Sandman #72

History

The issue was written by Neil Gaiman under editor Karen Berger, with Shelly Bond as assistant editor — the same editorial team that shepherded the entire Vertigo-era run. Michael Zulli provided art for issues #70–73 of 'The Wake,' working without an inker; the pages were rendered entirely in pencils and color, an intentional stylistic choice that gives the funeral sequence a softer, more elegiac atmosphere than the rest of the series. Three pages originally omitted from the single issue were completed after the original publication and first appeared as a special feature in The Dreaming #8; those pages were subsequently folded into all collected editions of the story, meaning the single issue and every trade reprint present slightly different versions of the chapter.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Title and placement: 'Chapter Three: In Which We Wake,' the third chapter of the final arc 'The Wake,' and the third-to-last issue of the original 75-issue series. Cover-dated November 1995; released September 1995.
• First in-series meeting: Daniel Hall — the child transformed into the new aspect of Dream — is formally introduced to the full roster of the Endless (Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, and the absent Destruction) for the first time.
• Funeral attendees span the entire series: Eulogists and mourners include the angel Duma, the goddess Bast, Matthew the Raven, Hob Gadling, Nuala, Rose Walker, Lyta Hall, Richard Madoc, Merv Pumpkinhead, Lucifer, and Darkseid, among many others — a reunion of virtually every recurring character from the run.
• DC Universe cameos: Superman, Batman, and the Martian Manhunter appear at the wake discussing their dreams; Gaiman later confirmed in The Sandman Companion that those dream anecdotes were drawn from Silver Age stories.
• Golden Age Sandman tribute: Wesley Dodds — the original Golden Age Sandman, by then an elderly retired hero — delivers one of the formal elegies at the funeral, creating a rare bridge between DC's superhero history and the Vertigo mythology.
• Fourth-wall ending: The issue closes by addressing the reader as the final 'sleeper' who has not yet woken, capping the narrative with a direct, second-person address — a formally audacious move that dissolves the boundary between story and audience.
• Art technique: Issues #70–73 of 'The Wake,' including #72, were produced without an inker, using only Zulli's pencils with color applied directly on top — a deliberate choice to give the mourning sequence a muted, painterly quality.
• Lost pages: Three pages were cut from the original single issue before publication; they debuted in The Dreaming #8 and have been incorporated into every collected edition since, including the Sandman: The Wake trade (1996) and Absolute Sandman Vol. 4 (2008).

Full credits

Key issues in Sandman

★

#1 1st appearance — Dream

Variants (1)