Desire (DC Comics)
Encyclopedia
Desire is a fictional character
from the DC
comic book
series The Sandman (1988–1996). The character first appeared in The Sandman vol. 2, #10 (November 1989), and was created by Neil Gaiman
and Mike Dringenberg
.
(the second trade paperback collecting The Sandman series). Gaiman claims to have drawn inspiration for Desire from "the sexy, androgynous" prints created by Patrick Nagel
in the 1980s, and Annie Lennox
circa 1987 while she was a member of the Eurythmics
. Dringenberg recalls differences he and Gaiman had in their view of Desire's visual appearance. While Gaiman saw Desire as being somewhere between David Bowie
and Annie Lennox, Dringenberg saw it more in terms of Duran Duran
(what he describes as "sort of two-dimensional and slightly vapid"). Dringenberg also cites his then girlfriend as being a visual inspiration for Desire; rendering the character in her likeness but with very short hair. Dringenberg points out the primary difference between their vision for Desire being that Gaiman's idea for the character was essentially sexless and unsatisfying. Dringenberg, on the other hand, saw it as being omni-sexual and perennially tempting. According to Dringenberg, his vision calls for a Desire with breasts and a bulge between its legs, and Gaiman's calls for nothing. Gaiman agrees with Dringenberg's view by explaining that Desire had to be made both male and female, because the character represents everything someone might desire. He adds that Desire being both male and female (or neither male nor female) provides symmetry to the Endless family: three males (Destiny
, Dream
, and Destruction
), three females (Death
, Despair
, and Delirium), and Desire.
Todd Klein
was asked to develop unique lettering styles for many of the main characters featured in The Sandman series. When he designed the typeface used for Desire's lettering, he rendered the letters in the style of Art Nouveau
posters and ads to correspond with its Patrick Nagel visuals.
When Desire is first introduced in The Doll's House, it is shown within the Threshold: a giant, flesh and blood replica of itself which it calls its home. Gaiman admits that he stole the name for the Threshold from a story Clive Barker
had been planning to do in which Gaiman was going to be included as a character. He liked the name because threshold contains hold, meaning home or fortress. The idea for Desire living in its own body came from Gaiman deciding that desire
lives under the skin. The conclusion of The Doll's House culminates in a confrontation between Dream and Desire. The reader has learned that Desire rapes Unity Kinkaid as part of a plot to ensnare its brother Dream. During an interview, Hy Bender asks Gaiman why Desire sleeping with a mortal woman isn't against a rule in DC continuity stating that the Endless aren't allowed to mate with mortals. Gaiman corrects him by pointing out that the rule is that the Endless cannot love mortals, and that rape is something altogether different. He goes on to point out that these plot devices help set up the Dream versus Desire conflict that spans The Sandman series. Bender also asks Gaiman about Desire appearing as an antagonist in The Sandman. Gaiman explains that Desire's role as a "villain" is due to its personality conflict with Dream. With Dream being the main character of the series, Desire was shortchanged. He goes on to say that if he were to write Desire Comics, that readers would have seen Dream in more of an antagonist role.
Desire's appearances are largely relegated to The Sandman series and related works. Desire also makes cameo appearances in Winter's Edge #1 and #3, a holiday title published by Vertigo
.
Desire is described as being of medium height, smelling faintly of summer peaches. Desire casts two shadows, one black and sharp, the other translucent and wavering. Desire's smiles are brief and sharp. Its skin is "pale as smoke," and its eyes are "tawny and sharp as yellow wine."
Desire is easily the cruelest of the Endless. It seems obsessed with interfering with the affairs of its elder siblings, particularly Dream. The motivation behind this is not clear, but seems to be simply a variation on childish teasing. Desire is not exactly unaware of the consequences of its actions, but considers those consequences ultimately unimportant, a position which angers Morpheus and Death in particular. Desire sometimes acts in concert with Despair and Delirium; the relationship is not clear, however, and Desire is much more distant from its siblings than Despair or Delirium.
A more forgiving interpretation is that Desire reflects, simply, desire, and is as fickle and self-centered as the emotion. As desire is easily the most inflaming of emotions, Desire takes special delight in needling those who think they are beyond emotions altogether. It is, besides Death (who, even then, must be goaded), the only one of the Endless that will point out the faults of Dream, some of which, such as the condemnation of Nada, are legitimate. Even Destruction noted that while Desire can be malicious, it is often right.
