kevin75

i am not sure because i haven't read it before. how good is sandman? and i thought it was only going to be 3 volumes?

Liquid Death

Absolute Sandman is going to be four volumes, if I read the solicit correctly (Vol 1 is issues 1-20, there's only 75 issues of the main series). Neil Gaiman also talked about a special slipcase for all four absolute volumes being released as well. Vols 2 & 3 are due in 2007, with volume four in 2008.

bishop2knight

I was wondering the other day...when did it become so acceptable to spend $75 on a comic? Sure, it's big. It's hardcover. But damn, $75? $100? That's madness.

MBoyd

Sure, sure, keep talking yourself into that mode of thinking.

ytrez

My thoughts exactly! I may end up getting it but, damn it's hard to justify.

fujishig

Any idea if the slipcase will be released with volume 4, or if we have to wait until all four are out and THEN spend $400 retail on some kind of set?

Joe Molotov

Amazon is taking pre-orders on the first volume for $62.37.

boredsilly

I'm not done with buying the softcovers, but I'm definately not going to switch to the absolutes. Sandman is deserving of the treatment, but I just can't justify the expense.

What I do wish I bought was the oversized Authority HC. The first run is OOP now though, and goes for $100 plus now on eBay. I hate this limited print run bullish.

Liquid Death

Absolute Sandman is $55 at DCBS. Thats 45% off - not too shabby for an oversized hardcover of 20 issues. It was hard to justify Absolute Dark Knight Returns for the same price, as it was only 7 issues (albeit with larger page counts), though I might take the plunge on Sandman, since I've only read the first TPB.

Liquid Death

I don't think it will be either of those - it would be a HUGE slipcover to come packaged with Vol 4 and it didn't sound like the four volumes would be packaged together in the future. Certainly Neil Gaiman didn't make it sound like people who bought them as they came out would be "punished" by missing out on the box/slipcase.

Patman

I would consider AbDKR to be the equivalent of 15-16 comics (22-page count on average).

I actually have the 1st 3 Sandman TPBs, and the remainder in HC (bought out some guy's collection on Ebay for a good price (except that the dude put his personal libraby seal inside each book...ack!) So the AbSandmans just aren't a must-buy for me.

bishop2knight

Can someone tell me the premise of Sandman? If you had to peg it in a particular genre, which would that be?

MovieExchange

Fantasy / mythology. The Sandman (also known as Dream) is one of the 7 members of The Endless, a group that embodies some basic ideas of mankind - Dream, Death, Despair, Desire, Destiny, Destruction, Delirium (who used to be Delight until something drove her crazy). Like any family, they are oft at odds with each other. We see all members of the group, some more some less. Death and Delirium are the ones we see the most of.

There's a heavy interplay with the realm of Hell, where Dream causes offense to Lucifer, whom gets his revenge in an interesting way... by closing down Hell and turning the key over to Dream, who now must deal with various gods and mythological figures petitioning to take it off his hands.

The appeal to this series is the research Gaiman puts into what he does, and the masterful way he writes it. Many a time you'll see something in passing in one issue, and then it suddenly turns out to be the start of a major storyline 6-10 issues down the road.

One issue, A Midsummer Night's Dream, was nominated for and won the World Fantasy Award for best short fiction story in 1991. The rules for nomination were quickly rewritten so that a comic book could not be nominated again. The story was well deserving of the award, and represented part of a long running storyline in the series, where Dream has comissioned an unknown William Shakespeare to write 3 plays for him. This is the first play, and Dream brings forth the faerie that it is based upon to witness the first showing.

I've rambled on without really answering your question though. Sandman is ultimately about Dream fulfilling his duties as a member of The Endless, while dealing with consequences of actions and choices he made in ages past.

bishop2knight

Sold!

MovieExchange

WOO HOO!

