Editing The Sandman: The Kindly Ones

{{Short description|Comic book album by Neil Gaiman}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox comics story arc
<!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics--> 
|anth           = y
<!-- |title          = The Sandman: The Kindly Ones -->
|image          = Kindly Ones.jpg
|imagesize      = <!-- default 250 -->
|caption        = {{Descript-cvr|The Sandman: The Kindly Ones|||1996|type=TPB|art=[[Dave McKean]]}}
|publisher      = [[DC Comics]]
|date           = '''''The Sandman'''''<br>February 1994 - July 1995<br>'''''Vertigo Jam'''''<br>August 1993
|titles         = ''[[The Sandman (Vertigo)|The Sandman]]'' #57-69<br><!--
-->''Vertigo Jam'' #1
|notable        = y
|ISBN           = 1-56389-204-9
|main_char_team = [[Dream (character)|Dream]]
|writers        = [[Neil Gaiman]]
|artists        = [[Dave McKean]]<br>[[Kevin Nowlan]]<br>[[Marc Hempel]]<br>[[Glyn Dillon]]<br>[[Charles Vess]]<br>[[Dean Ormston]]<br>[[Teddy Kristiansen]]<br>[[Richard Case]]
|pencillers     = [[Kevin Nowlan]]<br>[[Marc Hempel]]<br>[[Glyn Dillon]]<br>[[Charles Vess]]<br>[[Dean Ormston]]<br>[[Teddy Kristiansen]]<br>[[Richard Case]]
|inkers         = [[Kevin Nowlan]]<br>[[Marc Hempel]]<br>[[D'Israeli (cartoonist)|D'Israeli]]<br>[[Glyn Dillon]]<br>[[Charles Vess]]<br>[[Teddy Kristiansen]]<br>[[Richard Case]]
|letterers      = [[Todd Klein]]<br>[[Kevin Nowlan]]
|editors        = [[Karen Berger]]<br>[[Shelly Roeberg]]
|colorists      = [[Daniel Vozzo]]
|altcat         = The Sandman (comic book)
|sortkey        = Kindly Ones
}}
'''''The Kindly Ones''''' (1996) is the ninth collection of issues in the [[DC Comics]] series, ''[[The Sandman (DC Comics/Vertigo)|The Sandman]]''. Written by [[Neil Gaiman]], illustrated by [[Marc Hempel]], [[Richard Case]], [[D'Israeli (cartoonist)|D'Israeli]], [[Teddy Kristiansen]], Glyn Dillon, [[Charles Vess]], [[Dean Ormston]] and [[Kevin Nowlan]], coloured by [[Daniel Vozzo]], and lettered by [[Todd Klein]].The volume features an introduction by Frank McConnell.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dccomics.com/vertigo/graphic_novels/?gn=1713|title=Vertigo|access-date=April 14, 2010|archive-date=February 2, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100202011244/http://dccomics.com/vertigo/graphic_novels/?gn=1713|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The issues in the collection first appeared in 1993, 1994 and 1995. The collection first appeared in paperback and hardback in 1996.

Marc Hempel is the primary penciller, inked variously by himself, D'Israeli and Richard Case.  He is relieved at different points in the story by Teddy Kristiansen, Glyn Dillon and Dean Ormston, and Charles Vess draws a [[story within a story]] sequence. Kevin Nowlan draws a short story which originally appeared in a Vertigo promo book.

It was preceded by ''[[The Sandman: Worlds' End|Worlds' End]]'' and followed by ''[[The Sandman: The Wake|The Wake]]''.

==Premise==
''The Kindly Ones'' belongs with the second collection, ''[[The Sandman: The Doll's House|The Doll's House]]'', and the seventh, ''[[The Sandman: Brief Lives|Brief Lives]]'', in that it finishes off a story that mostly originated in these collections; but includes elements of ''[[The Sandman: Season of Mists|Season of Mists]]'' and the story of Orpheus, told mostly in ''[[The Sandman: Fables and Reflections|Fables and Reflections]]''. A character from ''[[The Sandman: A Game of You|A Game of You]]'', which also has its roots in ''The Doll's House'', also appears. The most structurally ambitious of the collections, ''The Kindly Ones'' is a single storyline written as a Greek tragedy, with Morpheus as its doomed hero and an aspect of the triad of [[witches]], the [[Erinyes]], as the [[Greek chorus]]. It pulls together various threads left dangling throughout the series, notably the grudges against Morpheus of several characters: [[Fury (DC Comics)|Hippolyta Hall]]; the witches themselves; the Norse god [[Loki]]; and the witch [[Characters of The Sandman#Thessaly|Thessaly]]. ''The Kindly Ones'' also continues several other stories, including that of Cluracan of Faerie and his sister Nuala; that of the [[Corinthian (comics)|Corinthian]]; and that of [[Rose Walker (DC Comics)|Rose Walker]] and her former landlord Hal.

