Comic Book Career
After forming a friendship with comic-book writer Alan Moore, Gaiman started writing comic-books, picking up Marvelman after Moore finished his run on the series. Gaiman and artist Mark Buckingham collaborated on several issues of the series before its publisher, Eclipse Comics, collapsed, leaving the series unfinished. His first published comic strips were four short Future Shocks for 2000 AD in 1986. He wrote three graphic novels with his favourite collaborator and long-time friend Dave McKean: Violent Cases, Signal to Noise, and The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch. Impressed with his work, DC Comics hired him in February 1987, and he wrote the limited series Black Orchid. Karen Berger offered Gaiman a job: to re-write an old character, The Sandman, but to put his own spin on him.
Sandman became a very popular comic by Gaiman. The 75 issues of the regular series, along with an illustrated prose text and a special containing seven short stories, have been collected into 12 volumes that remain in print. The series became one of DC's top selling titles, doing better than Batman and Superman. Comics historian Les Daniels called Gaiman's work "astonishing" and says he is an iconic cultural figure."
Asked why he likes comics more than other forms of storytelling, Gaiman said: "One of the joys of comics has always been the knowledge that it was, in many ways, untouched ground. It was virgin territory. When I was working on Sandman, I felt a lot of the time that I was actually picking up a machete and heading out into the jungle. I got to write in places and do things that nobody had ever done before. When I’m writing novels I’m painfully aware that I’m working in a medium that people have been writing absolutely jaw-droppingly brilliant things for, you know, three-four thousand years now. You know, you can go back. We have things like The Golden Ass. And you go, well, I don’t know that I’m as good as that and that's two and a half thousand years old. But with comics I felt like – I can do stuff nobody has ever done. I can do stuff nobody has ever thought of. And I could and it was enormously fun.”
Some main comic books written by Gaiman include: Violent Cases, Black Orchid, The Sandman, Signal to Noise, Marvelman, The Books of Magic ,The Last Temptation, Angela, Death: The High Cost of Living, The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch, Sandman Midnight Theatre, Lady Justice, Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man, Death: The Time of Your Life, Midnight Days, Neil Gaiman's Only the End of the World Again, "Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame", Harlequin Valentine, The Sandman: Endless Nights, Marvel 1602, Creatures of the Night, Eternals
In 2013, Gaiman continues to collaborate with many artists and writers, and writes wonderful comic books.
Sandman became a very popular comic by Gaiman. The 75 issues of the regular series, along with an illustrated prose text and a special containing seven short stories, have been collected into 12 volumes that remain in print. The series became one of DC's top selling titles, doing better than Batman and Superman. Comics historian Les Daniels called Gaiman's work "astonishing" and says he is an iconic cultural figure."
Asked why he likes comics more than other forms of storytelling, Gaiman said: "One of the joys of comics has always been the knowledge that it was, in many ways, untouched ground. It was virgin territory. When I was working on Sandman, I felt a lot of the time that I was actually picking up a machete and heading out into the jungle. I got to write in places and do things that nobody had ever done before. When I’m writing novels I’m painfully aware that I’m working in a medium that people have been writing absolutely jaw-droppingly brilliant things for, you know, three-four thousand years now. You know, you can go back. We have things like The Golden Ass. And you go, well, I don’t know that I’m as good as that and that's two and a half thousand years old. But with comics I felt like – I can do stuff nobody has ever done. I can do stuff nobody has ever thought of. And I could and it was enormously fun.”
Some main comic books written by Gaiman include: Violent Cases, Black Orchid, The Sandman, Signal to Noise, Marvelman, The Books of Magic ,The Last Temptation, Angela, Death: The High Cost of Living, The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch, Sandman Midnight Theatre, Lady Justice, Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man, Death: The Time of Your Life, Midnight Days, Neil Gaiman's Only the End of the World Again, "Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame", Harlequin Valentine, The Sandman: Endless Nights, Marvel 1602, Creatures of the Night, Eternals
In 2013, Gaiman continues to collaborate with many artists and writers, and writes wonderful comic books.