Neil Gaiman's stock and trade has always been representing famous myths in ways that make them interesting, relevant and, most importantly, unpredictable for modern readers. He doesn't always stray from stereotype, especially when there's nothing wrong with the original understanding of the myth. Rather, he picks and chooses those aspects of human legend that don't really serve the tone of his stories and turns them on their heads, or at the very least interprets them in an unusual way. "Seasons of Mist", the fourth trade paperback compilation of Sandman comics, goes into mythology overdrive, depicting some famous figures exactly as they've always been depicted and reinventing others radically. Gaiman wouldn't attempt a mythological deconstruction as vast and varied as this for another decade when he wrote American Gods.

At the beginning of "Seasons of Mist" we finally get to meet the majority of the Endless family (Destiny, Dream, Death, Desire, Despair and Delirium). As familiarity breeds contempt, the eons-old Endless have a difficult time being around each other for more than just a few minutes before they're at each other's throats. The oldest one, Brother Destiny, is constantly calm, if only because he has the weary resignation afforded to a being who knows the way every conversation is going to end. Destiny calls his siblings together if only because he's fated to and none of them seem particularly pleased to be there. The purpose of the meeting is to remind Dream of the way he condemned Nada, the queen of the Glass City, to Hell 10,000 years prior. Compelled by guilt and the recent tenderness he acquired after escaping from captivity, Dream decides to return to Hell and free Nada, even though it might result in his death.

And where there's Hell, there's the devil himself. We briefly met Lucifer in "Preludes and Nocturnes" but he plays a far more significant role in "Seasons of Mist". Gaiman's version of Lucifer isn't a major divergence from most depictions since Faust but he is more fully realized and philosophically interesting. Physically modeled after David Bowie in the 1980's, the Lucifer of Sandman is a thin, somewhat lethargic prince whose fiery malice has been worn down by billions of years in the same job. When Dream shows up to claim Nada, he expects the fight of his life. What he finds instead is an empty Hell. Lucifer, after pondering the nature of responsibility as brought on by Dream's decision to right one of his own wrongs, decides that he has no true obligation to Hell or to anything else. Abandoning his post, kicking all the demons and damned out and closing all the gates, Lucifer gives Dream the key to Hell and makes his way into the mortal world to do as he pleases, a radical individualist if ever there was one.

Of course, this means that the realm of Hell is now a piece of metaphysical real estate on the open market. Interested parties from all over creation descend upon the Dreaming to make their bid for Heaven's dark reflection. This gives Neil Gaiman a chance to depict a wide variety of deities and otherworldly entities, including a somewhat stereotypical version of three major Norse gods and a couple fairies who will play a bigger part in future Sandman comics. As always, Gaiman is at his best when he's inventing entirely new things. Especially amusing are his depictions of the representatives of Chaos and Order. The former appears as a female clown with a weak case and a red balloon, while the latter is nothing more than an empty cardboard box.

When all is said and done, Dream hands over the rights to Hell to a pair of angels who more or less bring the place back to the status quo. As for what that entails, that may just be the most interesting part of "Seasons of Mist". Gaiman's conception of Hell is a place where people go when they believe they deserve to be punished. Nobody sends them there, nobody forces them to stay and Lucifer certainly didn't broker for any of their souls. That's not the way the Sandman universe works. As Lucifer shows us, it's all about free will.