Sandman: Endless Nights (2003)

This title is Suggested for Mature Readers.

"Death and Venice": The synopsis for this issue has not yet been written.

"Death and Venice"
Sandman: Endless Nights
November, 2003
Rated M for Mature (18+)
ISBN	978-1401200893
Publisher	Vertigo
Executive Editor	Karen Berger
Cover Artists	Dave McKean
Death and Venice
Writers	Neil Gaiman
Pencilers	P. Craig Russell
Inkers	P. Craig Russell
Colorists	Lovern Kindzierski
Letterers	Todd Klein
Editors	Shelly Bond Mariah Huehner
What I've Tasted of Desire
Writers	Neil Gaiman
Pencilers	Milo Manara
Inkers	Milo Manara
Colorists	Milo Manara
Letterers	Todd Klein
Editors	Shelly Bond Mariah Huehner
The Heart of a Star
Writers	Neil Gaiman
Pencilers	Miguelanxo Prado
Inkers	Miguelanxo Prado
Colorists	Miguelanxo Prado
Letterers	Todd Klein
Editors	Shelly Bond Mariah Huehner
Fifteen Portraits of Despair
Writers	Neil Gaiman
Pencilers	Barron Storey
Inkers	Barron Storey
Colorists	Barron Storey
Letterers	Todd Klein
Editors	Shelly Bond Mariah Huehner
Going Inside
Writers	Neil Gaiman
Pencilers	Bill Sienkiewicz
Inkers	Bill Sienkiewicz
Colorists	Bill Sienkiewicz
Letterers	Todd Klein
Editors	Shelly Bond Mariah Huehner
On the Peninsula
Writers	Neil Gaiman
Pencilers	Glenn Fabry
Inkers	Glenn Fabry
Colorists	Chris Chuckry
Letterers	Todd Klein
Editors	Shelly Bond Mariah Huehner
Endless Nights
Writers	Neil Gaiman
Pencilers	Frank Quitely
Inkers	Frank Quitely
Colorists	Frank Quitely
Letterers	Todd Klein
Editors	Shelly Bond Mariah Huehner

I see. Then we are not friends, you and I, Sibling. Not any longer. Do not interfere further in my affairs.

— Dream (Morpheus)

Sandman: Endless Nights is a one-shot with a cover date of November, 2003. It was published on September 17, 2003.

Appearing in "Death and Venice"

Featured Characters:

• Death
• Sergei (Single appearance) (Flashback and main story) (Also in a flashforward)

Supporting Characters:

• Sergei's aunt (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Flashback only)
• Sergei's cousins (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Flashback only)
• Sergei's uncle (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Flashback only)
• United States Army (Flashforward only)
• Unnamed vaporetto driver (Single appearance)

Antagonists:

• Count Alain Abbot (Single appearance) (Flashback only)
• Unnamed Taliban member (Single appearance) (Dies in a flashforward)
• Unnamed Venetian crook (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

• Party attendees (Single appearance) (Also in a vision)
  • Giuseppe (Single appearance) (Dies in a vision)
  • Marie (Single appearance) (Also in a vision)
  • Unnamed child who dies in childbirth (Single appearance) (Dies in a vision)
  • Unnamed drowned attendee (Single appearance) (Dies in a vision)
  • Unnamed attendee who chokes on a soup (Single appearance) (Dies in a vision)
• Patricia (Sergei's ex-girlfriend) (Single appearance) (Flashback only)
• Unnamed American tourist (Single appearance)
• Unnamed monks (Single appearance) (Flashback only)
• Council of Ten (Mentioned only)
• Inquisition (Mentioned only)

Locations:

• Vertigo Universe (Unnamed)
  • 1751, May
    • Republic of Venice
      • Venetian Lagoon
        • Murano
          • The Monastery (Single appearance) (Flashback only)
          • The Palazzo (Flashback and main story)
  • 1768
    • Holy Roman Empire
      • Trieste (In a vision)
  • 19th Century
    • Venetian Lagoon
      • Murano
        • The Palazzo (In a vision) (In ruins) (Cameo)
  • 20th Century
    • Italy
      • Venice (Flashback only)
      • Venetian Lagoon (Flashback only)
        • Murano (Flashback only)
          • San Michele di Murano (Mentioned only)
            • Convent of San Michele di Murano (Mentioned only)
  • 21st Century
    • Afghanistan (Flashforward only)
    • Italy
      • Venice
        • Piazza San Marco (Cameo)
      • Venetian Lagoon
        • Murano
          • The Palazzo (In ruins)

Items:

• Death's Ankh (Flashback and main story)

Vehicles:

• Vaporetto

Concepts:

• Magic
• Time Travel
  

Appearing in "What I've Tasted of Desire"

Featured Characters:

• Desire (Flashback only)
• Kara (Single appearance) (Also in a flashforward)

Supporting Characters:

• Kara's husband (Single appearance; dies) (Unnamed)
• Kara's sister (Single appearance) (Unnamed)
• Viking soldiers

Antagonists:

• Unnamed warrior group (Single appearance) (All die)

Other Characters:

• Vikings
• Unnamed Viking Witch (Single appearance)
• Aesir (Mentioned only)

Locations:

• The Threshold
• Vertigo Universe (Unnamed)
  • Middle Ages
    • Europe
      • Scandinavia (Also in a flashforward)

Items:

• 
  

Concepts:

• Magic
  

Synopsis for "The Heart of a Star"

Sol tells to Earth a story about how Dream fell in love with Killalla, an Oan woman, and how Desire ruined his relationship.

