cain would abuse Abel, he was not shown killing him until <i>Swamp Thing</i> vol. 2 #33. In <i>Elvira's House of Mystery</i> #11, Cain expresses shock at having killed his brother in recent times. In the same issue, a contest-winning letter establishes that Cain and the House exist both in the dream world and the real world, and that only the dream world Cain continues to harm Abel. In <i>The Sandman</i>, Cain is shown to kill Abel quite often. Even then, in issue #2, Lucien says that the pair recently got stranger, which is followed immediately by panels of disagreement and murder.</span></span></span></div>
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<dt style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Before <i>The Sandman</i> </span></span></span> </dt>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Originally they were the respective “hosts” of the horror comic anthologies <i>House of Mystery</i> and <i>House of Secrets</i>, which ran from the 1950s through 1983—Cain debuting in <i>House of Mystery</i> #175 (1968) and Abel in <i>DC Special</i> #4 and <i>House of Secrets</i> #81 (both 1969). During the 1970s, they also co-hosted the horror/humor anthology <i>Plop!</i> They were also both recurring characters in DC's <i>Elvira's House of Mystery</i> (1986–1988).</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In 1985, the characters were revived by writer Alan Moore, who introduced them into his <i>Swamp Thing </i>series in issue #33, retelling the original Swamp Thing's origin story from a 1971 issue of <i>House of Secrets</i>. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">However, it was Neil Gaiman's series <i>The Sandman </i>that more fully developed the “reinvented” characters into more mature, post–Comics Code version of themselves, and who helped fully drag them out of obscurity.</span></span></span></div>
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<dt style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In Gaiman's <i>Sandman</i> universe, the biblical Cain and Abel come to live in the Dreaming at Dream's invitation. This is based on the verse in the Bible which says that Cain was sent to live in the Land of Nod.</span></span></span></dt>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">They live as neighbours in two houses near a graveyard, Cain in the broad House of Mystery and Abel in the tall House of Secrets. According to their appearance in <i>Swamp Thing</i>, the difference is that a mystery may be shared, but a secret must be forgotten if one tries to tell it.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gaiman's Cain is an aggressive, overbearing character. He is a thin, long-limbed man with an angular, drawn face, glasses, a tufty beard, and hair drawn into two points above his ears. He has been described as sounding “just like Vincent Price.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gaiman's Abel is a nervous, stammering, kind-hearted man. Abel is somewhat similar in appearance to Cain, with a tufty beard and hair that comes to points above his ears, though his hair is black rather than brown. He is shorter and fatter than Cain, with a more open face. It is eventually learned that the only time he does not stutter is when he is telling a story or when he is dead.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cain frequently kills Abel in a kind of macabre form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, re-enacting the first murder. In the Dreaming, Abel's death is temporary, and he recovers after a few hours. Cain seems unable to control his frequent murders of Abel, and occasionally expresses remorse over them; there is a genuine bond between the two, beneath the surface contempt. Abel remains dedicated to Cain, and frequently dreams of a more harmonious relationship between the two.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Cain and Abel own a large green draconic gargoyle named Gregory, who also made his debut in <i>House of Mystery</i> #175. In the first appearance of the characters in <i>Sandman</i>, issue #2, Cain gives Abel an egg that soon hatches into another gargoyle, a small golden one. Abel is delighted and names the gargoyle “Irving,” but Cain forcefully insists that the names of gargoyles must always begin with a “G.” When Abel resists, Cain murders him. After Abel revives, he renames the gargoyle “Goldie,” after a friend of his who “went away.” Goldie was an invisible/imaginary friend to whom Abel told his early <i>House of Secrets</i> stories, but the idea was eventually dropped. A letter in issue #91 was attributed to Goldie, who claimed that it was her depicted on the cover of issue #88.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The main function of Cain and Abel throughout <i>The Sandman</i> is as comic relief. However, the two play significant (though not key) roles at several points in the series; it is they who take Dream in until his strength is restored following his 72-year-long imprisonment. In the fourth story arc, <i>Season of Myths</i>, Cain is sent to Hell to give a message to Lucifer because the mark of Cain protects him from all harm. Cain and Abel also aid the Corinthian with the child Daniel during <i>The Kindly Ones</i>, the penultimate story arc of the series. Abel is also one of the victims of the Furies in this series, and is brought back to life by the new Dream.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Corinthian"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Corinthian</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The Corinthian is a nightmare created by Dream, of human appearance but with two mouths instead of eyes. His escape from the Dreaming is hinted as the cause for the appearance of serial killers in the 20<sup>th</sup> century as he is a sort of inspiration to them.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Eve"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Eve</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Eve</b> is based on the biblical Eve, the mother of humanity and wife of Adam.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Eve originally appeared in <i>Secrets of Sinister House</i> #6 (August–September 1972); she was the series' principal host, often in stock images, usually with her raven. After issue 15, in which Eve reveals in the letter column that her raven, Edgar Allen [sic], is an enchanted deceased human, editor Joe Orlando departed from the series and so did she, the series focusing on “sinister houses”. That month (December 1973), she started hosting one story per month in <i>Weird Mystery Tales</i>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">She became the principal host of <i>Weird Mystery Tales</i> with issue #15, Destiny having moved to <i>Secrets of Haunted House</i> as principal host. In <i>Plop!</i>, Eve, Cain, and Abel each tell one story per issue. She also makes a few appearances in <i>House of Mystery</i> and <i>House of Secrets</i>. In her early appearances, she appears only as a crone, is often referred to as a witch, and has a tendency to be snappy and mean. In her first appearance, she scares Cain and Abel, and shouts at them, “Get out of the kitchen when it gets too hot, you cowardly mortals! Old Eve doesn't care...” Her letter column, which was answered in character, was called “Witch's Tales”. She appeared as a principal character in stories in <i>Secrets of Sinister House</i> #9 and #11 and <i>Weird Mystery Tales</i> #18. In issue #9, she stays in an apartment building under an assumed name (she denies it is her in the letters column of issue #13), where the smell of her cooking causes her neighbor to report her to the superintendent, so she curses the neighbor to repeat a day--which begins wonderfully and ends in two deaths--over and over again.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In <i>Weird Mystery Tales</i> #3 (November–December 1972), Destiny insisted that Eve, Cain, and Abel are not their Biblical counterparts, whom he says he prefers. When she is shown in <i>Sandman</i> #2, Lucien's comment about her addresses her unfriendly nature prior to Dream's return, stating that she confines herself to nightmares.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">She is one of the many representations in <i>The Sandman</i> of the triple nature of womankind (maiden, mother and crone), based on the three distinct “Eves” in some versions of the Genesis story: Lilith, who was created as Adam's equal; a nameless one created of flesh and blood; and Eve, fashioned from Adam's rib. As such, while she is an individual with her own personality, she is also one another representation of The Three, along with the Fates, Graces, Gorgons, and Furies. This is comparable to the way the series' protagonist, Dream, is on one level a character in his own right, and on another level merely a symbol or representation of the larger concept of dreams.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Eve lives in a cave in the Dreaming, and is often accompanied by Dream's raven. The first Raven, Lucien, taught her how to bury Abel after Cain murdered him and she has been accompanied by a Raven ever since. She is kind and has a maternal nature, though she retains her assertiveness that might have been seen more as snappiness in her old stories. Most of the time she appears as a black-haired woman of indeterminate age. However, her appearance also mirrors her triple nature; she sometimes shifts between being a young, attractive maiden, a middle aged mother, and an elderly crone. When we first see her in <i>The Sandman</i> #2, she looks little different from her original appearances. Next, in, #26, she has put on much weight, has a friendlier face, and shows her ability to de-age as she embraces Matthew for the first time. Her largest appearance is in #40, where, storyteller once more, she appears young and beautiful for the first time.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Fiddler.27s_Green"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Fiddler's Green</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Fiddler's Green</b> is a place in the Dreaming which all travellers (specifically sailors) apparently dream of someday finding. It sometimes likes to take human form and go wandering, using the alias <b>Gilbert</b> during one of these trips. His most common form is as a kind, portly man who strongly resembles G. K. Chesterton. Dream attempted to resurrect him in <i>The Wake</i>, but the almost-alive Gilbert stated that if he did “my death would have no meaning.” Acquiescing, the new Dream stopped the process. He also accompanied Rose Walker on her journey to find her brother Jed, and gave her the means by which to summon Dream to rescue her when she was assaulted. At the end of the series it is implied, though not outright stated, that he was “in love, a little” with Rose.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Gate_Keepers"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Gate Keepers</b></span></span></h3>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Abode"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">A wyvern, a griffin and a hippogriff who are the guardians of Dream's castle. The hippogriff has a horse's head instead of the traditional eagle's head. They derive all their power and authority from Dream, so when Dream was captured and lost his power, they could no longer guard or protect the Dreaming. They are not Dream's creations, however, because when the griffin was destroyed by the Furies, Dream did not remake him, but asked the gryphons of Greek myth to send one of their own to serve in the destroyed guardian's place. In classical mythology Morpheus' dream world is protected by the Gates of Morpheus, which had two monsters capable of becoming one's fears, a method to drive one away.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Gregory"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Gregory</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">A large green gargoyle, the pet of Cain. Gregory communicates in “grunts” which inhabitants of the Dreaming appear to understand. He is also a good friend of Goldie, and helps Goldie put Abel back together every time Cain kills him. He first appeared as the baby of two stone gargoyles in <i>House of Mystery</i> #175. His parents perched on the House of Mystery until they were able to kill their sculptor, a boarder in the house who had murdered their designer, and left without their egg.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Goldie"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Goldie</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Goldie</b> is Abel's pet gargoyle.</span></span></span></div>
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<dt style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Goldie is a pet (baby) gargoyle, given to Abel by his brother Cain in <i>Sandman </i>#2. Abel originally intended to name him “Irving,” but Cain insisted that gargoyles' names must all begin with a “G.” Cain then proceeded to murder Abel over this, after which Abel names the gargoyle Goldie, after a friend who went away (in fact Abel's “imaginary” girlfriend, who appeared on the cover of <i>The House of Secrets </i>#88, and to whom he addressed many of his stories).</span></span></span></dt>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Lucien"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Lucien</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Lucien</b> is the chief librarian in The Dreaming, and is a tall thin, bookish man.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Like Cain and Abel, Lucien, created by Paul Levitz, Nestor Redondo, and Joe Orlando, was originally the host of a 1970s “weird tales” comic, specifically the three-issue <i>Tales of Ghost Castle</i> (May/June–October 1975). In that series, he is portrayed as the guardian of a castle in Transylvania abandoned by both sides during Worlf War II, watching over its forgotten library with his companion, a werewolf named Rover. In his first appearance in <i>Preludes and Nocturnes </i>(issue #2) this is retroactively revealed to be Dream's castle.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Lucien is the effective keeper of the Dreaming in Dream's absence, and becomes one of Dream's most faithful and trusted servants after proving his loyalty by never abandoning his post during that period. His primary function is to protect the Library, wherein are contained all the books that have ever been dreamt of, including the ones that have never been written. The titles of some of these books, many of which are sequels to real works, are visible. He is, despite his frail appearance, apparently quite capable in combat, “[dealing] with” several unpleasant creatures who escape imprisonment during the events of <i>The Kindly Ones</i>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In issue 68, it is revealed that Lucien's existence in the Dreaming began as serving the role of Dream's first raven. An allusion to “Mr. Raven,” the ghostly librarian in George MacDonald's novel <i>Lilith</i>, may be intended.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Matthew"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Matthew</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Matthew</b> is the raven companion of Dream of the Endless.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Matthew was originally Matthew Cable, a long-time supporting character in the <i>Swamp Thing </i>series created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson and later used by Alan Moore, but because he died while asleep in the Dreaming, he was offered the chance to become a dream raven and serve Dream if he wished, and he accepted.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Matthew is not the first of Morpheus' ravens. Former ravens include Aristeas of Marmora, who returned to his life as a man for one year at one point, and Lucien, the first of the ravens. The purpose of the ravens is debatable. Morpheus seems to keep the ravens around out of some sort of unspoken need for companionship, though he also sends them on occasional missions.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Matthew's word balloons and font style are scratchy and uneven, probably to represent a hoarse, cawing voice, and perhaps as an indicator of his crude, smart-aleck personality. Underneath his frequently irreverent manner, Matthew is actually very loyal to Dream, and he is one of the characters who takes it the hardest when Dream perishes, initially seeking release from his service, but eventually coming to terms with his loss and choosing to remain as Daniel's raven.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Mervyn_Pumpkinhead"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Mervyn Pumpkinhead</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Mervyn Pumpkinhead</b> is Dream's jaded, wise-cracking, cigar-smoking janitor. As his name implies, he has a pumpkin for a head, and his overall appearance is similar to that of a scarecrow combined with a jack-o'-lantern. He resembles Jack Pumpkinhead of L. Frank Baum's Oz books.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Mervyn apparently drove a bus in dreams for a time during Dream's extended absence, and is first seen in <i>Preludes and Nocturnes</i> when Dream hitches a ride with him and chats for a while. Merv is in charge of the construction, maintenance and demolition work in the Dreaming, though he sometimes complains that his job is superfluous since Dream can change any of it at will. One issue of the “Dreaming” spin-off comic focuses on a dreamer who enjoys working under Merv's supervision.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Mervyn was one of the few who actively took up arms to fight the Furies in <i>The Kindly Ones</i> but is easily killed. He is returned to life by the new Dream in <i>The Wake</i>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In a past incarnation shown in <i>The Wake</i>, Mervyn was seen to have had a turnip for a head instead of a pumpkin, as pumpkins were not then known in Europe.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Minor_dreams"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Minor dreams</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Brute and Glob</b>: A pair of troublemaking nightmares who try to gain power during Dream's absence. They originally appeared in Jack Kirby's 1974 <i>Sandman</i> series, as sidekicks to the title character, and continued to serve that role when Hector Hall became the Sandman. In the original comics, Brute was similar to the character The Thing from the Fantastic Four (co-created by Kirby), shouted “It's clobberin' time!” and often brought up his Uncle Harry. In <i>The Doll's House</i>, it is revealed that they were manipulating the Sandmen in order to have a new Lord of the Dreaming under their control. Dream punished Brute and Glob for fleeing his realm by casting them into “the darkness” (a place of imprisonment and, presumably, torture, within the Dreaming). Near the end of <i>The Kindly Ones</i>, the Furies tell Dream that they have released his prisoners from the darkness, but Brute and Glob are neither mentioned nor seen in this volume or in <i>The Wake</i>. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>The “Cuckoo”</i>: A parasitic dream who lives in Barbie's dreamworld and eventually takes over there. She assumes the form of a childhood version of Barbie until she successfully escapes from Barbie's world, at which point she transforms into a beautiful black-feathered bird. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>The Fashion Thing</b>: A minor character whose form changes based on popular fads. She is based on The Mad Mod Witch, created by Dave Wood and Jack Sparling as the host of <i>The Unexpected</i>, another DC horror title. At the time of her first appearance in <i>Sandman</i>, however, she is a “Mad Yuppie Witch.” First appearance: <i>The Unexpected</i> #108. Most of her appearances are relegated to a few panels. She is shown flying on her broom as a Yuppie briefly in issue #2, shown riding her broom in a top hat and tails with bare legs and feet in issue #22, and shown topless serving a meal to Delirium and Dream in issue #42. She also appears in <i>The Kindly Ones</i>. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Ruthven</b>: A minor character, a vampiric rabbit who is often seen in the background of the Dreaming and occasionally talked to by the other characters. His speech is written in a demonic font as if his voice is very dark and powerful. He is killed by the Kindly Ones, but resurrected by Daniel in <i>The Wake</i>. He is named from Lord Ruthven, the vampiric character based on Lord Byron and created by his secretary. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Taramis</b>: The head of the kitchen staff, Taramis is a tall skinny man with a large head, an exceptionally long Fu Manchu moustache, pink eyes and vampire teeth. He wears a red matador vest, a white shirt, and a black bow tie, with a sash for a belt. </span></span></span> </div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Gods.2C_demigods.2C_and_major_personific"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Gods, demigods, and major personifications</b></span></span></h2>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Bast"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Bast</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Bast</b>, the cat-headed goddess of cats, is the DC Universe version of the goddess Bast of Egyptian mythology.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">She was once a major goddess, but the loss of her believers over time has significantly reduced her powers. She is quite flirtatious with Dream, and seems to have previously developed a mutual attraction with him which ultimately came to nothing. He sometimes goes to her for advice or companionship. Dream is almost affectionate with her, and in her own words she adores him.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Gaiman also used Bast in his novel <i>American Gods</i>. </span></span></span> </div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="The_Presence.2FYaweh"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The Presence/Yahweh</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The Presence or The <b>Creator</b> is the <i>Sandman</i> universe's equivalent of a supreme monotheistic God figure, the Abrahamic God (although from a deistic viewpoint) such as almost never taking a physical form, being a creator-deity and having unmatched power.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">However, despite these indications that all the mythologies in <i>The Sandman</i> are ultimately subordinate to the Judeo-Christian God, Gaiman has on several occasions stated that he never intended the Creator to be any specific religion's god, just as he makes it clear in the first appearance of the abode of the angels, the Silver City, that it “is not Paradise. It is not Heaven. It is the Silver City, that is not part of the order of created things.” </span></span></span> </div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Loki"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Loki</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Loki</b> is a callous and deceptive trickster god who first appears in <i>Season of Myths.</i></span></span></span></div>
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<dt lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">He is temporarily freed from his punishment by Odin to help with their negotiations for the rulership of Hell. He manages to deceive Odin and Thor into taking another ambassador in his place using his illusionary powers, but fails to fool Dream. Dream says that although his victim must be freed, he allows Loki to go free, and will place a dream-illusion in Loki’s place.</span></span></dt>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Loki returns in <i>The Kindly Ones</i>. He works with Puck to kidnap Daniel, and harbours deep resentment about being in debt to Dream. The Corinthian and Matthew eventually find Daniel, and Loki takes on the form of Dream. The Corinthian is not fooled, and strangles Loki who assumes the form of a monstrous dragon, then that of The Corinthian himself, then Daniel, then his own. The Corinthian then proceeds to break Loki's neck and consume his eyes. Loki, now blind, is taken by Odin and Thor back to his punishment. He attempts to goad Thor into killing him, but Odin prevents this, leaving Loki to his fate worse than death.</span></span></span></div>
