The Sandman made a recent return to the comics medium in “The Sandman: Overture” with art by J.H. Williams III and writing by none other than series creator Neil Gaiman. Fans of fine comic books with deep stories and out of this world art rejoiced, but it has been a few months and they’ve yet to see the next book in the series be released. That doesn’t mean there are no more stories being made available to a fan base that is ravenous for Gaiman’s characters though. Gaiman’s dead schoolboy characters attend St. Hilarions School in “Dead Boy Detectives” and that alone isn’t where the great news for The Sandman fans ends. What could be better than the next issue of “The Sandman: Overture” and the “Dead Boy Detectives” though? How about if Death herself made a first appearance in “Dead Boy Detectives”?
That is exactly what is happening this Wednesday (January 29, 2014) when artist Mark Buckingham (“Fables”) and Novelist Toby Litt (Anthologies “The Witching Hour” & “Time Warp”) bring everybody’s favorite Endless sibling to the halls of St. Hilarions. Toby Litt’s recent work has been a good bit of fun for those that like a terrifying thrill so his fit with Buckingham on Dead Boy Detectives is perfect for anyone who loves a little horror mixed with some epic mythology. Buckinham’s beautiful style may be the perfect complement for this kind of story telling but I like to let the art speak for itself so there’s a cover and a sneak peek panel from DC Comics included at the end.
DC Comics has been pushing out more great works through their Vertigo line of comic books in the last year. With many popular titles on the way out, and Image Comics bringing about a creator-owned revolution, many people in the comic book work speculated that Vertigo’s best days were behind it. All of that worry as for naught as Vertigo has been on a winning streak with recent books like “The Wake”; “Trillim”; “Coffin Hill”; A new volume of “Astro City”; a follow up to “100 Bullets” called “100 Bullets: Brother Lono”; and of course “The Sandman: Overture” and “Dead Boy Detectives”. Now with the cross-over of characters from The Sandman’s pages to the Dead Boy Detectives’, Vertigo is hammering home their place in the comic book medium for stories with mature themes.
