# Unanswered questions from Sandman

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-from-sandman/555502>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 29, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-from-sandman/555502 "2010-09-29T18:40:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-from-sandman/555502/81 "2010-10-09T14:16:52Z")

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> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> I was trying to think of some of the ones who have been characters:
> 
> Emperor Norton I  
> Robespierre  
> William Shakespeare (and also Ben Johnson)  
> Augustus Caesar/Octavian and his greatuncle Big Julie
> 
> Those come immediately to mind. Any others?

GK Chesterton and Aleister Crowley, but under cardboard cutout identities. Elvis and Marilyn, sort of. Geoffrey Chaucer and Christopher Marlowe, and probably a few others in that Hob Gadling story. Mark Twain.

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**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-from-sandman/555502/82 "2010-10-09T17:47:01Z")

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I vaguely recall that Crowley may have been in the Sandman Mystery Theater special where they discover Morpheus’ imprisonment.

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**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanswered-questions-from-sandman/555502/83 "2010-10-09T18:58:15Z")

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> [@Satchmo](#):
>
> Thanks **The\_Peyote\_Coyote**!  
> Great summary **Yllaria** , I guess I should re-read the first few books. Brief Lives, The Kindly Ones and The Wake are my favorites, I think.
> 
> What about Barnabas the dog? Clearly he was Destruction’s dog, but do you think he was like Mathew? (Used to be human, given a choice when he died, maybe?) Or did Destruction just take a normal dog and make him smarter and able to talk? Or my favorite speculation, did he change an art/literary critic into a talking dog and make him forget he was ever human?
> 
> Reminds me, Mathew the Raven was a human character in the Swamp Thing series written by Gaiman, I think. Need to find that that next time I have some money burning a hole in my pocket. 😉

He became a human again, briefly, in one of the followup anthologies.

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