What do YOU think about 'The Sandman' comic book series?

“The Sandman” comic book series is a series that I’ve been aware of for some time. In fact, I can remember seeing original issues of the series for sale in the Walden Books (remember those?) in Mobile when I was a teenager. I’ve always wanted to read it, but I’d just never gotten around to it.

Back in November, The Writers Almanac (writersalmanac.publicradio.org) made mention of “The Sandman” series and made it sound so awesome that I placed “Read the complete Neil Gaiman ‘Sandman’ graphic novel series” on my “bucket list.” In the late 1980s, Gaiman, a British writer, was selected by DC Comics to revive “The Sandman” series. In turn, he turned it into an award-winning series that was 75 issues long and ran from January 1989 through March 1996.

The complete series has been collected and republished in a 10-volume series of graphic novels called “The Sandman Library.” Earlier this week, I took the first step toward accomplishing my goal of reading the entire series when I finished reading the first volume, “Preludes and Nocturnes.” That book, which is actually a trade paperback collection, was first published in 1991.

“Preludes and Nocturnes” contains the first eight issues in the series, including “Sleep of the Just,” “Imperfect Hosts,” “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” “A Hope in Hell,” “Passengers,” “24 Hours,” “Sound and Fury” and “The Sound of Her Wings.” Those issues were originally published between January 1989 and August 1989.

I really enjoyed “Preludes and Nocturnes.” The story contained just the right mix of old-style comic book material, obscure folklore, classic mythology and literary references to keep me interested from start to finish. I felt like a fourth-grader again, reading something that not only pulled me in deep but also left me anxious to read the next installment. I hate that I waited so long to get into this series, but maybe the best thing about reading them like this is that I don’t have to wait month-to-month to read the next installment in the story. I’ve only got to order up the next trade paperback collection and enjoy.

With that said, I’ve got ten more volumes (or 77 issues) left to read before I can say that I’ve read the entire run. The other editions of “The Sandman Library” are as follows:

- The Sandman, Vol. 2: The Doll’s House

- The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country

- The Sandman, Vol. 4: Season of Mists

- The Sandman, Vol. 5: A Game of You

- The Sandman, Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections

- The Sandman, Vol. 7: Brief Lives

- The Sandman, Vol. 8: World’s End

- The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones

- The Sandman, Vo. 10: The Wake

In the end, how many of you out there are fans of Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” comic book series? How many of you have read the complete series? What did you think about it? Have you read anything else that measures up to it? Let us know in the comments section below.