Corinthian (comics)
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The Corinthian is a fictional character in Neil Gaiman's comic book series The Sandman. His first appearance is in the second story arc, The Doll's House.
The Corinthian is a creation of Dream. His most notable physical feature is his lack of eyes: in their place, two rows of small jagged teeth line each eye socket. The Corinthian often wears sunglasses to cover this up.
He is AWOL from the dreamscape following Morpheus' escape from capture; however, Dream eventually catches up to him shortly after saving Rose Walker from harm. Morpheus states that the Corinthian was his masterpiece: "A nightmare created to be the darkness, and the fear of darkness in every human heart. A black mirror, made to reflect everything about itself that humanity will not confront." Instead, Dream finds his creation has walked the earth for about 40 years, playing the role of a serial killer who eats the eyes of men. Dream therefore considers the Corinthian to be a failure, and as punishment, "uncreates" him into sand. He then remarks that the next time he creates the Corinthian, he, "shall not be so flawed and petty".
Dream does eventually recreate the Corinthian in The Kindly Ones. The Corinthian helps rescue and protect Daniel just before Morpheus dies. In the process, he battles, defeats and eats the eyes of Loki, who along with Puck were holding the child hostage.
Keen-eyed viewers may spot a brief Corinthian reference in Alice Cooper's video clip for "Gimme".
