After the completion of The Doll’s House story line in The Sandman, Neil Gaiman tells a story about the muse, Calliope, the muse who was said to have inspired Homer. Some time in 1927 Calliope returned to Earth briefly and was captured by a writer called Erasmus Fry. When we met Fry, he is an old, unpleasant man whose work is out of print and who, as a writer, is largely forgotten. Fry trades Calliope to a young writer by the name of Richard Madoc. It’s a strange trade, one that if you think too hard about will not make much sense, just as Fry’s own position is, but it’s a minor moment in the issue and you can move past it quickly. The focus of the issue is on Madoc. In the years that follow, in the years that follow after Madoc has imprisoned Calliope in his home and rapes her regularly, the years provide a great deal of success to Richard Madoc. You’re probably not surprised. A writer and a muse. You know how it goes. It’s an old story, one that has been done and done and which, frankly, I wouldn’t mention if it were not for the fact that Dream’s decision to rescue Calliope is a character development that will echo through the next section of our reread, and throughout the series as a whole.