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<dt lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Loki appears, when in his own form, as a tall, thin man with yellow eyes and long red hair that resembles flames.</span></span></dt>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Loki is based on the Norse god Loki.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Odin"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Odin</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Odin</b> appears as an old man wearing a wide-brimmed hat and cloak and carrying a staff. He is usually depicted as a dark, mysterious figure, missing one eye and accompanied with his two ravens, Hugin and Munin (“thought” and “memory”), and two wolves, Geri and Freki.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Odin is based on the Norse God Odin.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Three"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Three</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The <b>Three</b> is an entity unique to <i>The Sandman</i>, something like a god and something like a dream and completely mutable in appearance, seeming to exist as a sentient concept or symbol in the form of any group of three women, particularly when they represent the <b>Mother</b>, the <b>Maiden</b> and the <b>Crone</b>, the three aspects of the Triple Goddess in many mythologies. Sometimes they appear in the form of the three witches from DC's horror anthology, <i>The Witching Hour</i>: Mildred, Mordred, and Cynthia. </span></span></span> </div>
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<dt style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In <i>The Sandman</i> </span></span></span> </dt>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The Three repeatedly appear throughout <i>The Sandman</i> for many different reasons and fulfilling different functions at different points in the story. Their first appearance is in <i>The Sandman</i> #2, where they appear as the three witches, Mildred (mother), Mordred (crone), and Cynthia (maiden) from the DC horror anthology <i>The Witching Hour</i>. They later take many different forms over the course of the series, and the “three women” symbol remains an extremely common one, often blurring the lines between when characters are supposed to be merely themselves and when they are supposed to be representations of the Three.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Three represent the female principle, prophecy, and mystery, and they are often a vaguely menacing and enigmatic presence in the series. As a three-in-one mystical being, they can be seen as contrasting with the commonly-used triple-male Trinity. Indeed, legend and mythology play a much larger role throughout the series than religion does, though some segments suggest a supreme monotheistic God at work behind the scenes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Common incarnations of the Three include the Erinyes (Furies) in their vengeful aspect and the Moirae (Fates) or Weird Sisters in their divinatory aspect. They also sometimes subtly appear in the form of other characters (such as Eve) or groups of characters.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Other_gods"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Other gods</b></span></span></h3>
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<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Ishtar</b>: An exotic dancer who happens to be the goddess Ishtar. She is revealed to be a former lover of Destruction, and kills herself after speaking with Dream when the latter traveled with Delirium in search of his lost brother. </span></span></span> </div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Pharamond</b>: a former god, last of his pantheon, and friend of Dream. At Dream's suggestion that he change with the times or fade like many other gods (similar to his novel <i>American Gods</i>), he became somewhat of a god of travel (“in his own little way”). Pharamond now runs a travel agency in Dublin, under the alias “Mr Farell.” He helps Dream and Delirium find their brother. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Thor</b>: The Norse god Thor, a ridiculously muscular and dim-witted redhead drunkard who likes to brag about how big he can make his “hammer” grow. Thor first appeared in DC Comics in <i>House of Mystery</i> #68 (November 1957), illustrated by Jack Kirby. There, he looked like a traditional viking with red hair, and his hammer looked identical to the way Kirby would draw it for Marvel Comics. That story was reprinted in <i>DC Special</i> #4 (July 1969), which also contains Abel's debut. Kirby also pitted Wesley Dodds against someone claiming to be Thor in <i>Adventure Comics </i>#78 (September 1942). (It must be noted that the Thor seen in <i>The Sandman</i> doesn't resemble the one seen in the other DC comics.) </span></span></span> </div>
</li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Angels.2C_fallen_angels.2C_and_devils"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Angels, fallen angels, and devils</b></span></span></h2>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Azazel"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Azazel</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Azazel</b> is a former ruler of Hell, reigning for a time alongside Lucifer and Beelzebub. He appears as a twisting, torn mass of black flame, like a window into space, filled with numerous eyes and mouths.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">He was cast out after Lucifer abandoned Hell, and made the mistake of threatening and attacking Dream to try to gain ownership of it. Dream keeps him in a bottle in a chest of trinkets and mementos.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">He is based on the demon Azazel.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Azazel first appeared in DC Comics battling Madame Xanadu in the story intended for <i>Doorway to Nightmare</i> #6 (it was cancelled after #5) that was eventually published in <i>The Unexpected</i> #190. As with Lucifer's previous appearance in <i>The Brave and the Bold</i>, he looked more like a traditional devil, but was referred to as an incubus, which in the story, was a creature who steals people's dreams and imprints them on to tapestries that give him power and cannot be destroyed without killing the victims.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Beelzebub"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Beelzebub</b></span></span></h3>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Along with Lucifer and Azazel, Beelzebub was the third King of Hell. He often appears as either a gigantic green fly, or a fly's head on two short human legs. Sometimes a human face can be seen between the fly's eyes. His constant buzzing slurs his speech (for example, “Bbbbut nooo. Itzzz a Triummmvirate.”) He is based on the demon Beelzebub.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Choronzon"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Choronzon</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Choronzon</b> is a former duke of Hell who served under Beelzebub. He has pink skin and two mouths, one under the other.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">He had possession of Dream's helm, but lost it in a challenge. He later reappeared briefly as one of Azazel's tactics to gain ownership of Hell.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">He is based on the demon Choronzon, a demon or devil that originated in writing with the 16th century occultists Edward Kelley and John Dee within the latter's occult system. In the 20th century he became an important element within the mystical system of Thelema, founded by Aleister Crowley, where he is the Dweller in the Abyss, believed to be the last great obstacle between the adept and enlightenment. Thelemites believe that if he is met with proper preparation, then his function is to destroy the ego, which allows the adept to move beyond the Abyss of occult cosmology. </span></span> </div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Duma"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Duma</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Duma</b> is a fallen angel.</span></span></span></div>
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<dt lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Duma's name means “silence,” and he is based on the angel Duma from Jewish mythology. In those tales, he is the angel of silence and death's stillness. According to these same stories, he is the guardian of Egypt and the prince of vindication. Based on this, one could speculate that he was the angel who killed the firstborn Egyptians in Moses' time. Some sources also name him a “Prince of Hell,” which would mean that at some unknown point in time he displeased God and fell from grace.</span></span></dt>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Zohar, a book of Jewish mysticism, describes his position in Hell as such that he had “tens of thousands of angels of destruction” under him, and that he was “chief of demons in Gehinnon with 12,000 myriads of attendants, all charged with the punishment of the souls of sinners.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dumah is also the name given to the guardian of the 14th gate, through which the goddess Ishtar passed on her journey to the underworld in Babylonian mythology. Dumah may or may not be related to Duma.</span></span></div>
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<dt lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is unknown how much of Duma's background from Jewish mythology was actually incorporated into the character by Gaiman. Many theories and interpretations have been put forward, but nothing is concrete.</span></span></dt>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In <i>Season of Mists</i>, we find that Lucifer has closed down Hell in frustration, handing off the key to the bemused Dream. Eventually, after much squabbling between various gods, Duma and Remiel receive a message saying that they are to watch over Hell. Remiel immediately rejects it, but Duma silently accepts the key, and the guilt-stricken Remiel joins him in ruling Hell. Remiel subsequently attempts to redesign Hell, transforming it from a place of punishment to a place of rehabilitation for lost souls, but Duma's interest in these changes is unknown, as is his true opinion on many things.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Lucifer"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Lucifer</b></span></span></h3>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Lucifer</b> is the Miltonian former ruler of Hell, a charming, intelligent, and utterly ruthless fallen angel.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">He is one of the most powerful beings in existence, said at one point to be surpassed only by his Creator.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">He is based on the fallen angel Lucifer, whose story was created by John Milton in his <i>Paradise Lost</i>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Neil Gaiman also used the character Lucifer in his short story “Murder Mysteries.” In this format, Lucifer was a captain of the Silver City, with Azazel as his protégé.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">From the book <i>Hanging out with the Dream King</i> (a book consisting of interviews with Gaiman's collaborators), one of Gaiman's artists, Kelley Jones, states that Lucifer is based on David Bowie, image-wise. In the interview, Jones states the following:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">“<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">...Neil was adamant that the Devil was David Bowie. He just said, 'He is. You <i>must</i> draw David Bowie. Find David Bowie, or I'll send you David Bowie. Because if it isn't David Bowie, you're going to have to redo it until it <i>is</i> David Bowie.' So I said, 'Okay, it's David Bowie.'...”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lucifer's previous appearances in DC Comics were more traditional. </span></span> </div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Mazikeen"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Mazikeen</b></span></span></h3>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Mazikeen</b> is a fictional character from Neil Gaiman's <i>Sandman </i>mythos. The name “Mazikeen” comes from that of a shapeshifting demon of Jewish mythology.</span></span></span></div>
<dl>
<dt style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Mazikeen first appeared in <i>The Sandman</i>, where she was Lucifer's consort while he reigned in Hell. At the time, half of her face was normal, but the other half was horribly misshapen and skeletal, causing her speech to be nearly unintelligible. (Gaiman wrote Mazikeen's dialogue by trying to speak using only half of his mouth, and writing down phonetically what came out.)</span></span></span></dt>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">When Lucifer resigned, Mazikeen left Hell and ended up following her master, becoming part of the staff at the “Lux” (Latin for <i>light</i>, and the first root word in “Lucifer”), an elite Los Angeles bar that Lucifer had opened and played piano at. To conceal her demonic nature, she covered the deformed half of her face with a white mask and rarely spoke.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Remiel"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Remiel</b></span></span></h3>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Remiel is an angelic character in the comic book series <i>The Sandman</i> based on the angel Remiel. He first appears in <i>Season of Mists</i>.</span></span></span></div>
<dl>
<dt lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Remiel, along with Duma, is sent to observe when Dream is given the key to Hell. Dream ends up offering the key to Remiel and Duma, making them the new rulers of Hell, but Remiel refuses to accept it, wishing to return to the Silver City. In doing so, Remiel disobeys the Creator, and as a result can never return to the Silver City anyway. Duma accepts the key, however, and the two angels descend to Hell to rule over the countless sinners and demons there. Whether Remiel is a fallen angel or not (he is described as having tripped or stumbled more than fallen), and whether he truly has the free will to ultimately disobey the Creator's wishes, is left somewhat ambiguous.</span></span></dt>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">While reigning in Hell, Remiel attempts to organize the domain into a great soul-cleansing machine. However Remiel never fully gets over his fall from the Silver City and tries to return the keys to Lucifer, in <i>The Kindly Ones</i>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Etrigan the demon</b></span></span></h3>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">A character created by Jack Kirby in 1972 in a short-lived series. I<span style="font-style: normal;">n 1984 </span>Alan Moore used the character in <i>Swamp Thing </i><span style="font-style: normal;">where he had him speak in rhyme</span><i>.</i> The demon appears in <i>Preludes and Nocturnes </i>(specifically in <i>Sandman </i><span style="font-style: normal;">#4</span>: “A Hope in Hell”), escorting Dream from the front gate of Hell to meet Lucifer. During their journey, Dream comments on Etrigan speaking in rhyme as a result of a promotion. In <i>Season of Mists</i> episode 1, Lucifer makes a passing reference to a recent event where “one of the minor demons—some little yellow rhymer—thought to declare himself a king of hell.” This is a reference to <i>The Demon </i>vol. 3 #6 and #7. </span></span></span> </div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Immortals.2C_witches.2C_and_long-lived_h"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Immortals, witches, and long-lived humans</b></span></span></h2>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Hob_Gadling"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Hob Gadling</b></span></span></h3>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Robert “Hob” Gadling</b> is a human who was granted immortality and meets with Dream once every hundred years.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hob's was granted immortality in a pub named the White Horse in 1389 when he simply declared that he “had decided never to die.” Death agrees, at Dream's request, to forego her responsibilities in Gadling's case, so that Dream can meet him every century to hear about his experiences. At their 20th century meeting, Dream finally admits - after initially rejecting the idea violently - that the purpose of the exercise was simply for him to have a friend.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hob is originally an extremely callow character, a soldier of fortune with no respect for anyone else's well-being. He takes to a variety of occupations over the centuries, including slaving, and periodically reinvents himself as a descendant of his previous persona. Gradually, he acquires a conscience, and by the 20th century has become a thoughtful and caring man, full of remorse at his past deeds.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In <i>The Wake</i>, Death meets Gadling at a Renaissance Fair; out of respect for her late brother Dream she offers to end his six-hundred-year life, but Gadling refuses.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Orpheus"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Orpheus</b></span></span></h3>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Orpheus</b> is the son of Dream in <i>The Sandman</i>. He is based on the Orpheus of Greek mythology</span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></a></u></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">After traveling through Hades, losing his beloved (twice), and being torn apart by the Bacchanae (the beloved madwomen of Dionysos), as in the legend, Orpheus spent a long time traveling around the world as a disembodied head. Johanna Constantine helped rescue him from Revolutionary France. He was eventually "put out of misery" by his father, an event which fulfilled the prophecy of Desire, Dream's sibling, that he would spill family blood and trigger a sequence of events leading to his destruction. The vengeance of the Furies was brought upon Dream for the mercy-killing of his son, Orpheus, in <i>The Sandman: Brief Lives</i>.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Thessaly"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Thessaly</b></span></span></h3>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Thessaly is the last of the millennia-old witches of Thessaly. She makes her first appearance in <i>A Game of You</i>, in which she is shown to be an amoral, cold-blooded, proud, and ruthless character, though not a malicious one. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Neil Gaiman named this character after the land of witches, Thessaly, in Greece. Later in the series, Thessaly changes her name to Larissa, which is the capital of Thessaly. Larissa was actually the local fountain nymph, after whom the town was named. It is suggested however that Thessaly is even older than this civilisation and may date from neolithic times.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Thessaly returns in the later volumes, where she is Dream's lover for a time, but this relationship ends unhappily for both and is never actually shown in the series. When it is alluded to in <i>Brief Lives</i> Thessaly is never mentioned by name, so only in <i>The Kindly Ones</i> is this romance revealed. Also in <i>The Kindly Ones</i>, Thessaly provides Lyta Hall with protection and sanctuary from Dream, who is being targeted for death by the Furies, using Hall as a vessel.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">When Lyta wakes up after Dream's death, Thessaly calmly advises her to leave. Thessaly suggests that many people, including herself, would be more than happy to murder Lyta for her part in Morpheus' destruction.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Minor_immortals"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Minor immortals</b></span></span></h3>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="cite_ref-vert-deat_1-0"></a><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Mad Hettie</b>: A London tramp born in 1741. At the time of <i>Sandman</i> #3, she was 247 years old. She appears frequently in other DC comics such as Hellblazer. She also had a large role in <i>Death: The High Cost of Living</i>, where she is shown to be rude, miserly and constantly complains about the lack of knowledge that present day youths have. She has been accused of being a witch, and also appears to have abilities as a haruspex, however she merely states that “you don't get to your two hundred and fiftieth without learning a few tricks.”</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Fair_folk"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Fair folk</b></span></span></h2>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Inhabitants of Faerie.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Cluracan"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Cluracan</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The <b>Cluracan</b> is a courtier of the Queen of Faerie and the brother to Nuala, the Dream King's fairy servant. An amoral, gay (in both the literal and modern sense of the word) rogue, Cluracan features in <i>Season of Mists</i>, <i>World's End</i>, <i>The Kindly Ones</i>, and <i>The Wake</i>. He is strongly reminiscent of the “trickster” archetype also associated with Loki. Following the events of <i>The Kindly Ones</i>, Cluracan manages to offend his queen so badly that she sends him to the court of Llinor, where tradition demands that he marry a lady of the royal house. Fortunately, Cluracan's nemesis - who is identical to the faerie in every way except his sexual preference - had grown weary enough of solitude to take Cluracan's place.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Cluracan is based on a drunken leprechaun of Irish mythology, the Cluricaun.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Nuala"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Nuala</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Nuala is a faerie gift to Dream at the end of <i>Season of Mists</i>. She appears initially as a beautiful woman, but this is the result of her faerie glamour. When Dream removes the glamour, her true appearance—a small, brown-haired, plain-looking girl—is revealed.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">From this point on, Nuala takes on the housekeeping duties of the Dreaming, only stopping when her brother Cluracan brings her back to Faerie in <i>The Kindly Ones</i>. When she leaves, Dream grants her with a boon as a reward for her years of servitude, allowing her to call on him if she needs to. Nuala had been nursing a crush on Dream for some time, so she finally calls him, asking him to love her. Dream is unable to do this, but he says that he can at least “send you a dream of my love.” Nuala responds, “I already have that, my lord.”</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Auberon"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Auberon</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Auberon</b> is seen for the first time in <i>Sandman </i><span style="font-style: normal;">#19</span> as Auberon of Dom-Daniel, and again in issues of <i>The Books of Magic</i> (also created by Gaiman).</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The character is showed to be the inspiration for Oberon of Shakespeare's <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i>.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Titania"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Titania</b></span></span></h3>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Titania is the queen of the fay; she first appears in issue #19.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The character is showed to be the inspiration for Shakespeare's Titania in the play <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i>. There is some speculation that she in the past was a lover of Dream's, although this is never explicitly stated.