THE DREAMING will end with #60 because of declining sales and Caitlin Kiernan's desire to spend more time on her novels. The final story arc begins with #57 (due December 20, 2000), and Daniel will play a major role.
Peter Hogan ended his BOOKS OF MAGIC storyline in #75. Tim Hunter will appear next in THE NAMES OF MAGIC, a 5-issue miniseries by Dylan Horrocks and Richard Case, first issue due out Dec. 27, 2000.
THE DREAM HUNTERS is a new Sandman story, based on an old Japanese folktale, with text by Neil Gaiman and full-page paintings by the acclaimed Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano, who did the Sandman 10th Anniversary Poster. The 136-page hardcover came out Oct. 27, 1999.
THE SANDMAN COMPANION, due out Nov. 10, 1999, is a 304-page hardcover containing story-by-story analysis and interviews with Gaiman and many artists.
Miscellaneous Neil Gaiman stories will be collected in MIDNIGHT DAYS, due Dec. 8, 1999. This trade paperback will include SANDMAN MIDNIGHT THEATER, HELLBLAZER #27, the Brother Power story, and a previously unproduced Swamp Thing story.
WINTER'S EDGE III, due Nov. 17, 1999, will have a Gaiman/Zulli Desire story.
The third and fourth SANDMAN PRESENTS titles will beWarner Bros. optioned a SANDMAN movie based on issues 1-8. Jon Peters is the producer; Neil Gaiman has no involvement with it. Eight or nine scripts have been written and junked over the years.
A DEATH movie for Warner Bros. would be based on the "High Cost of Living" miniseries. If the movie happens, Gaiman will write and direct.
Gaiman is also executive producer of a BOOKS OF MAGIC feature film, based on the original miniseries; as of December 1998, he said its condition is "encouraging". Matt Greenberg (Halloween: H20, Mimic) is the screenwriter. Finally, Gaiman is involved with adapting NEVERWHERE and STARDUST for Dimension Films.
More details and new rumors about any of these movies may appear on the Corona Productions rumor pages. They also have an interview with Neil Gaiman.
The movie was optioned, and Garth Ennis did a few drafts of a script based on the first storyline of the series, but the project seems to be defunct in 1999's anti-violence climate. For more, see the Corona Productions rumor page.
No. Garth Ennis has said in interviews and at cons that they are not meant to be connected. PREACHER is creator-owned and not part of the mainstream DC universe.
In Grant Morrison's DOOM PATROL, one of the primary characters was Kay Challis, a.k.a. Crazy Jane. She was introduced in DOOM PATROL #19, which was produced in 1988 (it came out in late 1988/early 1989). At the end of the series she was sane, mostly.
Ragged Robin in INVISIBLES was born in 1988, the same year Crazy Jane was created (she is a time traveler from the future -- see INVISIBLES Vol. 2, #6 for her origin); her birth name is Kay, according to Vol. 2 #2.
In response to a letter (vol. 1 #6) asking about the connection, Grant Morrison replied: "I'm not allowed to answer this one for copyright reasons (Crazy Jane belongs to DC, Ragged Robin belongs to me), but I'm sure you thought long and hard about what happened to Kay Challis after she left Danny the World." Reader Ste'phane Savoie comments, "Admittedly, Grant could just be being whimsical, but this seems as close to a definite answer as we'll get."
| Essential Vertigo #1-7 | original series #21-27 | SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING |
| Essential Vertigo #8-15 | original series #28-34, Annual 2 | LOVE AND DEATH |
| Essential Vertigo #16-23 | original series #35-42 | THE CURSE (due out Dec. 27, 2000) |
The Essential Vertigo reprint also included a brief "Crisis on Infinite Earths" reference that was cut from the LOVE AND DEATH collection. (As of November 1999, both collections appear to be out of print from DC.)
The reprint series was cancelled due to very low sales. The last issue was #24, corresponding to #43 of the original series, the story of Chester Williams and the psychedelic tubers.