==Plot==
{{more plot|date=December 2024}}
After [[Daniel Hall (comics)|Daniel]] is kidnapped by Loki and [[Robin Goodfellow]], his mother Lyta convinces herself that Morpheus has killed him and resolves to destroy Morpheus where she finally persuades the [[List of The Sandman characters#Three|Three]] to do so. In many places, Lyta is depicted as [[Medusa]], and even encounters Medusa's two sisters, [[Stheno]] and [[Euryale (Gorgon)|Euryale]]. Unbeknownst to Lyta, Daniel is recovered alive and well by Morpheus's servants, the raven [[Matthew Cable|Matthew]] and a restored Corinthian who does not act like his predecessor. After [[List of The Sandman characters#Loki|Loki]]'s eyes were eaten by the Corinthian, [[List of The Sandman characters#Odin|Odin]] and [[List of The Sandman characters#Thor|Thor]] have Loki placed back in his imprisonment as Lyta is unable to call off the Three's attack. In a misunderstanding of tragic proportions, the Three's Erinyes aspects continually accuse Dream of having killed his son where they also kill [[Mervyn Pumpkinhead]], [[List of The Sandman characters#Abudah|Abudah]], [[Fiddler's Green (character)|Fiddler's Green]], [[Cain and Abel (comics)|Abel]], and the [[Griffin]] member of the [[List of The Sandman characters#Gate Keepers|Gate Keepers]]. While this is not true in Daniel's case, it is true in the case of [[List of The Sandman characters#Orpheus|Orpheus]] which weighs on Dream greatly. At length, Dream yields to the Erinyes only for his sister [[Death of the Endless|Death]] to stop the Erinyes. The main story ends with Dream and his sister [[Death of the Endless|Death]] on a desolate peak with a flock of pigeons; echoing a sequence from one of the series' early high points, "The Sound of her Wings" (issue #8). Death asks for Dream's hand and he disappears. Immediately upon the death of Dream, Daniel becomes a new aspect of Dream with white clothes, white hair, and an [[emerald]] suspended on his neck and chest.

==Issues collected==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Issue
! Title
! Writer
! Penciller
! Inker
! Colorist
! Letterer
! Ast Editor
! Editor
|-
| Vertigo Jam #1
| The Castle
| Neil Gaiman
| Kevin Nowlan
| Kevin Nowlan
| Daniel Vozzo
| Kevin Nowlan
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|-
| 57
| The Kindly Ones - 1
| Neil Gaiman
| Marc Hempel
| Marc Hempel
| Daniel Vozzo
| Todd Klein
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|-
| 58
| The Kindly Ones - 2
| Neil Gaiman
| Marc Hempel
| D'Israeli
| Daniel Vozzo
| Todd Klein
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|-
| 59
| The Kindly Ones - 3
| Neil Gaiman
| Marc Hempel
| D'Israeli
| Daniel Vozzo
| Todd Klein
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|-
| 60
| The Kindly Ones - 4
| Neil Gaiman
| Marc Hempel
| D'Israeli
| Daniel Vozzo
| Todd Klein
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|-
| 61
| The Kindly Ones - 5
| Neil Gaiman
| Marc Hempel
| Marc Hempel / D'Israeli
| Daniel Vozzo
| Todd Klein
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|-
| 62
| The Kindly Ones - 6
| Neil Gaiman
| Glyn Dillon / Charles Vess / Dean Ormston
| Glyn Dillon / Charles Vess / D'Israeli
| Daniel Vozzo
| Todd Klein
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|-
| 63
| The Kindly Ones - 7
| Neil Gaiman
| Marc Hempel
| Marc Hempel
| Daniel Vozzo
| Todd Klein
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|-
| 64
| The Kindly Ones - 8
| Neil Gaiman
| Teddy Kristiansen
| Teddy Kristiansen
| Daniel Vozzo
| Todd Klein
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|-
| 65
| The Kindly Ones - 9
| Neil Gaiman
| Marc Hempel
| Richard Case
| Daniel Vozzo
| Todd Klein
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|-
| 66
| The Kindly Ones - 10
| Neil Gaiman
| Marc Hempel
| Richard Case
| Daniel Vozzo
| Todd Klein
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|-
| 67
| The Kindly Ones - 11
| Neil Gaiman
| Marc Hempel
| Richard Case
| Daniel Vozzo
| Todd Klein
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|-
| 68
| The Kindly Ones - 12
| Neil Gaiman
| Marc Hempel / Richard Case
| Richard Case
| Daniel Vozzo
| Todd Klein
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|-
| 69
| The Kindly Ones - 13
| Neil Gaiman
| Marc Hempel
| Marc Hempel
| Daniel Vozzo
| Todd Klein
| Shelly Roeberg
| Karen Berger
|}

==Reception==
Steve Faragher reviewed ''Sandman: The Kindly Ones'' for ''Arcane'' magazine, rating it a 9 out of 10 overall.<ref name="Arcane6">{{cite journal|last=Faragher|first=Steve|date=May 1996|title=The Great Library|journal=Arcane|publisher=[[Future plc|Future Publishing]]|issue=6|pages=82}}</ref> Faragher comments that "This is still one of the greatest tales ever told in a graphic novel and is essential reading for anyone who wants to try and tell believable and yet fantastical episodic stories. Gaiman is a master of his craft."<ref name="Arcane6"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book
  | first = Hy | last = Bender
  | title = The Sandman Companion
  | place = New York
  | publisher = Vertigo DC Comics
  | year = 1999
  | isbn = 1-56389-644-3
  }}

==External links==
* [http://www.arschkrebs.de/sandman/kindlyones.shtml The Annotated Sandman] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821090922/http://www.arschkrebs.de/sandman/kindlyones.shtml |date=2007-08-21 }}

{{The Sandman}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandman: The Kindly Ones}}
[[Category:1996 graphic novels]]
[[Category:Comic book collection books]]
[[Category:Puck (folklore)]]
[[Category:Erinyes]]
[[Category:Greek and Roman deities in fiction]]
[[Category:Loki]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Medusa]]