A year ago at San Diego Comic-Con, DC/Vertigo announced that Neil Gaiman would be returning to SANDMAN in a brand-new miniseries with J.H. Williams III doing the art. Shelly Bond, Executive Editor of Vertigo, revealed some new information.
THE SANDMAN: OVERTURE will contain an previously untold story in THE SANDMAN mythos. The first issue will be oversized and is on sale October 30, which makes it over ten years since Gaiman ended the series. The series will be bi-monthly and feature covers by Dave McKean. During the alternating bi-monthly months, Vertigo will release THE SANDMAN: OVERTURE Special Edition. These deluxe issues will contain Gaiman's original scripts, concept art and sketches by Williams as well as Q&As with the creative team. The first deluxe issue is on sale in November.
If you read the series, you should recall Morpheus was captured at the beginning. This story will explore his world before he was captured.
“This is the one story that we never got to tell,” Gaiman told The New York Times today. “In SANDMAN #1 Morpheus is captured somehow. Later on in the series, you learn he was returning from somewhere far, far away - but we never got to the story of what he was doing and what had happened. This is our chance to tell that story, and J.H. Williams III is drawing it. It’s the most beautiful thing in the world.”
More details and artwork will be revealed at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. The cover of this year's Comic-Con souvenir book will also feature new SANDMAN art by Dave McKean which will also be featured on an official convention t-shirt.
Update
J.H. Williams updated his blog with the proper colored version of the first issue.
