#Susano-o-no-Mikoto (Sandman)

[constantineinhell]

[tickldpnk8]

Great catches @writing-for-life! Here is what I was able to see:

“Our story really is about the story of Dream. And so, every decision that we’ve made story-wise in Season 2 is to follow Dream’s story through Sandman” – Allan Heinberg

This confirms to me that we are stripping things down to the essential comic issues that get us through to the end.

Next up: costuming!

This is a new scene of Lucifer and Morpheus: Dream has on his battle armor again, but Lucifer is wearing this white confection with a cape. We see these again near the end of the video.

More costumes:

From left to right, I think we have Nuala’s fairy court dress and Cluracan’s foppish court suit. Morpheus’ Ancient Greek outfit.

From left to right are SoM costumes: Loki, ?, Shivering Jemmy, Susano-o-no-Mikoto, Fairy?/Demon?, Morpheus?, ?

The double-breasted leather number that I think might be a fairy, is this guy. But I only say fairy because of the ears. His outfit feels more demon. And I would LOVE for that gorgeous lady behind him to be the Merkin. 😆

Not least of which:

Pirate Dream exists!! Much more monochrome and understated, and we don’t see him with the tricorn, but it’s there!

In addition to the scenes already caught in the OP, I’m seeing:

The pile of heads from Thermidor.

"Loki" getting carried away.

The set design for Dream's throne room references Brief Lives, which is more confirmation on that front.

Considering this is the same set above with Lady Johanna, it suggests to me that we may get Thermidor as a flashback within Brief Lives...or...they just wanted to save money on sets.""

Sandman Sneak Peek Analysis

There is Brief Lives in this, but you’ll miss it if you blink…

Is everyone recovering? 🤣

So we obviously got our fill of thirst traps, but I wanted to analyse the sneak peek (click to watch) a bit more closely.

Many people were commenting they only see Season of Mists and Song of Orpheus in the clip, but I don’t think that’s true. We obviously don’t know what exactly they did to the arcs and what might have changed, but I still predict that the first batch will be Season of Mists and Brief Lives (with other stuff thrown in, I wrote about it here). [I think we also saw a clip from Thermidor in the sneak peek, and that Lady Johanna Constantine was in it, but that just as an aside.]

So let’s start with stills I think are definitely from

Brief Lives

I honestly think it’s this (they’re lighting his face from below for a campfire effect, there are candles etc):

Next:

I think this could be Ruby’s/Wanda’s death/the fire. It’s really hard to see, but that could be Indya Moore sleeping? Let me know what you think…

Then this one:

I bet my bottom dollar this is Suffragette City and Ishtar’s dance. Now, the bottom panel is a tricky one because in the sneak peek, it’s actually right after the shot of (presumed) Wanda, so my initial response was it’s the fire. But the curtains look exactly the same as in the one with Ishtar’s dance, plus I think the glass is also in both shots. Which makes me think they either just put those scenes randomly together in the clip despite them being separate, OR that they changed the arc a bit and pulled Wanda/Ruby and Ishtar’s dance together. Either way, we’re definitely in Brief Lives I think.

What else?

Season of Mists

I cackled like a lunatic when I saw this. IYKYK, but I somehow didn’t expect them to give us that one. Hurray (or not, depending on whether you like spiders I guess 🤣)

Angels looking modern…

Shame really, I wouldn’t have minded a more comics accurate look, but hey. Also: Is that your man Edward, @marlowe-zara ? Hard to tell from this angle, but I think it could be?

That’s also Andre Flynn in the background (also an Angel then).

Shivering Jemmy with the balloon! 🎈 If she doesn’t dump it on Dream, I’m gonna riot!

These ones with Lucienne are hard to place, and they could be anything, but they somehow give me stronger Season of Mists than Brief Lives vibes, although both is possible.

I have a hunch it’s this one:

Then there’s naturally all the obvious stuff (Cluracan, Susano-o-No-Mikoto, the family dinner etc etc), but I don’t think I have to get into those because they jump out at us straightaway.

More in the realm of

Casting

I think that might be Ella Rumpf as Eurydice, @tickldpnk8 What do you think?

This is definitely Wil Coban, but who he? Fae (the ears suggest so much)?

So what’s everyone thinking?

[tickldpnk8]

Season of Mists Reread Ch. 5

World building! world building! world building! This is my favorite issue in all of Sandman! There is so much going on and so much to dissect. Plus, some political maneuvering! So let’s dig in.

