shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
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Post by shaxper on Feb 24, 2015 16:05:00 GMT -5
#4 was released in December. I'm not sure how long the series is slated to be nor when the next issue will be released. I think it's downright embarrassing how delayed it has been... I have no idea if that was Gaiman, or the artists, It was Gaiman. |
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Post by badwolf on Feb 24, 2015 16:05:17 GMT -5
There's also the Dreaming, which features alot of the minor characters in Sandman... it's a bit hit or miss, but mostly good. I enjoyed The Dreaming until Caitlin Kiernan took it over. They should have retitled it The Adventures of Matthew & The Corinthian at that point. |
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Post by fanboystranger on Feb 24, 2015 16:48:27 GMT -5
One last point about the early days of Sandman and all the DC reference: Originally, Sandman, Hellblazer, and Swamp Thing were to have been linked books. (Gaiman actually pitched a John Constantine book before Black Orchid, but Jamie Delano was already developing Hellraiser, which became Hellblazer when Clive Barker complained about the name.) In the first two years, the books often alluded to each other, and there were occasional crossovers, such as Matt Cable actually becoming Matthew the Raven in Swamp Thing before appearing in Sandman or Hellblazer and Sandman both examining serial killers at the same with "The Family Man" and "The Doll's House". Neil Gaiman and Jamie Delano were actually going to co-write Swamp Thing when Rick Veitch left (planned for issue 100), but then Rick quit over censorship. Neil and Jamie dropped ST as a show of solidarity, the connections between the three books were scrapped, and Sandman was allowed to follow its own path.
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Post by Jesse on Feb 24, 2015 17:16:20 GMT -5
I only read it for the first time within the last few years. I absolutely loved it and it quickly became one of my favorite series of all time. I found most of the spin-off worth picking up as well.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 26, 2015 7:19:21 GMT -5
Reading Sandman #1 when it first came out, I thought that title would last six issues, tops, because it was too smart for the market. Never have I been so happy to be completely wrong. (About its being cancelled, that is, not about its being smart).
Something quite impressive about the title is that the only moment it reaches what might resemble a status quo lasts for something like two pages, at the beginning of the Doll's House storyline. The rest of the time it keeps morphing (see what I just did, there?) into something unexpected.
The only reservation I may have about Sandman is that Neil Gaiman tends to be a little predictable in his unpredictability. It doesn't affect each story individually, but if you read many different works by the author you can figure out pretty quickly where things will go. (For example, in the novel American Gods, I was convinced that when the protagonist gambled his life with Czernobog, he would lose. Only because in a "standard" story, a hero who bets his life always wins).
Sandman remains a very high mark in the history of American comic-books. It inspired droves of imitations that always failed to reach its amazing level, and probably changed forever the way comics in the U.S. are made. Plus it's a damn fine read in and of itself!
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 26, 2015 10:31:28 GMT -5
Reading Sandman #1 when it first came out, I thought that title would last six issues, tops, because it was too smart for the market. To be fair, Gaiman thought the same thing. |
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Post by Spike-X on Mar 6, 2015 18:40:12 GMT -5
#4 was released in December. I'm not sure how long the series is slated to be nor when the next issue will be released. I think it's downright embarrassing how delayed it has been... I have no idea if that was Gaiman, or the artists, but for a 6 issue mini series people have literally been waiting for for years, there was no reason to have the whole thing in the can before release. Between that and the $4.99 per issue price, it's been a real lost oppertunity, IMO. Maybe they're trying to re-live the old days towards the end of the series, where we'd have to wait about six months for each new issue to come out? Seriously, they should've just made it an OGN or something. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 6, 2015 19:39:21 GMT -5
I agree 100%... they should have waited until it was done, the released it as a nice Hard Cover.. maybe $24.95.
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Post by Dizzy D on Mar 7, 2015 13:15:09 GMT -5
I agree 100%... they should have waited until it was done, the released it as a nice Hard Cover.. maybe $24.95. They should, but at the time it started, I think they wanted to send the message that Vertigo wasn't dead (Karen Berger had just left, Constantine had just moved to regular DC (as had other Vertigo mainstays like Animal Man and Swamp Thing) and most new series didn't make it past 12 issues. Vertigo was basically Fables and its spin-offs at that point.) |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 7, 2015 20:08:07 GMT -5
Vertigo IS pretty much dead, IMO. With Fables ending, it's pretty much Astro City and a bunch of zombie books. All the stuff that would have been Vertigo back in the day (stuff like Saga, Wicked and the Divine, Southern Bastards, etc) is mostly Image now.
