Vol. 1, The Absolute Sandman

There are some horrific stories here and some wonderful ones, but all throughout the story telling is great, even if Gaiman looks back today and sees some awkwardness and clumsiness. I especially enjoyed reading the proposal for the Sandman comic series, as it gave me a real taste for how extensive an outline can be while allowing a great deal of room to flex and follow inspiration wherever it leads.

Well worth the investment, this well manufactured leather bound book has exceptional paper quality and bindery. The material within is classic, you would not be buying this if you had not already read it. So, you know what your getting, but is it worth the sticker price? $100, no, $65 - yup - you bet. Way to go the store!

"Oversize. The first of four slipcased volumes. Collects issues 1-20 of the comic series, with completely new, author-approved coloring of issues 1-18 (issues 19 and 20 were fine already, says Neil). Art by Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli, Steve Parkhouse, Kelley Jones, Charles Vess, and Colleen Doran. Includes a host of never before seen material, including the complete original Sandman proposal, a gallery of character designs from Gaiman and the artists who originated the look of the Sandman, and the original script for the World Fantasy Award-winning issue 19, "A Midsummer Night's Dream", together with reproductions of the issue's original pencils by Charles Vess. Plus a new introduction by Paul Levitz, and an afterword by Neil."

I have never read The Sandman series. Actually, I only just finished my first Neil Gaiman book, Neverwhere. Excellent. Dark, humorous, visual. I looked at The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1. And now here it sits on my coffee table. I can smell it, the beautiful thing. I may not totally get the story yet (I'm only on page 152) but I'm thinking does it really matter? This book is drop-dead gorgeous, the pages are a joy to turn, the colors are stunning, the leather boards are deeply grained, the raised spine--for heaven's sake, those used to be the rule rather than the exception I'm sure. I don't really know that I will like the story, too soon to tell, but I know that I don't care. This book is beautiful. By the time I would purchase 3 hardcovers I would have the cost of this book (after discounts)and this one is definitely a standout for any library. You can sit and read something else when you get tired of the heft of the thing on your lap, but even reading a paperback you can smell it and it beckons to be opened. Probably all rather mysterious and compelling, sort of like the Sandman himself I expect. Get your hands on this thing and I can assure you total fascination will be the result. The true bookie lover's scratch and sniff....

I got this book for my girlfriend for christmas. (she is a huge Neil Gaiman fan) Not only do i prefer to buy books from the store because they usually have exactly what i want, but it is nice that their stock is in such good quality. The book was wrapped in its plastic and there wasnt a ding or dent on the whole book. Oh yeah, it was also the cheapest I could find it. Good job the store. Anyway, about the product... The book is amazing, the art top notch and the storytelling unmatched by anyone. I used to collect comics at the time that the original sandman books came out. I didnt buy them because at that time I was more into the art of books than the actual story. I regret not picking them up. thank goodness that these books are now put together in a cool hardback and not to sound too nerdy, it actually comes with one of those red string bookmark things that holds your place in the book. I am not smart enough to know the proper name of it but it is little things like that that shows that i am easy to please.. pick up the book.

I found this book a very creative exercise in perception, script and artwork. The story is mainly told from the perspective of one of the "Endless", Dream, with cameos from Destiny, Death, Desire and Dispare (see satirical opening quote from Jack Dee - "Lots of things begin with D") :-) The third brother in a family of seven, these Endless are anthropomorphic personifications of ideals/concepts and exist, apparently, across even species (one of the stories is told from a cat's point of view). The issues dealt with in the varied stories are some of the usual collection of welcoming death, forgivness, murder, society, slavery etc - in other words what appears to be standard fare for any sci-fi buf. However, there are a few interesting twists with takes on several points of history, biblical references and different points of view of the same issues but told from a different species' perspective which is somewhat unusual. The artwork throughout the collection is consistent and uses high contrast in many of the captions to great effect. The artwork on the covering page for each story is quite exceptional and could even be viewed as works in their own right.

All in all, this is well worth a read, whether you are a fan of the comic genre or if you're new to it, this collection will suck you into the world of the Endless...

The Absolute editions of the Sandman series are absolutely gorgeous. I think that the only thing extra that they could have done to make it really top-notch is if they had gilded the pages. Having heard complaints about others, I think that it is safe to say that these are what ALL DC Absolute editions should aspire to be!