A story in Endless Nights
, set long before any other Sandman story, explains the origins of the Desire/Dream enmity, and reveals that before this Desire was Dream's favorite sibling. Dream had fallen in love with a mortal, Killalla of the Glow, and had taken her to a gathering of stars (literally the embodiments of various suns). While there, Killalla met and fell in love with the star of her own home world, abandoning Dream. Desire's role in this is never made clear (except that love is obviously a form of desire). After introducing his lover to Desire when they first arrive, and leaving the two alone, Killalla asked what Desire had done for Dream to make him so affectionate, but Desire indicated that it hadn't done anything at all. Later, however, when Dream angrily blames Desire for the whole affair, Desire offers no defense, only asking Destruction after Morpheus storms off, "Doesn't he have a sense of humor?" This story, set billions of years before the story-arc of The Sandman, tends to portray the characters in a very different light, showing that even the Endless are not unchanging, with Desire's attitude towards Dream being playful rather than malicious during this early encounter.
The enmity between Dream and Desire continued through the millennia, eventually culminating in Desire raping and fathering a child on Unity Kinkaid, then attempting to have Dream kill Rose Walker
, Unity's grandchild, which would have caused the ruthless and relentless Furies
to hound Dream until he died for the crime of shedding family blood. When Dream discovered this at the end of The Doll's House, he openly threatened Desire with what would happen should Desire interfere in Dream's life again, and there was an uneasy truce between the two afterwards.
, a well-known friend of Gaiman's, included a song titled "Sister Named Desire" as a B-Side
for her single "Talula
". The song was rerecorded for a tribute album to Gaiman that was assembled by the Dancing Ferret
entertainment group titled Where's Neil When You Need Him?
(named after a line from Amos' song "Space Dog").
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the DC
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series The Sandman (1988–1996). The character first appeared in The Sandman vol. 2, #10 (November 1989), and was created by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
and Mike Dringenberg
Mike Dringenberg
Mike Dringenberg is a German/American comic book artist best known for his work on DC/Vertigo's Sandman series with writer Neil Gaiman after original artist Sam Kieth's departure.-Biography:Dringenberg was born in Laon, France...
.
Publication history
Desire is first featured in the second issue of The Doll's HouseThe Sandman: The Doll's House
The Doll's House is the second trade paperback collection of the comic book series The Sandman, published by DC Comics. It collects issues #9-16. It is written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli and Steve Parkhouse, coloured by Robbie...
(the second trade paperback collecting The Sandman series). Gaiman claims to have drawn inspiration for Desire from "the sexy, androgynous" prints created by Patrick Nagel
Patrick Nagel
Patrick Nagel was an American artist. He created popular illustrations on board, paper, and canvas, most of which emphasize the simple grace of and beauty of the female form, in a distinctive style descended from Art Deco...
in the 1980s, and Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...
circa 1987 while she was a member of the Eurythmics
Eurythmics
Eurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...
. Dringenberg recalls differences he and Gaiman had in their view of Desire's visual appearance. While Gaiman saw Desire as being somewhere between David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and Annie Lennox, Dringenberg saw it more in terms of Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
(what he describes as "sort of two-dimensional and slightly vapid"). Dringenberg also cites his then girlfriend as being a visual inspiration for Desire; rendering the character in her likeness but with very short hair. Dringenberg points out the primary difference between their vision for Desire being that Gaiman's idea for the character was essentially sexless and unsatisfying. Dringenberg, on the other hand, saw it as being omni-sexual and perennially tempting. According to Dringenberg, his vision calls for a Desire with breasts and a bulge between its legs, and Gaiman's calls for nothing. Gaiman agrees with Dringenberg's view by explaining that Desire had to be made both male and female, because the character represents everything someone might desire. He adds that Desire being both male and female (or neither male nor female) provides symmetry to the Endless family: three males (Destiny
Destiny (DC Comics)
Destiny is a DC Comics character created by Marv Wolfman and Bernie Wrightson, first appearing in Weird Mystery Tales #1 , and was regular host of that series for the first fourteen issues, after which he hosted Secrets of Haunted House. He is one of the Endless in Neil Gaiman's comic book series,...