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Puck"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Puck</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Puck</b> is a brown-furred trickster and hobgoblin also called Robin Goodfellow who appears several times in the series. Puck aids the Norse God Loki in kidnapping Daniel, playing a small role in the death of the Sandman and Daniel's subsequent assuming of the title. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The inspiration for the character is shown to be the Puck of Shakespeare's <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i>, but within the context of the series, the character in the play was inspired by Puck.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Mortals"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Mortals</b></span></span></h2>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Alex_Burgess"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Alex Burgess</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Alex Burgess</b> is the son of Roderick Burgess, mother unknown (but probably Ethel Cripps, and therefore half-brother of Doctor Destiny). He is taught by his father, and takes part in his rituals. Upon Roderick Burgess' death, Alex inherits his estate, including his magical order. He keeps Dream imprisoned, as his father did, trying to bargain for power and immortality in exchange for his release. The Order enjoys a resurgence in popularity in the 1960s, but by the 1970s it is in decline again. Alex passes ownership of the Order on to his boyfriend, PaulMcGuire (formerly a gardener at the estate), and becomes obsessed with his prisoner and with his father. Finally, in 1988, Dream's guards fall asleep, and Dream escapes. He puts Alex into a nightmare of “eternal waking,” in which he is forever dreaming he is waking up, and each waking degenerates into another horrible nightmare. This nightmare lasts for years, ending only with Dream's death in the ninth collection in the series, <i>The Kindly Ones</i>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Alex is quite tall and near-sighted. He has brown hair which he wears in a variety of styles throughout his life, but by old age he is bald and has come to resemble his father very closely. His relationship with McGuire is deep and heartfelt, but his obsessions with his father and with Dream eventually come to rule his life. In <i>The Wake</i>, he appears again as the child that we see in his first appearance.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Alex is in many ways a tragic figure, perhaps the first statement of the theme that Desire explores in <i>The Wake</i>: “The bonds of family bind both ways.” Had Alex not been born the son of his father, inheriting the imprisoned Dream, his life might have been much happier. However, he is finally able to find some measure of fulfillment in his old age, following Dream's death.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">His name almost certainly derives from Anthony Burgess's <i>A Clockwork Orange</i>, the protagonist of which is named Alex, but could also be a nod to Aleister Crowley, whose original middle name was Alexander and who was mentioned in the first issue.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Roderick_Burgess"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Roderick Burgess</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Roderick Burgess</b> (1863–1947) was the Lord Magus of The Order of the Ancient Mysteries. Born <b>Morris Burgess Brocklesby</b> and known also as <b>The Daemon King</b>, his magical fraternity was based in “Fawney Rig” in Sussex, and was initially funded by his inherited industrial wealth. Burgess is a magician rather in the vein of the real Aleister Crowley, and within the DC world is Crowley's rival.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">The series begins with Burgess' attempt to capture and bind Death, which fails, capturing Dream instead. Burgess keeps Dream trapped in a glass globe for the rest of his (Burgess') life, attempting to bargain with Dream, but Dream remains silent. Burgess dies of old age still attempting to get a response out of Morpheus. His order passes on to his son, Alex.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Burgess is a bald-headed, slightly pot-bellied man with a large hook nose and something of the look of a gypsy about him. He is ultimately self-centred; his sole purpose for the Order is to bring money and power to himself, and he is consumed by his desire to achieve immortality. His relationship with his son is only briefly touched on, though it is implied that it is unhealthy, with Burgess pushing his son to spend his life pursuing his father's dreams.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Johanna_Constantine"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Johanna Constantine</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Lady Johanna Constantine</b> is an 18th century supernatural adventuress. Dream encounters her several times, once to ask her to recover the head of his son, Orpheus — a mission she performed so successfully that part of its after-effects was the ending of the French Revolution.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In the <i>Hellblazer Special: Lady Constantine</i> graphic novel, an ancient evil refers to Johanna Constantine as “the Constantine,” the “laughing magician,” and the “constant one,” all titles that have been used (usually by other ancient evils) to describe DC's middle class magician John Constantine (a character created by Alan Moore). The evil taunts her, saying “did you think to trick us with a new form?” There is the implication that throughout all times there have been recurring incarnations of Constantine who contain the spark of magic. In the story Johanna Constantine learns that “the Devil and the wandering Jew” meet once every hundred years in a London pub; this meeting is actually between Dream and Hob Gadling, as she discovers when she interrupts the meeting. The story's conclusion shows Johanna Constantine inheriting a property she calls “Fawney Rig,” after the con job wherein a gilded ring is sold as though it were solid gold... the implication being that she attained the property through trickery. This property was later owned by Roderick Burgess, the mage who captured Dream in the beginning of The Sandman story.</span></span></span></div>
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<dt lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Johanna is presumably intended as an ancestor of John Constantine, although this has not been explicitly stated.</span></span></dt>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="John_Constantine"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>John Constantine</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>John Constantine</b> is a con man and magician who accompanies Dream on a quest to find his pouch of sand. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">John Constantine has his own series, <i>John Constantine: Hellblazer</i>, which occasionally has guest appearances by Cain and Abel. He is also prominently featured in another series, <i>Swamp Thing</i>, from which he originated when the series was written by Alan Moore.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Ethel_Cripps"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Ethel Cripps</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Also known as Ethel Dee, <b>Ethel Cripps</b> is the mother of John Dee. She was the mistress of Roderick Burgess until she fled with Ruthven Sykes.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Her last joy was her son, John Dee, whom she sought for 10 years. She discovered that he had become a living corpse. Despairing, she killed herself by removing the one thing keeping her alive—an amulet in the shape of an eye which granted its user protection.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Once dead, this and the Sandman's Ruby was entrusted to her son after stealing it from Ruthven Sykes, who had stolen it from Roderick Burgess, who had stolen it from Dream.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Doctor_Dee"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Doctor Dee</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>John Dee</b>, also known as <b>Doctor Destiny</b>, is a DC Comics villain whose powers were derived from his use of Dream's Ruby. His name is almost certainly a reference to the real-life John Dee (magician of Queen Elizabeth I). He was incarcerated in Arkham Asymu, with other Batman villains such as the Scarecrow and the Joker, until freed by the amulet given to him by his mother, Ethel Dee, former mistress to Roderick Burgess. He had previously fought the previous Sandman (Garrett Sanford) alongside the Justice League (the DC team made of their most famous super-heroes such as Superman and Batman).</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">John originally named himself “Doctor Destiny” to protect his mother's surname, but after her death changed it back. The Ruby had drained away his mental and physical state until he was no longer able to sleep or dream without it. This had the unpleasant effect of turning him into a browned, living corpse.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Being able to control dreams, he used the ruby to bring out the “darkness” and “bestiality” of many people across the world. He originally sought power, money and mostly the restoration of his human body, but the madness brought about by overuse of the relic drove him to savage, monstrous acts of depravity using the ruby. To quote: “I think I'll dismember the world and then I'll dance in the wreckage.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">While doing this, over a period of 24 hours he focused the energy of the ruby on several people in a café, one of them a friend of Rose Walker and an ex-lover of Foxglove. He used them as puppets, horribly having them murder and degrade each other as if toys, until all were dead.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dream double-bluffed him into destroying the ruby, which Dee believed to be Dream's life. It actually only stored some of his energy, and with it released Dream instead became even more powerful than before. Easily overpowering Dee, Dream decided not to destroy him, and instead returned him to Arkham. Dee was finally able to sleep, and his sadism and depravity faded as he now could again dream.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Wesley_Dodds"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Wesley Dodds</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Wesley Dodds</b>, also known as <b>Sandman</b>, is the original costumed crimefighter who used the name. He was created in 1939 by writer Gardner Fox and artist Bert Christman and was the first DC character to bear the name of the Sandman. According to Gaiman, he was merely filling a hole in the universe in a similar way to a process of evolution, in which animals fill up a niche—for instance, what should fly. He is first seen in <i>The Sandman</i> series in a two-panel cameo in issue #1, and another cameo in issue #26. Dream occasionally appeared in dream sequences in Dodds's own series, S<i>andman Mystery Theatre</i>. The two finally met for real in Gaiman's <i>Sandman Midnight Theatre</i>. Dodds appeared out of costume during <i>The Sandman: The Wake</i> (#72). The reason for his prophetic visions is explained as him being embodied with a small portion of Dream's essence. His reasoning for assuming his role as The Sandman is given as nightmares of Dream in his helmet that plague him, <i>until</i> he begins his career as a crimefighter after which “Wesley Dodds sleeps the <b>sleep</b> of the <b>Just</b>.”</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Foxglove"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Foxglove</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Foxglove</b> (Donna Cavanagh) is a lesbian writer and musician who first appears in <i>A Game of You</i>.</span></span></span></div>
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<dt style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In <i>The Sandman</i> </span></span></span> </dt>
</dl>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">She is mentioned in <i>Preludes and Nocturnes</i> as the girlfriend of Judy, one of the patrons at the diner who dies in the story concerning John Dee, titled “24 Hours.” In <i>A Game of You</i>, Foxglove is going out with Hazel McNamara, and the two help Thessaly rescue Barbie.</span></span></span></div>
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<dt style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">After <i>The Sandman</i> </span></span></span> </dt>
</dl>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In <i>Death: The Time of Your Life</i>, Foxglove has become a pop superstar after being seen by a promoter in <i>Death: The High Cost of Living</i>. She is raising a child with Hazel named Alvie. Alvie dies of cot death, leading Hazel to make a deal with Death. However, even in the world of the Endless there's no such thing as a free lunch, and another character's life has to be sacrificed for the child's.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Daniel_Hall"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Daniel Hall</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Daniel</b> is the son of Lyta Hall, and the successor to the role of Dream of the Endless.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Lyta_Hall"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Lyta Hall</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Hippolyta “Lyta” Hall</b> is a major character in <i>The Sandman</i>, the mother of Daniel. She was created in 1983 by Roy and Danette Thomas and Ross Andru as Fury, the daughter of a World War II super-heroin. In her previous adventures, she had become pregnant and joined her deceased husband, Hector Hall, in the Dream dimension, where Hector's soul had taken the identity of Sandman, guardian of dreams. Upon Morpheus' return, Hector's soul was released and Lyta was sent back to Earth where she gave birth to their son, Daniel. After this incident, Lyta hated Morpheus and blamed him for her husband's death (although he was already dead to begin with). Morpheus visited the child and informed Lyta that he was destined to be in the Dreaming. When Daniel later mysteriously disappeared, Lyta lost her mind and sought to destroy Morpheus, aided by the mythical Furies. Ironically, it was this that began the chain of events which lead to Daniel becoming the new Lord of the Dreaming.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Showing up at the the wake held for Morpheus, Lyta was still very much mentally unhinged. She eventually met her son in his new role; unlike the old Dream, who would have enacted some kind of revenge, he instead gave her his protection (which she sorely needed, having earned the wrath of numerous beings/forces for her role in the death of Morpheus). Lyta was returned to the waking world, her experiences having changed her.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Hazel_McNamara"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Hazel McNamara</b></span></span></h3>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Hazel McNamara</b> is Foxglove's lover. She appears in <i>A Game of You </i>and <i>Death: The High Cost of Living</i>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">She has a son, Alvie, from her one heterosexual encounter. It is likely that Alvie is named after Wanda (see below). In <i>Death: The Time of Your Life</i> Alvie dies of cot death and Hazel makes a deal with Death to bring him back.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Unity_Kinkaid"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Unity Kinkaid</b></span></span></h3>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Unity first appears as one of the victims of the sleepy sickness that follows Dream's capture in the first collection of issues in the series, <i>Preludes and Nocturnes</i>. Following his capture, she sleeps until he escapes. While asleep, she is raped and gives birth to a daughter, Miranda Walker.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is later learned that the father of this child was Desire. Unity was supposed to be a “vortex of Dream,” a special entity that appears only very rarely, with the ability to connect the dreams of other beings, a dangerous ability that can eventually cause the destruction of the Dreaming. The only time Dream is allowed to take a human life is to kill a vortex. Desire's intervention confuses the issue, and eventually Unity's granddaughter, Rose Walker, becomes the vortex. Desire does this so that Dream will be forced to kill a person of family blood, thus bringing the vengeance of the Furies on him.</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">However, just before Dream can kill Rose, Unity appears, explaining that she should have been the vortex, and asks for Rose's heart. The heart is a red glass one (reminiscent of the green heart-shaped piece of glass that appears in the opening tale of this series). Taking the heart, Unity becomes the vortex, and dies.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Unity is of medium height, with reddish-brown hair that she wears long and loose in the self-image she uses in the final dream-meeting between herself, Rose, and Dream; as the old woman we meet at the start of <i>The Doll's House</i>, she has grey hair and wears a curiously old-fashioned dress. She seems kind, and smiles a lot.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Prez_Rickard"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Prez Rickard</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Prez Rickard</b> is a fictional character who first appeared in <i>Prez</i> #1 (December 1973). He is the subject of the story “The Golden Boy”, in <i>Sandman</i> #54, where he is the first 18 year old to be elected President of the United States.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Ruthven_Sykes"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Ruthven Sykes</b></span></span></h3>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Ruthven Sykes</b> is a bespectacled Afro-Caribbean man with short hair.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" lang="en-US">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">He is Roderick Burgess' second-in-command of the Order of the Ancient Mysteries until November 1930, when he steals a number of treasures (including Dream's helmet, ruby and pouch of sand) and £200,000 in cash from the order and flees to San Francisco with Roderick's mistress, Ethel Cripps. In December 1930, he trades the helmet to the demon Choronzon for an amulet that looks like an eyeball on a chain. This amulet protects him from the magics of Burgess until 1936, when Ethel Cripps leaves him, taking the amulet with her. He is then killed.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Jed_Walker"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Jed Walker</b></span></span></h3>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Jed Walker</b>, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, first appeared in <i>The Sandman</i>, vol. 1, #1, where he was protected from nightmare monsters by the titular hero. In Neil Gaiman's revisionist version of <i>The Sandman</i>, Jed is the brother of Rose Walker and the grandson of Unity Kincaid and Desire. He was raised by his grandfather, Ezra Paulsen, then taken and imprisoned by his aunt and uncle at the behest of Desire. Once Rose rescues him, he is revealed in <i>The Wake</i> to have become close to her.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Rose_Walker"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Rose Walker</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Rose Walker</b> makes her first appearance in <i>Sandman</i> #10, part one of <i>The Doll's House</i> story arc. She is a young blonde with red- and purple-dyed streaks in her hair. In later issues, she is shown as having red hair with a blonde streak. In <i>The Kindly Ones</i>, several characters remark that Rose looks much younger than her actual age; Rose's responses to these comments imply that while she may not be a true immortal, she is aware that she is aging more slowly than normal.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Clarice_and_Barnaby"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Clarice and Barnaby</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Clarice and Barnaby, aunt and uncle of Jed and Rose, were introduced in <i>The Sandman</i> vol. 1, #5, created by Micheal Fleisher and Jack Kirby. The pair mysteriously show up on Dolphin Island a few hours after the drowning death of Jed's grandfather, fisherman Ezra Paulsen. They take him to live with their own children, Bruce and Susie. They treat him as a personal slave not unlike Cinderella, with minimal food even as he does all the cooking. Eventually, their treatment of him is revealed to have become much more abusive, placing him in a basement dungeon with no toilet. This is told in issues 5 and 6 of the first series, <i>The Best of DC</i> #22, and recapped in Rose's diary in issue #11 of the Gaiman series. In issue #12, their mysterious appearance is revealed to have been because they were being paid an $800 monthly stipend by an agent of Desire in order to keep Jed alive. In issue #14, they are revealed to have been killed.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Historical_figures"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Historical figures</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Haroun al-Raschid:</b> The King of Baghdad during the time that Sindbad the Sailor was written/set. Worrying about his beloved city, he sells the city to Dream to keep it alive forever, but with a catch; the city lives only in dreams, and never existed except in the famous stories, the <i>One Thousand and One Arabian Nights</i>. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Caesar Augustus:</b> The first emperor of Rome. In <i>The Sandman</i> he is revealed to carry psychological scars from being continually raped by his uncle, Julius Caesar. Dream gives him a way to deal with it without the gods (“The Divine Julius” is suspected to be one of their number after his death) finding out. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Julius Caesar:</b> The last Dictator of the Roman Republic. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Lycius:</b> A dwarf, born of the Roman nobility, who lived in the time of Caesar Augustus. Augustus had banned the nobility from working as actors upon the stage, but he made an exception for Lycius, who had few other opportunities. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Joshua A. Norton:</b> An English-American believing himself to be Emperor of the United States in “Three Septembers and a January.” Dream gives him his delusion as part of a challenge issued by his three younger siblings: Despair, who tries to make him fall into her realm by making his life increasingly difficult; Delirium, who makes a half-attempt to actually send him into insanity, but is refuted by the fact that “his madness keeps him sane;” and Desire, who uses The King of Pain to tempt him with a real palace and a Queen. In the end, however, Joshua Norton remains delusional, but lives a happy and dignified life. He is so well-liked and respected that, when he dies, thousands come to see him off. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Mark Twain:</b> American writer who shares his storu about a jumping frog (The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County) with Emperor Norton. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Thomas Paine:</b> American radical who, after participating in the French Revolution, is imprisoned in the Luxembourg Palace and briefly encounters Johanna Constantine. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Louis de Saint-Just:</b> Orator of the French Revolution and supporter of the Terror, he is deposed after Orpheus sings a song that saps his ability to articulate. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Maximilien Robespierre:</b> Leader of the Committee of Public Safety and instigator of the Reign of Terror. An extreme dreamer, he seeks to destroy the head of Orpheus due to his wish to destroy all myths, but is in turn destroyed by it. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Marco Polo:</b> The famous 13th-century explorer and trader. He is lost in a part of the Dreaming that connects to the real world, and encounters Rusticello, a friend of his future self, Fiddler's Green, and Dream, shortly after he had escaped from his prison. Marco offers him water. In return, Dream uses up the last of his energy in granting an otherwise forbidden passage home (explaining why he collapsed upon entering the House of Secrets). Upon waking Marco is unable to remember any of his encounters. