Ever since I discovered "The Sandman", Death became my favorite female character of all times. In fact, with her dark glamour, positive attitude, no-nonsense behavior and endless understanding for virtues and flaws of gods and mortals alike, she came to be the only fictional character that I could, in all honesty, call my role model. So when I started dabbling into cosplay on a more serious note a few years ago, it was only natural that she would be one of the first characters on my to-do list.
My first take on Death dates from 2013. Three years ago, the Serbian geek scene got a new cosplay tradition – this was the first time that a cosplay competition was held at the Belgrade Book Fair, the country’s biggest event celebrating the written word. It was a thematic competition, with people dressed up exclusively as comic book characters. It turned out to be THE cosplay event of the season, with whopping 56 participants - a record that still holds, three years later.
As I was the official host of the event, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to cosplay my most beloved comic book heroine. And I managed to persuade my cosplay partner Endymion that he would be an EXCELLENT Dream - he hadn't read "The Sandman" before and had to chug down all ten volumes in two days to prepare himself for the role. But, with the help of Ljubica the makeup artist and the ever-present Shunak (my BFF and partner in crime for all my cosplay projects), Endymion became an impressive Morpheus, King of Dreams, Prince of Stories and Lord Shaper, thus literally making my dream come true. No pun intended.
Here are a few pics from 2013. As you may notice, I was quite, ummm, rounder back then.
Photos by Predrag Bojković
Years passed since the Belgrade Book Fair cosplay event. Endymion and I both levelled up with our cosplay abilities, and at some point, we started talking that we should redo Dream and Death. We also underlined how WONDERFUL it would be to have all seven Endless - but we were fully aware that such a thing would be damn difficult to organize, as it ain't easy to find five more perfectly typecast people.
But then, an opportunity presented itself: in November 2015, after years of working with Japanese pop-culture only, Sakurabana - the association I'm running - took over and revived BeoKon, the all-round fandom convention dating back from the 80's, which was the closest thing to a Comic Con that we've had here in Serbia. And at the first BeoKon organized by us, the guest of honor was - wait for it - Dave McKean.
That's right, THAT Dave McKean - the legendary artist, the man who left a significant mark on Neil Gaiman's career, the genius who designed every single cover for the 70-something issues of "The Sandman".
Now, if that wasn't THE perfect opportunity to gather all seven of the Endless, I don't know what was.
The hunt for the perfect cosplayers was quite exhausting - after this experience, I started truly appreciating the job of casting directors. Delirium was cast first - in fact, she was there in 2013 already, given that Spamushka, her cosplayer, came to the Belgrade Book Fair event dressed up as the youngest of the Endless. Being very young herself and having just the right amount of craziness, Spamushka smoothly fit into the role.
The second cosplayer was a no-brainer too. Knowing Tenshi's love for portraying tomboyish girls and androgynous boys, I knew she'd be ideal for the role of Desire. I lent her the comics, she read the entire series within a week and fangirled almost as strongly as I once did, and the rest is history.
I was afraid that we would have serious difficulties to find Despair - because let's face it, it takes balls to do her properly. One must have a very special kind of self-confidence to pull her off. But then Spamushka suggested her friend Rae, saying that she'd physically fit to a tee. Fully aware that portraying Despair is not only about the appearance but also about the attitude, we had a long talk with Rae, and to our delight, concluded that she had the right inner strength for the role.
The casting of Destruction was quite an odd story. While talking to a friend who wasn't familiar with "The Sandman" but was well acquainted with the local LARP scene, hoping he'd be able to recommend someone who's big enough and looks good in a suit armor, I had a lot of explaining to do about the Endless. Suddenly, one of his colleagues from work - from the IT department - joined the conversation and started to happily elaborate on how awesome Destruction was and how cool it would be to portray him. I took a good look at said colleague and noted he was tall, had a charming smile and a bushy ginger beard, and would definitely look good in armor - and that's how Putnik joined the team, doing his first cosplay ever.
Finally, funnily enough, Destiny was the most difficult one to cast, ever though arguably that was the easiest cosplay - especially given that we were providing the costume. I approached several tall, lanky men of just the right age - mostly people from the LARP scene - only to be rejected, whether because cosplay as such wasn't their thing, or due to being unavailable for the convention date. After failing as many as five times, quite desperate as BeoKon was approaching, one day in early October I complained about the situation to Dušman, editor in chief of Veseli Četvrtak, one of the most successful comics publishers in Serbia. After listening to my rant, Dušman smiled and said - "Well, am I tall and lanky enough?"
And that's how our little family was born.
It goes without saying that our cosplay team was a smashing hit at the convention. We stayed together for the entire time, taking pictures and talking with visitors in character - and we forged and strengthened friendships that last to this day, ending up as a true dysfunctional yet loving family.
Here's a convention pic with Dave McKean, an unbelievably cool guy to hang out with:
And then, a few days after BeoKon, this happened:
Oh yes, that's Mr. G's tweet right there.
It's like being noticed by senpai of all senpais.
It happened more than half a year ago, and I'm still giggling like a school girl when I think about it.
Anyway this is how we all looked like. Pics by Guru, edits by Tenshi:
Dušman as Destiny
Me as Death
Endymion as Dream
Putnik as Destruction
Tenshi as Desire
Rae as Despair
Spamushka as Delirium
Tenshi proceeded to edit a few more pics in her style, relying on official illustrations and notable fan art for inspiration:
However, Life Happened™ and she wasn't able to edit as many pictures as she wanted, so none other than my BFF Shunak took over the post-processing, coming up with a few more artwork-inspired master pieces from the set:
...and that is how our Endless Nights came to be.
As for my second take on Death, well...
As you've seen, in 2013 I had quite a few pounds more than now. With a thick layer of white body paint, my face looked even rounder - I was the spitting image of Death from the first "Sandman" volumes, the ones drawn by Mike Dringenberg, in which she was perky and bubbly and willing to sing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" in public only to annoy Dream.
Nowadays, however, being skinnier and a tad older, and wearing makeup that accentuates my cheekbones, I'm much closer to the 1996 version of Death drawn by Mark Hempel - more angular, less bubbly, somewhat worried about where the world is going, but still with an unshakably positive view on life.
I'm fine with looking like that version of Death. In fact, I find the change oddly appropriate. Even though, in the end, she's the one who has to say "Brother, give me your hand."
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For more on my cosplay shenanigans, find me on Facebook: ferashacosplay/
Full credits for the Endless project:
Dream: Endymion
Death: Ferasha
Desire: Tenshi
Delirium: Spam Master
Despair: Rae
Destruction: Putnik
Destiny: Almighty Dušman
Dream, Death, Desire makeup: Ljubica Mirkovic
Despair makeup and teeth: Shunak
Delirium makeup: Ferasha
Destruction armor: Stevan of Plameni Vitezovi
Destiny robe: Tenshi
Despair robe: Endymion
Dream robe: She&She
Photo by Guru >> gucaguru.com
Post-processing by Tenshi/Shunak
