Book review
Written by Hank Wagner, Christopher Golden & Stephen R. Bissette
St. Martin's Press paperback
Release date 28 October 2008

A chronicle of 20 years of Neil Gaiman's comic books, novels, films and more. Featuring exclusive interviews and a foreword by Good Omens co-writer Terry Pratchett, Prince of Stories is a must-have volume for any Gaiman fan…

As any comic fan worth his or her salt will know, Neil Gaiman is huge, titanic, a colossus in the field. The Sandman series helped kick-start the graphic novel revolution and bring a veneer of respectability to the artform.

However Prince of Stories goes so much further than that. The authors dig up amusing anecdotes about the author, and there are interviews with both the man himself and such collaborators as Charles Vess, regular cover artist Dave McKean and Fables artist Mark Buckingham, who also drew the two Death mini series.

The tome goes on to lend an insight into the murky legal wrangling of the comic world, by way of the Miracleman and Spawn copyright issues. There is also a great dissection of the individual works, from graphic novels to even the odd episode of Babylon 5, and everything in between.

It’s an informative book, filled with warm humour and amusing quotes from the man himself, and only occasionally lurches into sycophantic territory. Den Patrick

VERDICT: 8/10
An impressive and heartily researched tome on one of pop culture’s giants. A must for fans of the author in any of his mediums.