Look, I've dived head first into Sandman since the show came out and am just so thankful to find your podcast! I hadn't really read comics critically before this, but your show and Endless have been my companions as I go through my reread of everything.
Season of Mists is my absolute favorite arc because of all of the mythology and art history references, and I just finished rereading Chapter 3 and then listening to both podcast's episodes on it. The panels on Order and Chaos is my absolute favorite page in the entire original run. Not sure if anyone else caught the references to Piet Mondrian's work for Order or abstract expressionism for Chaos? And it was recently brought to my attention that Morpheus' outfit at the end of this issue is a direct reference to this advertisement for Sarah Bernhardt's American Tour by Alphonse Mucha:
I really loved you all pointing out the references of the lamassu at the palace gates as I hadn't caught that when I first read it. Anyways, just wanted to gush since your analysis really helps me read more into the literary and mythological references in the story. And to share some of the art history references I caught myself: Season of Mists is full of them! It's like hunting for easter eggs.
Thanks for listening and sharing your thoughts! That ad by Alphonse Mucha is a great pull. I really like that outfit of Dream's and seeing the poster image really helps me appreciate what the artists were going for.