Arts ©Entertainment
Thursday, April 4, 1996 Page 9
Cliff Hicks
‘Sandman’
ends era
of comics
And so an era ends.
“The Sandman” No. 75 came out
last week, and now the series is done.
It’s like losing an old friend.
It’s really hard to describe the
meaning of the series’ end to those of,
you who’ve never read Neil Gaiman’s
masterpiece. It is akin, perhaps, to de
scribing love to an infant.
I began reading “The Sandman”
back in early 1992, when some guys
at the comic shop offered me an issue.
I have, since then, read every single
issue of the series, having collected all
of the hardcover collections.
“The Sandman” tells the story of the
Lord of Dreams, who is commonly
referred to as Morpheus. He is not nec
essarily the focus of each story. For
some story-arcs, such as “World’s
End,” he barely even appears.
What kind of scries is that, you ask?
A brilliant one. “The Sandman” really
marked the beginning of a different
type of comics, for grown-ups.
Certainly, titles like “Swamp
Thing'T ariif "HcHbla/xr” weren’t:
aimed for children, but neither of them
was as intellectually stimulating as
“The Sandman.”
Who else but Gaiman would think
of things like Lucifer quitting, closing
up hell and giving the key to someone
(“Season Of Mists” story arc); or hav
ing a man live forever simply because
he chooses not to die (the character
Hob Galding)?
Much of “The Sandman” is multi
layered, with stories within stories.
This is fitting because Morpheus is the
self-proclaimed Prince of Stories.
The scries was told in story arcs,
each of which was collected in hard- ;
cover and softcover. They were, in
chronological order, “Preludes &
Noctures,” “A Doll’s House,” “Dream
Country,” “Season of Mists,” “A Game
ofYou,” “Fables & Reflections,” “Brief
Lives,” “World’s End,” “The Kindly
Ones” and the final collection, still
forthcoming, which will probably be
called “And Then We Wake.”
Each story arc is drawn by a differ
ent artist or series of artists, so that
someone familiar with the scries can
look at a page and probably tell you
the arc, simply by the style in which
it’s drawn.
In its entirety, “The Sandman”
reads like a classic epic story, with
everything converging on one final
conclusion, inevitable, unavoidable
and tragic.
hollowing it was a three-issue epi
logue called “The Wake,” and two
stand-alone stories. Issue No. 75 was
“The Tempest,” the companion piece
to issue No. 13, “A Midsummer
Night’s Dream.”
“The Tempest” ends the series, and
I think most people will think of it as a
good issue and a fitting end to the se
ries that began the Renaissance of com
ics. The people who really will be
haunted by “The Tempest,” though, are
other writers.
Gaiman perfectly captures the
world that writers live in—their own.
All writers see parts of themselves in
every character they create.
Now, at the peak of this series’
popularity, it ends. Neil knew that the
story had to end; that’s what gives it
meaning.
See SANDMAN on 10
James Mehsling/DN
‘Kindred’ deviates from game
By Cliff Hicks
Staff Reporter
On Tuesday night. Fox showed off
its brand new show, “Kindred: The
Embraced." What many people don’t
know is that the show is based on a
role-playing game that has been
played since the early 1990s.
“Kindred: The Embraced" is a
soap-opera/drama scries based on a
Mafia-like group of vampires who
have managed to hide their dark se
cret from society.
“Vampire: The Masquerade" is the
first of White Wolf’s five-part “World
of Darkness" series of role-playing
games, in which the players assume
personas they create. The others in
clude: “Werewolf: The Apocalypse,"
“Mage: The Ascension," “Wraith: The
Oblivion" and “Changeling: The
Dreaming."
But some differences exist between
the television show, “Kindred: The
Embraced" and the role-playing game,
“Vampire: The Masquerade."
In “Vampire,” there arc seven clans,
not five. For television, two clans, the
Malkavians (mentally deranged vam
pires) and the Tremcrc (the Machia
vellians of the vampires), were re
moved.
Also, some scenes occur during
sunlight, which, according to the
game’s rules, is hazardous to vam
pires, causing them to burst into
flames. The rationale given in the
show is that the sunlight has to hit
them directly, and the scenes occur at
dusk.
Across the Internet, the players'
main complaint has been that the
Nosferatu, who are horribly disfigured
in the game, didn’t, look all that bad.
“You’d think if they’d get good
special effects, they could afford to do
the makeup for a real Nosferatu,” said
Darren Lanian, a Vampire player from
Maine.
Reactions from players have been
mixed. Some have lambasted the show
for not sticking close enough to the
game mechanics, while others have
lauded it for sticking as close as it has.
“Poorly acted, poorly written, just
for gamers, no others need apply,” said
Rochelle Dvorak, owner of Comic
World.
The one thing just about everyone
likes is Julian Luna (played by Mark
Frankcl), who is very much what most
people seoa Prince as.
