Neil Gaiman - comic and graphic novel recommendations (that aren't The Sandman)

There's been a lot of Neil Gaiman discourse on the old Tumblr lately, thanks to the return of Good Omens, so I put this post together. It's long and wordy enough that it might as well go on the proper blog.

Firstly, The Sandman goes without saying. It's already been covered in the previous post and is easily Gaiman's biggest work. 

Death: The High Cost of Living

This is my single favourite comic ever. A spin-off from The Sandman, it follows Dream's sister Death on the one day a century that she lives as a mortal. It's  a beautiful treatise on life, death, depression and hope. 

Mark Buckingham and Chris Bachalo provide wonderful artwork (Mark's also a really nice gent, and signed some artwork from the book for me at a con). The collected version has an additional strip, an infomercial with Death and an embarrassed John Constantine teaching readers about safe sex. There's also a bumper edition which includes the sequel, The Time of Your Life.

Eternals

A lot of people will be familiar with the Eternals only from the recent movie, which I thought wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing either. 

Gaiman's revamp of the Marvel title a few years before is excellent though. He brings his trademark balance of the everyday and the cosmically mythic to the title, and adds a lot more nuance than in the original comics. John Romita Jr's artwork is incredible, a worthy successor to Jack Kirby.

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?

One of the best, and most meta, Batman stories ever written. A final end to the Batman saga, dealing with his death, but with multiple, fascinating tellings that all contradict each other. Alfred's story is the highlight. 

As well as the graphic novel edition, the whole thing is included in The DC Universe by Neil Gaiman along with a selection of other iconoclastic stories for DC heroes and villains. (Full review here)

Signal to Noise

One of Gaiman's many collaborations with the unique visual artist Dave McKean (who also worked with him on MirrorMask, Neverwhere and the Sandman covers). It's grim, moving and powerful, and not overtly a fantasy unlike much of Gaiman's work.

Black Orchid

Another Dave McKean collab, this is a revamp of an existing DC superhero, with a complex new origin story. A powerful story that interacts with other intriguing DC characters such as Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing, all beings with plant-based powers and mysterious natures. It's short, striking and beautiful.  

An ongoing series came after, but Gaiman wasn't involved. It's not bad though. I can't speak for the later New 52 version.

There are many more, and I'm sure people are going to be annoyed at my leaving out The Books of Magic, Marvel 1602, Midnight Theatre, Violent Cases, Mr Punch...