…Why are Destiny and Destruction the only one who have normal skin tone compared to the other endless who normally appear very pale?
Delirium isn’t pale either (usually).
I dunno why.
Well, as grendel72 pointed out, their skin tones vary by artist and who’s doing the seeing. Death, Despair, and Dream are all pale because the people most associated with their traits are dead. Ahem. Did that make sense? Dead people, depressed people, and artiste people are all stereotypically pale. Desire and Delerium have extremely variable appearances (moreseo than the other Endless) and have, as such, extremely variable skin tones. Howe’er, Dream wasn’t at all pale when he was feuding with Nada…
Death is much less pale than Dream.
–Cliffy
And she’s hot too!
Perhaps it’s because they appear as people expect them to appear. Remember, with Nada, Dream had African-color skin. Clearly the appearance they project is some function of the audience they’re projecting to.
So maybe Destruction and Destiny are more “human” and less abstract for modern man to think about than the others, and therefore they project a less “inhuman” appearance.
They always seemed the same to me.
There are variations, but in her first appearance Death was given definite flesh-toned highlights to her pale skin – Dream was not – so as to illustrate that she’s much more lively and engaged in the world than he is.
–Cliffy
What the hell are you all talking about?
(Nitpick…Endless should be capitalised)
As a matter of coincidence: I’m rereading all the Sandman Graphic Novels I have lately.
Destruction and Delerium’s skin tones do tend to vary by artist. Destiny is generally normally coloured. Dream, Death, Desire, and Despair are always white - Aside from when they’re passing as darker skinned or non-humanoid beings. I notice that Dream often seems to look a little blue, but maye that’s me. For Death and Desire it’s rather an attractive paleness. For Dream and Despair, they look a little…pastey.
Destruction and Del, though. Del is chaos incarnate - the only thing consistant about her is her eyes. Anyway, she’s not always any paler than the ‘normal’ people she’s interacting with.
In Brief Lives, Destruction is as pale as the twins, Dream or Death.
On the other hand, in his brief appearance in World’s End, he’s far from it. Perhaps that’s just in comparison to the Necropolitains, though.
Actually, a better question is why Death and Destiny are the only ones with normal speech balloons. All the ones that don’t, they make sense, but why Death and Destiny - or at least Destiny, as I suppose Death would want to speak normally so as to not disturb the departed - didn’t get specialised balloons is a poser.
Not to drag this thread from the depths, but, while Destiny’s speech bubble is normal, his lettering is always done in italics. It’s a great effect that allows all of the Endless to speak offscreen and still allow the reader to know who is saying what. For an example of this, check out the sequence at the end of the third issue of The Wake, where Daniel/Dream is walking to meet his family and it ends with, I think, “You woke up.”
“The Sandman,” by Neil Gaiman and various artists, a 75-issue comic book series published by DC Comics and its Vertigo imprint from 1989-1996. It has been collected into 10 trade paperbacks (hardcovers, too) which are probably available at your local bookstore.
–Cliffy
Early on in the series, I was hoping we’d be treated to scary goth versions of Santa Claus (December) and the Tooth Fairy (Dentation).
Are any of the post-Gaiman Sandman Presents stories worth reading?
The only one I’ve read is the sublime Lucifer miniseries which has led to a Lucifer ongoing. Both are by Mike Carey. There are currently three trades out (with a fourth on the way) – the first (Lucifer: Devil in the Gateway) reprints the mini and the first several issues of the monthly. Go buy it.
I have heard generally positive reviews for Bill “Fables” Willingham’s “The Thessaliad.” I think I heard that it is being repackaged soon in a trade with his charming “Merv Pumpkinhead: Agent of Dream” one-shot.
Also, this has nothing to do with Sandman, but you should be collecting Vaughan & Guerra’s “Y - The Last Man”; it’s probably the best comic DC is putting out right now.
–Cliffy
And Neil himself is working on Endless Nights, a showcase of stories, with each of the siblings starring in one story, each with a different artist. Should be good.