The Sandman, Vol. 4: Season of Mists

3.5/5

I liked this installment. The Sandman decides to revisit hell to rescue a past lover. Once there, he finds Lucifer abandoning hell. The sandman is given the key to hell, the dead are rising, and competitors compete for ownership of hell.

I enjoyed the inclusion of different death gods. Egyptian, Japanese, Norse, etc. They make mention of the missing Hades. I assume it was for an inside joke and nothing serious though I'd have liked to see him and some aztec/indigenous american gods. A native american god would also have been interesting.

Like the other volumes, there are some tangents. One story follows that of a young boy at a boarding school. He's the only child there when the dead residents come back. It was rather sad.

Compared to the other volumes, I thought this was one of the better ones. The story was solid all the way through and flowed rather nicely. Some characters could have used more development (who were all his siblings again?), and there were a number of unanswered questions (did death go back for the boy?). Did Lucifer receive any punishments?

3.5 stars