Edgler Vess

Hello

I need your help.

I´m going to buy for the first time the great Neil Gaiman's Sandman but I´m not sure from where I should start ... so, please:

1)

Recommend me the first four Sandman purchases on Hardcover format ... yes it must be harcover !

2)

Recommend me some other Neil Gaiman's books .

thanks in advance

V88ii

Well good for you on deciding with Sandman. I did what you are doing now and I'm glad I did. I too decided to go with the Hardcovers for Sandman. They are great in my opinion and I ended up buying most of them at a comic store fearing that the hardcovers with the original art would be replaced with the new art on the re-issued trades.

Here's your list:

The Sandman Library (In Hardcover Format)

Book One: Preludes & Nocturnes (1563892278)
Book Two: The Doll's House (1563892251)
Book Three: Dream Country (156389226X)
Book Four: Season of Mists (1563890356)
Book Five: A Game Of You (1563890933)
Book Six: Fables and Reflections (1563891069)
Book Seven: Brief Lives (156891379)
Book Eight: World's End (1563891700)
Book Nine: The Kindly Ones (1563892049)
Book Ten: The Wake (1563892871)
Book Eleven: The Dream Hunters (Prose with illustrations; 1563895730)
Book Twelve: Endless Nights (1401200893)

The Sandman Companion: A Dreamer's Guide to the Award-Winning Comic Series by Bender Hy
Paperback/Standard Issue (1563896443)
Hardcover/Harder to Find New (1563894653)

The Sandman: King of Dreams (0811835928)

Death: The High Cost of Living
Paperback/Standard Issue (1563891336)
Hardcover/Harder to Find New (0613914236)

Death: The Time of Your Life
Paperback/Standard Issue (1563893339)
Hardcover/Harder to Find New (1563893193)


Amazon.com link to all available Neil Gaiman books
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/se...270232-3303242

V88ii

Just for clarification, when I mentioned "art" I only meant the cover art on the book jackets, since I wanted all the trades to be similiar in appearance. If you are really interested in Gaiman, you should check out that last link I sent you. I wasn't able to list out some of his good books like American Gods, Stardust, and Neverwhere.

Good luck on your quest.

Tscott

1)
The obvious answer is to recommend reading them all in order:
1. Preludes and Nocturnes
2. The Dolls House
3. Dream Country
4. Season of Mists
5. A Game of You
6. Fables and Reflections
7. Brief Lives
8. World's End
9. The Kindly Ones
10. The Wake

Then 'The Dream Hunters' and 'Endless Nights'. Also 'Death: the High Cost of Living' and 'Death: The Time of Your Life' could be read at anytime, but preferably sometime after 'A Game of You' if you want to keep everything in order. The two Death books stand alone and aren't really part of the Sandman story, but do include characters from the Sandman. If you really wanted you could skip book one, and start use the Intro in The Doll House as a starting point because the tone of the series took a few issues to get established, but I do recommend reading book one eventually if you're going to read the whole thing.

As far as hardcover goes, I'm sure all the books in the series have been released in that format, but I'm not sure if they're all still in print. I hope you can find them all (or live with some softcover editions if you can't) because this is one great series.

2) Neverwhere, American Gods, Stardust, Coraline are four of his novels I love. Or I'd substitute Smoke and Mirrors for one of those to include a great collection of short stories.

auto

I own all the tradepaperbacks.

Any ideas on the cheapest way to collect all the hardcovers?

V88ii

hmm, some options would be: going to a comic store that's having a sale or try some of the online bookstores. I'd check out buy.com or half.com, I think buy.com had the better prices. And as usual, check bn.com, amazon.com, and Amazon's Marketplace. The hardcovers run from around 25 to 35, with 30 being the average nu

Seeker

Great series.

Of course, if you really are collecting - you need the original comic books!

auto

I actually have all the comics post The Doll's House. You know, the cheap, easy to find ones.

Seeker

I have all of them, including the special #8.

I had two sets, but sold one of them.

Jackskeleton

I say fuck getting the original comics. It's pointless in this day and age of Trades.

The hardbacks are usually onsale on ebay in collection sets. That's how I upgraded my original comics. I felt bad about reading them so I just got the hardbacks and they look nice on the shelf.

Mutley Hyde

Now that's just wacky talk!

The hardbacks are great, but no way in hell would I part with my originals. Besides, they're all signed.

Seeker

Jealousy does not become you.

Josh-da-man

If you're getting the hardcovers, keep in mind that there are different editions of them.

The hardcovers were originally released in "mismatched" editions, without any numbering or consistent trade design. (The first HC was actually "Season of Mists" released without a dustjacket... a faux leather cover with a gold "Key to Hell" stamped on the front in gold foil. It was released before the "Season of Mists" TPB, and the hardcovers continued that way until the series ended. They also went back and made HCs of the first three books, Preludes and Nocturnes, Dolls House, and Dream Country, which had previously only been released as paperbacks.)

Then, a few years ago, the entire series was released numbered, with a "rainbow" trade design. These were fugly things, and the TPBs and HCs both had the same covers.

Here's an example of that design:



Currently, the books have been released in a third trade design, at least for TPBs. Not sure what the hardcovers look like, or if they even bothered with hardcovers this time around. Here's the current design:

Jackskeleton

I do have the original issues. I just think it's pointless to recommend someone who is asking which order to read them, to actually go out and find the single issues. Not only would it cost far more then actually buying the hardbacks, but it would be a waste to read with the idea that you may very well damage the cover and so forth.

Pointless ramble, I say. Maybe once it was worth keeping those comics in mint, but now a days the bubble burst and everyone realizes that on the used market, you wont get much for what was once considered that retirement home down payment.

Trades and Hard backs look good on the shelf. Single bagged comics in a white box in the cornor don't. My vote goes for anyone new getting the TPB/Hard covers and enjoying them.

Seeker

You mean I can't sell these and get the down payment for my retirement home?

Not even the special #8?

Oh, well, at least I have my case of the "Death of Superman" issues.

Jackskeleton

Ha. The only good thing about the death of superman is the black wrist band it came with.