3. Sandman - Issue 17
The one-off short story Calliope, written by Neil Gaiman and pencilled by Kelley Jones, is easily as disturbing as it is tragic, and its hard to tell which quality it possesses in greater supply. Richard Madoc, a writer that is suffering from severe writers block following a bestselling debut, becomes the keeper of Calliope, formerly muse to the poet Homer. The muse, half starved and bound by dark majicks, is then kept as a slave and repeatedly raped by Madoc, her presence in his house inspiring him to many great ideas over a period of several years. Eventually, Oneiros attempts to persuade Madoc to release his captive muse, but he refuses and so is cursed with an abundance of ideas, so many, in fact, that he ends up losing his mind completely. Finally, once she is freed, the merciful Calliope asks that Madoc be freed from his curse. This allows him to regain his sanity, but leaves him never to have another idea again. The tragedy here is not the fate that befalls Madoc, but the awful lengths the writer would go to in order to be successful, and the shocking abuse that his muse endures as a result.