It took Dian 24 issues to figure it out, but Rex Tyler has worked out Wes' secret identity in three. Does anyone else feel like Wes fatally underestimated him when he took Rex out for that dinner? The push and pull between these two mystery men is what makes this arc so much fun, in my opinion. So what's your favorite Sandman/Hourman scene - or moment - from this arc?
It's the setting for the climax of the Hourman storyline, but what exactly *was* the Beaux Arts Ball? According to Grokipedia:
"The Beaux Arts ball functioned as a vital networking hub for architects and designers, particularly among Beaux-Arts alumni during its original run in the 1920s and 1930s. These events brought together professionals from firms and institutions, encouraging informal collaborations that often led to joint projects and the formation of influential architectural partnerships in New York."
This ball was inspired by balls held at the Parisian Ecole des Beaux Art, and acted as a fundraiser for architecture prizes, and was usually at the Hotel Astor. Some participants would sink many hours of labour and hundreds of dollars into elaborate costumes: the most famous ones being the ones from 1931 where architects dressed up as their own buildings. William Van Allen was dressed as the Chrystler Building for instance in the middle of the second picture here - here's the whole list of who was dressed as what:
From left to right: Stewart Walker (Fuller Building), Leonard Schultze (Waldorf-Astoria), Ely Jacques Kahn (Squibb Building), William Van Alen (Chrysler Building), Ralph Walker (1 Wall Street), D.E.Ward (Metropolitan Tower), and Joseph H. Freelander (Museum of New York).
It was a male-dominated event in terms of how the ball was always planned by men, but there were lots of women at the Beaux Arts Ball - the third picture shows some of their costume from the same year (1931). Where the original Parisian Beaux Arts ball was a rowdy student led affair, the American version was a high society event.
I will link to the two articles and one tumblr post I read + sourced the pictures from here:
https://www.tumblr.com/nyccirca/74408036682/beaux-arts-ball-january-23-1931
I have a question: Is Rex Tyler talking to himself a "thing" in the original comics? Having only read about Hourman in Sandman Mystery Theatre and that Golden Age miniseries where he teams up with Doctor Midnite and ends up giving Hooty the owl a dose of Miraclo, I have no idea. In SMT, Hourman's hilariously banal monologues ("...hope there's no mayonnaise..." etc) made me wonder if they were setting him up to be a bit loopy in preparation for him getting a villain arc(!), and I have never been happier to be wrong! But as you can see, my knowledge of the character is very limited, so I would appreciate input from more knowledgeable Hourman fans!
Reading the Butcher arc where they speculate about homeless people living in the sewers made me wonder if that was actually a thing. And it wasn't - only alligators lived down there apparently! - But, Central Park, which I think is right *above* where the Butcher lives, was the site of a huge homeless encampment in the 1930's! It was called a Hooverville - note the *a*, it was one of several shantytowns spread across the USA; all named after the president who had failed his people so spectacularly that they ended up losing their homes.
The residents of the Central Park Hooverville apparently managed to make their shacks quite comfortable because they'd been able to bring their furniture along, but the problem was always going to be sanitation since they had no access to running water and no public bathrooms. So eventually, they were turfed out of the park and the Hooverville was destroyed.
It's a sobering thought that people were living like this at the same time as Wesley was living in his mansion with his butler. That first photo where the shacks are submerged in snow makes me shudder. How cold were those poor people? They didn't have heating either.
(Also, as a complete side note: do these photos of the Central Park encampment remind anyone else of the Occupy movement?)
Anyway, I'm going to link to a blog I find here that gives us a little write-up on the Central Park Hooverville:
https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/the-hoovervilles-of-new-york-city/
At last it's time to revisit the arc that is my personal favourite! XD Seat-of-the-pants super heroics have never been more disastrous, so grab you gas guns and your Miraclo pills and let's GO!
Is this really any better...?
Let's all take a moment and remember issue 5. How all the Asian characters had Simpsons yellow skin. And now let's consider Robert Li's appearance in the Butcher arc, and how his skin is... I would say a pale shade of lemon?
We also get a scene where Robert is faced with racism, being denied entry to a night club until Wesley bribes the doorman to let them both in. Back when we were reading the Face arc, one of you suggested that the "color error" was a deliberate attempt to start a dialogue about racism, juxtaposing the impossibly yellow skin color with the very prevalent racism in 1930's America. Does anyone think \*that\* might be the reason for this lighter, but still jarring skin tone? Note the panel on the second slide here, where Robert literally blends with the wall like Wednesday Adams.
Would we even have a story without this intrepid little medical examiner? He risks his career to help the Sandman, he keeps a cool head under pressure - the scene where Wes calls him at the office and Hubert is like, "Oh hi, Mom," is a standout in the Brute arc. As is how Klein doesn't just blindly do everything Wes asks of him; the fact that there is *some* information he refuses to divulge to the Sandman was a nice touch, I felt. He's also learned to let Burke's foul-mouthed diatrabes slide without so much as flinching. Nor does he allow Burke to railroad him. Nobody gets to push Hubert Klein around.
Oh, and he's got allergies.
This is one of my main takeaways from the Butcher arc - along with HOLY SHIT SEWER CANNIBAL!! That in this arc, we start to see Burke in a slightly less hateful light. He may be a racist, but he expresses disgust against the Nazis. Maybe I'm reading too much into the scene where Hubert Klein talks about the first victim being Jewish, but I got the sense that, after being on the receiving end of racism himself during the Vamp arc, Burke might have had some kind of mild moral awakening? I say mild because he tries to kick Wesley to death, *after* Wesley saves his life during the Scorpion arc.
Still, I think this is the first time we see Burke visiting his girlfriend. And we see how tired he is. Not to mention that this case clearly gets to him. Burke even meets his foul-mouthed match in that sewage plant worker - and up until then, Burke could out-cuss everyone in New York!
What are your thoughts on Burke in this arc? He's definitely getting some character development, even though he seems to be resisting it!
This time, they're covered the Scorpion arc. Here's the link:
https://fireandwaterpodcast.com/podcast/justice-society-presents-the-sandman-slept-here-5/
Now off you go and give this a listen, people!
The site doesn't seem to allow downloads, so have a screenshot.
From this, it looks like Guy Davies actually drew in most of the speech bubbles at the pencilling stage, at a time when the norm, as far as I'm aware, was to paste the bubbles onto the page after it was fully inked. The three bubbles towards the bottom have been stained brown, so I do wonder if just *those three* were pasted on, and then the tape started to age, causing the discolouration.
Note how the bubble placement leads your eye through each frame and down across the page. Guy Davies knew exactly what he was doing. By this point in the series, it probably made sense for him to draw the bubbles in.
Image found here: https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1156922
Not sure if the page is still for sale but I thought this was neat!
In a series full of grim stuff, I feel like this arc might be right up there with The Tarantula as one of the grimmest. Even Burke freaks out, and that's saying something!
Do YOU have any memories of, or thoughts on this arc?
Heads up, fellow dreamers! We're picking up the reread again this coming Wednesday, April 22nd.
Also... I have been wondering how many of you are still doing this reread? And if/how much you are enjoying it? Because it would be lovely to have some discussion around these story arcs.