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| John Hathaway | |
| Aliases: | Doctor John Hathaway |
| Continuity: | DC Universe |
| Notability: | Minor character |
| Type: | Scholar |
| Gender: | Male |
| Race: | Human |
| Location: | Scotland |
| Status: | Deceased |
| Born: | 1800s |
| Died: | 1920 |
| First: | Sandman, Vol. 2 #1 |
John Hathaway is a fictional character featured in comic books published by DC Comics. He is associated with the Sandman line of titles and first appeared in Sandman, Volume 2 #1 in January, 1989.
Biography[]
John Hathaway was born sometime in the mid 1800s. By the early 20th century, he was an elderly man with an adult son named Edmond and worked at the Royal Museum in Scotland.
On June 6th, 1916, Doctor Hathaway visited the Sussex manor Fawny Rig, home of the occult magus Roderick Burgess. He explained to Burgess that his son Edmund had been killed in the war. He offered him a mystical tome called the Magdalene Grimoire and begged Burgess to use his knowledge of the occult to resurrect his son. Burgess agreed and took possession of the book. Burgess had no interest in helping Hathaway however, and despite using Magdalene Grimoire in a vain effort to conquer Death, could not bring John any sense of satisfaction.
By June of 1920, Doctor John Hathaway, torn over Burgess' failure to reproduce his dead son, could no longer live with himself. Roderick had bled him dry through blackmail, so Hathaway decided to take his own life. He left behind a suicide note implicating Burgess in the theft of the Grimoire. Burgess was investigated, but cleared of all charges, having used occult magic to burn the suicide note before it was found.