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Rustichello da Pisa:</b> The publisher of Marco, he encounters a younger self of his friend in a dream in the Desert of Lop. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>William Shakespeare:</b> The famous 16/17th-century English playwright. Dream gives him the inspiration for many of his plays in exchange for Shakespeare writing two plays for him: <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i> and <i>The Tempest</i>. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Christopher Marlowe: </b>A famous 16th-century playwright who is depicted discussing Shakespeare's terrible writing and Marlowe's <i>Faust</i>. Shakespeare tells Marlowe, “God's wounds! If only I could write like you!” </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Geoffrey Chaucer:</b> The famous 14th century poet and author of <i>The Canterbury Tales</i> is seen in the White Horse Tavern in 1389 A.D. in part four of <i>The Doll's House</i>, where Dream first meets Hob Gadling. It is mentioned in the tavern that people don't want, “filthy tales in rhyme about pilgrims” a reference to <i>The Canterbury Tales.</i> </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>John Belushi:</b> Appears briefly in the Samurai Delicatessen skit when Prez hosts <i>Saturday Night Live</i>. In this timeline, the encounter so affects him that he stops doing drugs and lives to old age. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Richard Nixon:</b> Visits Prez in his sleep to give him advice on the Presidency. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Ben Jonson:</b> Poet and friend of William Shakespeare. </span></span></span> </div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Minor_mortals"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Minor mortals</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Chantal and Zelda</b>: Apparently lesbian roommates in the house Rose Walker was staying at in <i>The Doll's House</i>. They dress in white and collect dead spiders. Of the two, Zelda relies on Chantal for strength, and she rarely if ever speaks. In <i>The Doll's House</i>, it was unknown if they were lovers, friends, or related because they hardly ever socialized. When they dream, Zelda dreams of her childhood, where it is implied that she collected bones. Chantal's dreams are self-repeating loops, trying to explain something of nothing. In a later issue Chantal has died, while Zelda is dying of AIDS, which she contracted from an organ transplant. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Richard Madoc</b>: An author, director and playwright who imprisoned Dream's ex-lover Calliope, a Muse, as a source of inspiration for his works. When Dream punishes Madoc for his treatment of Calliope he destroys his fingers to record in his own blood the innumerable ideas foisted upon him, only to have his imagination go blank entirely the moment Calliope is released from imprisonment. In <i>The Wake</i> he is seen attending Morpheus' funeral whilst dreaming, and it is inferred that after Morpheus' death, Madoc's blank mind is slowly healing. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Paul McGuire</b>: Good friend and lover of Alex Burgess. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Wanda</b>: A transsexual woman featured in <i>A Game of You</i> who is Barbie's best friend. She dies in the freak storm caused by Thessaly's magic and is buried as Alvin (her parents dress her as a man), though Barbie rectifies this by crossing out Alvin on her gravestone with lipstick and writing Wanda. Wanda is later seen in Barbie's dream, now apparently with a biologically female body, and waves goodbye to Barbie with Death. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Nada</b>: A beautiful African queen, Nada is cast into hell by the Dream King (known to her as Kai'ckul) when she refuses to stay with him and become his queen because "It is not for mortals to love the Endless". She was asked three times, but refused each time. Nada first appears in "Preludes and Nocturnes" when Dream is escorted to Dis. Her story is revealed in the beginning of "A Doll's House". An argument over her unfair punishment prompts Dream's initial actions in "Seasons of Mist," and eventually Dream begs her forgiveness and lets her choose her own fate. Nada chooses to be reincarnated as a baby boy in Hong Kong, and Dream comes to her cradle, holds her new form, and promises that she will always be welcome in the Dreaming, no matter what form or body her soul is in. </span></span></span> </div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="Superheroes"></a> <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Superheroes</b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Batman (Bruce Wayne)</b> and <b>Green Lantern</b> <b>(Hal Jordan)</b> are shown briefly in a flashback in issue #2 (Preludes and Nocturnes) capturing Doctor Destiny, representing the Justice League, who defeated him. In issue #8, a comedian tells a joke about Batman that is clearly in-universe, as the comedian makes speculations about Batman's out of costume life that are far from correct. He also makes a brief appearance in issue #71 (<i>The Wake</i>). </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Phantom Stranger</b> and <b>Doctor Occult</b> appear briefly in <i>The Wake</i>, chatting with John Constantine. Constantine says “Nice trench coat,” a reference to the similar design of the three characters, who are unofficially known as The Trenchcoat Brigade and initially appeared together in Gaiman's <i>The Books of Magic</i>. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Mister Miracle (Scott Free)</b> informs Dream that his ruby is no longer kept at Justice League headquarters. (#7, <i>Preludes and Nocturnes</i>) </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onnz)</b>, last member of the original Justice League lineup, gives Dream the details of the storage unit where the JLA's old trophies, including the ruby, are kept. (#7, <i>Preludes and Nocturnes</i>). Also makes an appearance alongside Batman, as does <b>Clark Kent</b>, in issue #71 (<i>The Wake</i>). </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>The Sandman (Hector Hall)</b>: The walking dead father of Daniel Hall and successor to Garrett Sanford, whose death is noted. Hall's only previous appearances as the Sandman were in <i>Infinity Inc.</i> #49–51. (#11–12, <i>The Doll's House</i>) </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Element Girl (Urania Blackwell)</b>: Death, coming for an upstairs neighbour who has fallen off a ladder, visits her, sensing her longing to die, but is unable to take her, though she informs her that Ra (the sun) can take her power back so she can die. (#20, <i>Dream Country</i>) </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Hawkman (Carter Hall):</b> Along with Wesley Dodds (The Sandman), he is offered to Dream by Odin in a repeating Ragnarok in which the Justice Society of America is trapped (<i>Crisis on Infinite Earths Special: “Last Days of the Justice Society”</i>). Odin says that one of them contains some of his essence. As Hall is the grandfather of Daniel, it is deliberately obscure just which of the two he means. (#26, <i>Season of Mists</i>) </span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Wildcat (Ted Grant) </b>appears in #54, “The Golden Boy;” however, in Prez Rickard's world, he is merely a professional wrestler rather than a member of the Justice Society of America. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Appendix D</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A. Other Norse myths</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1. Thor and Tyr</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In addition to Odin, the Norse landing brought Thor and Tyr to the Americas. While no sacrifice is made to them, they are mentioned obliquely and this is apparently enough within the parameters of the novel for a god to materialise in a place. The Norsemen praise Thor for the thunder and note that they arrived on a Tuesday (day of Tyr, also known as Tiwaz).</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Thor is revealed as having committed suicide in 1932. He was brought to America along with Odin. His death is necessary to the plot since Odin wants to sacrifice a son. In Norse myths, Thor also dies during Ragnar</span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><u><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnar%C3%B6k"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">ö</span></span></a></u></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">k, slayed by Jormungand. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2. Frigg/Freyja</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On page 70, Wednesday says, “Friday is a free day, a woman's day.” Friday means “day of Frigg” though in most Germanic languages and in Old Norse it means “day of Freyja.” In any case the two female deities are frequently identified. Frigg is the wife of Odin and mother of the gods while Freyja is the goddess of love, beauty and fertility. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">3. Yggdrasil</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Yggdrasil is the name of a tree, an important part of the Norse cosmology; it ties the nine worlds together with Asgard (the land of the gods) at the top, Midgard (the Earth) in the middle and Hel (the land of the dead) at the bottom. It is therefore called the World-Tree. It is the tree on which Odin was hanged for nine days as a sacrifice to himself. Wednesday wears a representation of it on his tie pin as confirmed on page 453. It is customarily an ash tree but the tree in Chapter Fourteen is only described as silver-grey in color, in a farm with a sign “ASH” on its gates.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">4. The Norns</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">That same sequence presents three women. These have to be the Norns. In the novel one of them is called Urtha or Urder. This fits with the three Norns that guard the well of Urd, Urdr, Verdandi and Skuld. </span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">The nam</span></span><span style="color: black;">e Urðr (Wyrd, weird) means “fate”. Both Urðr and Verðandi are derived from the Old Norse verb verða, “to become” (<i>werden</i> in German). While Urðr derives from the past tense (“that which became or happened”), Verðandi derives from the present tense of verða (“that which is happening”). Skuld is </span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">derived from the Old Norse verb <i>skole/skulle</i>, “need/ought to be” (shall/should in English); its meaning is “that which should become, or that needs to occur.” The origin of the name <i>norn</i> is not certain, but it may derive from a word meaning “to twine” and which would refer to their twining the threads of fate. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In the legend, they take water from the well and water the tree with it to prevent it from rotting. </span></span> </div>
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<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">Yggdrasil is a</span></span><span style="color: black;">lso central in the myth of Ragnarök, the end of the world. The only two humans to survive Ragnarök (there are some survivors among the gods), Lif and Lifthrasir, are able</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;"> to escape by sheltering in the branches of Yggdrasil, where they feed on the dew and are protected by the tree. </span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">5. Ratatosk</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In the tree where Shadow is hanged, there is a squirrel making the noise “ratatosk”. Ratatosk is the name of the squirrel living in Yggdrasil. Another inhabitant of the tree is a hawk called Vedrfolnir. In the novel the hawk is the Egyptian god Horus. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">B. Other Gods</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1. Gorgon</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">On page 365, in Rhode Island, Shadow and Wednesday visit a woman in a “darkened bedroom” who will not let them see her face. She keeps baby mice and crickets in her refrigerator. Combined with the information on page 536 that her hair has “writhing green snake-coils,” this suggests that she is one of the three Gorgons of Greek mythology, monstrous creatures who would turn to stone anyone who looked at them, and the crickets and baby mice are for feeding the snakes on her head.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2. Kitsunes</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="kit"></a> <span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">On page 366, Wednesday and Shadow have a “meal of pleasantries and politeness” with “five young Japanese women” in Colorado. On page 518 a dead white fox turns into a woman. So they are most likely </span><i>kitsunes</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Japanese fox spirits, which</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"> are legendary tricksters, and often disguise themselves as young women. In Gaiman's “The Dream Hunters,” one of the main characters is a <i>kitsune</i>. </span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">3. Golem</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Polish character with the word for truth on his forehead is the golem.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">4. Queen of Sheba</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bilquis is the name of the Queen of Sheba according to Muslim tradition (she is unnamed in the Bible and Koran). She earns her living as a prostitute and gets customers to worship her, which has the effect of absorbing them. She is run over by the technical boy though she curses him, causing his ultimate death. Her feeding through sexual relations is similar to Ishtar's work as an exotic dancer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">5. Czernobog and Bielebog</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Czernobog (black god) is an attested Slavic deity and Bielebog (white god) a reconstructed one, nothing is known of them and Gaiman revealed in an interview that he created the details of that religion, such as the use of the hammer to make sacrifices. He chooses black at checkers. He shares the same body with Czernobog becoming Bielebog at springtime. This could be why he spares Shadow's life. He says he'll choose white at checkers from now on. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">6. Anansi</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">Anansi is a spider-god from Africa. He is a culture hero rather than a god and is a trickster like the coyote in American Indian folklore. <span style="font-style: normal;">Gaiman commented that he came up for the story about Anansi first, but wrote it after (in </span><i>Anansi Boys</i><span style="font-style: normal;">). </span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">7. Kobold</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Hinzelmann is the name of a kobold, responsible both for the prosperity of Lakeside and for the yearly death of children for more than a hundred years. He appears as a kind old man whom nobody would suspect. He apparently causes his own death rather than wait for modern police methods to discover him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">C. Forgotten gods</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One of the themes of the novel is that gods get forgotten as they lose believers. On page 58, in Shadow's dream sequence we see such gods: Hubur, Leucotios and Hershef. They are the kind of gods that only scholars know about. </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1. Hubur: </span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Also known as Tiamat, she is a Babylonian primordial goddess. “Mummu Hubur” is her title and means “Mother of Monsters”, in her quality as progenitor of the creatures of the zodiac. So, beyond the trivial nature of dropping her name we can theorise that if Tiamat is forgotten, the creatures of the zodiac are of course still remembered and indirectly believed in through astrology.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/null" name="her"></a> <span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;">2. Hershef: <br />Also called Arsaphes or Herishef, he is an Egyptian god of water and fertility, depicted as a ram. Egypt is not thought of as a land of water and fertility anymore which may account for the passing of this god. Correlated to this semantic shift, Mr. Ibis says that he doesn't recognise himself in the name Egyptian as they used to call themselves People of the Nile. </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">3. Leucotios:Celtic god of lightning. He is described in the museum of forgotten gods as carrying a drum, fitting for a lightning god (since thunder accompanies lightning). What can be said here is that the inhabitants of the British Isles and their descendants in America have displaced this deity to replace it with Thor, mainly in the word Thursday but also in the popular comic book </span><i>Thor </i><span style="font-style: normal;">(since 1962). In native American belief, the thunderbirds (characters in the novel) are the cause of thunder.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a>As in the 1996 movie <i>The Fan</i> where baseball is not just a sport but a philosophy of life for the De Niro character.</div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote2anc" name="sdfootnote2sym">2</a><i>Los Angeles Times</i>, March 8 2007; <i>Newsweek</i>, March 19, 2007; <i>U.S. News and World Report</i>, March 19, 2007; <i>Time Magazine</i>, March 26, 2007; <i>Wall Street Journal</i>, March 13, 2007</div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote3anc" name="sdfootnote3sym">3</a><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black;"><i> Commonweal</i> magazine, quoted in <i>The Sandman, Season of Mists</i>, Titan Books, London 1992, back cover</span></span></span></div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote4anc" name="sdfootnote4sym">4</a>a wave function is a mathematical tool used in quantum mechanics to describe any physical system. It is a function from a space that maps the possible states of the system into the complex numbers. The laws of quantum mechanics describe how the wave function evolves over time. The values of the wave function are probability amplitudes — complex numbers — the squares of the absolute values of which give the probability distribution that the system will be in any of the possible states. </div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote5anc" name="sdfootnote5sym">5</a>Heller, Karin, <i>La bande dessinée fantastique à la lumière de l'anthropologie religieuse</i>, p. 14</div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote6anc" name="sdfootnote6sym">6</a><cite><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Beatty, Scott, </span><i>The DC Comics Encyclopedia</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, p. 115</span></span></cite><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span> </div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote7anc" name="sdfootnote7sym">7</a>Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN3143303120090831</div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote8anc" name="sdfootnote8sym">8</a>http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_By_Neil/All_Books_Have_Genders</div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote9anc" name="sdfootnote9sym">9</a>http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/#Articles</div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote10anc" name="sdfootnote10sym">10</a>Clark, Jerome. <i>The UFO Encyclopedia</i>, volume 3: <i>High Strangeness, UFO’s from 1960 through 1979</i>. Omnigraphis, 1996. </div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote11anc" name="sdfootnote11sym">11</a>http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_By_Neil/All_Books_Have_Genders</div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote12anc" name="sdfootnote12sym">12</a>Nickerson, Al. "Who Really Created Spider-Man?” <i>P.I.C. News</i>, 5 February 2009. Accessed 2009-02-17. </div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote13anc" name="sdfootnote13sym">13</a>Suzanne Saïd, <i>Approches de la mythologie grecque</i>, Nathan, 1993</div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote14anc" name="sdfootnote14sym">14</a>Huntington, <i>Qui sommes-nous?</i> p. 244</div>
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<h1 align="LEFT" class="western">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote15anc" name="sdfootnote15sym">15</a><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i><span style="color: maroon;"> Share in the Light, </span><span style="color: black;">Native American Stories of Creation</span></i><span style="color: black;"> </span></b><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;">by Terri J. Andrews</span></span></span></span></h1>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote16anc" name="sdfootnote16sym">16</a>http://cosmedia.freewinds.cx/media/articles/tim130868.html</div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/blogger.g?blogID=8752235041015072272&pli=1#sdfootnote17anc" name="sdfootnote17sym">17</a>http://www.bonafidescientology.org/Append/01/page03.htm</div>
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Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-50404642702258300272020-04-13T07:45:00.000-07:002020-04-17T16:56:27.426-07:00Diffusion internationale de M. CryptogameBenoit Glaude, du GRIT, avait déjà écrit un article sur la circulation transnationale de M. Vieux-Bois<br />
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https://cdn.uclouvain.be/groups/cms-editors-cri/grit/les-cahiers-du-grit/3---imaginaire-de-la-narration-dans-les-productions-litteraires-mixtes-(texte-ecrit-et-image-fixe)-contemporaines/CDG_3_Glaude.pdf <br />
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Cet article finnois<br />
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://journal.finfar.org/articles/koipeliinin-matka-suomeen-%E2%80%92-miten-rodolphe-topfferin-sarjakuva-monsieur-cryptogame-muuttui-tekijattomaksi-koipeliini-kuvasarjaksi/">http://journal.finfar.org/articles/koipeliinin-matka-suomeen-%E2%80%92-miten-rodolphe-topfferin-sarjakuva-monsieur-cryptogame-muuttui-tekijattomaksi-koipeliini-kuvasarjaksi/ </a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
et ce livre en allemand de Gérard Krebs</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://books.google.fr/books?id=pgALGTbypYcC&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&dq=sanomia+turusta+cryptogame&source=bl&ots=jKkQCg-8nu&sig=ACfU3U2YAFTn1eO2bX-Z3MaLgJZBsviV5A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8yJfQy9voAhWy4YUKHdTcBq0Q6AEwAXoECAsQMQ#v=onepage&q=sanomia%20turusta%20cryptogame&f=false">https://books.google.fr/books?id=pgALGTbypYcC&pg=PP1&dq=Schweizerisch-finnische+Literaturbeziehungen&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiq6YuzkeboAhWi2uAKHdqPAVoQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
présentent dans leur bibliographie un ensemble de liens de traductions qui démontrent, s’il
était besoin, la pérennité et diffusion de M. Cryptogame. D’ailleurs j’y ai vu
que la version néerlandaise a donné lieu à une retraduction en francais (l’éditeur
ignorait peut-être que ce classique de la littérature enfantine avait une
origine française): </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Voyages et Aventures de M. Maigrichon (1970)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
allemand (1847), 3<sup>e</sup> édition de 1865 : <a href="https://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb10522799_00005.html">https://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb10522799_00005.html</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
danois, 1847 <a href="http://www5.kb.dk/e-mat/dod/130021678121_color.pdf">http://www5.kb.dk/e-mat/dod/130021678121_color.pdf</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
