As you may or may not be aware, the World Science Fiction Convention is taking place in Montreal this weekend. Neil Gaiman is one of the attendees and although I'm not there (due to destitution) a few of my friends are and have reported back on events so far.
Gaiman revealed that last year, to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of SANDMAN, he offered DC Comics a new six-issue mini-series set just before issue #1 of the main series. The story would explain what Dream was up to just before his imprisonment, something he'd promised to explain for years but never gotten round to.
DC were, of course, very excited. SANDMAN is one of the biggest-selling comic books in history, and over 10 million copies of the graphic novels have been sold to date. SANDMAN is an enormous commodity and Gaiman has been fairly reluctant to do anything more with the character and story since the main series ended in 1996. However, he'd promised his fans he'd tell this story one day and he thought the anniversary was a great opportunity to do it.
Everything seemed set, but when it came to negotiating the contract DC seemed puzzled. They already had a contract, the one Gaiman signed in 1988 when he was jobbing and poor almost-unknown author.
Gaiman and his agent were a bit bemused by this. The multi-million-novel selling, multi-award-winning, New York Times-bestseller-list-topping 2008 vintage Neil Gaiman was under the impression that he was worth a bit more these days. A new SANDMAN comic would be, without question, the biggest-selling comic of the year for DC (and probably the biggest-selling comic of the year full stop).
He wasn't asking for the moon on the stick, but he was certainly expecting a bit more than what he was making in 1988. But DC were adamant, and in the end the project didn't happen. Because DC didn't want to shell out a bit more money.
I could be wrong, but I believe this is the single most idiotic decision I've heard a company in the middle of a recession take so far. A new SANDMAN comic would be a licence to print money. The only thing that could be bigger is if Moore suddenly announced he was doing WATCHMEN II.
I've always been on the margins of comics, but this just goes to show that I do not understand it, nope, not one bit.
in the end the project didn't happen.
This is just so sad. :-(
(As for W. II, The Sequel That Shall Not Be, we don't even dare write or speak Its Name. I still wake up screaming in the middle of the night after having nightmares of its Hollywood premiere.)
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Nekomante
I could tell a tale or two regarding these kind of behaviors in the industry.
Gaiman is one of the few comic writers who has managed to "go mainstream" in a big way, so I'm pretty sure that DC simply have no idea how to handle such a beast.
In the end, some kind of a deal will get hammered out- it'll just take a while.
I could be wrong, but I believe this is the single most idiotic decision I've heard a company in the middle of a recession take so far. A new SANDMAN comic would be a licence to print money. The only thing that could be bigger is if Moore suddenly announced he was doing WATCHMEN II.
They should team up and do another 24 issues of Miracleman!
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I could tell a tale or two regarding these kind of behaviors in the industry.
I'm sure you could; I hope you get treated better than your predecessors, in the Maxwell days. Original artwork, in a skip?
It's interesting that one of the most level responses comes from an actual professional. This is bartering, pure and simple. You always start with your lowest offer, knowing it'll be raised during negotiations, so both sides feel they've won. An existing contract is the obvious place to start.
I do get the impression that Gaiman wanted to do it for the 20th anniversary, which is now past (maybe he'll revisit it for the 25th in 2013, though) and is now working on new projects.
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He wasn't asking for the moon on the stick, but he was certainly expecting a bit more than what he was making in 1988. But DC were adamant, and in the end the project didn't happen. Because DC didn't want to shell out a bit more money.
I'm a bit confused by this anecdote, since Gaiman just penned "Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader" for DC...was he asking for more for a new Sandman script than he got for Batman? Did DC think fresh Sandman wouldn't sell as well as a two-issue Batman story?
He wasn't asking for the moon on the stick, but he was certainly expecting a bit more than what he was making in 1988. But DC were adamant, and in the end the project didn't happen. Because DC didn't want to shell out a bit more money.I'm a bit confused by this anecdote, since Gaiman just penned "Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader" for DC...was he asking for more for a new Sandman script than he got for Batman? Did DC think fresh Sandman wouldn't sell as well as a two-issue Batman story?
As far as I can tell, nothing more happened because the only deal DC put on the table was his 1988 contract, he didn't think that was right and that was it. I suspect that if they'd offered him the same money as he got for the Batman thing, there wouldn't have been a problem.
Interesting anecdote. Does anyone have links to primary sources?
And I suspect I can read a tale in the completion here. The Storyteller is worth more than the fee he negotiated with The Tavern the last time he was in town. The Tavern thought that they had "a deal". This is the only Storyteller who rousted Unk and Ant Timmer out of their beds last visit; they brought all their kin. Everyone was happy then.
Glares were exchanged across tables. Both stepped back. One into the warm embrace of the sun. The other into the cool darkness of a removed room.
Onlookers were puzzled.
Sorry, I can only go from what he was saying to friends at Worldcon. He didn't seem angry or anything and it's not that he's never going to work with DC again (which would betray Gaiman's ethos of chilled-out coolness), he just seemed bemused by the situation but has shrugged it off and is now working on other projects.
As far as I can tell, nothing more happened because the only deal DC put on the table was his 1988 contract, he didn't think that was right and that was it. I suspect that if they'd offered him the same money as he got for the Batman thing, there wouldn't have been a problem.
Hopefully they at least adjusted the amount to account for inflation...