The Sandman: Season of Mists

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The Sandman: Season of Mists
ISBN 1-56389-035-6
Creative team
Writer(s)	Neil Gaiman
Artist(s)	Dave McKean Kelley Jones Mike Dringenberg Matt Wagner Malcolm Jones III P. Craig Russell Dick Giordano George Pratt Steve Oliff Daniel Vozzo
Penciller(s)	Kelley Jones Mike Dringenberg Matt Wagner
Inker(s)	Malcolm Jones III P. Craig Russell Dick Giordano George Pratt
Letterer(s)	Todd Klein
Colorist(s)	Steve Oliff Daniel Vozzo
Editor(s)	Karen Berger Alisa Kwitney Tom Peyer

Season of Mists is a 1990-1991 American eight-part comic and the fourth

.

In 2004 this collection received the award for the best scenario at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.

It is preceded by Dream Country and followed by A Game of You.

Overview

The issues in the collection first appeared in 1990 and 1991. The collection first appeared in paperback and hardback in 1992 with an introduction by Harlan Ellison. The title is the opening phrase of John Keats' "To Autumn".

It was preceded by Dream Country and was followed by A Game of You. The 2003 graphic novel Death: At Death's Door and Dead Boy Detectives mini-series by Jill Thompson are also related.

Kelley Jones penciled the bulk of the story, inked in various issues by Malcolm Jones, Dick Giordano and P. Craig Russell. Jones's larger-than-life grotesques and obvious sense of humour make him ideal for

, who will play important roles in later stories. Season of Mists marks the introduction of the Norse gods for the first time in the series.

Plot

This collection begins with an Endless family meeting, wherein Desire taunts Morpheus about his intolerant treatment of a former lover, the African queen 'Nada' (whose story formed the

).

Word of Lucifer's abdication spreads to other immortals, who visit the Dreaming to bargain for it:

).

After private negotiations with single divinities that represent each group of gods, Dream gives Duma and Remiel the key; then Dream fights with Azazel, enters inside him and frees Nada, while trapping Azazel in Dream's realm. Later, Dream apologizes to Nada for what he has done to her, and she is reincarnated as a newborn human child, with permission to enter the Dreaming at will.

Between these deliberations is the story "In Which the Dead Return; and Charles Rowland Concludes His Education", from issue #25, which takes place at a traditional English

The Children's Crusade

, and in a mini-series of the same name by Jill Thompson.

The collection presents two simultaneous endings: Dream discovers Loki absconding from his punishment, but decides not to reveal it, and also proposes the latter a negotiation to set him free (this has its sequel in the last collection of Sandman). Meanwhile, Lucifer, without his wings, sits on an Australian beach, and grudgingly admires a sunset. In the epilogue, Duma and Remiel have become the new rulers of Hell, and initiate a new regimen of punishment meant to "redeem" the condemned (much to the latter's dismay).

Themes

Season of Mists is the first appearance of one of the central themes of the series, that of rules and responsibilities. The gathering of the Endless family which opens the book makes the second reference to the "prodigal" (the first reference appearing in "The Doll's House"), an Endless sibling who abandoned his realm and responsibilities. The family gathering leads to Dream deciding that he must return to Hell to right a wrong he committed, an event which triggers a major plot arc throughout the series.

Issues collected

Issue	Title	Writer	Penciller	Inker	Colorist	Letterer	Ast Editor	Editor
21	Prologue	Neil Gaiman	Mike Dringenberg	Malcolm Jones III	Steve Oliff	Todd Klein	Tom Peyer	Karen Berger
22	Chapter 1	Neil Gaiman	Kelley Jones	Malcolm Jones III	Steve Oliff	Todd Klein	Tom Peyer	Karen Berger
23	Chapter 2	Neil Gaiman	Kelley Jones	Malcolm Jones III	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Tom Peyer	Karen Berger
24	Chapter 3	Neil Gaiman	Kelley Jones	P. Craig Russell	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Tom Peyer	Karen Berger
25	Chapter 4	Neil Gaiman	Matt Wagner	Malcolm Jones III	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Tom Peyer	Karen Berger
26	Chapter 5	Neil Gaiman	Kelley Jones	George Pratt	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Alisa Kwitney	Karen Berger
27	Chapter 6	Neil Gaiman	Kelley Jones	Dick Giordano	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Alisa Kwitney	Karen Berger
28	Epilogue	Neil Gaiman	Mike Dringenberg	George Pratt	Daniel Vozzo	Todd Klein	Alisa Kwitney	Karen Berger

See also

• American Gods

References

• ISBN 1-56389-644-3
  .
• Gaiman, Neil (2007). The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 2. Shawn McManus, Mike Dringenberg, Bryan Talbot, John Watkiss, Kelley Jones, George Pratt, Malcolm Jones III, Colleen Doran (illustrators).
  ISBN 978-1-4012-1083-0
  .