Sandman部分外传作品介绍

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Death: At Death's Door

It's a manga-style story by Jill Thompson which basically revisits the Sandman storyline "Season of Mists" from Death's point of view.  That storyline involved the temporary closure of Hell and the return of the banished dead to Earth, which obviously caused a few difficulties for Death.  So Thompson has Death, Despair and Delirium attempting to deal with the mess.  Interestingly, Despair gets a much more sympathetic and likeable presentation here than she tended to in Sandman itself; she comes across more as a source of comfort for the depressed rather than as the embodiment of their depression.  And there's a cute comedy subplot with Edgar Allan Poe.  Delirium and Death are much more clearly and recognisably in character, although marks have to be deducted for a painful spot of soapboxing where Death starts blathering about how they prove that girls can be anything they want to be.

Plotwise, Thompson faces the difficulty that from Death's point of view, the events of Season of Mists effectively resolved themselves - or at least, she didn't play any direct part in resolving them.  As the story seems consciously aimed at readers entirely new to the Sandman mythos, Thompson finds herself having to incorporate large chunks of "Season of Mists" wholesale in order to provide an overreaching structure to the plot; but that doesn't quite get round the problem that Death is shoved off to the side of the key events.  It's an entertaining story for all that, and a pleasant reminder of Season of Mists from a different stylistic perspective, but it does work more as an enjoyable series of skits rather than an overall story.

The manga style does suit Thompson, though.  And it's a good match for the characters of Death, Despair and Delirium, all of whom benefit from being a little removed from reality.  There's a risk when trying something so explicitly manga that it comes across as artificial; especially here, when it isn't really Thompson's normal style, and it isn't the style associated with the characters.  Fortunately, the story doesn't try to make a big show of style; it's just there to be read.

Highly enjoyable even if a little inconsequential, and definitely a format that DC ought to do more with.

卡哇伊~

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Death Talks About Life
Neil Gaiman: Writer
Dave McKean: Artist
Todd Klein: Lettering

短短的八页，Death为你讲解性传染疾病以及避免方法~

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Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold
Written by Alisa Kwitney
Painted Art by Kent Williams and Rebecca Guay
Painted Cover by Williams

       在故事中，脉鼠疫肆虐于世间。一座座城市变成荒漠，文明迅速瓦解。一位谜一般的陌生人来到Ruth骑士的门前，声称自己拥有预言未来的命运之书其中一页。这位神赐能力的流浪者讲述了一个跨越三世纪的爱情传奇，Destiny和他在“黑死病”、“查士丁尼鼠疫”以及“大鼠疫”中扮演的角色所揭露的背叛与恐惧......是面对可能到来的死亡还是尽管知晓了自己的命运仍然生活下去？Ruth必须在两者间作出选择。


（附）世界的三次鼠疫大流行：

       人类历史上第一次暴发鼠疫，文献记载是发生在东罗马帝国。东罗马建都于君士坦丁堡（拜占庭），因此又称拜占庭帝国。因其版图横跨欧、亚、非三大洲交界处，这次鼠疫造成的流行则是世界性的。此次鼠疫大流行发生在公元6世纪查士丁尼统治时期。查士丁尼为拜占庭帝国最有作为的皇帝。根据目击者的描述，在瘟疫传播的高峰期，君士坦丁堡（时称拜占庭，即今日之士耳其第一大城市伊斯坦布尔）每天有5,000人到10,000人染病死亡，总死亡人数在20万人以上，几乎摧毁了君士坦丁堡，鼠疫从那里传播到西欧，此后又在地中海地区飘掠肆虐了两个世纪之久。人们把这次起源于公元542年的鼠疫称为“查士丁尼鼠疫”（plague of justinian），神经质流行使欧洲南部1/5的人口丧命，此后五六十年间里又有几次反复流行，估计总死亡人数达1亿。
       
       第二次大流行发生于公元14世纪，其起源众说不一。此次流行此起彼伏持续近三百年，遍及欧亚大陆和非洲北海岸，尤以欧洲为甚。欧洲死亡两千五百万人，占当时欧洲人口的四分之一；意大利和英国死者达其人口的半数。据记载，当时伦敦的人行道上到处是腐烂发臭的死猫死狗?人们把它们当作传播瘟疫的祸首打死了?然而?没有了猫?鼠疫的真正传染源——老鼠，就越发横行无忌了。到1665年8月，每周死亡达两千人，一个月后竟达八千人。直到几个月后一场大火，烧毁了伦敦的大部分建筑，老鼠也销声匿迹，鼠疫流行随之平息。这次鼠疫大流行就是历史上称为“黑死病”的那一次。

       第三次大流行始于19世纪末它是突然暴发的，至20世纪30年代达最高峰，总共波及亚洲、欧洲、美洲和非洲的六十多个国家，死亡达千万人以上。此次流行传播速度之快、波及地区之广，远远超过前两次大流行。这次流行的特点是疫区多分布在沿海城市及其附近人口稠密的居民区，家养动物中也有流行。

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Death: The High Cost of Living
written by Neil Gaiman
pencilled by Chris Bachalo

Death每个世纪会有一天抛弃不朽之身，转生为普通人体验有限生命的感觉。这次她的转身Didi遇到一个万念俱灰只想自杀的16岁少年Sexton；好心的邻居Mrs.Robbings；250岁，等了Death一个世纪，请她帮忙寻找自己的心的怪婆婆Mad Hettie； 还有费尽心机想要夺取Death力量的瞎眼巫师……渡过了这丰富多彩的一天后，Death又回复到她不死不朽的存在。——这是一部值得回味的佳作，喜欢Death的可别错过哦~

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其他外传的介绍会陆续放出~

evan_grey

其实，SANDMAN的漫画封面极具艺术气息，如果可以把封面汇总起来发个“封面展”就太酷了。

sunnix

下面是引用evan_grey于2006-11-04 09:40发表的:
其实，SANDMAN的漫画封面极具艺术气息，如果可以把封面汇总起来发个“封面展”就太酷了。

这个出过书

Sandman: Dust Covers - The Collected Sandman Covers

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Death: The Time of Your Life
written by Neil Gaiman
pencilled by Chris Bachalo

发生在《Death: The High Cost of Living 》之后，故事围绕着逐渐走红的歌手Foxglove和她的同性恋女友Hazel展开。一晚，Hazel的儿子Alvie遭遇了致命的事故，当Death出现并准备带走Alvie时，Hazel承诺用她或Foxglove的生命来代替这位小男孩。最后，究竟是谁留在了Death身边呢？——这是一个关于忠诚、爱情以及责任的故事。