Book excerpt: A journey through Neil Gaiman’s THE SANDMAN with commentary, historical and contemporary references, hidden meanings and more, presented side-by-side with the series' art and text. THE ANNOTATED SANDMAN is an In-depth, informative, entertaining and fascinating look at the New York Times best-selling series by Neil Gaiman. Edited by and with an introduction and notes by Leslie S. Klinger, the expert researcher and editor behind the Edgar®-winning New Annotated Sherlock Holmes and the critically acclaimed New Annotated Dracula, THE ANNOTATED SANDMAN is a panel-by-panel journey through every issue of THE SANDMAN. Beginning with issues #1-#20, this volume provides commentary, historical and contemporary references, hidden meanings and more, presented side-by-side with the series' art and text. Using scripts and hours of conversation with Gaiman, Klinger reveals fascinating details of THE SANDMAN's hundreds of unforgettable characters and its place in literary history.The first of an incredible four volume series, the ANNOTATED SANDMAN Vol. 1 is a must-have for every Sandman fan!