The award-winning Sandman follows the return of Dream, the personification of hopes and dreams, to his domain after being trapped and held prisoner for 70 years and his quest to regain the powers he once possessed. It also follows his family, known as the Endless.

The concept of The Sandman emerged from Neil Gaiman's idea to revive Jack Kirby's 1970's Sandman series after his Black Orchid mini series at DC Editor Karen Berger suggested he keep the Sandman name but create the rest of the series entirely from scratch. Using ideas he had of a character that lived in dreams, Gaiman created the character of Morpheus, a literal take on the folklore concept of the Sandman and a personification of dreaming itself. With this, Gaiman revived several dormant DC horror and mystery characters and populated his world of The Dreaming with them. The series soon evolved beyond its DC Universe horror origins and became one of the most critically acclaimed fantasy comic series of all time, regularly outselling its superhero counterparts toward its end and introducing comics to whole new audiences outside of the comics mainstream. The collected editions have been reprinted numerous times and remain best sellers for DC/Vertigo.

The series was originally a DC book, but was one of the original titles moved onto the new Vertigo label with issue #47. Gaiman ended the series at 75 issues, but the run also included The Sandman Special (1991).

Pencillers

• Sam Kieth #1-5, 20 (TOT 6)
• Mike Dringenberg #6-11, 14-16, 21, 28 (TOT 11)
• Chris Bachalo #12
• Michael Zulli #13, 53, 70-73 (TOT 6)
• Kelly Jones #17, 18, 22-24, 26, 27 (TOT 7)
• Charles Vess #19, 62, 75
• Matt Wagner #25
• Stan Woch #29
• Bryan Talbot #30, 36, 51-56 (TOT 8)
• Shawn McManus#31-33, 35-37 (TOT 6)
• Colleen Doran #34
• Duncan Eagleson #38
• John Watkiss #39, 52
• Jill Thompson #40-49 (TOT 9)
• P Craig Russell #50
• Alec Stevens #51
• Mike Allred #54
• Shea Anton Pensa #55
• Gary Amaro #56
• Marc Hempel#57-61, 63, 65-69 (TOT 11)
• Glyn Dillon #62
• Teddy Kristiansen #64
• Jon J Muth #74

Spin-Offs

The series proved so popular that numerous spin-off titles were written, both by Gaiman and those that emerged after Gaiman's initial series ended. They include:

• The Dead Boy Detectives (Original Graphic Novel)
• Dead Boy Detectives (Ongoing Series)
• Death: The Time of Your Life (Mini-Series)
• Death: The High Cost of Living (Mini-Series)
• Death: At Death's Door (Original Graphic Novel)
• Delirium's Party: A Little Endless Storybook (Original Graphic Novel)
• Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold (Mini-Series)
• The Dreaming (Ongoing Series)
• The Girl Who Would Be Death (Mini-Series)
• The Dreaming Special (One Shot)
• God Save the Queen (Original Graphic Novel)
• House of Mystery (Ongoing Series)
• Mythos: The Final Tour (mini-series)
• House of Mystery Halloween Annual (Annual)
• Little Endless Storybook (Original Graphic Novel)
• Lucifer (Ongoing Series)
• Sandman: Book of Dreams (Prose Anthology)
• Sandman Midnight Theater (One-Shot )
• The Sandman Presents: WitchCraft (Mini-Series)
  • Bast (Mini-Series)
  • The Corinthian: Death in Venice (Mini-Series)
  • The Dead Boy Detectives (Mini-Series)
  • Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Dreams but Were Afraid to Ask (One-Shot)
  • The Furies (Original Graphic Novel)
  • Lucifer (Mini-Series)
  • Love Street (Mini-Series)
  • Merv Pumpkinhead, Agent of DREAM (One-Shot)
  • Petrefax (Mini-Series)
  • The Thessaliad (Mini-Series)
  • Thessaly: Witch for Hire (Mini-Series)
• WitchCraft: La Terreur (Mini-Series)

*ongoing series are in bold

Trade Paperbacks/Hardcovers

The entirety of the Sandman series collected, albeit out of chronological order, in both soft and hardcover formats. The most recent printings have had their interior art recolored. (This recoloring originally premiered in the Absolute Editions years earlier and was approved by Gaiman.)

