written by Neil Gaiman
edited by Leslie S. Klinger

It’s a testament to Sandman’s lasting legacy that it can still, decades later, be mined for material. Better yet, it still presents new facets. The work is so multilayered that it stands up to repeated analysis. In fact, the reader is richer for it.
 
That is proven yet again in The Annotated Sandman, an oversized collection bearing the work of Leslie Klinger. Klinger is an expert on both Sherlock Holmes and Dracula, and here he provides his unique insight and expertise to Neil Gaiman’s wonderfully evocative epic. Klinger fills in all manner of details, large and small. It’s the small ones (from the very beginning, he fills us in on seemingly random, even unimportant matters, yet they add significantly to the story) that can often be most surprising. Klinger is working from Gaiman’s full scripts, and he quotes liberally from them, providing readers with fascinating descriptions of some beloved characters.
 
Everyone who has ever read Sandman knows there are a myriad of hidden meanings, little nuggets tucked away throughout its many panels. Having so many unlocked in such a gorgeous volume is an absolute treat.

-- John Hogan

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