So why is Season of Mists my favorite? All of the mythology/pantheon tie-ins. We see so much world-building even just with Chapter 3. We see glimpses of Norse mythology, DC’s Order and Chaos, Japanese mythology, and Egyptian mythology. Plus, the hierarchy of angels but through DC’s Silver City with distinct Judeo-Christian undertones. Oh, and fairies! I’m here for all of it! But since my reread is specifically focused on Dream’s nature and clues about the ending of Sandman I didn’t see coming, I won’t focus on each of these characters. Instead, I’ll focus on how each interacts with Dream and how that affects their surroundings.

The room where it happens

Late at night, each delegation meets with Dream in the throne room (his chambers?) and each time it does, we see slight shifts in how the room is arranged and how Morpheus appears.

Going in order, we first see Odin from Norse myth:

Morpheus’ throne is what appears to be a short stool or stump on top of a tall boulder. Drapes are in the background and his throne sits on the floor surrounded by candles. Morpheus himself wears what appears to be a dark tshirt, black jeans or pants and likely boots.

Next to visit is Princess Jemmy, and the panels for her visit are very sparse. This could be a design decision considering how the action is on the page, but I wonder if Chaos brings a void to whatever space they are in. Morpheus has the same outfit as before with Odin.

After Chaos, comes Order (fitting?).

We don’t see his throne at all, but the candles are now elevated on sconces. The drapes remain in the background. Morpheus has donned his long collared coat/robe…presumably over his tshirt/jeans combo.

And then this is where things get really interesting, because the above could all be considered Western mythologies of a sort. We next have Susano-O-No-Mikoto:

Not only does the throne room change, but so does the art style: Similar to what we saw in Chapter 3 when introducing Order and Chaos. Everything flattens out into a comic book style of a woodcut print. The green curtains are now the foliage of a tree and Morpheu’s throne is almost a suggestion of a tatami mat on a raised platform. His coat/cloak are now traditional Japanese dress and his bedhead hair even seems to be tied up in a traditional hair do. Or at least it’s drawn differently. And in a close-up shot, we see that Morpheus’ facial features are now different too:

After him, we see Bast from the Egyptian pantheon and this one gets interesting:

Dream’s throne room again transforms into what can only be vaguely described as Egyptian as we see snippets of the yellow sandstone walls and this stone seat that seems to have suggestions of hieroglyphic panels or at least a sunburst. Morpheus is back in this all encompassing robe and in other panels we see his western-looking face.

But this panel caught my eye where Bast says that she prefers Dream in cat form because she can read his thoughts better than when he “wears a human head.”

Bast, of course, has a feline head on a human body. So I got the sense that she has the option of seeing either Dream’s feline aspect or his human one. It’s never explained if this is because she’s seeing him surrounded by other humanoid deities, because Dream can control which aspect she can see, or if it’s because she is leaning into her own humanoid aspect and not her cat one. It doesn’t seem to imply that Dream can shapeshift, but it doesn’t rule it out either.

And then we have Azazel: the majority of this conversation seems to take place in a hallway:

Which appeared to be next to the same staircase Odin took up to the throne room. I’m not sure what it says about their relationship or how demons view Dream, but by the time the conversation is at its end, they are back in the Egyptian view of the room:

As for Dream’s outfit, it appears to be the same peplum cloak he wore to hell, which might be the same cloak he was in for a while now.

A last note on all of these: notice how Morpheus subtly (or not so subtly) exudes power in each of these audiences. For the most part, he's above each supplicant and looking down on them. Or he exudes it in other ways (nothing says power like a series of peplums flapping in the breeze you conjured).

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown

I was also struck by this scene:

Depending on your interpretation, he could either be dropping or throwing the Key to Hell down the stairs to his throne. I'm inclined to think he dropped it. It really reminded me of some of the scenes in the Lord of the Rings movies with the ring: there's a real weight to this key that makes it just plonk on the floor. This really helped to set the mood of how much the ring key is weighing on his mind at the end of all of these audiences.

[morpheuslikestodream]

PUCKER: a Sandman Universe fanfic

*The following is extended and lifted from the Sandman: Seasons of Mist storyline. This is a mere writing exercise and honorary gesture to play within the confines of the world created by Neil Gaiman and all creators, with honor and respect. :) 

There was a woman who achieved glory upon a vent of gushing air. Of course, she had already gained fame, and fortune, but it was the image, the stance – legs slightly bent, knees inverted, arms locked and hands clasping her dress – that cemented itself in the collective. Poor, tragic Marilyn, her fists securing that white ivory cocktail dress as it danced in the wind, like a skinned swan or a hungry lily attempting to devour its host.