A little more info - to my knowledge, Sandman set the standard for books like Preacher and Transmetropolitan to exist. Before Sandman, a series would start, the creator would leave, and someone else would come in. With Sandman, Gaiman said "I have a story in mind. When I'm done telling it, the series will end. No new creative team, etc. That's it, it's over." They accepted, and I'm sure the success of the series allowed for Garth Ennis and Warren Ellis to do the same with their titles.

I used to work in a comic shop, and I can't tell you how many people I turned on to the series. My best accomplishment was selling it to a guy that had only come in to sell us radio advertising time. After showing him a few key scenes, I quickly demonstrated that comics weren't just kids fare anymore, and he eventually bought the entire run from us.

Patman

The Fountain HC - does anyone know if you'll get a second or later printing if you order it through Amazon (their price is $39.99 with a wait of 2-3 weeks, while the going price on Ebay for, I assume, first printings is over $60)?

Giantrobo

Is the Sandman still Morpheus? Didn't that change at some point in later years?

I LOVED the Sandman series when I was into comics back in the 80's and 90's.

My favorite stories: Lucifer shuts down hell, *The "Collectors" Convention , Morpheus falls in love in ancient Africa, any story featuring Morpheus' sister "Death" .

Death was/is one of the coolest comic book characters around. She's a hot little Goth babe who just happens be an Eternal being that deals out well...death.

*

MovieExchange

Giantrobo

Thanks! Wow.

Another thing I loved was the homage to the Original Sandman of the JSA in the beginning of the series.

MovieExchange

Yeah, that's something else I forgot to mention in my initial write-up about the title, that the first story arc has some mainstream DC characters to help establish that it does take place in the DC universe. Mister Miracle, Martian Manhunter, John Constantine, Dr. Destiny and the original Sandman. The great thing is taht while they appear in the book, it's not a major appearance and it doesn't really distract from the storyline. After that, it's pretty much a standalone series, with no participation from outside characters.

IIRC, the use of the original Sandman was great. During the years that Dream was held captive by Roderick Burgess, the universe couldn't replace his aspect (since he hadn't died), so it tried to replace him by inspiring Wesley Dodds to become a hero.

Josh-da-man

All this talk about Sandman reminds me just how much I miss the series.

And I really envy anyone who's getting ready to take the plunge.

I also wish Neil Gaiman would return to the Sandman Universe and finish up those miniseries based around the Endless that he was talking about when the series ended TEN YEARS AGO...

The Sandman prequel, where we saw what Morpheus was doing just prior to the start of the series, and why he was in a weakened state.

The Delirium miniseries (drawn by Jill Thompson) which would presumably explain why Delight became Delirium.

And a Despair miniseries that would show what happened to the original Despair (as seen in Endless Nights) and how a new one came to be.

Giantrobo

So...what's the current status of The Hulk/Bruce Banner in the Marvel U? I was watching The Hulk on USA and it made me wonder. Is Bruce still trying to control/get rid of The Hulk? Is The Hulk still wild?

MovieExchange

Here's a good summary of what's going on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Hulk

Giantrobo

Oh ok. Planet Hulk huh? Thanks.

Chew

I spent Friday at the Chicago Wizard con. I've gone about 4-5 times over the last 6 years or so and found this one to be the most disappointing from the standpoint of money spent. The number of sellers was way down this year. The aisles were further apart (which was quite nice, actually), there were many empty slots, and they even had a section for tables in the middle of the floor!

I always go for trades at this show and had a huge list. My requirement for even looking at somebodys boxes is that it be 50% off. I can easily get at least 35% off online, so why bother looking at the 25-40% off sellers? I was only able to get half of the nine volumes of 100 Bullets and one item off-list. Nothing else.

I actually left with money. Normally I hit up the ATM at least one more time.

It was fun to see the people I did (Richard Kiel, Dirk Benedict, Noel Neill, a couple Munchkins), but I missed Kirsten Bell by a day.


As to Sandman, here's hoping all volumes are 45% off.