The Sandman: Season of Mists
Lucifer abdicates Hell, giving Dream the key.
Season of Mists is the fourth collection of issues in the DC Comics series The Sandman, written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by multiple artists. It collects issues #21–28 and won the award for best scenario at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2004. The collection is preceded by Dream Country and followed by A Game of You.
Quick Facts
- Publisher
- DC Comics
- Date
- December 1990 – July 1991
- Titles
- The Sandman #21–28
- Writers
- Neil Gaiman
- Letterers
- Todd Klein
- Editors
- Karen Berger
- Alisa Kwitney
- Tom Peyer
Facts from the source article.
Overview
The issues in this collection first appeared in 1990 and 1991, and the collection was first released in paperback and hardback in 1992 with an introduction by Harlan Ellison. The title is the opening phrase of John Keats' "To Autumn". Kelley Jones penciled the bulk of the story, inked by Malcolm Jones, Dick Giordano and P. Craig Russell in various issues. A prologue and epilogue were drawn by Mike Dringenberg, with the former inked by Malcolm Jones III and the latter by George Pratt. An interlude set in an English boarding school was drawn by Matt Wagner and inked by Jones III. This collection introduces the Endless siblings Destiny and Delirium, and features Thor, Odin and Loki from Norse mythology, Anubis and Bast from Egyptian mythology, Susanoo-no-mikoto from Japanese mythology, Lucifer and the angels Duma and Remiel from Christianity, and other figures. It marks the first appearance of the Norse gods in the series.
Plot
The collection opens with an Endless family meeting where Desire taunts Morpheus about his treatment of the African queen Nada, and Death agrees with Desire. Morpheus then visits Hell to retrieve Nada, but as he arrives, Lucifer expels all demons and damned souls, abdicates as ruler, and gives Morpheus the key to Hell's gates. Word of Lucifer's abdication spreads to other immortals, who visit the Dreaming to bargain for the key: Odin travels with Loki and Thor to avoid Ragnarök; Anubis, Bast, and Bes offer information; Susano-o-no-Mikoto requests to add Hell to his family's underworld; Azazel arrives with Choronzon and Merkin, demanding the key in exchange for Nada and Choronzon; Order appears as an empty cardboard box carried by a djinn-like being, while Chaos appears as a small girl in clown makeup; and the faeries Cluracan and Nuala appeal to Morpheus to give control to no one. After private negotiations, Dream gives the key to Duma and Remiel. Dream then fights Azazel, enters inside him, frees Nada, and traps Azazel in Dream's realm. Dream apologizes to Nada, and she is reincarnated as a newborn human child with permission to enter the Dreaming at will. Between these deliberations is a story from issue #25 set at an English boarding school, illustrating the consequences of Hell's closure, featuring two ghost schoolboys who later appear as the Dead Boy Detectives.
Themes
Season of Mists introduces the theme of rules and responsibilities, central to the series. The Endless family gathering makes the second reference to the "prodigal" sibling who abandoned his realm. This gathering leads Dream to return to Hell to right a wrong, triggering a major plot arc.
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