Go on. Visualize it. The dress and the damsel wed together over that gushing vent. She would always be tattooed in the eye of your mind, a girl symbol, caught in a flirtatious up-shoot of tragedy. You’ll see her, the image, in commercials and magazines and the chronicles of filmography. She’ll be immortalized in wax. You’ll smile at her as if she were an intimate friend or fond crush from a bygone youth or a pretty face you wish you had, all fulfilled vicariously in that bombshell visage.

And if you could envision her, so could they.

“The gods have come for you,” Susano O-No-Mikoto addressed her coldly, like an art collector attaining their next commission. His hair was black, pulled back into a bun, and he possessed a thin, wispy beard that sharpened into a point. He wore a scarlet robe, delicate and silky, and his eyes, which scrutinized her with an impersonal fondness, appeared to be of some Asian nationality. “As a private individual for the pantheon of my mother, the Queen Izanami, it is a grace, Miss Monroe, to be welcomed into our collection. There is a special wing that exclusively houses Americana and Western iconography.”

Marilyn didn’t understand any of this.

And she couldn’t speak, her mouth failed to beg for clarity. It was the lips, frozen, puckered lips. And the wind, blowing perpetually beneath her, danced her dress like a rabid beast. While the robed man continued, Marilyn’s focus was consumed by the dress, and here she had to convince herself she was more than this accoutrement.

“Come. Follow,” said the god. And while he spoke, she strived to recall who she was. She had entered the world as a woman, yes, and she had taken her grand exit as a star, in the same City of Angels. She had been an actress, the wife of a playwright and a baseball legend and maybe mistress to dead presidents. She was a person, goddammit, of flesh and blood, of rumor and glamor.

None of that mattered at the moment, not in her current situation.

Because Marilyn couldn’t move. She had tried. She really had, but her body refused to budge. She was alive, or she was dead. She was on-stage, or off. There were cameras in the shadows and spotlights from oblivion. Eyes in the flashes of light. And she couldn’t move because, again, her legs were bent, the knobs of her knees pressed together, arms rigid, hands taming the white bastard dress, and that cold, cold air licking her from underneath.

And lips, puckered.

Marilyn felt no trace of self here – wherever here was. Had she died? Was she being punished, because your savior was revoked if you did that act, even if that wasn’t for certain? Whatever had happened had stolen her humanity. Marilyn might have been a wax statue, a fixed caricature, someone’s midnight wank. And perhaps all those were true; after all, she was an icon now, and icons could be many things. Despite that, whoever they were now cared nothing of the personal touches, no, the gods regarded her as a pretty face in the American collective. That’s what mattered.

Puckered lips.

Susano O-No-Mikoto escorted her through his mother’s underworld, strange halls cluttered with armors and museum props. She spotted a display of a toilet that perhaps once sat the rear of a king. In his rambling, he used words like eclectic and hybridization and efficiency. His words were bloated with pride, like an uppity hunter who sought and attained the rarest treasures. But those words meant nothing to Marilyn. She still hadn’t forgotten the kind visage of the woman with raven black hair with the shadow filled with the flapping of wings in flight.

���…we hope to continue down this line,” continued the god, “acquiring you, we can acquire others. John F. Kennedy is in Hell. But his effigy is strong in the artifacts of his demise. Lee Harvey Oswald could be ours. The grassy knoll itself harbors a sentience all its own as well. The prospects of our ambitions are limitless. It is said…”

And when Marilyn refocused, Susano had stopped to inspect her, his breath – scented with the promise of storms – was cold and brutal, and a pointy finger tapped his lips, the vaguest hint of a smile on his arrogant face. She felt no love from him, no real love. Not like the love Jesus and the Lord promised her as she grew. And she had been a good person; she deserved better than to not have love. And yet the man, who might’ve been a god, cared nothing for her as the person. He only desired the spirit of what she was. But a transcendence within a certain collective didn’t change her stature. It wasn’t her. All the little details of who she was were sprinklings upon a personal mythology that only bred the impersonal. The world, cultures come and gone, could only see her in the stars. 

And as for the little details, did those matter?

No, not to him.

And then he was gone.

