Was Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman' the greatest comic book series ever?

“The Sandman” comic book series has been around for a while, and more than a few of you will remember when it first came out and continued for a while as an ongoing series. It seems like a long time ago, but it really wasn’t that long ago that you could actually buy the latest issue in the series in the Walden Books stores in Mobile. I was a teenager then, and “The Sandman” series (as well as Walden Books) are no more. What hasn’t disappeared is my long-running urge to read the complete “Sandman” series, which is considered a classic of the comic book genre.

My interest in this series received a kick in the pants in November when one of my favorite Web sites, “The Writers Almanac (writersalmanac.publicradio.org) discussed “The Sandman” series and made it sound so awesome that I actually placed “Read the complete Neil Gaiman ‘Sandman’ graphic novel series” on my “life list.” For those of you unfamiliar with the series, here’s a little background.

In the late 1980s, Gaiman, a British writer, was selected by DC Comics to revive “The Sandman” comic book series. Before he was done with it, he’d turned it into an award-winning series that was 75 issues long and ran from January 1989 through March 1996. Since then, the complete series has been collected and republished in a 10-volume series of graphic novels called “The Sandman Library.”

In March, I took the first step toward reading the entire series when I finished reading the first volume, “Preludes and Nocturnes.” Earlier this week, I finished reading the second volume, “The Doll’s House.” Originally published in 1990, “The Doll’s House” contains issues No. 9-16 in the series, including “Tales in the Sand,” “The Doll’s House,” “Moving In,” “Playing House,” “Men of Good Fortune,” “Collectors,” “Into the Night” and “Lost Hearts.”

I enjoyed reading “The Doll’s House.” Each issue was a treat unto itself, and it’s hard to pick a favorite because they were all good for different reasons. “Tales in the Sand” was cool because it was about two Africans in the desert passing on a tribal story about the dream world. “Men of Good Fortune” was interesting because it was about a man granted immortality and his periodic meetings with the mysterious being who gave him this gift. “Collectors” was just pure strange with most of the issue set at a convention for serial killers. If I had to pick a favorite, I’d go with “Men of Good Fortune.”

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

- 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.