suédois (1847) 2<sup>e</sup> édition de 1879 <a href="https://weburn.kb.se/metadata/694/EOD_3143694.htm">https://weburn.kb.se/metadata/694/EOD_3143694.htm</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
finnois, 1857, publication dans le périodique Sanomia
Turusta Nr. 14-27 (7.4.1857- 7.7.1857) pendant 14 semaines</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/titles/1457-4616?year=1857">https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/titles/1457-4616?year=1857</a>
(je n’ai pas mis les 14 liens, juste un lien vers l’année)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
en quatre parties en magazine entre 1859 et 1862 :</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
parties III & IV : <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hnii7a&view=1up&seq=363">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hnii7a&view=1up&seq=363</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Un album est paru en 1871 (republié en 1923, 1934, 1972)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Il manque la version britannique de 1845 et la version américaine de 1846 (et la réédition de 1878) ainsi que la version néerlandaise de 1858. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
La version allemande est la source des versions danoise et
suédoise et l’une des deux la source de la finlandaise. La traduction finnoise prend
plus de libertés que les versions intermédiaires.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Topffer n’est pas crédité. Les dessins sont dits être de <span class="openformat-field"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jochum
Træsnider (gravure sur bois) en danois, de Jockum Trädsnidare en suédois, (cf. de
Timothy Crayon en anglais américain). Les traducteurs (rimeurs) allemands,
danois et suédois sont nommés. Les versions finnoises sont anonymes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
J’ai recensé des éditions françaises en ligne (à noter deux cinquièmes
éditions)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1846:
Paris J.J. Dubochet Rue de Richelieu, 60 Typographie Lacrampe et Compagnie, Rue
Damiette, 2.<br />
<a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b85290294/f7.item"><span class="openformat-field"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b85290294/f7.item</span></span></a><br />
<a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.d0000163873&view=2up&seq=8"><span class="openformat-field"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.d0000163873;view=2up;seq=8</span></span></a><br />
<br />
5me édition: 1849: Autour de la table Histoire de M. Cryptogame Paris Rue de
Richelieu, 60, Paulin et Lechevalier, aux bureaux de l'Illustration.<br />
<br />
5me édition: 1861: Imprimerie de J. Claye rue Saint-Benoit, 7.<br />
<a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b86002200/f7.image"><span class="openformat-field"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b86002200/f7.image</span></span></a><br />
<br />
6me édition: 1873: Histoire de M. Cryptogame Imprimerie Edouard Blot et Fils
aîné Paris, Rue Bleue, 7 Garnier Frères, éditeurs 6 Rue des Saints-Pères.<br />
<a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6578219m/f1.image.texteImage"><span class="openformat-field"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6578219m/f1.image.texteImage</span></span></a><br />
<br />
7me édition Paris, Imprimerie Levé, Rue Cassette, 17.<br />
<a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark%3A%2F13960%2Ft4qk24r8d&view=1up&seq=1"><span class="openformat-field"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/t4qk24r8d;view=1up... </span></span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span class="openformat-field"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0Paris, France48.856614 2.352221948.6894645 2.0294984 49.0237635 2.6749454tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-20899621810009510352020-04-10T16:09:00.003-07:002020-04-10T16:09:52.358-07:00Angelo Agostini et la naissance de la BD au Brésil.Bien que né en Italie, l'émigré Angelo Agostini est considéré comme le premier artiste brésilien de bande dessinée.<br />
<br />
On peut lire As Aventuras de "Nhô-Quim", ou Impressões de uma Viagem a Corte dans <i>A Vide Fluminense</i> à partir du numéro 57. <br />
<br />
En 1876, il publie<span class="left"><span class="feature"> As Aventuras de Um Ministro</span></span> dans <i>Revista Illustrada.</i><br />
<br />
Il est encore actif en 1904 à la fondation d'O Tico-Tico.<br />
<i> </i><br />
Tous ces magazines sont en ligne :<br />
<h3 class="LC20lb DKV0Md">
<a href="https://bndigital.bn.gov.br/hemeroteca-digital/">Hemeroteca Digital - BNDigital - Biblioteca Nacional</a></h3>
Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-12403659560808628292020-04-09T18:33:00.000-07:002020-04-10T15:01:17.891-07:00De la diffusion des romans en estampes de Rodolphe Töpffer<br />
Benoît Glaude a publié un article sur la diffusion transnationale de <i>Monsieur Vieux-Bois</i>, dont on observe l'itinéraire de Genève d'une part à Paris, Londres et New York et d'autre part à Leipzig.<br />
https://cdn.uclouvain.be/groups/cms-editors-cri/grit/les-cahiers-du-grit/3---imaginaire-de-la-narration-dans-les-productions-litteraires-mixtes-(texte-ecrit-et-image-fixe)-contemporaines/CDG_3_Glaude.pdf<br />
<br />
Si cette œuvre est celle qui est allée le plus loin, c'est <i>Monsieur Cryptogame</i> qui a connu le plus de traductions : en allemand, suédois, danois, finlandais, hollandais. La traduction en vers de Julius Kell est la base de celles en suédois et hollandais. Et la version suédoise conduit à la version finlandaise.<br />
<br />
Il est possible de consulter en ligne le journal finlandais qui la publia du 7 avril au 7 juillet 1857.<br />
<br />
https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/titles/1457-4616?display=THUMB&year=1857<br />
<br />
La réinterprétation hollandaise de l'aventure deviendra un classique de la littérature pour enfants qui sera adapté en français en 1970 dans <i>Voyages et Aventures de M. Maigrichon</i>.<br />
<br />
Plusieurs des premières éditions françaises sont consultables en ligne : <br />
1846: Paris J.J. Dubochet Rue de Richelieu, 60 Typographie Lacrampe et Compagnie, Rue Damiette, 2.<br /><a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b85290294/f7.item" rel="nofollow">https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b85290294/f7.item</a><br /><a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.d0000163873&view=2up&seq=8" rel="nofollow">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.d0000163873;view=2up;seq=8</a><br /><br />5me
édition: 1849: Autour de la table Histoire de M. Cryptogame Paris Rue
de Richelieu, 60, Paulin et Lechevalier, aux bureaux de l'Illustration.<br /><br />5me édition: 1861: Imprimerie de J. Claye rue Saint-Benoit, 7.<br /><a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b86002200/f7.image" rel="nofollow">https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b86002200/f7.image</a><br /><br />6me
édition: 1873: Histoire de M. Cryptogame Imprimerie Edouard Blot et
Fils aîné Paris, Rue Bleue, 7 Garnier Frères, éditeurs 6 Rue des
Saints-Pères.<br /><a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6578219m/f1.image.texteImage" rel="nofollow">https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6578219m/f1.image.texteImage</a><br /><br />7me édition Paris, Imprimerie Levé, Rue Cassette, 17.<br /><a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark%3A%2F13960%2Ft4qk24r8d&view=1up&seq=1" rel="nofollow">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/t4qk24r8d;view=1up...</a> Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-90666840499717252052020-03-28T08:51:00.000-07:002020-04-10T09:25:17.075-07:00The Fantastic Four: Human Freaks as Monster Hunters<br />
Examining early Marvel comics and trying to see them without the accumulation of later stories is quite a trick. It is more of a writer trick than a reader trick. And it requires several attempts to see them in a new light or rather in their original light. I have been inspired by Al Ewing's tumblr about the Hulk: https://alewing.tumblr.com/page/29<br />
<br />
When Marvel retells the early stories, they always do so in a more superheroic style, highlighting human anatomy for example. In the eighties John Byrne famously explained his approach to drawing the Thing. During the seventies his body shape had become more anatomically human, with the shape of muscles becoming visible, in particular as drawn by George Pérez. John Byrne explained he used a star-shape figure: no visible neck, limbs larger at the joints with the body trunk.<br />
https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/1av2xw/how_to_draw_the_thing_by_john_byrne_xpost/<br />
<br />
In 1961, Marvel's successful magazines were monsters stories, Comics Code-approved horror stories and when Stan Lee was asked to copy DC's best-sellers, he came up with the Fantastic Four, a mashup combining superpowered adventurers and monsters. In the story these four adventurers are turned into freaks: The Thing's shape seems to change from panel to panel, Reed Richards's anatomy seems to melt, Sue Storm becomes invisible, only represented by a silhouette in dotted line, and Johnny Storm's body is utterly engulfed in flames. Those depictions of their appearances are quite different from those that will become standard a few years down the line. The characters will become more muscular, veering their look toward a more superheroic appearance.<br />
<br />
In their original appearance, the characters were turned into freaks. The Invisible Girl produces the effects of a ghost or poltergeist, the Thing is described as a monster, the Human Torch as a flaming object. And the Human Torch says of Reed and Ben, "You've been turned into monsters... both of you!"<br />
<br />
They decide to help mankind and they become monster hunters, fighting monsters in issues #1, #3 and #4 and monstrous aliens in #2. The shift toward traditional superheroic starts in #3 with the costumes, continues in #4 with the reintroduction of the Sub-Mariner and #5 with the appearance of a colorful sorcerer scientist as antagonist. Their adversaries at this point are scientists and aliens.<br />
<br />
Still it will take until #13 to introduce super-powered antagonists. One is a human scientist and has the powers of a ghost, the others are apes. In #18 an alien duplicates their powers. It is only in #20 that a super-powered costumed villain appears and still he operates through a molecular ("magic") wand. The edging toward traditional superheroics has been very gradual over these first two years. The threats were mainly from science fiction or dressed as pseudo-supernatural.<br />
<br />
Issue #25 starts a flurry of superheroes guest appearances. Costumed criminals appear regularly from #36.<br />
<br />
But think about those early issues when a group of human freaks decided to help humanity by turning on other monsters. In hindsight it reads like minority people turning on their own minority to gain mainstream acceptance. There is unexplored territory right there for enterprising writers.Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-25775301114509203972020-02-07T07:19:00.000-08:002020-06-22T01:37:03.547-07:00An exercise in chronology: adding two stories from Red White & Blue to Captain America's listing<h3>
</h3>
<div id="post_content58867">
<div class="content">
Two stories of the 2002 <i>Captain America: Red White & Blue</i> anthology were not included in the Marvel Chronology Project listing.<br />
<br />
<b>The eighth story in <i>Captain America: Red White & Blue</i>.</b></div>
<div class="content">
<br />
Synopsis: February 1954: Earlier, the Red Skull had killed a senator named Joseph McRooter, and taken
his place. Recruiting war criminals to help him, he called for
investigations into the U.S. military for possible Communist
infiltration. As part of this, he demanded that Captain America and
Brigadier General Zwiller appear before him. Captain America appeared
with lawyer Ken Levine in Washington. "McRooter" demanded that Captain
America take off the mask during his next appearance.<br />
<br />
Speaking with FBI agent Betsy Ross, Captain America discovered that she
suspected that the real McRooter had been killed and replaced. She
showed him pictures of contacts McRooter had met with, who Captain
America recognized as war criminals.<br />
<br />
At the next hearing, Captain America unmasked "McRooter" as the Red Skull. An
agent of his grabbed for a gun, but Betsy Ross shot him.</div>
<div class="content">
</div>
<div class="content">
It was discussed twice in the Marvel Chronology Project forum:<br />
<br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.chronologyproject.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13139">http://www.chronologyproject.com/phpbb2 ... =9&t=13139</a><br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.chronologyproject.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4170">http://www.chronologyproject.com/phpbb2 ... f=9&t=4170</a><br />
<br />
<br />
I think I can overcome all objections that have been raised for the inclusion of this story.<br />
<br />
<b class="text-strong">Objection 1: the 1950s Captain America started in 1954 </b>(and so cannot have the Korea War service mentioned). This is false both on publication dates and intradiegetic narrative.<br />
<br />
Paul B. stated "There was a Captain America active in 1954 (William Burnside), but that wasn’t until later in ’54."<br />
Yet <i>Young Men</i> #24 had a publication date of December 1953, so hitting
stands in August or September 1953 (after the truce of July 27, 1953).<br />
<br />
Based on the narration in <i>Captain America</i> #155 by Burnside, the plan to make a new Captain America was
cancelled after the July 27, 1953 truce. Instead, he starts as a
teacher, meets Bucky in the fall and "later that same year" (so still in
1953) becomes Captain America.<br />
<br />
<b class="text-strong">Objection 2: he was never deployed to Korea so the senator's bringing up his Korea service means it cannot fit in continuity.</b><br />
http://www.chronologyproject.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15080 <br />
He is in Korea in <i>Men's Adventures</i> #28, then in <i>Captain America</i> #77 (fourth story) rescuing
prisoners of war, he is stationed there as a soldier in <i>Captain America</i> #78 (second story) and the
narrative in <i>Marvel Comics Presents</i> #47 (fourth story) mentioned a Captain America was in Pork Chop Hill with a
soldier called Clarence. Pork Chop Hill refers to two battles of the Korea War: 16–18
April / 6–11 July 1953. <br />
<br />
Since we have no confirming pictures with the narrative, Clarence could
have confused memories. Maybe he met this Captain America after the truce in <i>Men's
Adventure</i> #28 (second story), <i>Captain America</i> #77 (fourth story) or #78 (second story) or in Indochina (<i>Captain America</i> #76, fourth story).<br />
<br />
Another possibility is the following, Burnside did become Captain America in July
1953, was sent to Pork Chop Hill and was disappointed that the war ended
three weeks later and that the military took back the costume so soon.
The stories in <i>Young Men</i> #24 and <i>Captain America</i> #76 establish that Captain America & Bucky are believed to be fictitious, possibly the result the army denying Captain America's presence at Pork Chop Hill. His first-person narrative in <i>Captain America</i> #155 would then be hyperbole or a simplification, possibly an
attempt to claim he first became Captain America on his own, to rationalize acting without official sanction. In that
scenario, after he saved the United Nations from the Red Skull's attack, the army revised their position on
having an active Captain America, maybe on the condition that he (re)joined the army. <br />
<br />
Possibly supporting the action in Korea hypothesis, the flashback in <i>Captain America</i> (fifth series) #38 is
actually three flashbacks. In the first one he is alone, in the second
one receiving a giant key with Bucky, in the third with Bucky unduly
attacking African Americans in spite of policemen. As a three-panel
summary of his career, it sort of reads 1. operating alone, 2. being
lionized with Bucky, 3. turning unbalanced. The fact that it is only the second
panel that mentions "using the super-soldier serum on himself and his
Bucky" could be interpreted as meaning he was already Captain America before
injecting the serum on Bucky and himself. I have no idea which of the
three panels prompted the placement after <i>Captain America</i> #77. The third panel should
occur much later, before panel three page 17 of <i>Captain America</i> #155. The ceremony in the second
panel is odd for the low-key adventure in <i>Captain America</i> #77 that it follows, but
such ceremonies are planned in advance and this could be an award for an
earlier accomplishment (saving the United Nations for example). Whatever is made of
the data, this Captain America has enough of a service overseas to be attacked on
it by the "senator".<br />
<br />
<b class="text-strong">Objection 3: Betsy Ross is out of place in this story as she resigned in 1949. </b><br />
<br />
This argument is not valid since she was a supporting character in the first two stories in <i>Captain America</i> #76. <br />
<br />
<b class="text-strong">Objection 4: this Red Skull is a Nazi rather than a Communist. </b><br />
<br />
While it is indeed likely that he is a Nazi due to the mention of "war
criminals" as "contacts of his," strictly speaking it is only Captain America who
characterizes the rhetoric as "Nazi ideas." But even so in <i>New Avengers
</i>(2nd series) #11-12 (the Avengers 1959 flashback) there is a Nazi Red
Skull impostor (which could even be the same as this one).<br />
<br />
<b class="text-strong">Further argument for inclusion, </b>the
"Senator" accuses Cap of "activities behind enemy lines." In the fourth story of <i>Captain America</i> #76
Captain America went behind enemy lines in Indochina pretending to defect to the
communist side. A truncated version of that event would serve the
accusation.<br />
<br />
So I place this story after the second story of <i>Captain America</i> #78, his last appearance in Korea. </div>
<br />
<div class="content">
Suggested revisions of the Marvel Chronology Project listings for characters involved:<br />
GOLDEN GIRL II/BETTY ROSS<br />
CAC 76/2<br />
*CA:RW&B /8<br />
<br />
CAPTAIN AMERICA IV/WILLIAM BURNSIDE/"STEVE ROGERS"<br />
*CA5 38 (2)-FB add number in parentheses)<br />
CAC 77/2<br />
CAC 77/4<br />
MENADV 28/2<br />
CAC 78/2<br />
*CA:RW&B /8 insert<br />
CAC 78<br />
CAC 78/4<br />
CA@ 13-FB<br />
CA@ 6<br />
CATOW:AF<br />
*CA5 38 (3)-FB insert<br />
CA 155 (17:3 - 18:5)-FB<br />
<br />
Either:<br />
RED SKULL IMPOSTER III <br />
*CA:RW&B /8 insert<br />
NA2 11<br />
NA2 12<br />
<br />
Or:<br />
RED SKULL IMPOSTER III (insert)<br />
*CA:RW&B /8<br />
<br />
RED SKULL IMPOSTER IV (change number)<br />
NA2 11<br />
NA2 12</div>
<div class="content">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<b>The ninth story in <i>Captain America: Red White & Blue</i>. </b><br />
<br />
Synopsis: Captain America has been shrunk down and inserted into
someone’s brain to fix genetic sabotage. He battles Red Bra, who turns
out to be Sharon Carter. Also, Black Mamba is called in for help, who
mentions the Avengers. After the patient is saved, Captain America asks who it is.
It is a comic artist making comics about a rich character giving money to
homeless people! GASP! How will this affect the CHILDREN???!~ wonders
Captain America. (Refers to 1952's Disney story "A Christmas for Shacktown")<br />
<br />
In 2002 this story could not be canonic. Thanks to the <i>Captain America:
Reborn</i> series, it is now possible for Captain America in 1952 to remember/dream of
Sharon Carter and Black Mamba. During <i class="text-italics">Reborn</i> Cap's present consciousness
travels to his own past at the time of (in issue #1) D-Day, his mother's
death, a castle in Europe in 1944 (in #1 & #2), a late war meeting
with FDR, Erskine's death in 1940, (in #3) the block of ice worshipped
by Eskimos thrown into the sea by Namor, the Kree-Skrull War, (in #4)
the battle vs Madame Hydra, the Channel Islands fatal fight in April
1945. His present memories can therefore appear in a story set in 1952.<br />
<br />
And there are now three different stories
establishing that while frozen in ice Captain America was having
weird dreams. The ninth story in <i>Captain America: Red White & Blue</i> is clearly dreamlike (or nightmarish). The tenth story in that collection shows five different dreams. The third dream story is the "1964" story in <em class="text-italics">Marvel Comics</em> 1000. (The sixth story in <i>Captain America: Red White & Blue</i> is also a weird dream.)<br />
<br />
Analysis: The story starts "Somewhere in a cortex, November 12th, 1952."
So this story happens in a brain, but the frozen Captain America's
brain (not a comics artist although note that Captain America is a former comics
artist himself!). Black Mamba on page 6 says, "It's only a dream." The
whole thing is another of those dreams he had while frozen like <i>Marvel Comics</i> #1000
'1964' and the tenth story in <i>Captain America: Red White & Blue</i>, except it's a dream from the Captain
America at the time of <i>Captain America: Reborn</i> bouncing across time, here bouncing back
to the time when he was frozen dreaming in November 1952, which is how he can
dream of Sharon Carter and Black Mamba in that story. <br />
<br />
Although absurdist, a number of elements in this dream point to Captain America's
predicament in <i>Captain America: Reborn</i>. Sharon Carter is a traitor in the dream and so
was she in "Death of Captain America" as she was the (brainwashed) assassin of Captain America. "Red Bra"
is Captain America's unconscious mind telling him she was manipulated by the Red Skull. A
footnote says Sharon has been "missing in action since the latest
victorious battle against the Red Skull." The "in a cortex" phrase can
itself refer to the consciousness of the modern-day Captain America being present in
the brain of his past self. The red machine instilling red thoughts
into the comics artist's brain can be a subconscious warning that the
Red Skull is in the process of swapping bodies with Captain America in <i>Captain America: Reborn</i> #4 between pages 17 & 25. Sharon Carter is present during this
operation and speaking, even calling to Steve. Her voice could influence
the content of Cap's dream. So this story should be placed during <i class="text-italics">Reborn</i> #4.<br />
<br />
This could be placed between pages 17 & 18 (before his last return
to the past), between 22:3 & 22:4 (just before he realizes he's
pulled from the time stream, but he's back in civvies in the next
panel), between 22 & 23 (he's in costume but not in a specific past
time anymore) or between 24 & 25 (just before Red Skull takes over
his body). <br />
<br />
Presumably the operation requires three steps 1) locating Captain America's mind and
2) pulling it to the present, 3) swapping Captain America's & Red Skull's minds.
During step 1 his mind, dreaming in 1952, is influenced by Sharon Carter's
voice and Red Skull's presence through the link to his present body,
then his consciousness shifts to April 1945 and that's when he's pulled
to the present (22:4 - 25:1), his body is taken over (25:1 - 27:1).</div>
<div id="post_content58867">
</div>
<div id="post_content58867">
CAPTAIN AMERICA/STEVE ROGERS<br />
CA:REBORN 4 (1-17)<br />
*CA:RW&B /9 insert here<br />
CA:REBORN4 (18-28)<br />
<br />
CARTER, SHARON<br />
CA:REBORN 4 (1-17)<br />
*CA:RW&B /9 insert here<br />
CA:REBORN4 (18-28)<br />
<br />
RED SKULL/JOHANN SCHMIDT<br />
CA:REBORN 4 (1-17)<br />
*CA:RW&B /9 insert here<br />
CA:REBORN4 (18-28)<br />
<br />
In <i>The Avengers</i> #4 there are bits of information that Captain America should not have.
How does he know that his last mission was "more than twenty years ago"?
Presumably, the Avengers could have told him the date in an unseen
scene. But when Captain America says "I must have been frozen in an ice floe and
found by some Eskimos who thought I was a supernatural object" there is
no way he or the Avengers could have known that. Those elements must be
what prompted Ed Brubaker to write <i>Captain America: Reborn</i>. <br />
<br />
In retrospect, it seems the dreams in the tenth story of <i>Captain America: Red White & Blue</i> are also affected
by the modern-day Captain America's consciousness. On page 2 the Red
Skull says, "How long have I waited for this moment? Ten years?
Fifteen?" This points to awareness that this many years have passed.
