I am Ra. I am the sun, who is life. I am he who is born a child every morn, and dies, an old man at nightfall. 
- — Ammon-Ra
Sandman (Volume 2) #20 is an issue of the series Sandman (Volume 2) with a cover date of October, 1990.
Synopsis for "Façade"
Urania Blackwell wants to die. Since she was changed into a metamorph, she has been alone, and dealing with the change to her appearance has been difficult. Her only source of social stimulation comes from weekly phone calls to Mulligan, her pension officer. The CIA has allowed her to retire with a disability pension since her transformation, but that is the extent of their support.
One day, she receives an unexpected phone call from an old friend from the Company, Della Kariakas. Della asks to meet her at a nearby Italian restaurant in order to catch up. Naturally, Urania is anxious, and struggles to make herself appear as she did before the incident which transformed her. Rather than attempt to make flesh for herself out of the elements, she creates silicate face-masks, and though they eventually harden and fall off, they serve her purposes. She makes her hair out of metals, because it's easier than real hair. The rest, she simply covers with clothing.
Urania and Della meet, and she explains away her attire as covering a skin disease. Della reveals that she is pregnant by another CIA agent, and that she had to tell somebody outside of the Company, or she would go crazy. Urania is happy for her, but suddenly, her face mask dries and falls off. In humiliation, she runs out of the restaurant, leaving her purse behind.
Having forgotten her keys in the restaurant, Urania melts the lock on her apartment door and throws off her clothes and fake hair. She becomes determined to kill herself, but can't imagine how she would be able to, given her special abilities. She is surprised when a pale woman enters her apartment and sits down beside her.
After Urania explains her predicament, the woman responds that even metamorphae must die eventually, noting that Algon had died long ago by falling into a volcano. Urania realizes that she is speaking with Death, and begs for help in dying. Death responds that she is not there for her. She has the power to be in every place at once, for every death there is, but in this case, she was just passing through.
Reluctantly, though, Death offers to help. She explains that only Ra can help her, and he makes his home in the sun. Urania goes to the window and begs the sun to help her die. She hears a response, and when she looks directly into the sun, she turns to dust and blows away.
The phone rings, and Death picks it up. She informs Mulligan that Urania won't be able to come to the phone any time soon.
Appearing in "Façade"
Featured Characters:
- Element Girl (Final appearance; dies)
Supporting Characters:
- Template:Apn
Villains:
- None
Other Characters:
- Ra
- Della Kariakas (Single appearance)
- Algon, The Ancient Element Man (Flashback only)
- Mulligan (Single appearance)
- Triangle (Single appearance)
Locations:
- The Dreaming
- Egypt (Flashback only)
Items:
- Orb of Ra (Flashback only)
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in the Sandman: Dream Country trade paperback and Essential Vertigo: Sandman #20.
Related Articles
- Dream image gallery
- Dream appearances list
- Dream quotes page
- Death image gallery
- Death appearances list
- Death quotes page
See Also
Links and References
- Sandman article at Wikipedia
- Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes article at Wikipedia
- Sandman series index at Comicbookdb.com
- Sandman series index at the Grand Comics Database
- Sandman Annotations