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Post by fanboystranger on Mar 8, 2015 1:37:44 GMT -5
Vertigo IS pretty much dead, IMO. With Fables ending, it's pretty much Astro City and a bunch of zombie books. All the stuff that would have been Vertigo back in the day (stuff like Saga, Wicked and the Divine, Southern Bastards, etc) is mostly Image now. A year and a half ago, I probably would have agreed with you, but Vertigo's been putting out some excellent books since then. Astro City, of course, but Federal Bureau of Physics is one of the best, most imaginative books on the stands every months. (As well as the most diverse.) There's been a bunch of strong minis, too, like Trillium and The Names.
Sadly, none of it sells very well.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2015 1:48:08 GMT -5
The ironic thing with Sandman Overture as Gaiman said in an interview leading up to the release that one of the main reasons they decided to do a mini rather than an OGN is to give fans the experience of going to the comic shop on a monthly basis to pick up an issue of Sandman again, something that had been lost since the original series ended and something most fans of Sandman had never gotten to experience since they first encountered the stories in trades after the fact. Having that experience again was one of the reasons I was so excited for the series, but best laid plans and all that.
And I will echo Fanboy Stranger in saying there is a lot of interesting stuff coming out of Vertigo these days (I'll point to the quarterly anthology books Cyan etc. as well) but it's not selling. But then, a lot of the Vertigo classics did not sell well until they hit the trade market, which is where they truly found their audience. FBP and Trillium were really good books (I read all of Trillium and the first half dozen FBP but have been out of the loop of new books this year). Hinterlands had an interesting start as did Coffin Hill and I plan on catching up with those in trade when I get the chance. American Vampire is chugging along as well, but I've never read it, it moves well in trade around here. Vertigo used to have the advantage of being the only place you could get big publisher exposure with mostly creator owned stuff-now there are lots more options, Image being primary among them as Wildfire noted, (BOOM! Dark Horse, IDW, Legendary, etc. are all also options), so the creator owned stuff has been dispersed through the market instead of being concentrated in the Vertigo line. This isn't a bad thing for the industry as a whole, as it creates more opportunities for talented creators to get there work out there, it just means Vertigo will have fewer offerings, not worse offerings.
-M
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Post by Dizzy D on Mar 8, 2015 3:57:47 GMT -5
My Vertigo purchases these day are down to Unwritten (for as long as that'll last. Hasn't it finished already in singles?) and Hinterkind. I wanted to check out FBP, but there are so many good series coming out right now, mostly from Image.
You're right that Image pretty much took over from Vertigo (Vertigo has an advantage for writers/artists in that they are paid up front, but it's probably not enough to offset the advantages Image offers.)
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Post by Spike-X on Mar 8, 2015 4:09:42 GMT -5
The ironic thing with Sandman Overture as Gaiman said in an interview leading up to the release that one of the main reasons they decided to do a mini rather than an OGN is to give fans the experience of going to the comic shop on a monthly basis to pick up an issue of Sandman again "monthly" lol. |
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Post by fanboystranger on Mar 8, 2015 10:40:32 GMT -5
My Vertigo purchases these day are down to Unwritten (for as long as that'll last. Hasn't it finished already in singles?) and Hinterkind. I wanted to check out FBP, but there are so many good series coming out right now, mostly from Image. You're right that Image pretty much took over from Vertigo (Vertigo has an advantage for writers/artists in that they are paid up front, but it's probably not enough to offset the advantages Image offers.) The Unwritten ended last month.
Yeah, I think Vertigo for the most part is going to be mid-level creators who need a regular paycheck for regular series moving forward and bigger names just doing minis. Image has the best deal in the industry if you already have an established audience, but there's a lot risk involved.
Still, I'll take an Ian Edgington ongoing Vertigo series any day of the week.
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