There are, by our quick count, at least five versions of the Complete Sandman out there, but this Sandman Omnibus Silver Edition Autographed by Neil Gaiman is undoubtedly the most ultimate and absolute to date. For a mere $499 you get a special silver version of the Sandman Omnibus signed by Neil Gaiman. Only 500 have been made, and I expect they will sell quickly.
And they do this before Overture is complete?
…but then there will be another Sandman story in 5 years and another set, and I’ll be like, “Crap, my omnibus is no longer a true omnibus.” and then I’ll have to go buy it again, just to reestablish harmony in the universe.
Besides, these additions cost so much money, I have to wonder if there should be an “Occupy Sandman” or something. ;)
For only $500!?? What a deal!!
Or, you know, you could trades on Amazon for cheap. get Or digital copies for free.
What the hell happened to my above comment? Me spend too time with Bizarros, apparently.
Beautiful to behold to be sure but deeply impractical to ever try to read. The complete, perfect edition will be when DC finally combines the Absolute material with the annotated editions material, preferably in a digital format, so that I can cross-reference to my heart’s delight.
I could only justify this kind of purchase if I bought it as part of a CBLDF fundraiser – by the way, could someone drop that as a hint to Gaiman? Thanks in advance. ;)
“Digital copies for free”
Sure, in the sense that sneaking out the back door of a restaurant gets you a free meal.
Money grab, a pure piece of conspicuous consumption with no practical value. Good for them, I guess. It’s not remotely worth it, though.
For $200 you can get all ten volumes of the most recent new printings of the softcovers, using the remastered Absolute coloring (also available as a box set). The most recent pre-remastered softcovers are all available, with some hardcovers still in print.
For $300 you can get both hardcover omnibus editions (same as the Silver editions above, just without the signatures and the, um, silver). Though with genuine questions about ease of readability, I’d have to question why you’d want to. (Try casually reading one of these monsters on the train or at the beach. )
If you are going to drop $500, just get the five Absolute Editions. They are huge, slipcased, gorgeous, and have tons of extras. And if digital is your thing, I reckon the series can be purchased fairly cheaply for your device.
I personally own the remastered softcovers in their nice slipcase. They look utterly fantastic on the shelf and are easy to pick up and read or flip through. It also makes it easier to place the Death spin-offs and (now) three mini-series on the shelf next to them without having weird size and format disparities.
And all these prices are MSRP of course. Smart shoppers can find them for much cheaper all over the place. If you already own Sandman and still want to spend half a thousand dollars on comics, get thirty new graphic novels instead. Just by my quick math, you can easily get the entire runs on Scalped, Pluto, Ex Machina and Love and Rockets for that combined price with smart shopping.
For $500 you could buy a plane ticket to Minnesota, hitch hike to Gaiman’s house, knock on his door, and kindly ask him to read to you.
Sam T says: ‘“Digital copies for free’ – Sure, in the sense that sneaking out the back door of a restaurant gets you a free meal.”
Please. In the immortal words of Harlan Ellison, do you think Time/Warner is standing out on the street corner in rags, a patch over one eye, waving a tin cup? Fuck, no. These assholes have no trouble releasing the same shit over & over again, each time for a higher price, to milk every last dime out of the rubes too goddamn dumb to know any better. It sure beats the hell out of treating current creators decently or finding new ground to till.
Oh, but Neil Gaiman is wholly on board with the idea of pirating his work… He sees it as a roundabout way of lending.
So, with Neil’s blessing, digital copies for free!
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110211/00384413053/how-neil-gaiman-went-fearing-piracy-to-believing-its-incredibly-good-thing.shtml
Whether DC would agree is another matter of course, but who’d you listen to: Neil himself or “the Man”?
Interesting to see on the ‘spine’ of the box, and the front overs of the books (although not on the spines of the books) that Neil Gaiman’s name is larger than the word Sandman. Looks like Gaiman has successfully raised his profile since he retired from full-time comics work. The words ‘Neil Gaiman’ are now uttered in hushed tones, not the word “Sandman”.
I doesn’t really matter what Neil thinks about pirating, its still pirating– and hey I don’t know what the deals are, but if Kelley Jones, Malcolm Dringenberg, Teddy Kristiansen, D’israeli, Jill Thompson, Colleen Doran, P Craig Russell, and Sam Kieth get royalties, than pirating “Neil’s” work takes away their chance of getting the royalties. (Once again, I’m not sure there are royalties to be had, just making a point…)
Pirating doesn’t make you a brave Robin Hood sticking to the man, it just makes you some schmoe that thinks he should get his entertainment for free.
are you in Russia, guys?
How do you know the poster talking about free digital copies doesn’t mean e-reader versions from the library?
I can say with relative certainty that Neil Gaiman at least likes pirates. Aahhrrr!
>> but if Kelley Jones, Malcolm Dringenberg, Teddy Kristiansen, D’israeli, Jill Thompson, Colleen Doran, P Craig Russell, and Sam Kieth get royalties, >>
They do.
kdb
>> In the immortal words of Harlan Ellison, do you think Time/Warner is standing out on the street corner in rags, a patch over one eye, waving a tin cup? Fuck, no.>>
Harlan invokes this as an argument to pay creative people, not as an argument not to. Being published by Time Warner does not render one financially secure.
kdb
I remember Gaiman saying at one time (this must have been more than a decade ago) that the only artist who didn’t receive royalties for Sandman reprints was Dave McKean. This, because DC at the time apparently didn’t pay royalties for reprints of covers, only for reprints of interior art. (I don’t know if DC’s policy has changed since then.)
I remember Gaiman cited this as a justification for eventually doing one short Sandman comic with McKean: “The Last Sandman Story”, published for the first time in the “Dustcovers” collection of McKean’s covers.
this looks dreadful.
you can’t open the books all of the way, too much “gutter suck”.
it’s only the original 75 issues, it doesnt even include the Brian Talbot special issue. you’d get more buying the cheap softcovers.
the gloss paper and “re-mastering” looks horrid (i might be in the minority on that one).
it also appears to not include the McKean covers.
i wouldnt spend $50 on this, let alone $500.
I’m buying one and duct-taping my individual issues of Sandman: Overture to the side. That system will allow me to add on additional books as they’re published.
I picked up the first volume on Amazon for less than a $100 and plan on doing the same with the second volume when it comes out later this month. I had no problem reading it, unlike the Absolute Edition. Though it’s heavy, l just read it sitting at a table. The pages lay flat no matter what page you’re reading.
Originally I was interested in the books because I read a post on Boing Boing stating that they were leatherbound. They’re not.
http://boingboing.net/2013/09/13/leatherbound-sandman-omnibus.html
I need more info on when the Sandman slipcase set will be available again. I want to get it for my fiancé for his birthday in January, but I cannot find the full set for under $400.00 anywhere. I see that it was available last year for $200 and then $125, but no luck at this point. Does anyone know if they’re re-releasing it or if there is somewhere to purchase it?
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