Appearing in "The Heart of a Star"

Featured Characters:

• Dream (Morpheus)
• Killalla of the Glow (Single appearance) (Also in a vision)

Supporting Characters:

• The Endless
  • Delight (First appearance as Delight)
  • Despair I (Single appearance)
  • Destiny
  • Destruction
• Mizar (As a spirit)
• Sol (As a spirit) (Narrator)
  • Earth (As a spirit)

Antagonists:

• Desire
• Sto-Oa (As a spirit) (Also in a vision)

Other Characters:

• Death (Cameo)
• Glory of the First Cicle (Cameo)
• Rao (As a spirit)
• Oans (Mentioned only)
• "The one single life-form who escaped" (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
• Time (Mentioned only)

Locations:

• Multiverse (Behind the scenes)
  • Vertigo Universe (Unnamed)
    • Billions of years ago
      • Palace of the Parliament (Single appearance)
        • The Plaza of Mimic Flowers (Single appearance)
      • Solar System (Cameo)
        • Earth (Cameo)
      • Rao System
        • "An inherently unstable planet" (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
      • Sto-Oa System
        • Oa (Mentioned only)
  • Faerie (Mentioned only)
  • The Fulcrum (Mentioned only)
  • Garden of Forking Ways (Mentioned only)
  • Kingdom of Dreams (Mentioned only)
• The Darkness (Mentioned only)
• Hypertime
  • Timestream (Mentioned only)
    • End of Time (Mentioned only)

Items:

• Book of Destiny
• Death's Ankh (Cameo)

Vehicles:

• Dream's Bubble (First appearance)

Concepts:

• Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum/"The Glow"
• Magic
  

Appearing in "Fifteen Portraits of Despair"

Featured Characters:

• Despair

Supporting Characters:

• 
  

Antagonists:

• 
  

Other Characters:

• Dream (Morpheus) (Flashback only)
• God (Mentioned only)
• Branwen (Mentioned only)
• Lot (Mentioned only)
• Lot's wife (Mentioned only)
• Llŷr (Mentioned only)
• Algernon Charles Swinburne (Mentioned only)
• Walt Disney (Mentioned only)

Locations:

• The Gray Place
• Vertigo Universe
• Hell (Mentioned only)

Items:

• 
  

Vehicles:

• 
  
  

Appearing in "Going Inside"

Featured Characters:

• Delirium
• Dream (Daniel Hall)

Supporting Characters:

• Barnabas
• Matthew the Raven

Antagonists:

• 
  

Other Characters:

• Unnamed catatonic girl (Single appearance)
  • The girl's mother (Single appearance) (Unnamed)

Locations:

• Delirium's Realm (Unnamed)
• Vertigo Universe

Items:

• 
  

Vehicles:

• 
  
  

Appearing in "On the Peninsula"

Featured Characters:

• Destruction/"Joe" (Also in a vision)
• Rachel (Single appearance) (Also in a vision)

Supporting Characters:

• Delirium
• Stanley (Single appearance) (Also in a vision)

Antagonists:

• Hunter-Killer Slug (Alternate Future) (Single appearance) (Cameo)
• United States Government (Behind the scenes)
  • United States Secret Service

Other Characters:

• Abraham Lincoln (In picture only) (Cameo)
• Bill (Single appearance) (Cameo)
• Zombies (In dream sequence only) (Cameo)
• The Endless (Mentioned only)
• God (Mentioned only)

Locations:

• The Dreaming
• Waking World
  • Italy
    • Sardinia
      • San Raphael
  • United States of America
• Hunter-Killing Slug's Future (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
• Timestream
  • Dawn of Time (Mentioned only)

Items:

• 2019 Penny (Single appearance)

Concepts:

• Time Travel
• World War II (Mentioned only)
  

Appearing in "Endless Nights"

Featured Characters:

• Destiny (Also as a statue)

Supporting Characters:

• 
  

Antagonists:

• 
  

Other Characters:

• The Endless (In a photograph only) (Also as statues)
  • Death
  • Delirium
  • Desire
  • Despair
  • Destruction
  • Dream (Morpheus)

Locations:

• Garden of Forking Ways
  • Gallery of Destiny
• Vertigo Universe (Cameo)
• Delirium's Realm (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
• The Dreaming (Mentioned only)
• The Fulcrum (Mentioned only)
• The Gray Place (Mentioned only)
• Sunless Lands (Mentioned only)
• The Threshold (Mentioned only)

Items:

• Book of Destiny
• Death's Ankh (In picture only)

Concepts:

• Magic

Notes

• The "The Heart of a Star" story introduces the first Despair who will later die and be replaced by the second Despair, as well Delight who is Delirium's original form.
  • This story also reveals the origin of the rivalry between Lord Morpheus and Desire.
  • "The Glow", which is wielded by Killalla, is obviously the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum.
• This issue is reprinted in:
  • The Absolute Sandman Vol. 5
  • The Sandman: Deluxe Edition, Book Five
  • The Sandman, Book Five
• "Death and Venice" is also reprinted in Death.

Trivia

• In "The Heart of a Star" story, it is implied that the conversation between the first Despair and Rao is an allusion to the Superman story. In fact, Despair questions Rao about maintaining life in an unstable world and the possibility of a solitary survivor to continually cry for the destruction of that world, with the simple objective of her reveling in all the despair resulting from the event.
  • This suggests that the death of Krypton was always meant to happen.

See Also

• Images from Sandman: Endless Nights

Links and References

Summary Needed

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