The most brilliant comic books I've ever read.

They're about love and loss and hope and despair and purpose and people.

They're also not for kids. Not a recommend for those under 18. (content includes language, gore, nudity, etc.)

Must-reads for adults however! Particularly if you have any interest in the comic art form or if you're a Neil Gaiman fan...

For children, there are a couple of very adorable childrens' books based on the series that draw the characters as chibis.

What is the synopsis of it? And what makes you recommend it in spite of its obvious negatives?

I have to write a real review of this someday.... Just popping in to add my voice to the conversation mostly. I don't like comic books/graphic novels. Still don't, in fact. I still sort of wish Sandman was a novel, because I really love it and I really love novels. But it's still really, really good.

Really. The main story follows Dream, one of the nine Endless who serve/rule mankind. (It's one of those "We're in charge, but we only exist to serve them" sort of positions.) Dream is, you guessed it, the Sandman. And he's the most amazingly complex and likable character. As a serialized graphic novel there are many side stories and multiple arcs within the main plot, which sort of rambles all over and mostly follows Dream as he goes about his duties. The other Endless are Death, Despair, Delirium (who was once Delight) Destruction, Delight, Destiny... ack. There might be only Seven Endless. I forget now. Anyway.

The rating of the series really depends less on your age and more on what your comfortable with. I would peg it at a high PG-13, where I think Jenni views it as more of an NC-17. I wouldn't let it near my 14-year-old brother, but then I wouldn't recommend it to my mother either. There is a lot of objectionable content (especially in some of the side stories) but it's not really graphic. I recommend it because it's brilliant storytelling and because Dream. (He melts your heart.) I'd like to go through the series again and pick out which volumes were really good and which ones were superfluous and/or less good...

Is this Sandman character the one from DC comics?

Sorry, never got back to this. Mostly because I was planning on a re-read and never got around to it... it's really hard to pin down a specific synopsis because there are a lot of arcs and side-stories, as Katie said.

I view it as a R/NC-17 because I wouldn't be allowed to hand it to any 16yo I know. And that's sort of fine with me because I think that the emotional impact of the stories goes up with the more experience with life that a person has. (Also a mark of re-readability over time!)

Yeah, it's a DC comic but it's the Vertigo ("Mature readers") imprint. I believe DC has a Golden Era Sandman which is a different character but referenced in the first volume of Gaiman's Sandman. (The first volume also features cameos with John Constantine (Hellblazer) and something Martian (I believe he's in a number of DC comics) as it had not been decided quite yet what place Sandman would have in the DC Universe. Vertigo was not its own imprint yet.)

This is Gaiman's Sandman:
http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/w ... unters.jpg
(One form anyway. His character design changes a lot because in each culture that he visits, he appears in a different guise. This is his classic Oriental folktale design.)

Supposedly too they are going to make a TV series of it but I'll believe it when I see it. Also I would rather it be made for one of the main networks instead of HBO like the last rumours I heard said...

Ah, I thought so. Generally, anything under the Vertigo imprint I try to avoid. I looked into it when I was just getting into comics, but not only did I not care for the character, but the mature stuff definitely warded me off.
The Martian character you're talking about might be the Martian Manhunter, but I know they have that and another one called Manhunter so I'm not sure.

Yup, Martian Manhunter sounds right. It was just a one or two page cameo. Like I said, the Vertigo imprint didn't exist yet and they were working out in the first volume whether or not Sandman belonged in that part of the DC Universe. (In the last volume, however, Batman has a one or two panel cameo... )

In my opinion the mature content in this is not gratuitous and is used to drive the theme. Can't say as far as Vertigo's other comics as I haven't read anything else. (I mean to try Locke & Key though)

I apologize for the long delay in replying back. I've been busy lately and my spare time has been next to nil.

I figured it was the Martian Manhunter. I know almost all the characters by DC and Marvel comics, but I'm more a Marvel fan.

Locke and Key is one I've never heard of before.