When Marilyn was alone, “They have you too,” rumbled a deep and heavy voice from the room. “You are beautiful, as I was, although you are not as beautiful as the one I carried to the top of the world.”

Marilyn winced, startled.

“Be still, woman. We are family now, and I will protect you if I must. If I can.”

“Where am I?” Marilyn piped.

“The assimilation of the American Pantheon. The Underworld. Hell. Who can know for sure?”

“Who are you?” Her voice trembled. “Who’s there?”

“You remind me of her,” said the deep voice.

“Of her? Who?”

“You look like her, in your fashion, a pair of eyes and pretty hair. The one I carried to the top of the world. I was king there, before I fell, before I was forced to fall, although I confess I attained immortality in that moment, I think. At least, I’d like to look at it that way. The tragedy, the descent.”

“Are…are you…the devil?” Marilyn stammered.

Ignoring her, “They can fear you and love you and cry for you. When the tears are shed is when we become idols.”

She needed to see the face. She had to. “Oh, Mister,” she pleaded, “please come forward.”

And the beast revealed itself.

Marilyn would’ve screamed if her lips were puckered, if they could ever alter. Her frozen stance did not permit. Instead the dress blew more frantically. * “I must take my absence. Opportunities abroad bless us. The gods of Nippon and her highest majesty, the Queen, my mother Izanami, must not squander the chance in attaining most fruitful grace. If the key belongs to our kingdom…” the Asian man in his fancy gowns who smelled like a thunderstorm or a coming rain shower departed from the room through an entrance that didn’t really exist. In the silence of an attic filled with antiques from Atlantis or Wall Street or Hollywood, the white-haired star with her puckered lips kept her gaze down, until sheepishly she dared to lock eyes with the gorilla. And the gorilla rested his black hands upon his massive ape pecs and exhaled forcefully from nostrils that flared out in angst and boredom.

“I would have found the stars,” King Kong said after some time.

Marilyn raised an eyebrow, oh?

“I could have climbed forever.” Kong drummed his fingers on his chest. “It wasn’t me who was limited; it was only the ladder in which I ascended. Just me and her, the one that wasn’t you. I would’ve reached for the moon, then the stars themselves, and whatever is above that. I was limited by them, because a monster could only ascend so far and then they fall, and then they love you. In death you gain humanity; a posthumous flavor of idolatry and what you represented. You become your fall because that’s how people remember you. Not the details. It’s all what you could have been; all the what-ifs. And that’s how a star is born. That’s how idols rise.”

And the gorilla was done then, crossing its arms, and saying no more. In the silence, Marilyn felt a quiver in her lip, a tear in the corner of her eye. If she could unpucker her lips she would’ve smiled fondly at the beast and his words. After some time she glided towards him, her hungry frilly dress shooting up around her, and she moved next to him and the two touched, so slightly. Time faded then. It came in and out in waves and blurs. And sometime a hole opened in the world and a vast shadow filled the space for a moment. The sound of wings beat around them.

“Hey, down there!” called a perky voice that was kind, yet filled with urgency. “Things are a mess around here. It’s a Hell thing. Anyway,” the girl trailed, “I’ve got lots of work, you know, and, well, if you wanted to perhaps transition in a sense, I’m here. I’ll always be here, even if I’m not. Ok? But the doors open. Mister O-No-Mikoto’s dreams of attaining Hell are dead. I took them when the fiery torch was passed on to another pair of angels. And besides the mighty storm god of Nippon is in a bit of a predicament. Sorry. Talking too much.” Like that she was gone.

After a moment, hesitantly, King Kong moved to his feet. He climbed the walls and reached towards the ceiling exit. And before he departed, he looked towards her. “Come. You are not her but I can carry you to the top of the world, again.” And he took Marilyn in his grip and they ascended together towards the stars. “The winds are on your side,” said the King, “and he was a god of storms. Perhaps there’s irony in that. Or perhaps we shall rise as high as the gods allow.”

[thenightling]

All the different types of supernatural creatures (that I can recall off the top of my head) in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman

I may add pictures to this post later but at the moment I just don’t really feel like it.  Anyway, this is a list of all the various supernatural creatures we see in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.   

I am compiling this list because a lot people don’t realize how much like an epic fantasy novel series The Sandman truly is.  Ironically Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files novels feel more like a comic than The Sandman does.   

For those who don’t know much about The Sandman a list of creatures in The Sandman might help whet your appetite for both the new audio drama and upcoming Netflix series.

