The Sandman is out on Netflix, so we talked about our favorite works by English author Neil Gaiman, including his best books and graphic novels.
This week, Netflix’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman makes its debut. It’s been a long, long road for the adaptation of the legendary comic, and Gaiman’s involvement helped keep the adaptation true to his intent while making some key changes.
With the series out, what better time to celebrate the work of Gaiman, whose writing has been featured across basically every possible writing medium you could think of? Here are some of our favorite novels, short stories, graphic novels, TV episodes, and other assorted works from the author (and for something more Sandman-specific, here are our favorite storylines from the comic).
While the question of whether or not The Sandman is Neil Gaiman’s best work is a matter of debate, I emphatically maintain that it is the most Neil Gaiman work. This is because, as my colleague Susana Polo so eloquently explains, The Sandman was the product not only of a once-in-a-lifetime moment in comics publishing history, but of a young and ambitious writer who poured every one of his creative passions into the work for fear that he might not have such an opportunity again.
The result was not only one of the biggest cult hits in superhero comics (if not the biggest), but a primer for the types of stories Gaiman would go on to write throughout the rest of his career. The quarreling deities and modern anthropomorphic aspects of American Gods? That’s in The Sandman. The urban fantasy elements and far-flung folklore of Neverwhere and Stardust? That’s in The Sandman. The whimsical horror-humor of Coraline? You guessed it — The Sandman. If nothing else, The Sandman is a perfect entry point for any potential reader to acquaint themselves with Neil Gaiman’s particular style of writing. The Sandman feels like the ur-text for every story Gaiman might conceivably aspire to write in the future. —Toussaint Egan
Good Omens is one of those pop culture things I had heard about but never really fully known what the heck it was about — till I finally read the book and absolutely fell in love with it and understood all the hype. Written by both Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett, Good Omens somehow turns the apocalypse into a witty and charming musing on the joys of humanity.
At its core, it’s about Aziraphale and Crowley, an angel and a demon, who’ve spent the last few thousands of years cycling in and out of each other’s lives, and as such have grown rather fond of each other and living on Earth. They team up to stop the apocalypse from happening, even though their celestial and infernal bosses really want the end of the world to just kick off already.
The television adaptation, which stars Michael Sheen and David Tennant, is just as delightful — and fleshes out Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship even more. It’s getting a second season. Gaiman has a lot of input in it and it will incorporate bits of the sequel he and Pratchett never got to write, so here’s hoping it holds up. —Petrana Radulovic
Gaiman is, if nothing else, a versatile writer. In addition to comics and novels, he’s penned works as diverse as one of the most beloved episodes of Doctor Who and the English screenplay for Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke.