Trade paperbacks

• The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes (#1-8)
• DC Through the 80's: The Experiments (#8)
• The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House (#9-16)
• The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country (#17-20)
• The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists (#21-28)
• The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You (#32-37)
• The Sandman Vol. 6: Fables & Reflections (#29-31, 38-40, 50, Sandman Special #1, and "Fear of Falling" from Vertigo Preview #1)
• The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives (#41-49)
• The Sandman Vol. 8: World's End (#51-56)
• The Sandman Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones (#57-69 and "The Castle" from Vertigo Jam #1)
• The Sandman Vol. 10: The Wake (#70-75)
• The Sandman Vol. 11 Endless Nights (OGN)
• The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (Illustrated Novella)
• The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (The Sandman Dream Hunters #1-4)
• The Sandman: Overture (The Sandman: Overture #1-6)

Deluxe editions

• The Sandman Deluxe Edition Book One (#1-16)
• The Sandman Deluxe Edition Book Two (#17-31)
• The Sandman Deluxe Edition Book Three (#32-50)
• The Sandman Deluxe Edition Book Four (#51-69)
• The Sandman Deluxe Edition Book Five (#70-75, Endless Nights, The Dream Hunters (Illustrated Novella), and The Dream Hunters #1-4)

30th Anniversary Trade Paperbacks

• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes (#1-8)
• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition Vol. 2: The Doll's House (#9-16)
• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition Vol. 3: Dream Country (#17-20)
• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition Vol. 4: Season of Mists (#21-28)
• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition Vol. 5: A Game of You (#32-37)
• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition Vol. 6: Fables & Reflections (#29-31 & 38-50, Sandman Special #1, and "Fear of Falling" from Vertigo Preview #1)
• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition Vol. 7: Brief Lives (#41-49)
• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition Vol. 8: World's End (#51-56)
• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition Vol. 9: Kindly Ones (#57-69 and "The Castle" from Vertigo Jam #1)
• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition Vol. 10: The Wake (#70-75)
• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition Vol. 11: Endless Nights
• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition: The Dream Hunters (Illustrated Novella)
• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition: The Dream Hunters (The Sandman: Dream Hunters #1-4 Mini-Series)
• The Sandman 30th Anniversary Edition Vol. ∞: (The Sandman: Overture #1-6)

Absolute Editions

Oversized hardcover re-releases that re-colored and collected the entire series chronologically for the first time. Comes packaged in a special slipcase.

• Absolute Sandman Vol. 1 (#1-20)
• Absolute Sandman Vol. 2 (#21-39)
• Absolute Sandman Vol. 3 (#40-56, Sandman Special #1 and "Fear of Falling" from Vertigo Preview #1)
• Absolute Sandman Vol. 4 (#57-75 and "The Castle" from Vertigo Jam #1)
• Absolute Sandman Vol. 5 (The Sandman: Endless Nights, The Sandman: Dream Hunters (Illustrated Novella), The Sandman: Dream Hunters (Mini-Series), Sandman Midnight Theatre)
• Absolute Sandman Overture (The Sandman: Overture #1-6)
• Absolute Death (Death: The High Cost of Living #1-3, Death: The Time of Your Life #1-3, The Sandman #8, The Sandman #20, "A Winter's Tale" from Vertigo: Winter's Edge #2, "The Wheel" from the 9-11 tribute book and more)

Annotated Editions

The original series collected and accompanied by page-by-page annotations by Leslie S. Klinger.

• The Annotated Sandman Vol. 1 (#1-20)
• The Annotated Sandman Vol. 2 (#21-39)
• The Annotated Sandman Vol. 3 (#40-56, The Sandman Special #1 and "How They Met Themselves" from Vertigo: Winter's Edge #3)
• The Annotated Sandman Vol. 4 (#57-75)

Omnibuses

Massive oversized collections of the original series.

• The Sandman Omnibus Vol. 1 (#1-37 and The Sandman Special #1)
• The Sandman Omnibus Vol. 2 (#38-75 and stories from Vertigo Jam #1 and Vertigo: Winter's Edge #3)
• The Sandman Omnibus Vol. 3 (The Sandman: Overture #1-6, The Sandman: Dream Hunters #1-4, Death: The High Cost of Living #1-3 and Death: The Time of Your Life #1-3, plus variant covers and extra bonus stories)