Page 3 mentions "red saboteurs" indicating awareness of the Cold War and
the lunar cities point to the space race. The early lunar conquest also
evokes <i>Captain America</i> (fifth series) #10, the House of M reality. On page 4 Senator Rogers
announces his candidacy to the office of... but is then targeted by a
sniper's assassination attempt in front of a building and on similar
steps as in <i>Captain America</i> (fifth series) #25. The deathbed scene on page 6 is reminiscent of the one
in <i>Captain America</i> #286, the death of Jeff Mace, the third Captain America.<br />
<br />
If Captain America was "unstuck in time" during <i>Captain America: Reborn</i>, it seems logical that the
period when he was frozen would be one of the most revisited since it
covers more than fifty percent of his lifetime (60 years on the sliding time scale, which is 60 percent for a person born in 1920). And just as the Captain America in
<i>The Avengers</i> #4 displayed future knowledge, just as the dreams in the tenth story of <i>Captain America: Red White & Blue</i> reflect future events, the initially surreal ninth story can now find its place in the chronology.<br />
<div class="content">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-39903675130476012702020-01-02T10:35:00.000-08:002020-04-10T09:18:31.581-07:00The Hulk is not a superheroThese days many believe the Hulk is a superhero.<br />
<br />
It is obvious that his first series had no clear direction. But the Hulk was never supposed to be a superhero. The unexpected success of <i>Fantastic Four</i>, which mashed up super-powers, adventure stories and monsters, must have led Marvel executives to wonder what element was responsible.<br />
Marvel was having success with monsters and that's what they went for. The series starts as a horror story where the character is a mix of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the Frankenstein Monster from the movies, a werewolf (changing at night), Godzilla (born of an atomic explosion) and the Heap (having a young sidekick called Rick). Absolutely none of that denotes a superhero influence.<br />
<br />
In those days when the Comics Code Authority forbid the use of the word "horror" on covers, publishers used "fantasy" whenever they wanted to inform readers of supernatural or horror content, and this is what you can see on the cover of <i>Hulk </i>#1 "Fantasy as you like it," which will make more sense if read as "Horror as you like it."<br />
<br />
The second issue has him facing an alien invasion and Banner is branded a traitor. Banner goes missing, but at the end Lee claims he's rehabilitated though no picture actually shows that. Kirby must have written something else originally because in issue 4 Banner is still missing. We even read in <i>Avengers </i>5 that Banner has been missing since the gamma explosion!<br />
<br />
Another instance of Lee and Kirby being on wildly different tracks is when the Hulk gains superpowers in issue 3 after being bathed in cosmic radiation (like the famous quartet), including the power to fly. Lee didn't like that and added walls of text to explain we were seeing the Hulk jump instead. But apparently he never told Kirby who kept having the Hulk flying for several issues, even in <i>Avengers </i>1. Lee needed to add dialogue and captions every time to explain this was not flying even though the Hulk's trails and other clues told the tale.<br />
<br />
<br />
Kirby kept turning characters into flying characters: the Human Torch, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Magneto, Marvel Girl. Stan, who wanted more realistic characters, had to restrain that impulse.<br />
<br />
In issue 4 it is noted Banner has been missing. He has not been shown with Ross or the military since he was arrested as a traitor in issue 2.<br />
<br />
In <i>FF </i>12 another traitor is found.<br />
<br />
By issue 5 the Hulk becomes more heroic and acts as savior of Betty Ross. Maybe by then Lee and Kirby had figured that it was more the superhero aspect of <i>Fantastic Four</i> than the adventurers/monster hunters which had the favor of the public.<br />
<br />
Given these discrepancies, which show Kirby was plotting the stories and Lee was heavily editing them in the scripting stage, I doubt Lee even plotted <i>Hulk </i>6. In this story the Hulk retains Banner's head and needs to wear a Hulk mask. The mask thing is a typical Ditko device.<br />
<br />
The Hulk will not become a succesful character until the 1970s when horror becomes popular again. Herb Trimpe's knack for drawing monsters and military action will drive the character to popular heights. Later other artists will return to the horror well--Jim Starlin in <i>Hulk </i>222, Mantlo, Buscema, Mignola and Talaoc in the early 80s, then Peter David and Todd McFarlane, to Bruce Jones before the current series by Al Ewing.<br />
<br />
In his postface to the first issue of <i>Immortal Hulk</i>, Ewing dispels his childhood notion that the Hulk is a superhero. "It was a horror book to begin with." Although Ewing tried to drive the point home early in his run that the Hulk is not a superhero by having the same story told in four different genres, far from everybody has clicked to the fact. But with the popular and critical success of his series, one can suppose the identification of <i>The Hulk</i> as a horror series will only grow.Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-10208500106258409562019-11-01T09:18:00.002-07:002020-05-29T16:13:47.531-07:00Avengers Chronology Conundrum<h2 class="entry-title">
</h2>
<div class="entry-meta">
<span class="by-author"> </span> </div>
In Avengers 19 (2010) a drawing shows a photo of the Avengers
with Wasp, Goliath (Pym), Vision, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Thor, Cap,
Iron Man and Scarlet Witch.<br />
The lineup is from Avengers 58-59 except for Scarlet Witch, who was away
with Toad and Quicksilver between #53 and #75. So is this a mistake or
is there a way to make sense of this picture?<br />
This is a period in Avengers history when Black Widow was around in a
stressed relationship with Hawkeye. She was not an official member of
the Avengers until #111.<a href="https://leocomix14.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/screenshot_2019-10-30-avengers-2010-issue-19-read-avengers-2010-issue-19-comic-online-in-high-quality.png"><img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-119" data-attachment-id="119" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screenshot_2019-10-30 Avengers (2010) Issue #19 – Read Avengers (2010) Issue #19 comic online in high quality" data-large-file="https://leocomix14.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/screenshot_2019-10-30-avengers-2010-issue-19-read-avengers-2010-issue-19-comic-online-in-high-quality.png?w=640" data-medium-file="https://leocomix14.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/screenshot_2019-10-30-avengers-2010-issue-19-read-avengers-2010-issue-19-comic-online-in-high-quality.png?w=300" data-orig-file="https://leocomix14.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/screenshot_2019-10-30-avengers-2010-issue-19-read-avengers-2010-issue-19-comic-online-in-high-quality.png" data-orig-size="787,623" data-permalink="https://leocomix14.wordpress.com/2019/10/31/avengers-chronology-conundrum/screenshot_2019-10-30-avengers-2010-issue-19-read-avengers-2010-issue-19-comic-online-in-high-quality/" height="560" src="https://leocomix14.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/screenshot_2019-10-30-avengers-2010-issue-19-read-avengers-2010-issue-19-comic-online-in-high-quality.png?w=709&h=560" width="709" /></a><br />
The photo must have been planned to commemorate the Vision’s
induction (in #58). Maybe Black Widow couldn’t pose for the photo because she
wasn’t a member so she she used her espionage skills to dress as Scarlet
Witch, a former member. This could have been her idea or someone else’s
so that she could appear alongside them. Apart from the Wasp which is
already there, the Scarlet Witch was the only past female member Natasha
could impersonate. An intriguing proposition but are there clues that
this interpretation is correct?<br />
On the photo « Scarlet Witch » looks very stern and crosses her arms,
keeping her distance from Hawkeye. His body language is less clear. In
some way he turns his back to her, in another he turns his head toward
her either to make eye contact or as a sad witness of her displeasure.<br />
Further decoding the body language, we can see that Iron Man must
have been the sticker for the rules who initially objected to have
Natasha pose with them. Not only does he have his back to her at an
angle as if to bodily obstruct the line of the camera but he clenches
his fists and his head is turned away from his comrades in disagreement
with his fellow Avengers who are looking at the camera.Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-46504350922816008132014-02-08T13:48:00.000-08:002014-02-08T13:48:22.166-08:00Hawkeye a-t-il lancé une mode?Suite au succès de Hawkeye, Marvel semble lancer toutes sortes de séries, qualifiées de style super-héros indépendant (en référence aux éditeurs dits indépendants du marché américain, c-à-d ceux dont la production ne consiste pas principalement en super-héros), dans lesquelles le super-héros ne serait plus en costume: Superior Foes of Spider-Man, Black Widow, Punisher, Moon Knight. <br />
Je crois que l'analyse serait plus pertinente si, au lieu de dire que la
mode Hawkeye est de faire disparaitre le costume classique du super-héros avec le slip à l'extérieur, on disait que ça
consiste à faire du polar. Superior Foes of Spider-Man montre les
costumes mais ça reste du polar. Et, bien sûr, Punisher en mode polar,
c'est presque vieux de 40 ans. <br />Cela fait un bon bout de temps que
Marvel exploite l'aspect non-super-héros de ceux de ses personnages qui
s'y prêtent. Thor est une série de fantasy depuis plusieurs années, depuis qu'ils ont abandonné le costume
(déjà hybride) de Kirby. Cela permet à Marvel de diversifier son offre,
ce que DC a du mal à faire. Seul Azzarello a réussi à reconvertir Wonder
Woman en série de fantasy. Green Arrow prend une tournure de série
d'aventures. J'ai cru lire que Johns avait changé Shazam en série de
fantasy mais je ne l'ai pas lu. <br />D'après Ellis, son Moon Knight est du "weird crime". En fait, "weird crime" est la formule de Batman. Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-2191332674218002952014-01-06T07:57:00.000-08:002014-01-06T07:57:11.851-08:00Hulk could fly in his first seriesHere's my hypothesis:
In Hulk #3 Kirby had the Hulk gain new powers thanks to cosmic radiation (the same way the Fantastic Four got their powers) and Lee overwrote it.
I think this comes from Stan Lee objecting to characters flying for no reason. Few characters could fly in early Marvel.<br />
<br />
(Personally, I wished writers were more discriminate with flying power. I don't know what would be the wind force necessary to fly a human being and the amount of noise it would create but I wished X-Men didn't speak in mid-air when flown by Storm. To this day I'm annoyed when I see Sub-Mariner carry people when he shouldn't be able to fly. At least his 70s costume made it likely he could glide.)<br />
<br />
Many panels in Hulk #3 to #5 show the Hulk flying, not leaping. It’s only the text that says he’s leaping. There’s not one panel that shows him unambiguously leaping while there are several that show him unequivocally flying (he changes
direction mid-flight, turns right or left, takes off like a plane):<br />
#3 page 24<br />
#4 (first story) page 6, 9<br />
<br />
And every time you have Lee captions which explain it’s not flying. Coincidence? Hardly.<br />
<br />
The second story of #4 page 6 is the first panel where he is shown clearly leaping but that’s a different, smaller leap to create a shockwave to scatter soldiers when Hulk hits the ground.<br />
On page 9 the panels are more consistent with leaping long distance.
It’s only on #5 second story page 1 that he rebounds.<br />
<br />
Clumsy as the overwriting looks, I have to agree with Lee's instant retcon (just editing actually). It makes the Hulk more interesting. And it worked.
To this day some people have said Hulk wasn't flying in those issues so Lee must have been convincing. Like many I read those early Hulk issues after I had seen him in later Bronze Age issues so I also didn't think he was flying when I first read those early issues.<br />
<br />
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, look at those trails...
<br />
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Hulk takes off like a plane, can change direction mid-flight, etc.<br />
<br />
The panels unequivocally show the Hulk flying and thus an intent on the part of the penciler for him to fly. Just as well the captions go at great lengths to overwrite the visual and show an intent for the Hulk not to fly. And this in two stories, Hulk #3 and the first in #4.<br />
<br />
My guess is that Kirby was already at work on #4 before Lee informed him of the changes in #3. It also suggests that Kirby was doing a good part of the plotting already in 1962.<br />
<br />
(And maybe earlier if someone gets to analyse and compare the various versions published by Atlas-Marvel of the same stories. Lee was known to submit an old plot when he didn"t have a new one ready for a penciler.)<br />
<br />
There is a possibility that Lee first asked for a flying character and then changed his mind at the scripting stage but I doubt that.
Kirby was the one who made unlikely characters fly (Thor) while Lee strived for more realism.
I don't have my Omnibus at hand but I think it's Kirby who added the bootjets to Iron Man.
In recent years some pages of a rejected Hulk story have surfaced;<br />
<br />
(https://www.blastr.com/2012/02/6_pages_of_awesome_art_fr.php)<br />
<br />
This wordless story seems to show the mental link between Jones and Hulk that was established at the end of the first story in #3 and that Hulk received along with the flying power.
So, were those rejected pages supposed to come in issue #3?<br />
<br />
Issue #3 retells the origin in three pages. It's a bit odd so soon after the first issue to do that. Then the Ringmaster is a character from Kirby's run on Captain America Comics. Did Kirby come up with that story in a hurry? The last page shows Hulk not only flying but looping (page 24). <br />
<br />
Issue #4 starts with a machine aimed at Hulk's head (page 1). Was that originally connected to his injury in the discarded pages? In that same story the soldiers train against a jet-powered robot Hulk (page 4). Lee puts a lot of effort in his captions to explain that the Hulk leaps in such a way that he seems to be flying (page 5). <br />
<br />
In #5 there are still many panels where he seems to fly (1, 3, 6 -cf the twisting trail as he leaves the plane-, 7, 11, 12, 13). On page 1, 6 and 12, we have rebounds and I wonder if these weren't added/redrawn by the inker at Lee's request.
It is known that Kirby generally didn't read the pages after Lee had scripted them. Was that why the flying Hulk went on for so long?
Or was it a disagreement which led to Ditko taking over with issue #6?<br />
<br />
Ditko's Hulk is more clearly leaping. Page 2 is ambiguous but page 3 is less so. On page 8, no place is left to any doubt with the Hulk bracing and bending his knees in slow motion.
Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-38830875397560229582014-01-05T13:32:00.000-08:002020-04-17T09:37:22.260-07:00What are the defining runs of Marvel heroes?A defining run is simply one that defines the character.
A defining run is then one that is used as inspiration by later writers and which established or explored the limits within which a character works well. It is rarely a later run.
Now, Silver Age heroes weren't all defined in the sixties.<br />
<br />
The Beast was defined by his 70s series which established his continual mutation.<br />
<br />
Captain Marvel and Him/Warlock were defined by Jim Starlin in the 70s even though they were created in the 60s.<br />
<br />
The (first) Guardians of the Galaxy were defined by Gerber.<br />
<br />
She-Hulk wasn't defined in her first series. Well, she was, as a monster, but that didn't stick. The one that sticked is her Stern Avengers + Byrne FF appearances. She became a legit superhero rather than a menace, and fun loving and gorgeous rather than monstrous.<br />
<br />
Captain America was defined by Lee's work from 1964-1971. During that period, he became the out of time soldier, he was a team member of the Avengers in epic adventures, worked for SHIELD as a one-man commando in spy/action thrillers and was engaged in social commentary by his association with the Falcon and his road trip through America.
Little much has been added since. Englehart's run falls in the social commentary model. Brubaker in the spy-thriller one.<br />
<br />
As excellent as it was, I can't see how Simonson's run on Thor could be defining. The mythology, soap opera and space opera epics were already there in Lee-Kirby's run.<br />
<br />
Wolverine's limited series didn't define him because Wolverine isn't continually immersed in the Japanese culture.<br />
<br />
For Daredevil, it's tricky. Miller clearly influenced generations of writers but on the other hand the character has characteristics that Miller didn't touch and that other writers, like Kesel and Waid have touched.
I'd say Wallace Wood had the first defining run (he created the standard red costume) but it's subsumed under Lee. Wolfman created the modern DD with more hard-edged stories, which Shooter, McKenzie and Miller followed. Then Miller redefined the character by adding elements.<br />
<br />
A famous comic book writer once said that he considers Miller's DD an "Earth 2 version."
Mazzuchelli featured some Gene Colan influence. In that his approach wasn't the complete break that Miller was, his run is highly regarded.
The first writer who has combined all the influences is Mark Waid.
I'd say this character didn't have one defininig runs but several. One interesting aspect is how the character changes every time you change the romantic element: Karen Page, the Black Widow in San Francisco, Heather Glenn & Elektra, Typhoid Mary & Karen Page, Milla Donovan, Kirsten McDuffie.Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-20552768460969911442014-01-04T09:27:00.002-08:002014-01-04T16:27:54.825-08:00Le 40e anniversaire de Wolverine
C'est cette année et apparemment ce qu'ont prévu les responsables, c'est plus de pouvoir autoguérisseur (c'est déjà fait), des griffes artificielles (dans les images pour le prochain numéro 1). Le personnage redevient ce qu'il était il y a 40 ans.
Si on pouvait aussi retirer les japoniaiseries, je suis curieux de voir ce que ça pourrait donner. Le concept de départ peut-il tenir la route ou le personnage a-t-il besoin des ajouts successifs?
Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-91418760312283875502013-10-14T08:50:00.002-07:002014-01-07T13:24:45.073-08:00Breaking Boundaries: An analysis of Superman's first appearance<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif1s8T3ebZdYCX-KwdyJ3zA1MA9a1ZqnhVSPdPaLH5VpSsBW_sSopYL4gz99nn_ZZibuQdz1hPyZlzsRqwuA3Ih__8_PqFElUOfw97IXL8AXFXCJS7CTHBURU5PgM1Dy77r7Gt5ZNVIQ/s1600/comics_First+Essay,+Action+Comics.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif1s8T3ebZdYCX-KwdyJ3zA1MA9a1ZqnhVSPdPaLH5VpSsBW_sSopYL4gz99nn_ZZibuQdz1hPyZlzsRqwuA3Ih__8_PqFElUOfw97IXL8AXFXCJS7CTHBURU5PgM1Dy77r7Gt5ZNVIQ/s1600/comics_First+Essay,+Action+Comics.jpg" /></a><br />
By Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artist)<br />
From <i>Action Comics</i> #1, June 1938, panels numbered 10 to 17<br />
<b>Breaking Boundaries</b><br />
<br />
The creation of a miraculous champion for justice:
How Superman shatters comics conventions and social barriers<br />
The creation of Superman changed the face of comics in America. How could a character rejected many times suddenly become the incarnation of a nation?<br />
This page shows Superman racing to the governor to save an innocent life, presumably to ask for a stay of execution. He carries a woman, gagged and with her hands ties. He leaves her outside as he reaches for the governor's house. He doesn't behave as a gentleman but treats her like he would a man. In the first panel he looks like a giant straddling the landscape as if he wore seven-league boots. This makes him a fantastical character. The shading lines on his costume and the landscape point toward the right and the bottom of the whole page but also to a house in the lower left of that panel.
The language is very terse with even the word "through" shortened: "A tireless figure races thru the night." The sparseness of words evokes the urgency of a telegram: “Seconds count: Delay means forfeit of an innocent life.”
Superman is always drawn with a leg before the other one and with his chest forward. He’s a motion that cannot be stopped. His supernatural strength and giant leaps make him a force of nature.<br />
The page has three equal tiers. The top tier has three equal panels. When the governor’s butler closes the door on Superman on the first panel of the second tier, the width of the panel is reduced, leaving Superman with very little space. But in the next panel he smashes through the door, and through the gutter as well as the camera recedes to show his whole figure and the whole door. As a result the butler is cornered in the third panel. In fact when one looks at the whole tier one can see that the figures of Superman surround the butler: there’s no escaping Superman.<br />
Having thus been cornered, the butler is now seized by Superman in the bottom tier.
