I guy I met while i was working at the Open University bought all of the Neil Gaiman graphic novels twice, one copy for normal use, and one as a sacrificial copy for scanning and photocopying purposes.
I strongly recommend Smoke & Mirror, Neil Gaiman's short story collection, should be around £6.99, and remember to read the intro!!!!!!! Also American Gods, again a must have, also £6.99 Those two should beyour first, then go to Forbidden Planet and get his cd call Signal To Noise and listen to it alongside to the comic. That should be enuff as I hope you will be re-reading them all the time (as I have done, i think i read American Gods about 7 times now and Smoke & Mirror countless time hehe. While we are at comic writer's books, also recommend Grant Morrison's Lovely Biscuits http://oneiros.freeyellow.com/biscuits.html and his pal David Conway 's Metal Sushi http://oneiros.freeyellow.com/sushi.html If you are interested ina bit more comics I suggest you to try out Warren Ellis's http://artbomb.net/detail.jsp?gid=1&tid=81 and Brain Wood's Channel Zero http://artbomb.net/detail.jsp?gid=1&tid=96 For some interesting comics review try www.artbomb.net
More Gaiman-penned Sandman material is on the way: http://www.dccomics.com/features/endlessnights/index.html And from his bio on the site: "In 2002 he wrote and directed a short film called "A Short Film About John Bolton," and next week Dave McKean starts directing a feature film they conceived, and which Neil wrote, for the Jim Henson company, a partly-animated film called Mirror-Mask."
Another vote here for "Smoke & Mirrors". It is really an excellent collection of short stories. The novel version of "Neverwhere" is very very good as well.
One of the reasons why it's worth checking Neil Gaiman's blog occasionally - you find cool comments like this: "Meanwhile Iain Banks just did a book in which he drove around Scotland tasting, and learning about, single malts. ... Bastard. Wish I'd thought of doing a book like that." Also, if you poke about a bit, you can find a link to a Wolves in the Walls sight which has a nice screensaver, full of Dave McKean art.
I didn't really like Endless Nights. It had a couple of good stories but the rest just didn't float my boat. For me it was down to some of the stories having that stye of art that looks great but you just cannot tell what's going on.
Gaimen is good. On a more independent note though, have you ever read Charles Burns? He's a writer/artist on fantagraphics. He is most famous not for his comics but for those weird altoid ads that you see in magazines. They say "curiously strong" and have an odd color tone. In any case, he created/is invovled in a series entitled "Black Hole." It's amazing. The story is about these teens in high school who contract an std that manifests itself in weird ways (tadpoles come out of one characters ribs, a another character grows a second mouth, etc). Its probably the best portrayal of teenage longing and sexual angst I've ever read and its two issues from completion. Though you might have some trouble finding the book I can almost guarentee it is well woth the effort.
More Gaiman news: He's working with Dave McKean on a Mr. Punch adaptation for BBC Radio. Should be good.
Don't know how long it'll be up, but if you click here: http://news.mpr.org/programs/midmorning/ and scroll down to Tuesday, Jan. 20, there's a new interview with Gaiman from this morning, from Minnesota Public Radio. Mostly about Coraline, I think.
Hey, way to resurrect a three-year-old thread Mandi :lol: Anyway, these are just the coolest things on earth IMHO: a goldsmith, Mark Defrates, has made replicas of the Key to Hell from the Sandman series (is it Seasons of Mist? I think so) - I WANT ONE OF THESE SOOOO BAD! :lol: Anyhoo, erm, that was random of me wasn't it :lol: http://www.markdefrates.com/pages/symbol_m.html
I once recommended Neil Gaiman to a couple of friends. I was puzzled by the horrified expressions on their faces until I learned they thought I had said Neil Diamond.
:inq: *LMAO* *breaks into belting chorus of Neil Gaiman/Diamond fusion song Sweet Coraline* :snigger: :snigger: :snigger:
Have you read Vertigo's Lucifer series? It's not necessarily a Gaiman , but a rather faithful spin-off of the Sandman's series
I was wondering - since I haven't read much of Gaiman's work - if anyone here has read Gaiman's Stardust? Having just seen the film I got interested in the book. The movie was good, but the book might be even better, as they often are. The book isn't so thick, though.
We (all three of us!) have just watched Stardust (Sky Family movie channel are currently showing it) and we all really enjoyed it, what a stunning film! Astrid got a little bit freaked out in parts (she's afraid of blood), but she forced herself to stay awake right to the end - that's 10.15pm, folks :kickcan: :bad-word: :lol: And having seen Claire Danes as Yvaine, I reckon she would have made a cracking Galadriel in LOTR, much much better than Cate Blanchett :lol: I haven't read the book Yani, but I hear it doesn't expand much on the story - did you ever get round to reading it? I know this thread is nearly 2 years old :lol:
Ahem, my nickname may be a bit of a giveaway but i am a fan of Gaiman's works. Especially the comics which influenced me a lot in my young and tender age... I've read two of his books, Neverwhere and American Gods which i both enjoyed quite a bit too. I saw DVD of the Neverwhere series once, and considered picking it up, but i think i bought some odd avant-garde moviemaking instead... :help:
