Yes. Yes, I'm in Hell...

[Morpheus_dream]

Greetings

Woe is me. Life, once again, rears it's ugly head and proves to me how unfair it is...

Let me introduce myself...

I am a web comic junkie.

I have recently stumble accross your version of my drug. After a week of almost OD'ing on your archives, I find myself going through "The Bends" due to the fact that there seems to be no updates since I first found the comic.

Are you merely on a hiatus, or have you stopped? If you are on a hiatus, then when do you think I will be able to get my next hit (screw my "friend", it's for me)? And how often will I be able to get it?

And... to make matters worse, I found "Down To Earth" from your comic, and that too is on Hiatus!

AArghhh

Um... just in case you are not aware, when you next update your site, the following comic sites are no longer putting up updates:

Cool Cat Studios (in fact, she has even stopped doing the printed comic. It is sad to see her stop, I really liked this artist)

JoBeth (though the two artists are working on their own comics
Jackies Fridge (by BJ Hiorns) and Tonja Steele (by Joey Hetzel)...

Untitled Again (seems to just be updating with caractures...)




But I must thank you for putting me onto Goats. Good drug...

And yes... the my avatar is your Picture of Neil Gaiman's Morpheus. I have been a fan of his work for years (I have a complete set of Sandman comics, plus the Death Miniseries)... That is where I get my nickname from (not bloody Matrix)

Cheers

Morpheus[/url]

[ShadowDRat]

The only thing I've read of his was Good Omens w/ Terry Pratchett... damn good book... anything you could suggest to start out with when reading Gaiman?

oh yeah, and good luck Pyromancy, you ran an awesome & funny comic, and I hope you can continue to do that soon. I've wasted a some of Keenspace's bandwidth by making webcomics, and I know it's very hard to keep up with the comic when you have a life outside of the internet.

[Morpheus_dream]

Greetings

When starting with Gaiman, it is important to read his Sandman comics. It is the first thing he did that really made his name (he did work at 2000AD [a breeding ground for some of the best comic talent on the planet] and did some early graphic novels, like "Violent Cases" and "Signal to Noise" and "Black Orchid Mini series").

You will find it very difficult to get hold of the individual comics (once a person has bought a Neil Gaiman comic only death and/or mother selling them off releases them back onto the market; um... or financing "Clerks"-type indie movies) but you will always be able to get the graphic novels of the various series' throught the 75 issue run of Sandman. In order, the anthologies are:

Preludes & Nocturnes ( 1 - 8 )
Doll's House ( 8 - 16 ) [8 is a brilliant comic; but some later versions of this anthology omit it, since it is part of Preludes & Nocturnes]
Dream Country ( 17 - 20 ) [4 of the best single comic stories ever written; Sandman #19 won the World Fantasy Award (First comic to win a literary award) ]
Season of Mists ( 21 - 28 )
Fables And Reflections ( 29-31, 38-40, 50 )
A Game of You ( 32 - 37 )
Brief Lives ( 41 - 49 )
World's End ( 51 - 56 )
The Kindly Ones ( 57 - 69 )
The Wake ( 70 - 75 )

Other really excellent graphic novels to look for are (not a complete list):
Black Orchid
Books of Magic
Death: The High Cost of Living
Death: The Time of your Life
Alice Cooper: Last Temptation


As for books, "American Gods" has just won a Hugo award. Here is a short list of the books I have of his:
American Gods
Smoke and Mirrors (try get the UK version, as it has 5 extra short stories in it)
Neverwhere
Stardust

oh yeah, and Good Omens as well...

Obviously, complete lists of all his works can be found at
www.neilgaiman.com

Enjoy!

[ShadowDRat]

i'm not so much into the comics, really, more of the novels... I have heard of Neverwhere, though. From what I've heard he has a very dark sense of humor.

And my mom and stepdad live in England, so I get Pratchett and RObert Ranking books when they come out... getting the UK version is not a problem.

[Morpheus_dream]

Greetings

While his books are excellent, and I take nothing away from them... his comics are outstanding. He is one of the world's premier comic book writers (one of his comics even one an award normally given to novels... that is how good he is).

You will miss a lot of good work if you do not even have a look at his comic work.

I have never really liked the phrase "graphic novel" ('it's a comic, get over yourself you pretentious fool' is what I always thought), but in his case, it is apt.

Anyway... just my opinion... use it... don't use it... whatever

[Pyromancy]

Morpheus_Dream, I am forced to agree. The novels by Gaiman are excellent, but the visuals associated with and the stories presented in the Sandman series are outstading, even life changing in some cases. Dream is a strange but fairly two dimensional character in the books, but the supporting cast are a visual and literary smorgasbord. Gaiman truly shines in the series.


ShadowDRat, I can't stress hard enough the need to overcome the idea of a comics being lesser literature just because they are visual too. Comics of the Sandman caliber are rare, indeed probably unique, but they will eventually be touted as necessary literature in schools. They encompass myth, legend, art, pop-culture, life, death and cartoons and not only make them work together but integrate them into a world that makes at least as much sense as our own. I don't go a week without picking up at least one Sandman volume. Don't cheat yourself.

For anyone reading this, HSH is far from over. I am, however writing a couple of novels currently and my overall concentration abilities are being stretched to their limit in those undertakings. If I had an assistant artist or two willing to take on drawing duties for a while, I'd be more readily able to continue HSH in short order. Anyone interested, send me some art samples and we'll talk. Thanks.

[ShadowDRat]

ehh, I'm just not a comic guy... it's not so much the visuals, even though I prefer having my own image of a character rather than a supplied one...

comics just don't do it for me... if I can find any though I'll leaf through them and see what I think (I'm not going to dismiss it completely, I do check up on things before I judge them), so I'll probably find a few.

[Morpheus_dream]

Greetings

The best part about the Sandman comics is that each story arc is drawn by a different artist, normally hand-picked by Neil. This means that you get a veiw of many different artist's impressions of the different characters, but you keep a sense of what Neil Gaiman wants you to have about his characters... and you can still have your own view.

I must admit to really disliking the visuals for "The Kindly Ones", when I first started reading it (I was reading it monthly in comic book format). But, after having reread the entire series, and the story arc... it is now one of my favoured story arcs. The visuals actually accentuate the story, and if they had been done in a way like earlier arcs, it may not have been as powerful...

Anyway...