Posted in: Comics, Comics, DC Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: auction, dc comics, neil gaiman, original artwork, sandman

Original Art For Sandman House Ad, Signed, Up for Auction

Published Wed, 08 Sep 2021 06:58:12 -0500

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Wed, 08 Sep 2021 07:21:21 -0500

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When DC Comics launched Sandman by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg back in 1988, this house ad was ubiquitous in DC Comics titles a few months before, with the line "I will show you terror in a handful of dust". This was the first image anyone had of Sandman and it haunted a generation. And the original artwork is up for auction from Heritage Auctions and going under the hammer later today, signed by Gaiman and Dringenberg and currently with bids of $23,000. The logo and text replicating the printed version were added a little later. And it's part of a premium listing of original comic book artwork that's being live auctioned later today.

Original Art For Sandman House Ad, Signed, Up for Auction — Sandman by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg

And this is how it looked, printed, with the face flipped. Sandman is currently being filmed and produced as a TV series for Netflix, one wonders if advertising for that series may follow this now-classic image?

Mike Dringenberg Sandman House Ad Original Art signed by Neil Gaiman (DC, 1988). The first image the comic world saw of Morpheus was this house ad that appeared some two months before Sandman #1 hit the stands. This haunting house ad ran in Action Comics Weekly #628, and likely other places as well. The published ad looks slightly different as in production they flipped the character's head to face the other way so that he was looking at his hand. The logo and both text pieces are later replacements created by a previous owner of the art. The art was created in ink and marker over graphite with white paint highlights on DC Bristol board with an image area of 12" x 17.5". Signed by both the artist Mike Dringenberg and creator/writer Neil Gaiman in the lower portion of the image area. The board is lightly toned, with some faint creases running across the middle image area. In Very Good condition.