The Sandman - Issue 13 - Men of Good Fortune

Recap: We take a little break from The Doll's House for the standalone tale of Men of Good Fortune to meet one of the standout characters in the Sandman series, Hob Gadling.

Men of Good Fortune might seem like filler in the narrative of The Doll's House

but it has since become a fan favorite issue and, in my opinion, a series best. I also believe this is the first time we see Mike Zulli's phenomenal artwork in the Sandman comics. So without further ado (see what I did there?), join me for a drink...

.... at an English tavern, presumably somewhere in the 14th century, on an evening when Death and her brother Dream are visiting. As evidenced throughout the series, Death isn't above walking among us to better understand the human condition. On this occasion, she invites Morpheus to join her, believing it would do him good to spend some time around his Dreamers in the waking world.

As they enter the tavern, we hear snippets of conversation from the patrons, fully immersing us in the hot topics of the day (war, plague, religion, and taxes), which really hasn't changed much in six hundred years. Despite Death's efforts to get Morpheus interested in humankind, he seems indifferent, as the comment about the Faerie's withdrawal from this plane appears to indicate. It is only when the siblings overhear the views of death from Hob Gadling at another table that Morpheus finally pays attention.

It's clear from the conversation that Hob is a man who enjoys an audience and is boasting when he declares 'he's not putting up with death' to his compatriots. Yet despite his outlandish claims, the heart of Hob's argument is based on an unquenchable desire to live, not just to survive. The world, according to Hob, is a big place with so much to discover. He's not letting a middling thing like death get in his way.

This sparks Morpheus's interest enough to convince Death to delay her ultimate visit to Hob. It's in my headcanon that Death agreed to this because she already reached the conclusion Hob would come to some six centuries later. When Morpheus plans to meet Hob in a hundred years, the human is understandably skeptical and laughs it off as a stranger calling him out on his boast.

Yet a hundred years later, we find Hob and Morpheus at the same tavern.

This time, Hob is less skeptical but does worry he's made a deal with the devil for his continued existence. Once Dream assures him he has not and is merely interested in Hob's experiences, Hob reiterates his abhorrence of death and wishes to continue their arrangement. At the same time, Hob describes how the world has changed in a hundred years with the arrival of chimneys and playing cards. Not to mention this fad industry that will never catch on - printing.

A century later, Morpheus returns to the tavern, where one patron explains his views on the work of a playwright named Kit. Morpheus finds Hob, or rather Sir Robert Gadling, in good fortune this time. He's rich, having made good coin from his printing interests to get into shipping while occasionally discarding identities to avoid suspicion. With connections to royalty, a wife, and a child, Hob is living his best life. Meanwhile, Morpheus is interested in the two playwrights, one of which is William Shaxberd, who, according to Hob, is crap. However, Morpheus takes a moment from his dinner with Hob to take William aside for a private conversation. Hob continues to enjoy his existence, deciding there is nowhere to go but up.

Sadly, he is wrong.

When Morpheus finds him a century later, Hob is in a sorry state. He's barely allowed into the tavern by its owners, seen as little more than a filthy vagabond. His fortune and his family are gone, and he reveals his folly in lingering in one place too long without aging. This resulted in the locals branding him a witch and trying to drown him. Hob describes the horror of starvation when one cannot die and laments the last 80 years. Yet when asked if he would like to stop living, Hob balks at the idea. There's too much life yet ahead.

At their next meeting a century later, Hob's fortunes have improved again, although how that's come about does not impress Morpheus at all. Hob has invested in the lucrative trade of slaves and dismisses the immorality of the practice with the indifference of the time. Their discussions about Willaim Shaxberd, now known to all as William Shakespeare, are interrupted by the arrival of Johanna Constantine.

Like her future namesake, John, Johanna dabbles in the mystic arts and learns about a meeting she believes to be between the Devil and The Wandering Jew. She wants to learn, but she approaches her would-be teachers with the subtlety of a hammer and pays for her arrogance. Through Morpheus and Hob, we know the Constantine family walks a fine line between savior and fanaticism, willing to sacrifice anyone, including themselves, to achieve their ends. When Morpheus shows Johanna the ghosts of those she's buried, it's more than she can endure. As they leave the tavern, Morpheus offers Hob one last bit of advice - get out of the slave trade. It's a poor thing to enslave another.

For their next meeting in Victorian England, the area now resembles any East End neighborhood of the period, complete with pox-ridden sex workers. This time, Hob has taken care to avoid suspicion, visiting the tavern often enough to be considered a regular. He doesn't want a repeat of the incident with Johanna Constantine. Morpheus informs Hob that he used Johanna to run an errand for him which she performed admirably. Meanwhile Hob tells Morpheus of other immortals he's ecountered, Jason Blood, for one, and Mad Hettie, a Sandman staple.

Recounting his life, Hob admits he hasn't gotten any wiser in five hundred years and continues to make mistakes, citing the hand he took in the slave trade, a sin he will never be able to wash away. Yet despite this, Hob is nowhere sick of life and doubts he'll ever want to die. However, he also believes that Morpheus is more than just an interested observer in his experiences and derives something else from these meetings. Friendship.

Of course, the idea of the Lord Shaper being lonely and needing friendship incenses Morpheus, who hasn't yet learned the humility of the next century. Enraged, he storms out of the tavern, but Hob won't let him leave without some parting words. He'll be waiting for Morpheus in a hundred years, and if the Lord of Dreams appears, he'll do so because they are friends and for no other reason.

So we arrive in the 20th century, where the conversation is similar to when we began our journey with Hob. War, religion, taxes, and plague are all present, except the names are different. The tavern, now resembling more of a typical English pub, is still there, and Hob is at a table waiting.

Fortunately, he doesn't have to wait long because Morpheus is on time. After all, it would be impolite to keep one's friends waiting.

And there you have it - Men of Good Fortune - Tune in next week for the Collectors!

NEXT - Issue 14 - The Collectors

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