Madame Xanadu - Story Structure

Story Structure

The Doorway to Nightmare stories were typically structured around a protagonist stumbling upon Madame Xanadu's shop (stated to be on "Christy Street" in the East Village (changed to Greenwich Village in The Unexpected #192) and deciding to enter. She (usually) or he would tell a story of romance that was frustrated by an outside element. Xanadu, through a tarot reading, always determined this element to be of an occult nature, then sent the protagonist to do some task in which she would intervene with the use of her powers. Upon concluding the story, the occult element would wind up in a mason jar in her back room. In the first issue, she apparently became trapped in a burning building. The central couple returns to her shop for nostalgia's sake and discovers her to be quite alive. This was a hint at the extent of her powers. The primary variation in the stories was what the occult threat actually was, be it demonic forces, Asian mummies, vampires, incubi, or other supernatural threats. In one story, she fought Azazel, but he looked nothing like in The Sandman.

When the title was moved from its own series to a revamped, 68 page and ad-free version of The Unexpected (the stories were actually expanded from 17 to 22 pages with the move, part of the DC Implosion), she was shown to be friendly with Abel in the inside front covers, which may or may not have been in continuity. She never met Abel in an actual story until DC Special Series #21, when she and the Phantom Stranger arrive at the House of Mystery with Christmas presents.