By Jill Thompson (Vertigo/Titan Books)
ISBN: 1-84023-695-7
Jill Thompson crafts a canny alternative look to the overwhelmingly successful Sandman by giving him the manga treatment in this reinterpretation of some pivotal events from the landmark fantasy series.
During Sandman: Season of Mists (ISBN: 978-1-85286-447-7) Morpheus tries to liberate his old lover from Hell, whence he banished her ten thousand years previously. His confrontation with Lucifer takes an unexpected turn when the Lord of the Damned abdicates, and shuts Hell. Freeing all the demons and souls in bondage, Lucifer gives the place and the responsibility to the Sandman.
The repercussions of these events resounded for years through the Vertigo corner of the DC Universe, and Thompson’s sharp, light tale details background events that happened “off-camera†during those tumultuous times. As Morpheus entertains embassies from gods and devils all eager to obtain the supernatural lebensraum of the Underworld, his sister Death has a couple of problems of her own.
Primarily, deprived of an abode, the damned dead souls from Hell are all turning up on her doorstep, but almost as troubling is the fact that her untrustworthy sisters Desire and Delirium have decided to turn the whole mess into an excuse for the wildest party in the Universe.
Cutesy comedy hi-jinks coupled with chilling suspense and fantasy make for an uncomfortable mix but Thompson makes it work, although the end result might not be to every fan’s taste.
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