Cinamon Hadley, the Inspiration for Death's Look in 'The Sandman,' Dies at 48

Cinamon Hadley, the woman who inspired the look of DC Comics' Death, has died. She was 48.

Hadley was a fashion designer. She died from colon cancer, which had returned after going into remission.

In Death: The High Cost of Living, Neil Gaiman recounted how Hadley came to define the look of Death of the Endless:

Death is the only major character whose visuals didn't spring from me; that credit goes to Mike Dringenberg. In my original Sandman outline, I suggested Death look like rock star Nico in 1968, with the perfect cheekbones and perfect face she has on the cover of her Chelsea Girl album.But Mike Dringenberg had his own ideas, so he sent me a drawing based on a woman he knew named Cinamon Hadley — the drawing that was later printed in Sandman 11 — and I looked at it and had the immediate reaction of, "Wow. That's really cool." Later that day, Dave McKean and I went to dinner in Chelsea at the My Old Dutch Pancake House and the waitress who served us was a kind of vision. She was American, had long black hair, was dressed entirely in black — black jeans, T-shirt, etc. — and wore a big silver ankh on a silver necklace. And she looked exactly like Mike Dringenberg's drawing of Death.

Gaiman noted Hadley's passing on Twitter. He tweeted, "Rest in Peace, or head off to your next adventure, Cinamon Hadley. You gave Death of the Endless her face and her smile"

Besides Dream, Death is arguably the most popular character created in Gaiman's Sandman. She had two spinoff miniseries of her own. The "perky goth girl" look proved quite popular with fans

[H/T] Bleeding Cool