Marsh was one of John Dee's victims from the diner in Mayhew.
History[]
Earlier in his life, Marsh was working as a mailman in Mayhew and was married to a woman named Marsha. He then started having an affair with Bette. This caused Marsha to start drinking, which repulsed Marsh. One New Year's Eve he bought her an entire crate of vodka and left town for two weeks. Marsha was admitted to a sanitarium and eventually died. Loss and guilt apparently caused Marsh to snap; he started stealing from the mail and ended up serving five years in the state penitentiary. There he met Bette's son Bernie, a fellow inmate, and used his sexual favors for a pack of cigarettes.
After serving his sentence, Marsh moved to "some upstate town that had never heard of him" and started working as a truck driver. He kept visiting Bette every few weeks between trips "for old time's sake".
In early April, 1989, John Dee chose Bette's diner as his headquarters when he attempted to drive the world mad with his Materioptikon. Starting at 10 AM, everyone present at the diner fell under his spell and became a subject of his sadistic games. Marsh was the last customer to walk in before the trap slammed shut. When Dee made everyone experience their dearest dreams come true, Marsh instead dreamed that he drank himself to death. Then, under the same psychic influence, he attacked Judy, calling her homophobic slurs while Bette tried to stop him. In the next hours the victims did whatever Dee wanted them to, from worshiping him as a god to engaging in an orgy.
When after midnight Dee gave his victims their minds back for a while, Marsh cried out in horror: "Why are you doing this stuff to us?", to which Dee simply replied "Because I can". In Dee's next depraved game, Marsh had to confess his darkest secrets, from causing his wife's death to having sex with Bette's son, while Bette was mutilating him in "penance". Shortly thereafter he passed out and likely died of blood loss, being certainly dead by morning.[1]
Physical appearance[]
Marsh was a lean, weary, middle-aged man with short blond hair.
Personality[]
Marsh was a bitter, guilt-ridden and broken man, as evidenced by him dreaming about death. Despite his own experience, he was also homophobic: when Dee's spell instigated conflict in the group, he attacked Judy, shouting that she needed "a proper man".
Relationships[]
Marsh had a love-hate relationship with his wife Marsha: despite ultimately causing her death, during his confession he called her the only woman he had ever loved.
Trivia[]
- Post workers going crazy was a rather common occurrence when The Sandman was being released, although the term "going postal" is only traced back to 1993.
- Marsh's surname is never mentioned in the comic, but his counterpart in the TV adaptation is called "Marsh Janowski".