Reading Comics #103 "The Annotated Sandman Volume 1 #12"

My scholarly look at The Annotated Sandman continues!

The twelfth issue of Neil Gaiman's Sandman is all about the woman's burden, following Lyta, short for Hippolyta, not the version of the character who later emerged as Wonder Woman's mother-who-looks-so-much-like-her-that-she-replaced-her-for-a-while, but tied up in previous continuity that involved what was at one point considered Wonder Woman's daughter.

Yeah, so continuity is a peculiarly comic book problem.

Anyway, Lyta is tied up in the concept of lineage no matter where she falls.  This version was married to Hector Hall, the son of Carter Hall, better known as Hawkman in any continuity.  Lyta and Hector were part of the original Infinity Inc., which was composed of the offspring of the original Justice Society of America.  (Later, Geoff Johns absorbed that concept into the Society itself.)

Leslie S. Klinger transcribes a lot of Gaiman's notes about Lyta and her role, and how women tend to be sidelined, even when they aren't pregnant.  Lyta's been pregnant in the story context for three years.

The Sandman Hector Hall became is a merry idiot, referenced at one point in the notes as Gaiman's pastiche on Adam West's Batman.  For the record, I'd love to read the original Jack Kirby Sandman comics.  Then again, I'd love to read all the old Jack Kirby comics.  The man was a genius.

The issue has a more direct focus on Jed, the hapless brother of Rose Walker who's been held captive by "benefactors" for the past half decade or so.  The sixth page is particularly grim about how this arrangement "works" for everyone involved.

I should note for the record that the art for this issue is from Chris Bachalo.  Bachalo actually made his name on Sandman (specifically on two mini-series featuring Death, The High Cost of Living and The Time of Your Life), but by the time I was old enough to appreciate the names of comic book creators, I knew him best in association with the X-Men.  His best-known work in that regard was Generation X with Scott Lobdell, which he helped create.  Sandman #12 was actually Bachalo's first professional comics work.  It's the best-looking issue of the series so far.

The eleventh page has a humorous explanation from Klinger on one of the visual elements of the story, an apparently throwaway gag about a Cereal Convention that's actually geared toward serial killers.  There's a partial transcription of the guest list visible.  Klinger provides the rest of it.

The twelfth page includes a reference to Watchmen that's harder for readers of a black and white edition to decipher, so I'm glad there's a note about it.

The Corinthian's eye mouths eat someone's fingers who's trying to attack him.

When Dream refers to the Kirby Sandman as "Little Ghost," I can't help but think of the White Stripes song.  I love the song anyway, and so chances were equally good that I would have been thinking about it anyway, but it's nice to see a connection in the ether.

The whole idea of Brute and Glob being so easily caught is a little disappointing, but it gets Kirby Sandman a story in Gaiman's Sandman, so I won't complain too much.  Although yes, he comes off as ridiculous, a little odd, because of all the traditional heroes Gaiman could have chosen to use, this was one he could have very easily taken seriously.  Still, it's not offensively dismissive like Garth Ennis, so again, I won't complain too much.  It's an interesting counterpoint to Doctor Destiny.

It's interesting how Lyta's story ends, however.  Her dream life, which was something of a nightmare, is removed, but her real life may actually be more nightmarish.

And another issue ends with the Corinthian.  This time with added Jed!