# A whole mess o' comix trade paperbacks and more... **URL:** \ **Category:** Marketplace\ **Created:** [March 13, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-whole-mess-o-comix-trade-paperbacks-and-more/574485 "2011-03-13T02:10:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-whole-mess-o-comix-trade-paperbacks-and-more/574485/1 "2011-03-13T02:10:36Z")
I need to get rid of this stuff. Help me, Dope! Let’s say everything is $5 apiece. Trade paperbacks: _V For Vendetta_, 1989. First Printing. Totally a “reading copy”. It has been well used. Though everything is there, and it’s in good shape, it has suffered some page yellowing and whiting around the edges. _Watchmen_, 1987. Fifth Printing. Another reading copy. _Hellboy: The Right Hand of Doom_, _Weird Tales Volume 1_ and _Volume 2_. Near mint. _Lucifer: Devil in the Gateway_. Near mint. _Sandman_, Vol. 1 (_Preludes and Nocturnes_), 2 (_The Doll’s House_), 7 (_Brief Lives_), and 10 (_The Wake_). Definitely reading copies. #1 says “Free Inside! CD-ROM with 400 pages from DC Comics’ best-selling books” on the cover. I do not have the CD-ROM (and don’t think I ever did). Hardcovers (by Neil Gaiman, except as noted): \*Sandman, The Kindly Ones. Sandman, World’s End. Sandman, Endless Nights. Sandman, Book of Dreams\* (stories, ed. by Gaiman and Ed Kramer) \*American Gods Smoke and Mirrors\* I’ve been meaning to Ebay this stuff for a long time. Please don’t make me do it! Would love to sell it in one huge lot. Let me know! ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-whole-mess-o-comix-trade-paperbacks-and-more/574485/2 "2011-03-13T03:43:18Z")
I’ve never read Sandman before, but I’d like to. Can I read those without any backstory, or without missing in-between parts of the story? And are they, as I hope, all graphic novels? $40 for 8 of them, right? ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-whole-mess-o-comix-trade-paperbacks-and-more/574485/3 "2011-03-13T04:27:40Z")
You can jump right into _Preludes and Nocturnes_. It’s the first in the series. _Doll’s House_ immediately follows it. After that, there’s a gap of several books in the overarching storyline. I pick it back up at _Brief Lives_, and have the rest of the books, up through _Endless Nights_. The first two are a great intro to the series, but you may want to locate the in-between books if you want to make sure you get the whole story (and it’s worth it!) All but _Sandman, Book of Dreams_ are graphic novels. So, let’s say $35 (unless you want the non-graphic novel as well)? ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-whole-mess-o-comix-trade-paperbacks-and-more/574485/4 "2011-03-13T14:58:57Z")
Brief Lives is maybe readable without having read the intervening material, but it’s really the climax of the series; you’d definitely not want to read The Wake without reading everything else first, as it’s the last volume and is all about revisiting the characters and events introduced earlier. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-whole-mess-o-comix-trade-paperbacks-and-more/574485/5 "2011-03-13T15:37:03Z")
Yeah, I think I did it that way to begin with because I had all the original comics up until Brief Lives, and then lost the thread of the story. IIRC, I was catching up. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-whole-mess-o-comix-trade-paperbacks-and-more/574485/6 "2011-03-13T19:01:00Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > All but _Sandman, Book of Dreams_ are graphic novels. So, let’s say $35 (unless you want the non-graphic novel as well)? Ok! Let’s do details over PM.