Anyway on with the list. The Endless - Easiest way to describe them = Ancient, pre-Earth Gods or more precisely Anthropomorphic personifications.     Occultists / wizards / Sorcerers / Witches / Sorceresses / magicians - The Order of Ancient Mysteries, and John Constantine.

Demons - The entire inhabitants of Hell.  Nightmares and Dream Entities = Minion of Dream of The Endless and citizens of The Dreaming. Gargoyles  Dragons / Wyvern  Hippogriff  (Pegacorn version) Griffin  Lucifer  Demons

Angels  Greek Gods and other Greek mythological figures = Orpheus, Calliope, The Furies, Persephone, Hades, Thessalian Witches, etc... Norse Gods = Odin, Thor, Loki. Japanese Gods =  Susano-o-no-mikoto Immortals  Faeries  Hobgoblins  Fauns    Ghouls / zombies Ghosts  

Werewolves  Dream Eater  Kitsune  Lovecraftian Old Ones Anthropomorphized Stars Night anthropomorphized Time anthropomorphized Glory anthropomorphized (Shekinah?)

Other elements include Aliens, alternate universes, Heaven and Hell, reincarnation, The Underworld: Tartarus and The Elysium Fields,  Psychic powers, premonitions, and other dimensions. 

[itunesbooks]

Lucifer Book Three - Mike Carey & Peter Gross

Lucifer Book Three Mike Carey & Peter Gross Genre: Graphic Novels Price: $19.99 Publish Date: March 18, 2014 Publisher: DC Comics Seller: DC Comics. Cast out of Heaven, thrown down to rule in Hell, Lucifer Morningstar has resigned his post and abandoned his kingdom for the mortal city of Los Angles.  Emerging from the pages of writer Neil Gaiman's award-winning series The Sandman, the former Lord of Hell is now enjoying a quiet retirement as the propretor of Lux, L.A.'s most elite piano bar. Still weak, with most of his power locked in the feathers stolen by Susano-O-No-Mikoto, Lucifer faces the challenge of single combat to the death with his brother, the angel of the Host Amenadiel. But when victory comes at the sacrifice of another, Lucifer embarks on a voyage that will take him to the depths of his former kingdom and beyond to retrieve their lost soul. http://bit.ly/2VAmRU3

[americangodstalk]

Parallels between Sandman and American Gods, 5-B:

Issue 26. The Key of Hell arc continues. Another late group of ambassadors arrive at Dream’s castle: representants of the Court of Faerie.

Anubis is seen eating human hearts - a concept reused later in American Gods. Bast is the most prominent of the Egyptian gods - an acquaintance of Dream, she tries to win the key of Hell with information. She explains that she sees the world “through the eyes of cats” and thus that she knows a lot of things that are hidden from human and gods, but cannot escape the eyes of cats. 

Susano-o-no-Mikoto is a very interesting case. He came to Dream not as a representative of his pantheon, but as a singular individual. He also explains that his pantheon is still quite strong - because while they are not as worshipped as they once were, they actually learned to adapt and expand by assimilating other gods and pantheons, “new altars and icons”. Notably, Susano explains that the Japanese gods now have among their ranks Marilyn Monroe, King Kong and Lady Liberty. We see here the hints and seeds of the New Gods of American Gods.

For the Norse gods, Neil Gaiman of course decided to depict them closer to their original depictions in mythology than what media made them be: Thor for example is a rude, brutal, lustful and gluttonous red-haired drunkard, where Odin is a dark, sinister, always-serious god. He released Loki from his eternal torment in the hope of using him to deceive and trick Dream, though Loki reveals to him that it is impossible and that in the Dream-Lord castle and domain no one can beat him. We also already have the idea of an Odin bordering on desperation - here the All-Father explains that his fear and obsession with Ragnarok has grown a lot, and that to avoid spending his time hatching schemes he decided to create a pocket small, a miniature dimension, containing a tiny Ragnarok playing in a loop forever, in order for him to study and observe the Last Battle clearly.

And, surprisingly, mortal heroes slipped their way in this dimension - one of them who turns out to be the vessel and host for a fraction of Dream’s soul. This is actually a nod to another DC superhero, Wesley Dodds, who was the first bearer of the name “Sandman” in the DC universe and was connected as receiving a fragment of Dream’s essence during a specific event. As for this tiny Ragnarok thing, it is a reference to how Wesley Dodds, alongside the Justice Society of America, entered a “Ragnarok Dimension” and battled in it during earlier comic books. 

