Happy Birthday Neil Gaiman!

Happy Birthday Neil Gaiman!  Neil started out as a journalist and one of his early graphic novels was Violent Cases with artist Dave McKean.  Then he wrote Don’t Panic: The Official Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion (1988) based on the Douglas Adams’ books.  His first work for DC Comics was the limited series, Black Orchid (1988-1989), with art by Dave McKean.  Afterwards, Neil was presented with his own spin on old comics character, The Sandman, it was a series that elevated comic books to literary heights. Sandman #8 (1989) introduced Morpheus’ sister, Death.  Sandman #19 (1990), “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, with art by Charles Vess, won the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction.  Then, he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett Good Omens (1990), it is going to be made into a Amazon Prime and BBC series in 2019.  He picked up writing Miracleman with artist Mark Buckingham when Alan Moore left the series with issue #17 (1990).  It abruptly ended with issue 24 (1993) when the publisher, Eclipse Comics, closed it’s doors. 

  

Next, Neil worked with Dave McKean on graphic novels; Signal to Noise (1992) and The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch (1994).  Then, Neil co-edited the anthology book, The Sandman: Book of Dreams.  He wrote for television with the BBC Two series Neverwhere (1996) with a novelization in the same year.  Neil wrote the fantasy limited series Stardust (1997) with art by Charles Vess.  He wrote the novel in 1999 and it was later turned to a film in 2007.  Neil wrote another novel, American Gods, in 2001.  This was also turned into a television series on Starz that started in 2017. In 2002, Neil wrote the novel, Coraline, it was made into a brilliant animated film in 2009. Neil wrote the screenplay for MirrorMask (2005) directed by Dave McKean.  He co-wrote the screenplay for the animated film, Beowulf (2007).  In 2011, Neil wrote the script for “The Doctor’s Wife” episode of Doctor Who.  Neil returned to the Dreaming with The Sandman: Overture (2013-2015), a limited series with art by J.H. Williams III.  Almost all of Neil Gaiman's works are being brought to film and television, but Sandman for some reason.  One of his current books is Norse Mythology which was published in 2017.  Happy Birthday Neil Gaiman!

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