, Dream
Dream (comics)
Dream is the fictional protagonist of DC Comics' Vertigo comic book series The Sandman, written by Neil Gaiman. One of the seven Endless, inconceivably powerful beings older and greater than gods, Dream is both lord and personification of all dreams and stories, all that is not in reality...
, and Destruction
Destruction (DC Comics)
Destruction is one of the Endless, fictional characters from Neil Gaiman's comic book series The Sandman.-Fictional Biography Within The Sandman:...
), three females (Death
Death (DC Comics)
Death is a fictional character from the DC comic book series, The Sandman . The character first appeared in The Sandman vol. 2, #8 , and was created by Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg....
, Despair
Despair (DC Comics)
Despair is one of the Endless, fictional characters from Neil Gaiman's comic book series, The Sandman.Despair is the twin sister of Desire. She is squat, flabby and pale-skinned, with black hair, gray eyes, and pointed teeth. Her voice is little more than a whisper, and she has no odor, but her...
, and Delirium), and Desire.
Todd Klein
Todd Klein
Todd Klein is an American comic book letterer, logo designer, and occasional writer, primarily for DC Comics.- Early career:Todd Klein broke into comics in the summer of 1977, hired by DC Comics as a staff production worker...
was asked to develop unique lettering styles for many of the main characters featured in The Sandman series. When he designed the typeface used for Desire's lettering, he rendered the letters in the style of Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
posters and ads to correspond with its Patrick Nagel visuals.
When Desire is first introduced in The Doll's House, it is shown within the Threshold: a giant, flesh and blood replica of itself which it calls its home. Gaiman admits that he stole the name for the Threshold from a story Clive Barker
Clive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
had been planning to do in which Gaiman was going to be included as a character. He liked the name because threshold contains hold, meaning home or fortress. The idea for Desire living in its own body came from Gaiman deciding that desire
Desire (emotion)
Desire is a sense of longing for a person or object or hoping for an outcome. Desire is the fire that sets action aflame. The same sense is expressed by emotions such as "craving" or "hankering". When a person desires something or someone, their sense of longing is excited by the enjoyment or the...
lives under the skin. The conclusion of The Doll's House culminates in a confrontation between Dream and Desire. The reader has learned that Desire rapes Unity Kinkaid as part of a plot to ensnare its brother Dream. During an interview, Hy Bender asks Gaiman why Desire sleeping with a mortal woman isn't against a rule in DC continuity stating that the Endless aren't allowed to mate with mortals. Gaiman corrects him by pointing out that the rule is that the Endless cannot love mortals, and that rape is something altogether different. He goes on to point out that these plot devices help set up the Dream versus Desire conflict that spans The Sandman series. Bender also asks Gaiman about Desire appearing as an antagonist in The Sandman. Gaiman explains that Desire's role as a "villain" is due to its personality conflict with Dream. With Dream being the main character of the series, Desire was shortchanged. He goes on to say that if he were to write Desire Comics, that readers would have seen Dream in more of an antagonist role.
Desire's appearances are largely relegated to The Sandman series and related works. Desire also makes cameo appearances in Winter's Edge #1 and #3, a holiday title published by Vertigo
Vertigo (comics)
Vertigo is an imprint of the American comic-book publisher DC Comics. Its books are marketed to a sophisticated audience, and may contain graphic violence, substance abuse, frank depictions of sexuality, profanity, and controversial subjects...
.
Fictional character biography
Desire is the third youngest of the Endless and the twin of Despair. It is a strikingly beautiful figure whose gender is mutable, becoming male, female, both, or neither as the situation warrants. It is often referred to as "sister-brother" by its siblings, particularly Dream. Desire blends in effortlessly with whatever environment it finds itself in. It lives in the heart of a massive flesh-and-blood statue of itself, known as the Threshold. Indeed, further strengthening the connection to hearts, Desire's sigil in the galleries of the other Endless is a heart of cut glass.Desire is described as being of medium height, smelling faintly of summer peaches. Desire casts two shadows, one black and sharp, the other translucent and wavering. Desire's smiles are brief and sharp. Its skin is "pale as smoke," and its eyes are "tawny and sharp as yellow wine."