[pipelinelaserraygun]

The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman. FREE BOOK PREVIEW, A MUST READ!! A fitting read on Friday the 13th. THIS IS WIDELY CONSIDERED ONE OF THE ALL-TIME GREATEST COMIC BOOKS EVER WRITTEN AND ITS MAJOR STORY ARC IS ABOUT THEOLOGY: CAN THE 😈 REVERSE THE CURSE? Word of Lucifer's abdication spreads to other immortals, who visit the Dreaming to bargain for it: Odin wishes to control Hell to avoid Ragnarök and travels to the Dreaming with Loki and Thor; Anubis, Bast, and Bes to offer information in exchange for the key to Hell; Susano-o-no-Mikoto, requests to add Hell to a new underworld controlled by his family; and Azazel arrives with Choronzon and Merkin, and demands the key in exchange for Nada and Choronzon. Order is personified as an empty cardboard box carried by a djinn-like being, while Chaos appears as a small girl in clown makeup; whereof Order offers to trade the dreams of the newly dead, while Chaos simply threatens Morpheus and gives him a toy balloon. The faerie Cluracan and his sister Nuala appeal to Morpheus to give control of Hell to no one, and Cluracan offers his sister in exchange. Duma and Remiel are set to observe the negotiations (Susano-o-no-Mikoto, Duma, and Remiel later become important characters in the spin-off series Lucifer).

[constantineinhell]

[americangodstalk]

Parallels between Sandman and American Gods, 5-A

Issue 24 sees the beginning of a specific story. For context, Lucifer abandonned Hell and gave the key of this realm to Dream. Dream doesn’t have or shouldn’t keep it - it is not his function nor role to have the Key of Hell. But as a result, a great number of groups arrive in the Dreaming, Dream’s realm, to try to obtain the Key (through bribes and seductions and other deals). These groups include several representatives of pantheons and mythologies. Take a look at the last picture, where we see the three main mythological groups present here: the Japanese gods, represented by Susano-O-No-Mikoto ; the Egyptian gods represented by Anubis and Bast (of course, Neil seems to love them) alongside Bes. And finally, the Norse gods. 

Of course, the Norse Gods get the favor of Neil Gaiman and thus much more screentime: all the other pictures are the preparation of the gods for their travel to the Dreaming. And, naturally, we find back a familiar trio: Odin, Thor and Loki. 

[sleepytitan]

Reblogging this again for the excellent additions. I wonder what does "unique spin" mean in the context of the show. What did they change? Is it only about story compression, little costume details or something more?

Sandman Sneak Peek Analysis

There is Brief Lives in this, but you’ll miss it if you blink…

Is everyone recovering? 🤣

So we obviously got our fill of thirst traps, but I wanted to analyse the sneak peek (click to watch) a bit more closely.

Many people were commenting they only see Season of Mists and Song of Orpheus in the clip, but I don’t think that’s true. We obviously don’t know what exactly they did to the arcs and what might have changed, but I still predict that the first batch will be Season of Mists and Brief Lives (with other stuff thrown in, I wrote about it here). [I think we also saw a clip from Thermidor in the sneak peek, and that Lady Johanna Constantine was in it, but that just as an aside.]

So let’s start with stills I think are definitely from

Brief Lives

I honestly think it’s this (they’re lighting his face from below for a campfire effect, there are candles etc):

Next:

I think this could be Ruby’s/Wanda’s death/the fire. It’s really hard to see, but that could be Indya Moore sleeping? Let me know what you think…

Then this one:

I bet my bottom dollar this is Suffragette City and Ishtar’s dance. Now, the bottom panel is a tricky one because in the sneak peek, it’s actually right after the shot of (presumed) Wanda, so my initial response was it’s the fire. But the curtains look exactly the same as in the one with Ishtar’s dance, plus I think the glass is also in both shots. Which makes me think they either just put those scenes randomly together in the clip despite them being separate, OR that they changed the arc a bit and pulled Wanda/Ruby and Ishtar’s dance together. Either way, we’re definitely in Brief Lives I think.

What else?

Season of Mists

I cackled like a lunatic when I saw this. IYKYK, but I somehow didn’t expect them to give us that one. Hurray (or not, depending on whether you like spiders I guess 🤣)

Angels looking modern…

Shame really, I wouldn’t have minded a more comics accurate look, but hey. Also: Is that your man Edward, @marlowe-zara ? Hard to tell from this angle, but I think it could be?

