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Neil Gaiman fans?

I was a bit of a comic book nerd when I was a kid. I think I overheard someone at a comic book shop talking about a series called Sandman, it was written by Neil Gaiman. I picked up the series during a portion called The Doll's House and became quickly attached, following the series until its end, even after I'd stopped buying any other comic books.

I loved the stories, the art and most of all the characters. The main character was Morpheus, god of dreams, often quite and melancholy, sometimes forceful and powerful. He had a sister, she was the personification of Death. I really liked this character, I suppose I had something of a crush on her, she was drawn to be a pretty woman, she had interesting dress and it was enigmatic to consider death as a person, with thoughts, emotions, motives, a personality.

I didn't know until I thought to revisit the old series yesterday, that the appearance of Death was actually inspired by a real woman, Cinnamon Hadley, from Salt Lake City, UT. Unfortunately she died just over a year ago. She was a very interesting person in her own right, the way she became part of the series is that she was friends with the artist who created the drawings of the character initially (the comic went through several artists to bring a different feel and mood to the stories). Neil actually had a specific idea in mind for the character, but when he saw the artist's renderings based on Cinnamon, he immediately changed his mind.

Sandman is quite a well written series with great art, I highly recommend it.

This link is a brief article about Cinnamon. I chose it because it uses a photo of her from that time that inspired the character along with the character itself. There are other more lengthy examinations of Cinnamon as a person that are very interesting if you search for her.

PS - I'm sad.

[comicmix.com]

josh_is_exciting 7 Apr 13
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3 comments

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I never was much on comic books. Living on a farm had plenty of things to keep me busy and amused growing up. I can see how a young one could get into something like that. Very deep for a kid though back in the 60s. How old were you then, and when was it?

@josh_is_exciting Yep.. I can see why the interest..

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I always had such a crush on Death. Sigh. Goth lasses.

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Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors in the English langauge. I remember reading Coraline for the first time and got terrified. Love the Neverwhere series, both in book form and as a video series from the BBC..And truly, who could collaborate with the incomparable Terry Pratchett. Waiting for the first installment of The Good Omen at the end of May.

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