Desire is easily the cruelest of the Endless. It seems obsessed with interfering with the affairs of its elder siblings, particularly Dream. The motivation behind this is not clear, but seems to be simply a variation on childish teasing. Desire is not exactly unaware of the consequences of its actions, but considers those consequences ultimately unimportant, a position which angers Morpheus and Death in particular. Desire sometimes acts in concert with Despair and Delirium; the relationship is not clear, however, and Desire is much more distant from its siblings than Despair or Delirium.
A more forgiving interpretation is that Desire reflects, simply, desire, and is as fickle and self-centered as the emotion. As desire is easily the most inflaming of emotions, Desire takes special delight in needling those who think they are beyond emotions altogether. It is, besides Death (who, even then, must be goaded), the only one of the Endless that will point out the faults of Dream, some of which, such as the condemnation of Nada, are legitimate. Even Destruction noted that while Desire can be malicious, it is often right.
A story in Endless Nights
Endless Nights
The Sandman: Endless Nights is a graphic novel written by Neil Gaiman as a follow-up to his Sandman series. The book is divided into seven chapters, each devoted to one of the Endless, a family of brothers and sisters who are physical manifestations of the metaphysical concepts Dream, Death,...
, set long before any other Sandman story, explains the origins of the Desire/Dream enmity, and reveals that before this Desire was Dream's favorite sibling. Dream had fallen in love with a mortal, Killalla of the Glow, and had taken her to a gathering of stars (literally the embodiments of various suns). While there, Killalla met and fell in love with the star of her own home world, abandoning Dream. Desire's role in this is never made clear (except that love is obviously a form of desire). After introducing his lover to Desire when they first arrive, and leaving the two alone, Killalla asked what Desire had done for Dream to make him so affectionate, but Desire indicated that it hadn't done anything at all. Later, however, when Dream angrily blames Desire for the whole affair, Desire offers no defense, only asking Destruction after Morpheus storms off, "Doesn't he have a sense of humor?" This story, set billions of years before the story-arc of The Sandman, tends to portray the characters in a very different light, showing that even the Endless are not unchanging, with Desire's attitude towards Dream being playful rather than malicious during this early encounter.
The enmity between Dream and Desire continued through the millennia, eventually culminating in Desire raping and fathering a child on Unity Kinkaid, then attempting to have Dream kill Rose Walker
Rose Walker
Rose Walker is a fictional character from the Sandman series written by Neil Gaiman. She makes her first appearance in issue #10, part one of The Doll's House story arc. She is a beautiful young girl, a blonde with red- and purple-dyed streaks in her hair...
, Unity's grandchild, which would have caused the ruthless and relentless Furies
Erinyes
In Greek mythology the Erinyes from Greek ἐρίνειν " pursue, persecute"--sometimes referred to as "infernal goddesses" -- were female chthonic deities of vengeance. A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "those who beneath the earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath"...
to hound Dream until he died for the crime of shedding family blood. When Dream discovered this at the end of The Doll's House, he openly threatened Desire with what would happen should Desire interfere in Dream's life again, and there was an uneasy truce between the two afterwards.
In other media
Tori AmosTori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
, a well-known friend of Gaiman's, included a song titled "Sister Named Desire" as a B-Side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
for her single "Talula
Talula
"Talula" is a song by Tori Amos, released as the second single from her 1996 album Boys For Pele. It reached #22 on the UK Singles Charts and appears in the Jan de Bont film Twister....
". The song was rerecorded for a tribute album to Gaiman that was assembled by the Dancing Ferret
Dancing Ferret
The Dancing Ferret entertainment group is an unofficial collective name for Dancing Ferret Discs and Dancing Ferret Concerts. It was started by Patrick Rodgers in 1995 with the formation of Dancing Ferret Concerts...
entertainment group titled Where's Neil When You Need Him?
Where's Neil When You Need Him?
Where's Neil When You Need Him? is a tribute album based on the works of fantasy writer Neil Gaiman.-Overview:The album was released on Dancing Ferret Discs on July 18, 2006. The CD has cover art by Dave McKean and extensive new liner notes from Neil Gaiman.The album's title was taken from the song...
(named after a line from Amos' song "Space Dog").
See also
- The Endless
- Characters of The SandmanCharacters of The SandmanThis is a list of characters appearing in The Sandman comic book, published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. This page discusses not only events which occur in The Sandman , but also some occurring in spinoffs of The Sandman and in earlier stories that The Sandman was based on...