Product Description

One of the most highly acclaimed comics series of all time, the "New York Times" bestselling author Neil Gaiman's visionary "Sandman" received Eisner awards, an unprecedented World Fantasy Award, and countless others. Now Gaiman's addictive, literate series is re-presented in the popular "Absolute" format: the first twenty issues are presented in an oversized leather-bound slipcase, featuring digitally recoloured artwork as well as a rare Gaiman script. This is an essential collection for any Sandman fan, or indeed any serious comics fan! So prepare to rejoin the world of "Dream of the Endless", as he steps from fantasy to nightmare in the quest to regain his stolen power...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #271822 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 612 pages

Customer Reviews

Adults Only?
I started reading The High Cost of Living: Death when I was about 13. I've followed the Sandman and Death characters ever since. Most of my reading of this was done in my teens. I recommend it for teens in particular. It is not "adults only" unless intelligent, literate authors are off-limits to teens. While schools teach young boys & girls Animal Farm and 1981 and people at home are reading the safe Harry Potter out of creative interest in the otherworldly: this will show you the familiar as you never saw it. It will take the reader into the taboo realms of mortality, through the Arabian Nights, Shakespeare, mythology & folklore and saying goodbye to those you love. It will present those things familiar and taken for granted and show you how the King of Dreams & his court (& cohort: The Endless) dally in those aforesaid subjects. He is the stuff of nightmare, terrible to behold, with the emptiness of the cosmos starry in his eyes. He has a sister and once, a son, he had a lover and many friends along the way; rarely does he realize that last, however. What would the world be like without The Sandman?

Never have the words
First off, this is not an item you have to pay full price for so don't be daunted. Shop around and don't assume you have to fork over £70. I had to wait a bit, but in the end got it for about £[...] new from america.

Onto the book itself. I've only really begun to read comics recently (Personally I don't much like the term graphic novel, I think it was Neil Gaiman who said "Graphic novel is to comic, what 'lady of the night' is to prostitute) and what I've read has mainly been restricted to the darker comics: Sandman, Hellblazer, Lucifer, Sin City, etc. Sandman is by far the stand-out. Simply for the scope of the narrative (I'm a sucker for old mythology and high tragedy anyway), the quality of the writing, and the beautiful artwork.

That little intro established, I would like to say that while I object very much to the stereotyped view of the teenager with a comic book obsession, harping on about a spiderman villain in issue #91, I confess that reading Absolute Sandman brings out something of the anorak in me.

Effectively, what we have on our hands here is the equivalent of your favourite film, remastered, extended, on solid gold DVDs, with a leather slip case and about as many comentaries and interviews as you could wish. Not only is the first quarter of Gaiman's superb comic series reproduced here with early editions recoloured (the colouring on some of the early issues not being great), in large format, on beautiful quality paper, superbly bound, with a big presentation slip case, large amounts of concept art, Gaiman's original proposal, and so on and so on...

This books is quite simply a joy to read, even if you almost feel bad about touching it. It's that nice.

I won't really repeat anything about the comics themselves, as it has all been said in other places far more eloquently than I ever could. Anyway, if you're reading this chances are you're a fan, as few people would fork over this much for 1/4 of a comic series they didn't already know.

But to all you Gaiman fans out there: Start reserving your expendable income, the other volumes are coming.

Packed With DVD Extras
Neil Gaiman's Sandman collects the first 20 issues of the comic series , and highlights one of the UK's brightest talents in the industry . The story focuses on an immortal being , Dream , who is one of the seven Endless . These demigods are eternally tied to all living things in the universe ( not just on Earth as is demonstrated in the first few issues ).

The book is presented in an enlarged "prestige" format , with high quality paper and binding , as well as recoloured artwork throughout the book . There is also the added extras of Neil Gaiman's initial pitch and plot synopsis for the first few issues , and a complete script for the award winning 'Midsummer's Night Dream' issue .

The book is beautiful , and as you read on ( almost three years worth of issues ) you can see the increasing maturity of Gaiman and his artists . It may be quite pricey , but is certainly no dearer than if you had bought each issue individually ( or even now in terms of the rarity value ) , and represents excellent value .

Thoroughly recommended .