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New Sandman Book and Signing
Neil Gaiman writes "It occurred to me that the /. folk might be interested in the new Sandman book that's coming out - the first new Sandman work in about 4 years. It's an 136 page hardback -- and it celebrates The Sandman 10th anniversary. The art's by Yoshitaka Amano, and the story, set in ancient Japan, tells of a fox spirit and a monk, and their encounter with the King of All Night's Dreaming. (It's illustrated prose, not a comic.)
We'll be doing a signing for the book next Friday, the 29th of October, at the Virgin Megastore Union Square, New York. It starts at 7:00pm, but get there early.
We'll also do a signing November 20th at DreamHaven books in Minneapolis - and they will also be taking phone or internet orders for signed copies.
It's $29.95 ($20.97 through Amazon). " I've got my order in. And I'd just like to state for the record that Good Omens is one of the funniest books ever written.
As a side note, if you see it and like it, tell your friends! Miramax is apparently taking a "word-of-mouth" approach, because this movie is getting very limited release initially and they'll only release it in a wider selection of theaters if there's good buzz (thus me hawking it). If you're lucky enough to live near a big city, see it!
Info can be found at www.rotten-tomatoes.com (good general movie site) and www.princess-mononoke.com.
I agree. Those are my top 2 as well.
Yeah, I'm that guy.
When the story about Amazon's One-Click patent was posted on slashdot almost everyone thought it was horrible. But, slashdot still has a link to Amazon in it's book reviews. Why? Since software patents are so dangerous to the Free software / OpenSource movement why is slashdot still supporting Amazon? After all other retailers offer assoc. programs to. DAldredge
Sandman is easily the best comic series i've read yet. Then again, I should admit that I haven't read very much, but this is still absolutely amazing. The only thing that comes near it is Alan Moore's Watchmen.
As for Princess Mononoke... I've seen the subbed version. I know already that some footage had to be cut in order to keep a PG-13 rating. If anyone can cut footage and still do the original justice, it's Neil. I know he can do it well, and I certainly hope he did.
Now, all I have to do is get a ride to Toronto...
My understanding is that Gaiman owns the Sandman character. For instance, when DC Comics recently wanted to include Sandman in one of their other titles (JLA), the author had to ask Gaiman for permission to use the character.
Je ne parle pas francais.
Actually, DC Comics owns the Sandman characters lock, stock, and barrel. However, Gaiman (IIRC) made it fairly clear to DC that if they used the character without consulting with him, they wouldn't have to worry about him ever gracing their halls again. Hence, every issue of The Dreaming I've seen has in the credits "Neil Gaiman -- Consultant" No idea if this happened with the JLA issue, though, but I'd assume that Grant Morrison gave Neil at least a phone call about the idea...
--Matt
I would hate to see this film disappear because of not enough word-of-mouth, and because I'm a bit bitter that it's not going to show in my hometown -- Here are the cities that it -is- showing in, for those of you who don't want to go hunting for the information...
...
October 29
Boston
Chicago
Los Angeles
New York
Toronto
November 5
Atlanta
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
Houston
Minneapolis
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Sacramento
St. Louis
San Diego
San Francisco
San Jose
Seattle
Wash, DC
November 12
Minneapolis
November 19
Cleveland
Portland
&^_^& now i've done my part in the word-of-mouth department
I saw Neil read from his latest novel at a local megabookstore a few months back, and he talked about the Sandman movie and the horrid, terrible, very very sad scripts that Warner Brothers had come up with. Think of the Corinthian as Dream's brother and the lord of bad dreams (as opposed to the Sandman who's the lord only of good dreams); the Corinthian traps Dream and steals his power, but with his own two fists and the love of a good woman Dream wins back his kingdom. Dreck dreck dreck. Hope it never comes to pass (unless, maybe, studio execs at WB are suddenly possessed by good spirits and hire Harlan Ellison to script it...I can dream, can't I?) He did drop hints about a Good Omens film being a possibility, though.
I just re-read my complete Gaiman collection - the whole Sandman series, Black Orchid, the two Death stories, and The Books of Magic (the first two Books of Magic followups by another author are also good - are there any more?), so I'm definitely ready for more!
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
I have a few friends that are seriously into anime and they turned me onto a decent subtitled Princess Mononoke about a year ago.
Man,oh,man,oh,man,oh,man! By far the best I've seen yet! Excellent story and art. I recommend it to everyone on the planet.
(Only 5.684 billion left to go)
Overall, I think DC/Vertigo have been quite respectful of Gaiman's universe; they have given other writers room to explore and extend it, but the results have been good enough that I would not say they have been "sharecropping" it or merely "exploiting" it.
It was the summer of 1993, and she and I and her friend Jenne were all subscribed to this Sandman fanzine called "Dream Lovers", published by this guy who called himself "Fluffy". Jenne and I became pen-pals, and one week she invited me both and my future wife Janet to stay with her for a week in Onenonta, NY, halfway between where I lived (Rochester) and where Janet lived (Long Island).
Janet and I fell in love that week, and two years later were married. It's been four wonderful years.
Anyway, thanks Neil, for writing such a great comic book, and for playing your part in the chance or fated sequence of events that led to my marriage. I look forward to reading your new book.
Are there any other former "Dream Lovers" subscribers out reading Slashdot?
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If you like what you see in "The Dream Hunters", then I recommend you checkout "Princess Mononoke"("Mononoke Hime") coming out this fall. Neil Gaiman wrote the English screenplay and did an excellent job of helping bring alive the English version of the film.
:-)
It is also interesting to note that Good Omens is listed in Gaiman's writer filmography. It maybe nothing, but wouldn't it be neat if "Good Omens" was made into a movie?
This completely unrelated to his book, but another recently related Gaimon project is he english dub of the Japanese animated file Princess Mononoke. It features the voices of Claire Danes, Gillian Anderson, Billy Bob Thorton and others. I was lucky enough to see a screening (with Gaiman in atendance no less) and the film was wonderful. Definitely worth checking out if you have the chance.
Check out http://www.amanosworld.com/
Someone else mentioned Yoshitaka Amano, the artist working with Gaiman, but I thought I'd mention the URL. The site has some examples of his art, and an online store where you can buy a book that I'm impatiently waiting right now. Once I get a copy of the new Gaiman, the two books can sit next to each other on my shelf in all their shiny Amano glory. Woo.
Slightly off-topic I know, but whatever.
---- Jeff Pitrman http://bling.spof.net/
But nothing touches Sandman and his other work with graphic novels. Rich storytelling, terrific dialog, great characters, etc. "A Dolls House" and "48 Hours" rank among the most-rereadable works in my library, followed up closely by Books of Magic (the first series -- the ones Neil wrote, not the later issues which just got a bit odd).
So: What was your favorite Sandman issue?
"An Epilogue: Sunday Morning", the one which takes place just after the Wake in which Hob Gadling, who was always one of my favorite characters, deals with the death of Morpheus. Of all the loose ends, I was glad he was the one that got some special attention.
(note: Ramadan was a close second due to the amazing story and art, but you can only have one favorite)
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Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.