In addition the respective positions of the butler, Superman, the door and the wall on the third panel of the top tier, the first and third panels of the second tier as well as the stairs on the second panel of the bottom tier lead us to think the page and its panels are a representation of a house and its rooms. For instance, the right side of the first tier shows Superman on the outside. The next panel on the left side of the middle tier reverses Superman’s position so that the inside stays toward the middle of the page while the outside remains on the borders of the page. The right side of the middle tier depicts a wall.
Similarly, the positions of the Superman figure, always seen in profile, help the eye read the page. On the first and second panels of the first tier, he faces to the right. On the third panel he faces to the left as the reader now needs to go to the left of the middle tier. The middle tier repeats this pattern. The last panel of the bottom tier has Superman taking the butler up the stairs, thus leading the eye outside the page and toward the top of the next page. Since the reader’s eye follows Superman, it helps reader identification with the character as well as it teaches the reader to follow Superman’s lead.
Superman masters space by swallowing great distances with his leaps and by cornering the butler on the comics page itself but he also masters time.<br />
To the butler’s “See him in the morning” he retorts “I’ll see him. Now!” He swallows time.
His dialogue with the butler “Are you going to take me to the governor?” “No! I won’t!” “Then I’ll take you to him!” makes Superman like a prophet as it echoes this exchange, “If the mountain won’t go to the prophet, then the prophet will go to the mountain.”<br />
Superman’s actions are miracles. He’s an agent of divine justice, unstopped by social conventions such as difference of status between men and women or between lower class and upper class.
This page shows Superman owning the space of the comics page. Time, space and people submit to his will. He breaks boundaries of the page, moving inside and outside it at his leisure, and is not bound either by social conventions concerning gender or social classes. Right from his first appearance he embodies might in the service of right.
Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-40423897545652094582013-10-14T08:29:00.001-07:002014-01-06T08:04:28.901-08:00Breaking Bad FinaleIs Walter a bad guy? Creator Vince Gilligan's idea was to tell the story of a protagonist who becomes the antagonist. An idea which seems antithetic to television. But Badger and Skinny Pete in one of their geek conversations, mention JM Straczinsky Babylon 5, the complete TV series which was conceived and told over five seasons, a model for Vince Gilligan.<br />
<br />
In his mind, Walt is the hero, he provides for his family. Even at the end, when in a moment of lucidity, he acknowledges that he did for himself because he was good at it and he felt alive, it's hard not to sympathize with him. He has issues common to gifted people, feelings of a lack of recognition which overtime turned into resentment toward his partners Gretchen and Elliott Schwartz.
But few of the characters around Walt elicit sympathy.<br />
<br />
The character of Skyler White (but not the actress of course) deserves all the illwill she's gotten. Right from the start the handjob she gives Walt as a birthday present while she tracks an ebay auction makes her unlikable. Certainly she is lied to continuously by a manipulative Walt but she's got all the characteristics of a castrating, emasculating personality. The scene with the talking pillow and the one when she goes into the pool show how manipulative she can be herself. As Jesse says, it's her who wears the pants.<br />
<br />
The pants is the first image of the show, pants not worn, flying as the mobile home starts in a hurry. At least three male characters are manipulated by their female counterpart.
Walt Junior is a study in passive-aggressive behavior. He has none of the smarts of his father (but is Walt his father? Remember when Ted Beneke says the kid has "good genes"?). Yet Walt never shows any of the frustration that he must feel over his retarded son.<br />
<br />
Jesse, who becomes a sort of surrogate son, one who learns from Walt, is originally a two-bit loser but due to Walt's influence, he starts having flashes of brilliance. His moral awakening gives him sympathy points but he doesn't find his freedom by himself.<br />
<br />
Hank has moments of brilliance but he's out of his depth too many times and would have lost his life if not for Walt. His inability to face emotional issues makes him putty in the hands of Walt such as in the scene where Walt puts spy software in Hank's computer. This is in stark contrast with his exterior bluster as a DEA agent.<br />
<br />
Marie Schrader is borderline crazy (substitute "seems to have unresolved psychological issues" if you prefer politically correct nonsense).
Generally speaking, women on the show are often annoying. Consider Lydia Rodart-Quayle.<br />
<br />
The Pinkmans (Jesse and his parents), the Whites and the Schraders show us a very dysfunctional image of the suburbian American family.<br />
<br />
So not only Walt's entourage isn't endearing but there are always more unsavory characters: the Salamancos, Gus Fring, the Cartel, Todd Alquist, his uncle Jack and his gang are worse. Mike Ehrmantraut, putting money aside for his grand-daughter and fiercely loyal to his men (therefore very much like Walt) is nonetheless a cold-blooded killer.
Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-63393610269377781242013-10-03T11:33:00.000-07:002014-01-07T13:29:18.721-08:00Dexter Last Season: What Were They Thinking?As the last season was announced the series would move toward one of these two goals: the happy end or the death of Dexter. Dexter being exposed was another strong possibility. Yet the writers chose none of the above. While they defied expectations, that may not have been for the best.
If there was one continuous thread to the previous seasons, it was the ongoing humanization of Dexter. Certainly this comes up as this season offered what Dexter never had: a mother. Enter: Dr. Vogel, the psychiatrist which developed Harry’s code, who therefore serves as a surrogate mother. Except she’s everything but maternal, even encouraging Dexter’s murderous nature.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Debra has left the police force and works as a private investigator. Her relationship with Dexter is strained, although Dexter refuses to give up on her as if she was his anchor to his humanity.
The return of Hannah MacKay makes it possible that Dexter will have a family. Even Captain Matthews seems to serve as a replacement father as he keeps reminding Dexter about Harry. And then Zach Hamilton is a surrogate son, a serial killer to whom Dexter teacher Harry’s code.<br />
<br />
The family angle is paralleled with the supporting cast. Quinn is getting out with Jamie and starts thinking about getting a better situation. Masuka finds out he has a daughter and wonders if he can be a dad. A number of spectators have wondered what was the point of Masuka’s daughter? I’ll offer this: After a long list of Dexter doubles, one can forget that Masuka early on was described by Dexter as another man pretending to be normal. Could he overcome his sex obsession and become a family man? He does and this gives hope for Dexter himself. But Quinn doesn’t come through as he fails getting the promotion and then fails being fair to Jamie after she moved in with him.<br />
<br />
Dr. Vogel points out that Dexter isn’t a perfect psychopath because of his feelings. In her view he can’t have empathy and says as much until she begins to revise her judgment. However this may blind her to the danger of her own murderous son and costs her her life as it had cost her charge Zach Hamilton his.
Still Dexter lets their murderer go as his happiness with Hannah allegedly freed him of his killing instinct. This proves a dire mistake and costs Debra her life. The lesson doesn’t escape Dexter: he causes the death of all those who are close to him.
After so many promises of family, Dexter loses it all: Dr. Vogel, his son, his fiancée, his sister, even the ghost of his father, his job and the relationships he had there.<br />
<br />
The scenes where Dexter shuts Debra from life support in the hospital, takes her body to his boat and dumps her body at sea are the more resonant. They remind us of his first kill, the nurse, and of his other disposals. But the final scene, where he’s seen to have survived the storm and working for a lumber company, lacks any such resonance. In the main, the ideas for this season weren’t bad but their execution was ultimately unsatisfying.
Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-38795551220245894012013-09-07T12:32:00.000-07:002020-04-17T09:30:38.705-07:00Are there too many Avengers books?<i>Uncanny Avengers</i>: an Avengers team mixing Avengers and mutants to adress storylines from Remender's <i>Uncanny X-Force</i>. <br />
<i>Avengers</i>: The usual Avengers team<br />
<i>Avengers Assemble</i>: An Avengers team for moviegoers with a strong feminine presence<br />
<i>New Avengers</i>: Not an Avengers team, but the Illuminati.<br />
<i>Young Avengers</i>: Not an Avengers team<br />
<i>Secret Avengers</i>: Not an Avengers team, a SHIELD series with some Avengers as operatives<br />
<i>Avengers Arena</i>: Not Avengers, not even a team<br />
<br />
<i>Avengers AI</i>: An Avengers team with an artificial intelligence theme. Well,
that's stupid, why would an Avengers team limit itself to a specific kind
of problem? It's sort of trying to replicate <i>Uncanny Avengers</i> that
hasn't been that good because of its narrow focus on mutant affairs. In
other words <i>Uncanny Avengers</i> took what was wrong with the <i>X-Men</i> family
of titles for the last decades and applied that formula to <i>Avengers</i>.
(When Claremont built the X-Men, he did the reverse, he had them as
globetrotters handling world crises and saving the universe, exactly
like the FF and Avengers). <i>Avengers AI</i> took a similar concept "let's
treat artificial intelligence like mutants" thus compounding a bad idea.<br />
<br />
<i>Mighty Avengers</i>: We don't know yet but it sounds like a street-level
community type team except they assemble to stop an alien invasion
(which might save them from a miscasting).<br />
<br />
Past writers like Roy Thomas and Steve Englehart have expanded the range of
Avengers stories so that we can have sword and fantasy (Arkon), space
opera, time travel, etc.<br />
<br />
I think there is room for different series, especially with different
characters. Hickman is going to tell one story and Avengers fans need
more than that one story. But don't put them in a conceptual ghetto.
Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-25752604439273759742012-12-25T17:54:00.000-08:002020-04-17T09:26:34.980-07:00La mort de Peter Parker<br />
Il y a un mois on apprenait que la série <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> allait
s’arrêter au numéro 700 pour être remplacée par <i>Superior Spider-Man</i>.
Marvel avait déjà joué ce tour en 1996 lorsque <i>ASM</i> avait été remplacé
par <i>Scarlet Spider</i> pour marquer le fait que Ben Reilly, le clone de
Peter Parker, reprenait le flambeau. Les spéculations allaient bon train
pour savoir qui était la nouvelle personne sous le masque. Le
scénariste actuel avait même lancé une fausse piste selon laquelle c’était le Spider-Man de l’an 2099.<br />
<br />
Dans le numéro 698 on apprenait à la fin que le Docteur Octopus avait
échangé son esprit avec celui de Parker et qu’il habitait le corps de
celui-ci en ayant accès à tous les souvenirs de son ennemi tandis que
Parker était lui dans le corps mourant de son vieil adversaire.
L’épisode s’arrêtait sur l’arrêt cardiaque du mourant.<br />
<br />
J’avais alors écrit:<br />
« Il me semble évident que Parker va revenir au numéro 700 et perdre. »<br />
Et on m’a répondu :<br />
« Cela n’a rien d’évident. Il arrachera une forme de victoire, très probablement à un coût personnel très élevé. »<br />
C’est la marque de l’ingéniosité de Dan Slott qu’il arrive à concilier ces deux idées apparemment antithétiques (opposées).<br />
<br />
L’épisode illustre en effet la notion de victoire à la Pyrrhus. C’est
une des marques de la série que Spider-Man remporte ses victoires au
prix cher. Cet aspect du personnage est souvent contesté du côté
américain qui, vivant dans le culte de la réussite, trouve anormal que
le personnage continue d’être un loser après des années. Ainsi on voit
des demandes pour que Parker se marie, ait des enfants et que sa tante
meurt, autrement dit pour clore le chapitre du drame familial qui est à
l’origine du personnage. Une telle évolution a pour désavantage de
changer le personnage et de lui reconstituer une famille, ce qui
explique sans doute la raison pour laquelle Marvel est toujours revenu
sur de telles évolutions. <br />
<br />
La nature d’un héros est de triompher en dépit des obstacles. Spider-man
dispose d’une force surhumaine mais ses meilleurs combats ne sont pas
ceux qu’il remporte par la force. Les fans saluent d’ordinaire son
intelligence et dans ce numéro 700 Octopus et Parker rivalisent
d’intelligence comme Holmes et Moriarty mais ce n’est ni à son
intelligence ni à sa ténacité que Parker arrache une sorte de victoire,
c’est grâce à la totalité de son vécu qu’il fait revivre à son ennemi.
La vie de Parker n’est plus alors une simple banque mémorielle dans
laquelle Octopus va puiser des informations mais une suite de
souffrances morales qui lui instillent de façon indélébile le respect de la vie
humaine.<br />
<br />
<b>Le choix d’Octopus comme successeur</b><br />
Thématiquement, les
adversaires de Spider-Man étaient des versions plus âgés de lui-même,
des scientifiques victimes d’expérience scientifique. La similarité des
origines entre Spider-Man et le docteur Octopus était telle que John
Byrne décida de combiner les deux événements en un seul en 1999 dans
Chapter One, sa reprise des origines du personnage. Le docteur avait la
distinction d’être le premier super-vilain à vaincre Spider-Man et à le
démasquer. Il était aussi proche de sa tante et causa indirectement la
mort du capitaine Stacy. Il est donc en bonne place pour être son plus grand ennemi. Et si le docteur Connors, le docteur Morbius, Norman Osborn sont aussi des scientifiques, aucun d'eux n'était décrit comme rivalisant avec Octavius. Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-71363025370673144052012-10-07T05:44:00.003-07:002020-04-17T09:20:15.025-07:00Chronology for characters from The TwelveHere's the chronology for every character:<br />
<br />
BLACK WIDOW/CLAIRE VOYANT<br />
TWELVE 8-FB (1928)<br />
[MYSTIC COMICS 4/5]<br />
[MYSTIC COMICS 5/5]<br />
[MYSTIC COMICS 7/3]<br />
[USA COMICS 5/2]<br />
MARVELS 1 (1943?)<br />
[ALL SELECT COMICS 1/5]<br />
TWELVE SPEARHEAD (April 1945)<br />
TWELVE 1 (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)<br />
TWELVE 2<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 4<br />
TWELVE 5<br />
TWELVE 6<br />
TWELVE 7<br />
TWELVE 8<br />
TWELVE 9<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
TWELVE 11 (2009)<br />
TWELVE 12 <br />
<br />
BLUE BLADE/ROY CHAMBERS<br />
TWELVE 8-FB<br />
[USA COMICS 5/5]<br />
TWELVE SPEARHEAD<br />
TWELVE 1 (1-21) (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)<br />
TWELVE 2<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 4<br />
TWELVE 5<br />
TWELVE 6-FB<br />
TWELVE 7<br />
TWELVE 8<br />
TWELVE 9=TWELVE 1 (22) = TWELVE 2 (1) (dies)<br />
<br />
CAPTAIN WONDER/PROFESSOR STEVE JORDAN<br />
TWELVE 7 (5:5-7)-FB<br />
[KID KOMICS 1]<br />
[KID KOMICS 2]<br />
TWELVE 2-FB<br />
TWELVE 7 (8:3)-FB<br />
TWELVE SPEARHEAD<br />
TWELVE 1 (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)<br />
TWELVE 2<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 4<br />
TWELVE 5<br />
TWELVE 6-FB<br />
TWELVE 6<br />
TWELVE 7<br />
TWELVE 9<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
TWELVE 11 (2009)<br />
TWELVE 12 <br />
<br />
DYNAMIC MAN/CURT COWAN<br />
TWELVE 10-FB<br />
[MYSTIC COMICS 1/7]<br />
[MYSTIC COMICS 2/3]<br />
[MYSTIC COMICS 3/8]<br />
[MYSTIC COMICS 4/8]<br />
TWELVE SPEARHEAD<br />
TWELVE 1 (1-10) (April 25, 1945)<br />
TWELVE 9-FB=TWELVE 10-FB<br />
TWELVE 1 (12-21) (August 2, 2008)<br />
TWELVE 2<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 4<br />
TWELVE 5-FB<br />
TWELVE 5<br />
TWELVE 6<br />
TWELVE 8<br />
TWELVE 9<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
TWELVE 11 (dies) (2009)<br />
<br />
ELECTRO, Marvel of the Age<br />
Marvels Project 3-BTS (Summer 1940)<br />
TWELVE 9-FB (14:1-6)<br />
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 4/5 (cover dated Feb 1940)<br />
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 5/5<br />
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 6/5<br />
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 7/5<br />
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 8/5<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 9/4]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 10/5]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 11/7]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 12/5]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 13/5]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 14/6]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 15/6]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 16/3]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 17/2]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 18/5]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 19/5] (cover dated May 1941)<br />
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 70TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (Spring 1941)<br />
MARVEL PROJECTS 6 (Summer 1941)<br />
TWELVE 9-FB (15:4) Zog starts working for the military<br />
TWELVE SPEARHEAD (April 1945)<br />
TWELVE 1 (1-10) (= 9-FB 15:6 - 16:6) <br />
TWELVE 9-FB (17)<br />
TWELVE 1 (12-21)<br />
TWELVE 2<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 4<br />
TWELVE 5<br />
TWELVE 7<br />
TWELVE 8<br />
TWELVE 9<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
TWELVE 11<br />
TWELVE 12<br />
<br />
PROFESSOR PHILO ZOG<br />
TWELVE 9-FB (14:1-6)<br />
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 4/5<br />
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 5/5<br />
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 6/5<br />
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 7/5<br />
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 8/5<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 9/4]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 10/5]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 11/7]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 12/5]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 13/5]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 14/6]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 15/6]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 16/3]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 17/2]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 18/5]<br />
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 19/5]<br />
