LGBT Character Of The Week: Wanda Mann
Here is one of my favorites from The Sandman, which had quite a few strongly portrayed LGBT characters. This week we meet Alvin Mann, also known as Wanda. Wanda is a pre-op transsexual who turned out to be too afraid of surgery to get the last bit... taken care of, if you get my drift.
Wanda is the neighbor and best friend of Barbie, who gets wrapped up in a misadventure in the dream world of Morpheus. As with many Sandman stories, it's not Morpheus but the side characters who have the greatest impact on us. Wanda makes her impact by guarding Barbie while she is asleep, left behind because she isn't a true woman and unable to walk the path into dreams opened by fellow neighbor and witch, Thessaly. Discussing it a bit later, she wasn't too happy about the rejection.
To see the final panel of Wanda, continue with me after the jump. There are spoilers ahead, so I highly recommend waiting and reading it yourself if you plan to read Sandman anytime soon. (and you really should). You can find this particular story in the recently released Absolute Sandman, Vol. 2.
Again, Spoiler Warning!!!
Sigh, that always makes me tear up a bit, her true self in the afterlife. I've never told anyone but that may be one of my favorite comic panels ever, as it contains two of my favorite Sandman characters, Wanda and Death. Goodbye Wanda.
Sgt. Sausagepants
Posted to Comics on 11 December 2007
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: Death, LGBT Character of the Week, Sandman, Wanda
Frater Mine by Sean McGrath and Juan Romera
Ah, I was waiting for her! One of my favourite characters in comics—A Game of You is just really moving because of her.
Of course, there have been several schools across North America where this volume of Sandman—not any of the others—was facing controversy simply because of Wanda's presence coupled with the lesbian subplot. Um, WTF?
Awesome. I loved Death in the Sandman series, and seeing her chumming it up with Wanda reminded me of just how awesome she could be.
Wow, this brings back memories! The Sandman was just packed full of wonderful moments like these. Other then this scene with Wanda, my favorite and most memorable part was (slight spoiler here, I'll try to keep it as vague as possible) during the funeral procession in the sky, when Death looks sadly into the reader's eyes and the narrator says he fell in love with her right there. That was one of the only 2 times I openly wept while reading a comic book. (The other time being when Julie moved away in The Maxx.)