Neil Gaiman has helped to create a renaissance in graphic novels and comic books. Along with other British writers such as Alan Moore, and a host of American writer/illustrators, including Art Spiegelman and Daniel Clowes, Gaiman has, according to a contributor to St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost, and Gothic Writers, "brought a new relevance to the most traditional of American literary forms, the comic book . . . imbuing his work with mythical and Gothic overtones." Writing in Commonweal, Frank McConnell called Gaiman's "Sandman" comic series "the best piece of fiction being done these days." With that illustrated prose epic, Gaiman developed a strong and devoted following in both his native Great Britain and the United States; his graphic "Sandman" novels, fantasy-based novels such as Neverwhere and Stardust, and shorter fiction such as Smoke and Mirrors, are eagerly sought out everywhere from bookstores to independent comic shops, many of...