The new address is http://eyesmightbite.tumblr.com/ – please update your bookmarks and if you have a Tumblr account, feel free to follow. I’ll move over most of the content I already posted here, and add new stuff soon. I also hope that I can connect with some of the already existing Sandman-related Tumblelogs there. Of course, if you don’t have (or don’t want) a Tumblr account you can still read the entries by subscribing to the feed.

*waves* See ya!

I still love the mix between somewhat cartoonish and realistic style (bet I could explain this better if I actually knew anything about art), somehow reminding me of animated movies like Titan A.E. It’s a kinda boyish version of the Corinthian, charming in the way that ‘bad boys’ in the movies are. (No really, give him a leather jacket and a bike, and you’re set. [Funny enough, the leather jacket is canon, depending on whether you regard The Dreaming as canon.])

Clicking on the thumbnails should bring you to the art page in question, the Fanart gallery (with original characters, but also Sandman fanart) can be found here.

Which Sandman character are you?, by jaszhokhinn, is rather straightforward. Most characters will be immediately recognizable. Results have pictures, and I like the short descriptions that go with each. In the case of the Corinthian, the focus is on his nature, rather than his actions, and the contradictions therein.

Which supporting character from the Sandman series are you?, by SuperFert, is short and more… let’s call it philosophical, in its approach. (Questions such as “Why are you here?” totally qualify.) So it’s one of those where the answers migth actually surprise you. The results have pictures and vary in quality.

If anyone knows where the “Sandman Alphabet” icon set comes from (C is for Corinthian), or if there even is a complete set, and if so who made it: a link would be most welcome!

The only icons so far that I had saved to my bookmarks were the ones kyraille did to accompany her drawing (one of them actually served as the preview picture). They’re buried in the comment thread, so if you read it, you’ve probably already seen them. If not, here’s a direct link. (Totally spoilers in the comments, for The Wake and various The Dreaming issues, esp. #21 and #22. We rambled a lot. And sorry for the inactive journal links, I left LiveJournal a while ago and moved to InsaneJournal or blogs like this one.)

Neil’s blog entry from 2003, wherein he gives a short list of homosexual male characters in his books. (Scroll down to the fourth bolded question/letter, or do a page search for “male”.)

It’s also mentioned in the Sandman Companion, albeit in a different context: in the chapter about “The Dolls House”, Neil says the following in an interview:

HB: Where did his name come from?

NG: It’s a seventeenth-century slang word for a licentious rake who does things like frequent brothels. But Sandman‘s Corinthian doesn’t have sex; he eats eyeballs. And he’s homosexual, in the sense that he prefers to eat the eyeballs of boys. (p. 67)

In the spin-off The Dreaming, the subtext finally becomes text insofar that Cori’s sexual preference is mentioned a few times by other characters, and he has a short-lived relationship with a biologically male person. Though many people either haven’t read the series or don’t regard it as canon, so… *shrugs* I just thought I’d throw it out there.

Personally, I’m fascinated by the topic because I think it has more layers than just a simple gay/straight dichotomy in the sexual sense. With the eyeball-eating, you can see it as a fetish, a stand-in for sex, an addiction, or a form of thirst for knowledge. And then there’s the fact that, when something’s subtext, people are going to interpret it very differently, because they’re pretty much free to choose what they want to see. Or because they have different life experiences that color their interpretations. I remember one reader saying that all those things like the Corinthian only going after boys, his picking up of male prostitutes, and the like, didn’t state anything about his gayness because he didn’t have sex with his victims. Back then I planned on writing about that at length, because it felt to me like the guy making that argument was trying to erase that part of the Corinthian, or if that wasn’t his intent, he still had a very strict and physical definition of “gay”, which I’m not supporting, either. But I never got around to it, only wrote a half-finished rant that’s collecting dust on my harddrive.

* I’m using that phrase somewhat ironically. I’m aware that you don’t have to take everything an author says for truth etched in stone (rather the opposite), but it can be helpful to know that it was intentional on Neil’s part.

I’m sure Brian can’t be the only one?

Eta: you can see a complete photo set of his tattoos, many of them Sandman-related, on Flickr.

Please be aware that you might encounter the following:
a) spoilers for issues of The Sandman, The Dreaming, or any related series,
b) content NOT suitable for minors (violence, sexual relations), though I’ll always include appropriate warnings when necessary.
Neither the fic authors nor myself make money from this, and we certainly don’t own the rights to any comics/characters by Neil Gaiman or DC.

Soft Places, by migratory for the sandman100 community
Not as gory as the choice quote might make you think.
“The smell of blood and death seeped into the Dreaming, and although it mingled with a thousand other dream smells, it was recognisably real.”

Aftertaste, by das_dingsi
Eye-eating, dreams, not graphic.
“It tastes insubstantial, like blown-up nothing, like airbrushed clouds.”

Casual Conversation, by tarouchan
Set during ‘The Wake’, Cori & Matthew the raven.
“It wasn’t the most pleasant conversation Matthew had ever had.”

1. List of characters in The Sandman — this is a shorter and more general overview, drawing its information from just the Sandman trades “The Dolls House” and “The Kindly Ones” (which also means it mainly discusses the first Corinthian).

2. Corinthian (comics) is the main article. It seems to have been revised and expanded since my last visit: reading might spoil you not just for TDH and TKO, but also the 4-issue mini series “Death in Venice” (a.k.a. The Sandman Presents: The Corinthian), and The Dreaming spin-off which lasted for 60 issues. Information on his abilities has been updated, as well. You also get to know the various possible explanations for his name.

~

[Personal note after the Cut]

For, say, fan fiction research purposes, it can be a bit confusing when looking at the stated abilities. Strictly speaking, the Corinthian did not only go through two incarnations, but also at least three different approaches to his characterization, depending on the source. It can create a somewhat awkward impression when trying to put all the pieces together and treat them like they had always been a seamless whole. I’m going to address this in an extra post and put up a link to it later. The Cliff Notes version is: treat the two Corinthians like the different persons they are, “Death in Venice” canon is totally optional, and similarly, ignore anything after “Souvenirs”/”The Dark Rose” as you see fit. Your mileage may vary, of course, but in my experience it makes things way easier.