That’s also Andre Flynn in the background (also an Angel then).

Shivering Jemmy with the balloon! 🎈 If she doesn’t dump it on Dream, I’m gonna riot!

These ones with Lucienne are hard to place, and they could be anything, but they somehow give me stronger Season of Mists than Brief Lives vibes, although both is possible.

I have a hunch it’s this one:

Then there’s naturally all the obvious stuff (Cluracan, Susano-o-No-Mikoto, the family dinner etc etc), but I don’t think I have to get into those because they jump out at us straightaway.

More in the realm of

Casting

I think that might be Ella Rumpf as Eurydice, @tickldpnk8 What do you think?

This is definitely Wil Coban, but who he? Fae (the ears suggest so much)?

So what’s everyone thinking?

[writing-for-life]

Sandman Sneak Peek Analysis

There is Brief Lives in this, but you’ll miss it if you blink…

Is everyone recovering? 🤣

So we obviously got our fill of thirst traps, but I wanted to analyse the sneak peek (click to watch) a bit more closely.

Many people were commenting they only see Season of Mists and Song of Orpheus in the clip, but I don’t think that’s true. We obviously don’t know what exactly they did to the arcs and what might have changed, but I still predict that the first batch will be Season of Mists and Brief Lives (with other stuff thrown in, I wrote about it here). [I think we also saw a clip from Thermidor in the sneak peek, and that Lady Johanna Constantine was in it, but that just as an aside.]

So let’s start with stills I think are definitely from

Brief Lives

I honestly think it’s this (they’re lighting his face from below for a campfire effect, there are candles etc):

Edit 22/09:

We sleuthed a bit more across several platforms, and some clever people pointed out this:

These two frames appear in different places of the sneak peak, so we can’t know for certain if they are from the same scene. It is possible though. And if they are: He is wearing his ruby on the one to the left. It’s hard to tell if it’s the same thing to the right, but it could be? If so, that would mean this could be from Song of Orpheus instead of Brief Lives.

He does wear a clasp in Brief Lives all the way through, so that’s also possible, but again: If these shots are from the same scene, which it honestly looks like, I’m now leaning towards Song of Orpheus, and this particular scene (there’s a fire there, too):

Plus, if you zoom in and squint really hard, he seems to be wearing something on his shoulder here, too:

What else?

We see Despair’s Realm. But we don’t in Season of Mists. So this is either Brief Lives, or they give us a bit of Three Septembers and a January (which I’d love tbh, but I’m not going to hold my breath).

Next:

I think this could be Ruby’s/Wanda’s death/the fire. It’s really hard to see, but that could be Indya Moore sleeping? Let me know what you think…

Then this one:

I bet my bottom dollar this is Suffragette City and Ishtar’s dance. Now, the bottom panel is a tricky one because in the sneak peek, it’s actually right after the shot of (presumed) Wanda, so my initial response was it’s the fire. But the curtains look exactly the same as in the one with Ishtar’s dance, plus I think the glass is also in both shots. Which makes me think they either just put those scenes randomly together in the clip despite them being separate, OR that they changed the arc a bit and pulled Wanda/Ruby and Ishtar’s dance together. Either way, we’re definitely in Brief Lives I think.

Over to…

Season of Mists

I cackled like a lunatic when I saw this. IYKYK, but I somehow didn’t expect them to give us that one. Hurray (or not, depending on whether you like spiders I guess 🤣)

Angels looking modern…

Shame really, I wouldn’t have minded a more comics accurate look, but hey. Also: Is that your man Edward, @marlowe-zara ? Hard to tell from this angle, but I think it could be?

That’s also Andre Flynn in the background (also an Angel then).

Shivering Jemmy with the balloon! 🎈 If she doesn’t dump it on Dream, I’m gonna riot!

These ones with Lucienne are hard to place, and they could be anything, but they somehow give me stronger Season of Mists than Brief Lives vibes, although both is possible.

I have a hunch it’s this one:

Then there’s naturally all the obvious stuff (Cluracan, Susano-o-No-Mikoto, the family dinner etc etc), but I don’t think I have to get into those because they jump out at us straightaway.

More in the realm of

Casting

I think that might be Ella Rumpf as Eurydice, @tickldpnk8 What do you think?

This is definitely Wil Coban, but who he? Fae (the ears suggest so much)?

So what’s everyone thinking?