Sandman - Fables and Reflections
Fables and Reflections (dt. Fables and reflections ) is the sixth collection of the comic book series, The Sandman . Written by Neil Gaiman , illustrated by Bryan Talbot , Stan Woch , P. Craig Russell , Shawn McManus , John Watkiss , Jill Thompson , Duncan Eagleson , Kent Williams , Mark Buckingham , Vince Locke and Dick Giordano and lettered by Todd Klein .
The episodes of this collection were first published in booklet form in 1991, 1992 and 1993. The collection was published in 1993 as paperback and hardcover .
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Like the third collection, Dream Country, and the eighth collection, Worlds' End , this is a collection of short stories that are invisibly part of the general story arc. Orpheus later turns out to be the central episode of the overall plot.
As a collection for various secondary stories, some of which are only linked to the main plot , Fables and Reflections is perhaps the bulkiest of the ten collections. None of the stories build on the previous one or need an explanation. The episodes appeared in the order of collection in editions Preview number 1 and number 31, number 29, number 38, number 30, number 39, Sandman Special number 1, number 40 and number 50.
The thematic framework of this collection is given by the title (German: fables and reflections ). All stories are based on a mythological motif.
Fear of Falling
This story appeared in Vertigo Preview # 1 . It is a very short story about a theater director who is afraid of the consequences of his latest production, regardless of whether it is a success or a flop. It was used to introduce the character Morpheus (Dream) when it was released .
Three September and a January
This story revolves around Joshua Abraham Norton (1811–1880), the self-proclaimed "Emperor of the United States of America". The historical facts of his life story are placed here in the context of a bet between the siblings Dream and Despair . Dream wins the bet by a huge margin.
Thermidor
A very dark story that takes place at the time of the reign of terror by Maximilien de Robespierre (1758–1794) at the time of the French Revolution . She introduces the characters Lady Johanna Constantine and Orpheus . Its severed, nonetheless surviving head is hidden under the numerous severed heads of the victims of the guillotine . Probably the most political episode in the entire series that shows Gaiman as a harsh critic of a regime that goes against its own principles.
The Hunt
A fairy tale in Eastern European tradition about a werewolf who comes into possession of a portrait of a beautiful princess. This story is a somewhat pessimistic view of the chances of stories surviving in modern media society.
August
The title refers to the month and the emperor who gave it his name. Augustus , disguised as a beggar, mingles with his people for a day. He is accompanied by a dwarf whom he tells part of his life story. He tells of his uncle Gaius Iulius Caesar and the choice he was faced with a prophecy: that he could either bring the world an eternal Roman empire , or that this empire would disappear after a few centuries. Augustus does not reveal which choice he made, and neither does the fact that he was raped by Caesar , a trauma that he suffered all his life.
Soft places
A story about the young Marco Polo (1254–1324) who got lost as a boy in the Taklamakan desert . He enters one of the soft places , a place where the boundaries between dream and reality are not precisely defined. There he meets Rusticello von Pisa , Gilbert (Fiddler's Green from The Doll's House ) and Morpheus. This story has as a counterpart the episode Exiles in the final collection The Wake .
Orpheus
This is the central episode of this volume and one of the key episodes in the entire story arc. It tells the story of the singer Orpheus. As in the mythological model, his mother is the muse Kalliope (cf. Dream Country ), but here his father is Morpheus himself. When Orpheus' young bride Eurydice dies, Dream refuses to help his son. In return, the young man finds help with Death and Destruction , which enable him to travel to the underworld . The recovery of the wife fails, Orpheus is torn to pieces by maenads , his head survives. The rift between him and his father established the tragic course of the overall story. Here, Gaiman effectively extends the classic tragedy of Orpheus to his whole family.
A Parliament of Rooks
This episode introduces the character Daniel, the child of Morpheus and Lyta Hall (see The Doll's House ). This episode contains different stories linked by a framework plot. The stories are about the three wives of Adam , about how Cain and Abel took their place in the dream realm and about the supposed natural phenomenon of the "Parliament of the Crows ".
Ramadan
The caliph Hārūn ar-Raschīd (766–809) wants to protect his perfect city, the most amazing, largest and most beautiful city in the world, Baghdad , from decay. He bequeaths the memory of their perfection to Morpheus on the condition that he keeps them forever in his dream realm. The point of the story is that at the end of the episode there is a fade into Baghdad, which was destroyed by the first Gulf War, where an old man told the story to a boy for a few cigarettes and money.