With Three Original Sketches

The Absolute Sandman, Volume One [1]

Gaiman, Neil

Publication: New York: DC Comics, 2006. First Edition.

Notes: An oversized, recolored edition of The Sandman, one of the most influential graphic novel series of the 1990s, here inscribed with two drawings by artists who worked on the series, Dave McKean and Charles Vess, along with a drawing by the writer, Neil Gaiman.

Collects Sandman #1 to 20, which were previously published as the first three graphic novels. This "Absolute" edition features a larger trim size, new coloring, the text of the original Sandman proposal, a gallery of character designs, and the original script for issue #19, and an afterword by Gaiman.

"The comics were really good, too. The importance of Sandman’s original seventy-five issues is difficult to overstate, but it might be exceeded by the importance of the series as reprinted in ten graphic novels," which along with Watchmen and a handful of other titles from the 1980s, established that there was a market for illustrated stories in traditional bookstores and not just comic shops.—Cambridge History of the Graphic Novel.

612 pages. 12-1/4 by 8-1/2 inches, in an illustrated slipcase. The artists who illustrated this volume are Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli, Steve Parkhouse, Kelley Jones, Charles Vess and Colleen Doran. Dave McKean did the covers.

Edition + Condition: First edition (stated first printing) of this collection. A fine copy in a faux leather binding and a near fine slipcase with a few shallow dents. This copy is inscribed with a full-page white-on-black drawing by Dave McKean, a silver Sharpie drawing and inscription by Gaiman, and a pen sketch by Charles Vess on the title page.

Copies of Sandman graphic novels with drawings by the artists are not rare, but they are seldom as nice as these.

Item No: #365016

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