The original color separations were done for letterpress printing, which is obsolete, and they could not be used for offset printed reprints. DC decided to do the reprints in black and white instead of redoing the colors, which would have driven the price up. But hurray, DC is *finally* reprinting the American Gothic storyline, in color, in a trade paperback! THE CURSE is due out Dec. 27, 2000.
You can always start an argument over this. Officially, the books that started out in the DC universe (most of them before the Vertigo imprint existed) never left it -- that's SWAMP THING, HELLBLAZER, DOOM PATROL, ANIMAL MAN, BLACK ORCHID, SANDMAN, SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATER, and THE BOOKS OF MAGIC. The old issues where Morpheus met the Justice League, Swamp Thing met Batman, etc., weren't erased, and there are still occasional appearances of the new Dream in the Justice League, Swamp Thing at Hal Jordan's funeral, and so on.
But in practice, of course, these books usually ignored the world of the mainstream superheroes -- and lots of readers hate to impose nerdy continuity between one book and another. It was definitely no favor to Garth Ennis when the editors made him come up with some contrived explanation about the difference between the Devil and "the First of the Fallen" so that HELLBLAZER would be consistent with SANDMAN.
Neil Gaiman says: "I used to describe SANDMAN as being a long bus ride from the world that Superman and Batman live in; these days it's probably a long plane ride, but obviously Superman exists somewhere in the same world as Tim Hunter et al. ... But it's now a lot harder to cross characters over between DCU and Vertigo. Permissions need to be sought and so forth. There obviously isn't a 'Vertigo Universe', or if there is it's just a subset of the giant DC universe. ... Nobody left the DC universe (as a big concept, not as defined as 'those comics edited by Mike Carlin') when Vertigo was started; SANDMAN 5, SWAMP THING, ANIMAL MAN 1-20, didn't un-happen."
SHADE's presence in the DC universe was argued over; John Constantine appeared, but then they apparently destroyed San Francisco and nobody else noticed. Michael Blakeman Cleveland notes, "Spectre #50 adds another piece of evidence that Shade was in DCU continuity because the American Scream (the antagonist from Shade #1-18, and occasional later issues) shows up."
Most of post-1993 Vertigo (INVISIBLES, PREACHER, etc.) is creator-owned and outside of the DC universe.
The following creators have appeared from time to time, although they may not be participating currently:
There were also black-and-white reprints of HELLBLAZER and SWAMP THING by Titan Books, a British comics publisher, about ten years ago. They had 11 volumes of SWAMP THING, covering Alan Moore's entire run (starting with "The Anatomy Lesson"), and 4 volumes of HELLBLAZER, covering #1-14 and SWAMP THING #76-77, which complete the crossover story where Tefé was conceived. These were UK releases only and out of print for years, so lots of luck finding any.
DC is currently bringing out new hardcover editions of these collections with new, unifying designs by Dave McKean; the paperbacks will also be reprinted with the new covers, gradually phased in as the stock of old ones runs out.
Compiled by Katie Schwarz with help from:
Lance "Squiddie" Smith often provides news about Sandman-related things.
Mike Collins explained the UK Titan reprints and argued that SHADE wasn't
in the DC universe.
Achim Reinschmidt and Phillip B. Hume noted Tim Hunter's appearances.
Phillip also commented on whether BLACK ORCHID was in the DC universe.
Matthew Daly reviewed the Mr. E miniseries.
John Ney Rieber informed the Vertigo newsgroup that he rejects the Mr. E
miniseries.
Michael Blakeman Cleveland discussed SHADE's continuity and Doom Patrol
writers.
Andrew Farrell, Donald MacPherson, v!v!d, and Charles R.L. Power
noticed Vertigo creators in the newsgroup.
Tom Galloway passed along Neil Gaiman's comments on whether SANDMAN is
in the DC universe.
Stuart Moore used to provide lots of official information on the
Vertigo newsgroup.
Christian R. Højsting corrected information about the Titan
reprints of Swamp Thing.
Ste'phane Savoie and Bradly E. Peterson discussed Crazy Jane and Ragged Robin.
and miscellaneous suggestions from:
Andrew Watson, Anthony John Bailey, Curt Shehow, Christopher Bird