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 70TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (Spring 1941)<br />
Marvels Project 3-BTS<br />
TWELVE 9-FB (15:4)<br />
TWELVE SPEARHEAD (April 1945)<br />
TWELVE 1 (= 9-FB 15:6 - 16:6) (dies)<br />
<br />
FIERY MASK/DR. JACK CASTLE (1912-2009)<br />
TWELVE 9-FB = TWELVE 3 (16:3)-FB, TWELVE 3 (16:5-17:1)-FB<br />
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 1 (1-6:5)<br />
TWELVE 3 (17:2-17:3)-FB<br />
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 1 (6:6-7:3)<br />
TWELVE 3 (17:4-18:2)-FB<br />
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 1 (7:4-8)<br />
TWELVE 3 (18:3)-FB<br />
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 1 (9-10)<br />
Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special<br />
[DARING MYSTERY COMICS 5]<br />
[DARING MYSTERY COMICS 6]<br />
HUMAN TORCH 2/6<br />
TWELVE SPEARHEAD<br />
TWELVE 1 (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)<br />
TWELVE 2<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 4<br />
TWELVE 5<br />
TWELVE 6<br />
TWELVE 7<br />
TWELVE 8<br />
TWELVE 9<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
TWELVE 11 (dies)<br />
<br />
LAUGHING MASK/DENNIS BURTON<br />
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 2/6<br />
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 3/3 (as the Purple Mask)<br />
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 4 (as the Purple Mask)<br />
TWELVE 3 (13:3-13:4)-FB<br />
TWELVE 3 (14:3-14:5)-FB<br />
TWELVE SPEARHEAD<br />
TWELVE 1<br />
TWELVE 2<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 4-FB<br />
TWELVE 4<br />
TWELVE 5<br />
TWELVE 6<br />
TWELVE 8-FB<br />
TWELVE 9<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
TWELVE 11<br />
TWELVE 12<br />
<br />
MASTER MIND EXCELLO/EARL EVERETT<br />
TWELVE 12-FB<br />
[MYSTIC COMICS 2]<br />
[MYSTIC COMICS 3/5]<br />
TWELVE SPEARHEAD<br />
TWELVE 1<br />
TWELVE 2<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 4<br />
TWELVE 5<br />
TWELVE 6<br />
TWELVE 7<br />
TWELVE 8-FB<br />
TWELVE 8-BTS<br />
TWELVE 9<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
TWELVE 11<br />
TWELVE 12<br />
<br />
MISTER E./VICTOR J. GOLDSTEIN/”VICTOR JAY”<br />
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 2/5<br />
TWELVE 3 (7:4-7:5)-FB<br />
TWELVE 3 (6:2)-FB<br />
MARVELS PROJECT 6 (Summer 1941)<br />
TWELVE SPEARHEAD (April 1945)<br />
TWELVE 1<br />
TWELVE 2<br />
TWELVE 3 (1-9)<br />
TWELVE 3 (21:2)-FB<br />
TWELVE 3 (21:4)-FB<br />
TWELVE 3 (10-23)<br />
TWELVE 4<br />
TWELVE 6<br />
TWELVE 9<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
TWELVE 11<br />
<br />
PHANTOM REPORTER/DICK JONES<br />
Daring Mystery 70th Anniversary Special-FB-FB (3:6-4:3)<br />
Daring Mystery 70th Anniversary Special-FB (2-21)<br />
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 3/4<br />
TWELVE 2-FB<br />
TWELVE SPEARHEAD<br />
TWELVE 1 (1-21) (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)<br />
TWELVE 2<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 4<br />
Daring Mystery 70th Anniversary Special<br />
TWELVE 5<br />
TWELVE 6<br />
TWELVE 7<br />
TWELVE 8<br />
TWELVE 9=TWELVE 1 (22)=TWELVE 2 (1)<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
TWELVE 11 (2009)<br />
TWELVE 12<br />
<br />
ROCKMAN<br />
TWELVE 6-FB<br />
USA COMICS 1/4<br />
USA COMICS 2/5<br />
USA COMICS 3/5<br />
USA COMICS 4/6<br />
TWELVE 4-FB<br />
TWELVE SPEARHEAD<br />
TWELVE 1 (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)<br />
TWELVE 2<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 4<br />
TWELVE 6<br />
TWELVE 8<br />
TWELVE 9<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
TWELVE 11 (2009)<br />
TWELVE 12-BTS<br />
<br />
WITNESS/<br />
TWELVE 5-FB<br />
[MYSTIC COMICS 7/2]<br />
[MYSTIC COMICS 8/4]<br />
[MYSTIC COMICS 9/2]<br />
TWELVE SPEARHEAD<br />
TWELVE 1 (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)<br />
TWELVE 2<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 4<br />
TWELVE 5<br />
TWELVE 6<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
TWELVE 11 (2009)<br />
TWELVE 12<br />
<br />
COLONEL DEXTER<br />
TWELVE 2<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 5<br />
TWELVE 6<br />
<br />
LAURA GOLDSTEIN<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 10 (dies)<br />
<br />
ROBERT GOLDSTEIN<br />
TWELVE 3<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
<br />
Lt David Rose<br />
TWELVE 7<br />
TWELVE 8<br />
TWELVE 9<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
TWELVE 12<br />
<br />
Elizabeth ZOGOLOWSKI<br />
TWELVE 5<br />
TWELVE 7<br />
TWELVE 8<br />
TWELVE 9<br />
TWELVE 10<br />
TWELVE 12-BTS<br />
<br />
TIM MULROONEY<br />
TWELVE 7-FB (5-7)<br />
[KID KOMICS 1]<br />
[KID KOMICS 2]<br />
TWELVE 7-FB (8, 10-11)<br />
TWELVE 7 (dies)Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-68933913165207410842012-10-07T05:39:00.002-07:002020-04-17T09:23:21.536-07:00The Twelve Index Second PartHere's the second part of the Twelve index:<br />
The first part is here <b>http://comicspeak.blogspot.fr/2010/08/marvels-twelve-index.html</b><br />
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THE TWELVE #9 (cover)<br />
Cover Date: April 2012<br />
Cover: Paolo Rivera (cover artist) <br />
Story: No title given (22 pages)<br />
Credits:
J. Michael Straczynski (scripter); Chris Weston (penciler); Chris
Weston (inker); Chris Chuckry (colorist); Jim Betancourt (letterer)<br />
Feature
Characters: Phantom Reporter, Black Widow, Fiery Mask (origin), Blue
Blade (dies), MasterMind Excello, Mister E, Captain Wonder (from #7),
Laughing Mask, Rockman, Dynamic Man<br />
Supporting characters: Elizabeth Zogolowski,, Professor Zog (flashbacks) <br />
Villains: <br />
Other Characters: Detective Rose<br />
Paraphernalia: Electro the Marvel of the Age<br />
Synopsis:<br />
1 Claire Voyant brings coffee to Phantom Reporterin his room, the bell rings<br />
2
Earl Everett enters the house to join Mister E, Laughning Mask, Rockman
and Captain Wonder, then they are joined by Voyant and Phantom
Reporter. Mister E is informed of his wife's death<br />
3 Phantom reporter reflects on changing times<br />
4 Blue Blade, Elisabeth Zogolowski discuss the coming show involving Electro the Marvel of the Age<br />
5 Dynamic Man shows up on a stadium, Blue Blade rehearses<br />
6 Dynamic Man addresses the crowd, Blue Blade is attacked by Electro<br />
7-8 Blue Blade is killed<br />
9 Dynamic Man makes a demonstration of his powers. Corpse of Blue Blade under the rain<br />
10
Phantom Reporter gets a phone call from Detective Rose informing him of
the murder. PR leaves, he sees MasterMind Excello, Rockman and Captain
Wonder in the lobby<br />
11 PR identifies Blue Blade for Rose on the crime scene<br />
12 Rose shows the security camera footage involving Electro to PR and Elisabeth Zogolowski<br />
13 Zogoloski connects PR to Electro's cerebro-records<br />
14 2nd flashback: Zog, Electro<br />
15 flashbacks 3-7 on panels 1-5<br />
15:6 - 16:6 8th fb: The Twelve enter the bunker from issue #1<br />
17 9th fb While the Twelve are in stasis in The Bunker an intelligence (Dynamic Man) connects with Electro<br />
18 Det. Rose disconnects PR from Electro, he faints before he can tell Elisabeth Zogolowski what he saw<br />
19 MasterMind Excello talks with Fiery Mask<br />
20-22 Fiery Mask tells him the origin of his powers <br />
<br />
First flashback: 3:1 life in 1940<br />
Second flashback: 14:1-6 Pr Zog talks to Electro for the first time<br />
Third flashback: 15:1 Electro helps two kids (during Marvel Mystery Comics #4-19)<br />
4th fb: Electro fights gangsters (during Marvel Mystery Comics #4-19)<br />
5th fb: Zog talking about his loneliness<br />
6th fb: Electro talks to a general who welcomes him to the war effort<br />
7th fb: Electro looking at a nazi tank<br />
8th fb: same as #1, The Twelve enter the bunker in Berlin<br />
9th fb: The Twelve in stasis<br />
10th
fb: Jack Castle saves an injured man and gets his power because he
didn't call an ambulance to try to save him (overlaps with Twelve #3
flashbacks)</div>
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THE TWELVE #10 (cover)<br />
Cover Date: May 2012<br />
Cover: Paolo Rivera (cover artist) <br />
Story: No title given (22 pages)<br />
Credits:
J. Michael Straczynski (scripter); Chris Weston (penciler); Chris
Weston (inker); Chris Chuckry (colorist); Jim Betancourt (letterer)<br />
Feature
Characters: Phantom Reporter, Black Widow, Fiery Mask, The Witness
(from #6), MasterMind Excello, Mister E, Captain Wonder, Laughing Mask,
Rockman, Dynamic Man<br />
Supporting characters: Elizabeth Zogolowski, Robert Goldstein <br />
Villains: <br />
Other Characters: Detective Rose<br />
Paraphernalia: Electro the Marvel of the Age<br />
Synopsis:<br />
1-2 Phantom Reporter wakes up in the hospital with Det. Rose and Ms. Zogolowski<br />
3 At Laura Goldstein's burial, Mister E reconnects with his son<br />
4-5,
7-10, 12-22 Phantom Reporter, Captain Wonder, Dynamic Man join Electro,
Mister E, The Witness, Rockman, Black Widow, Laughing Mask, Mastermind
Excello, Fiery Mask in the lobby where he recaps the events, reveals DM
as the murderer<br />
<br />
First flashback: 6:1 The Twelve vs Nazis in Berlin (between pages 2 and 3 of #1)<br />
Second flashback: 6:2-4 The Twelve trapped (6:2 = #1 6:6; 6:3 = #1 7:2; 6:4 = #1 8:4)<br />
Third flashback: 7:3-4 (= #1 8:5) Electro alone <br />
4th fb: 9:1-3 Pr Simon Goettler creates DM's body<br />
5th fb: 11 Pr Goettler injects energy in DM and DM is born<br />
6th fb: 14:1-3 (= #2 18:4-:6, 19:1) DM fails to stop a thief<br />
7th fb: 14:5-6, 15:1-3 (= #6 12:1-6) A gay man gets fresh with DM<br />
8th fb: 15-5 (= #6 22:3) patrons murdered in gay bar<br />
9th fb: 15-6 (= #6 21:4) DM's alibi during the murder<br />
10th fb: 16:2 (= #7 16:2) grass is noticed on Electro's boot<br />
11th fb: 16:3 (= #7 3:5) police notice burn marks outside the bar<br />
12th fb: 17:1-2 (= #9 17) An intelligence connects with Electro in the bunker<br />
13th fb 18, 20:1 (= #10 11:1-4) Pr Goettler injects energy in DM and DM is born<br />
14th fb 20:2 (= #6 12:2) A gay man touches DM's butt<br />
15th fb 30:3 Electro in its crate<br />
16th fb 20:4 (= #6 22:4) Electro wrecks the gay bar<br />
17th fb 20:6 (= #9 7:3) Electro attacks Blue Blade</div>
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THE TWELVE #11 (cover)<br />
Cover Date: June 2012<br />
Cover: Paolo Rivera (cover artist) <br />
Story: No title given (23 pages)<br />
Credits:
J. Michael Straczynski (scripter); Chris Weston (penciler); Chris
Weston (inker); Chris Chuckry (colorist); Jim Betancourt (letterer)<br />
Feature
Characters: Phantom Reporter, Black Widow, Fiery Mask (dies) (1912-2009
on tomb), The Witness, MasterMind Excello, Mister E, Captain Wonder,
Laughing Mask, Rockman (also in flashbacks)<br />
Villains: Dynamic Man (dies)<br />
<br />
1-20
Dynamic Man fights the heroes and collapses the mansion on them.
Rockman saves them but is buried. Phantom Reporter, Fiery Mask,
MasterMind Excello and Captain Wonder track him to the lab he came from.
Fiery Man is fatally hurt and transfers his powers to Phantom Reporter
who helps Captain Wonder destroy Dynamic Man though the Captain is badly
burnt in the process. <br />
21 Back to the collapsed mansion, after clearing the wreckage they find a round hole in the basement and no trace of Rockman.<br />
22-23 Castle's burial, Mister E quits. Captain Wonder is permanently burnt on the right side of his face.</div>
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THE TWELVE #12 (cover)<br />
Indicia Date: June 2012<br />
Cover: Paolo Rivera (cover artist)<br />
Story: No title given (23 pages)<br />
Credits:
J. Michael Straczynski (scripter); Chris Weston (penciler); Chris
Weston (inker); Chris Chuckry (colorist); Jim Betancourt (letterer)<br />
Feature Characters: Phantom Reporter, Black Widow, The Witness, MasterMind Excello, Captain Wonder, Laughing Mask, Rockman (bts)<br />
Guest appearance: Nick Fury<br />
Supporting characters: Elizabeth Zogolowski (bts)<br />
Other Characters: Detective Rose<br />
Paraphernalia: Electro the Marvel of the Age<br />
Synopsis:<br />
1-4 Electro, Laughing Mask, MasterMind Excello, Phantom Reporter have been relocated to an army camp, Black Widow leaves it<br />
5
Detective Rose, Laughing Mask has to make a deal operating Electro for
the army, who leased it from its new owner (Elizabeth Zogolowski) but
she found remote control systems unstable with their test subjects<br />
6-11:3 MasterMind Excello tells his origin to Phantom Reporter and leaves<br />
11:4-12 Phantom Reporter is contacted by the Witness who is works with Nick Fury<br />
13-14 Captain Wonder gets a message from Rockman when rescuing youth from a cave<br />
15-18 Phantom Reporter moves to a hotel where he's joined by Black Widow<br />
19-20 They go to MasterMind Excello's office to work for him<br />
21 Captain Wonder rescuing people, Laughing Mask operating Electro in Middle East war zone<br />
22:1 Witness frightening a man<br />
22:2 Rockman's voice coming from the abyss<br />
22:3-23 Phantom Reporter (in new costume with a flame) and Black Widow (in modernized costume) (maybe as "Fire and Shadow")<br />
<br />
flashback: MasterMind Excello's origin (6-10)<br />
<br />
Nick
Fury's appearance should probably worked out amidst his 2009
appearances (given the date at the end of issue #11). He mentions SHIELD
as paying for the Witness's work.</div>
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Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-3820289723903317462012-01-31T04:45:00.000-08:002020-04-17T07:59:51.439-07:00Fantastic Four by Byrne Omnibus AnnotationsMarvel Team-Up 61 September 1977<br />
<br />
This story doesn't feature the Fantastic Four, but the Human Torch was a regular co-feature. Indeed Marvel Team-Up started as a series featuring Spider-Man and the Human Torch before it became a Spider-Man vehicle. A series with guest-stars was considered the best way to avoid continuity problems for characters who already appeared in their own series. After three issues together, Spider-Man started teaming-up with other characters. In 1974, when Marvel launched Giant-Size Spider-Man, once again he was teamed up with other characters so as to write continuity-free adventures. Therefore, for its five-issue duration, on the months when the quarterly GS Spider-Man was released, the Human Torch took Spidey's spot as guest in Marvel Team-Up (#23, 26, 26, 32, 35).<br />
<br />
The Equinox mentioned by Spider-Man is a reference to the previous Marvel Team-Up issues #59-60. This story takes place just after that one.<br />
<br />
The villain is the Super-Skrull, a shape-shifting alien with all the powers of the FF. This is therefore an opportunity for Byrne to draw their powers in action. Reed Richards and the Thing even appear in flashback. This is likely the reason that warranted the inclusion of this issue.<br />
<br />
NYPD Captain Jean DeWolff was created earlier in this same series by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema. She was the first woman police captain of the Marvel universe. She mainly appeared in stories by Mantlo and Claremont (in MTU) in the 70s.<br />
<br />
Lt Scarfe was created by Chris Claremont for the Iron Fist story in Marvel Premiere #23.<br />
DeWolff and Scarfe both appeared in MTU #60. Here, Scarfe mentions the Equinox case is wrapped up as he is subject to psychiatric evaluation at Bellevue hospital. This is a progressive evolution of this villain from criminal to unbalanced.<br />
<br />
Lt Kris Keating was created in Defenders #44, February 1977. He also appeared in Defenders #51 published the same month as this issue of MTU. Was that why Keating is unavailable to deal with the crisis? Was Claremont aware of what Kraft was writing? Whatever the case, Claremont did his homework on the NYPD of the Marvel universe.<br />
<br />
Both DeWolff and Keating would be revealed by Peter David in the late 80s as having been murdered, while Scarfe recently (in the crossover Shadowland) became a criminal, even threatening his former partner, Misty Knight. There is no respect for secondary supporting characters.<br />
<br />
The flashback with Tigra wraps up a storyline from the cancelled Marvel Chillers. Tigra started featuring in #3 under Tony Isabella. Claremont wrote #4, pitting her vs Kraven (as he would again in MTU #67). Isabella returned for #5 and #6, introducing Joshua Plague, revealed as Super-Skrull in the latter illustrated by Byrne. Issue #7 was by Shooter where Super-Skrull is trapped by the soul-catcher (which appears on page 1 of MTU 61). Claremont and Byrne both returned to Tigra in MTU #67.<br />
<br />
Actually, under Claremont Marvel Team-Up featured a record number of co-feature female characters (#59-60, #62, #64, #67, #77, #79-82, #85, #88) as he demonstrated early on his knack for writing strong female characters.<br />
<br />
Carol Danvers first appeared as a Security Officer in Marvel-Super Heroes #13 (March 1968) as a supporting character for the Captain Marvel feature. Becoming a female version of that character in Ms. Marvel #1 (Jan 1977), she started a late 70s trend that would include Spider-Woman and She-Hulk. Claremont started writing her adventures in Ms. Marvel #3 (March 1977). Those three panels announce her appearance in the next issue.<br />
<br />
Here, the Super-Skrull receives his powers from an energy beam as in FF #18. While this is mostly forgotten by other writers, its use here may have been suggested by Byrne who mined the early FF work more than anyone else.Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-69241521512190169562011-08-26T09:19:00.000-07:002020-04-17T09:22:42.734-07:00Kick-Ass 2 #3From reading the preview pages, I got the distinct impression that the Asian bad guys aren't really bad guys, and I thought Millar was going to play a twist on us. As others have remarked, Millar's comic is inferior to the movie adaptation and this second opus reads as a disappointment so far. I still hope there's a twist coming like there was in the first one.<br />
<br />
Tom Palmer completes the layouts and his finishing and inking look like what I was used to see from him in the previous decades. Romita Jr's art is so crude that it's Palmer's finishes and colorist Dean White's painted color that prevent the art from looking too cartoony.Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8752235041015072272.post-58802619787767971092011-08-03T01:45:00.000-07:002020-04-17T09:19:12.748-07:00MegasauriaInventé par Jack Kirby pour être adapté en série télé pour enfants, <i>Devil Dinosaur</i> s'arrêtera avec le départ de Kirby à la fin de son contrat avec Marvel. Le personnage n'a fait que d’éphémères apparitions depuis, toutes en dehors de son milieu d'origine. En fait les auteurs essaient de le plonger dans l'univers Marvel où il détonne. Paru en France dans le magazine phare d'Arédit, <i>Etranges Aventures</i>, la série semble avoir marqué Jean-Marie Arnon qui, avec <i>Megasauria</i>, paru en 2009, nous offre pour la première fois, une suite thématique. Passionné de préhistoire et de science fiction, l'auteur a le profil idéal pour cette série.Patrick Lemairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08618793802302788451noreply@blogger.com0