Neil Gaiman has been one of the top writers in modern comics, as well as a best-selling novelist. As creator/writer of the epic DC Comics fantasy series 'The Sandman', he won every major award in the field and, in addition, won the 1991 World Fantasy Award for the best short story, making 'The Sandman' #19 the first comic ever to win a literary award.
Born in Portchester, UK, Neil Gaiman began his career as a journalist, after being turned down by several publishers. In 1984, he published his first book, a biography of the pop band Duran Duran. In the following years, Gaiman wrote novels, songs (Alice Cooper's 'The Last Temptation' album) and several fantasy and science fiction stories. Gaiman released a collection of short stories, 'Smoke & Mirrors', and wrote the English language screenplay for the record-breaking Japanese film 'Princess Mononoke'. He has written a number of acclaimed children's books, including 'The Day I Swopped My Dad for a Goldfish', 'Coraline' and 'The Wolves in the Wall', all illustrated by Dave McKean.
He wrote his first comics scritps for 2000 AD, and eventually published his first comic with Titan Books in 1987, 'Violent Cases'. The comic was drawn by Dave McKean, one of the regular illustrators of his work. Gaiman and McKean then began the 'Black Orchid' trilogy, which was published by DC Britain between 1988 and 1989. Subsequently, they produced the graphic novels 'Signal to Noise' (1989) and 'Mr Punch' (1994).
'The Sandman' was launched by DC Comics in 1988, this time directly for the US market. This complex and ambitious project, which chronicles the tale of Morpheus, the personification of Dream, has been illustrated by about thirty artists, including Dave McKean, Marc Hempel, Jill Thompson, Michael Zulli and Jon Muth. The comic ran until 1996, and has been collected in 10 bestselling volumes. In 1999, he briefly relaunched the saga for the miniseries 'The Sandman: The Dream Hunters', illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano.
In addition to 'The Sandman', Gaiman scripted several other sagas, such as 'Miracleman' (Eclipse, 1990-93) and 'The Books of Magic' (DC, 1991). Between 1993 and 1996, he worked with Chris Bachalo on 'The Children's Crusade' and 'Death: The Time of Your Life', both published under the DC/Vertigo imprint. He has also worked with artists like Todd McFarlane ('Angela', Image, 1995), Charles Vess ('Stardust', DC/Vertigo, 1997-98), John Bolton ('Harlequin Romance', Dark Horse, 2001), and Craig Russell ('Murder Mysteries', Dark Horse, 2002). In 2003, he created '1602', a collective oeuvre published by Marvel.
Neil Gaiman appearing in one of Rick Veitch's dreams,
from 'Rare Bit Fiends' by Rick Veitch