The over-sized format and re-coloured artwork is wonderful. It is truly an experience to read this series all over again through the Absolute editions...highly recommended!

Gaiman has created an iconic entity that will forever haunt me. I first read the sandman series 20+ years ago and was just enthralled by that alternate dark universe. It's mind blowing in so many ways and just completely draws you in so deep that you don't want to leave. I would recommend this regardless of what genre, author or style you are used to.

The edition is simply beautiful, the presentation an quality is really good, the only thing I don't like much is that the pages are glued, not stitched, I would even pay more if there was another version with that feature, that would make it REALLY an ABSOLUTE edition. Nevertheless the pages looks solid and if you handle the book as it deserves, the pages won't come off.

Received mine today too, and it blew my wildest hopes out of the water. I already have the hardcovers, softcovers and the complete individual issues, so I thought maybe buying this would have been oversaturation. After seeing it though, I know that if I hadn't bought one and then seen a copy of it later I'd have spazzed. Now the only question is when does the next volume come out? Thanks Neil and Vertigo for your attention to this spectacular edition.

This is what The Sandman deserved, a great edition in many ways. The cover is superb and the protective case too. At first I thought it was an expensive item, but now that I have it in my hands, I can see everything has been designed with an exquisite taste.

If you have read the series, you'll enjoy having it in this format. And if you don't know anything about The Sandman, please don't waste your time and read it!

Ordered before Xmas and arrived in time. This volume is in a delightful slipcase and features the comics bound together into one hardback book, with a colouring that is slightly better to my eye than the original comics. Obviously the paper stock is different but well worth the investment to collect this delightful and thought-provoking series. Vol. 2 is just as good and they stack nicely on the bookcase.

I received my copy yesterday when I got home from work. It is better than I expected. I have two of the Sandman books (Preludes and Nocturnes & Dream Country) from the second edition, and wanted to own the rest of that edition. My problem had been that I could no longer find that edition, and I did not want the new edition. However, this hardback book is wonderful, even better than the second edition that I preferred the artwork in.

I was originally going to get the entire Sandman series in the originally 10 vol set, but then I read how much better these vols. were. They are and worth every penny. The new color brings the story even more to life then ever before. If you read the Sandman series and wanted to own it, it doesn't get better than this.

Initially bought this for my girlfriend, but ended up reading it after she did. All I can say is this: There's nothing quite like the Sandman series. It's incredibly entertaining - I've now officially become a Neil Gaiman fan.

After two weeks in the black hole that is international postal services, an undamaged the store box arrived this morning.

Within 10 minutes of opening it two people in my rather small office have ordered copies for themselves. Neither of them are comic book fans.

Received mine today and it exceeds all expectations. I've always regretted not getting the original hardcovers as they were released and this surpasses those in every respect. The new coloring is gorgeous and the extras fascinating. I cannot wait to revisit this amazing story in this format. Also, its heft will assurredly stun any burglar that comes calling in the night. Sweet Dreams indeed! Cudos and thanks to all involved!

I know everybody loves this, and I bought it hoping it would be like Gaiman's prose books -- clever, skewed, witty, and scary. The problem is that in a graphic novel, the prose gets shortened and the reader can't use his/her imagination because the artist has supplied the pictures. So . . . if you like graphic novels, knock yourself out. If you like Gaiman's prose books, don't buy this book, because it's just not the same.

Beautiful, stunning absolutely gorgeous.

A quick note to fellow Brits, this was ordered on October 22nd and arrived on November 1st and is much cheaper here than on the store.co.uk or anywhere else in the UK!! I've ordered stuff domestically that has taken longer in the post!!

I just heard about this book, and almost jumped for joy when I heard it was recolored. I always thought Sandman is so rich a mythology surely they could someday release a paint-over of the material as rich and artistically skilled as the material is imaginatively written. Well, this isn't it. The "recoloring" is just a bunch of Photoshop gradient color fills, and at that the job seems very amateur. If you're going to use gradients, AT LEAST know how to use them to create depth and roundness and shadows... this is just straight drops of color change... very boring. I know this won't bother everyone, people have different takes on art. For me it's a dealbreaker and I'll stick to the old versions which are cheap and have bad coloring rather than spending more money on new bad coloring.