Comic-Con News: Neil Gaiman appeared at the Vertigo panel via a 4-minute film clip in which he described a new Sandman miniseries that he is writing, and which Vertigo plans to release in 2013, the 25th anniversary of the publication of Gaiman’s first Sandman comic book.  The miniseries will be a prequel and it will explain how what happened to Morpheus before we met him in the first issue of Sandman.  "This was one of the few stories that I felt, that after I finished Sandman, I felt that I had failed because I had not told this story," Gaiman explained in the video.

 

The as-yet-untitled Sandman miniseries will be published day and date digtially and will be drawn by J.H. Williams.  Gaiman was enthused at the prospect of working with Williams telling the Comic-Con crowd, "I am incredibly excited that it is going to be drawn by J.H. Williams. I’ve been a fan of his since Promethea.  I love his Batwoman stuff, but on this you are going to see a side of J.H. that you have never seen before."

 

In other Gaiman-related news, according to The Guardian, the author has signed a contract with Harper Collins for five children’s books.  The first, which is due out in January is Chu’s Day, the story of a little panda with a big sneeze that will be illustrated by Adam Rex.  Gaiman’s contract includes a sequel to Chu’s Day along with Fortunately the Milk, a middle grades novel that Skottie Young (Oz) will illustrate, a sequel to Gaiman’s 2008 saga Odd and the Frost Giants, and an as-yet untitled project.