Each city is run by a vampire-like
mob-boss-type figure who is the
Prince of the city. The Princes are usu
ally very politically dominant, mak
ing today’s politicians seem gentle.
Players’ other common agreement
is that while the players may love the
scries, without previous knowledge of
the game and its background, viewers
may be lost.
Only time will tell whether “Kin
dred: The Embraced” makes it. But as
Shelly Minzer, a Vampire player from
San Francisco, said, “they (the actors)
have got to stop acting like it’s
'Melrose Place’ and more like it’s
'The X-Filcs’.”
Students
shoot for
awards
By Gerry Beltz
Senior Reporter
While this year’s Academy
Awards proved that even a talking
pig could get 15 minutes of fame,
the Student Academy Awards may
hold cinematic surprises for the fu
ture.
The 23rd Annual Student Acad
emy Awards will open this Thurs
day at 7:30 p.m. at the Mary Ricpma
Ross Film Theatre and run through
Sunday evening. Admission to all
shows is free.
Dan Ladely, director of the Mary
Ricpma Ross Film Theatre, also
wears the hat of coordinator for Re
gion Two of the three-region com
petition.
In past years, the competition has
been divided into seven regions, but
this year’s competition is made up
of only three regions, Ladely said.
Now, California is region one,
New York is region three and the rest
of the country is region two.
This year boasts about 50 entries,
Ladely said, totaling more than 26
hours of film.
Ladely and other judges will be
gin viewing the films Thursday
night. Winning films will continue
to the semifinals in Chicago, he said.
“This is kind of the ‘weeding out’
.process,’’ he said, “and eventually,
actual members of the Academy will
vote on the frims."
Past winners of Student Academy
Awards competitions include Rob
ert Zemeckis and John Singleton,
Ladely said, adding that most win
ners of the awards go on to work in
the movie industry.
“Winning the competition can be
a big boost to the career,'’ he said,
“plus the winner gets to visit movie
sets, opportunities to make contacts
and so on.
“It’s really a wonderful opportu
mty.
The films arc sorted into four cat
egories. They are: alternative, ani
mation, documentary and dramatic.
Although the entries arc usually very
heavy with drama, Ladely said, the
restructuring of the regions has
changed one certain category.
“We’re getting a little more ani
mation than we used to,” he said.
One highlight of the weekend
will take place Saturday at 7 p.m.
when a compilation film of last
year’s four winners will be screened.
Admission to this event is also free.
“It’s really worth your while that
night,” he said. “It’s a cheap date.”
Complete schedules and show
times arc available at the Ross Film
Theatre Box Office.
Right Guard tries to attract ‘key market’
By Patrick Hambrecht
Senior Reporter
Students will have a “terrific op
portunity” to be given free deodor
ant samples, cold vanilla beverages
and a Sony music compilation com
pact disc today at the Right Guard
Right Sound Listening Party.
The “Listening Party” will be
presented in two two-hour sessions
at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. in the Nebraska
Union’s Centennial Room.
The party will be coordinated by
Market Source, said Marty Merrick,
the company’s group director.
Merrick said the Sony Corpora
tion had made a free “really neat CD
with some great alternative music”
for college students, including new
songs from bands Mercury Rev,
Eve’s Plum and the Emmet Swim
“When I say cool music, I’m talking about neiv
music. Alternative music.”
MARTY MERRICK
Group director for Market Source
ming October Project.
“When I say cool music, I’m talk
ing about new music. Alternative
music,” Merrick said. “This is very
similar to what radio stations are
doing to create awareness.
“It’s like the kind of music alter
native stations play.”
Merrick then asked if Lincoln
had an alternative station.
“K.RNU? What sort of music do
they play? Pearl Jam, do they play
Pearl Jam?
“It’s like Pearl Jam, Smashing
Pumpkins and what’s that other band
I’m thinking of — The Crash Test
Dummies,” Merrick said. “It’s alter
native music.”
Right Guard is sponsoring the
promotional event to help college
students “make a positive associa
tion with the brand,” Merrick said.
“College students are a key mar
ket for Right Guard,” he said. “Col
lege students arc a hard-to-reach
consumer market. They don’t con
sistently watch TV, read the news
paper or read magazines.”
But college students are still “an
important consumer segment” to
large corporations because they’re
“acquiring their purchasing deci
sions, often for the first time,”
Merrick said.
In addition to the CDs, students
also will be given free samples of
Right Guard deodorant, Soft and Dri
deodorant, and Arizona chocolate
and vanilla beverages. One free
Schwinn bicycle also will be given
away.
While college participants collect
products, a series of television sta
tions will play advertisements and
music videos from Sony CDs. Sony
PlayStations also will be set up with
new video games.
To attend, each student must have
a valid college identification and one
of the Right Guard tickets given
away by the UPC office.
