Yeah, I’ve started it and it’s very good, although I am dismayed that apparently Batman and Robin show up. I’m also not a comic book person. I don’t mind nudity or adult situations, but I think a elf with big boobs in a stilettos and a chainmail bikini is the oppostite of an adutl situation, it’s embarrassingly sophmoric. You can almost hear the fanboys fapping to it from their mom’s basement.
Nothing else is as good as “Sandman.” IMHO, it’s a masterpiece of the medium.
However, some of the Sandman Spinoffs are excellent in their own right. Check out Mike Carey’s “Petrefax” and Lucifer, in particular. For that matter, also see if you can find the lesser known Crossing Midnight, also by Carey.
If you like horror mixed in with your fantasy, you’ll probably love Joe Hill’s Locke and Key. My only complaint is that it sometimes takes forever between issues.
Seconded. Don’t let the Disney-esque character designs fool you. The tale has a depth of character and epic scope that can be jaw-dropping. Not to mention its wonderfully absurd sense of humour. Its prequel “Rose” is also very good.
Also, don’t forget Gaiman’s own “Death: The High Cost of Living” and “Death: The Time of Your Life”.
There’s a new ongoing “Dial H” series by China Mieville right now that is excellent. China has managed to take one of the cheesiest premises ever from silver age comics (someone finds a magic phone booth that turns the user into a different superhero whenever someone dials 4376, i.e., H-E-R-O, hence the original title “Dial H for Hero”) and transform it into an outstanding surreal fantasy. And the art is amazing. It’s from DC and you can get it digitally using the Comixology app.
I’ll strongly second these. Although his mercenary superhero work ( X-Men et al ) are nothing particularly special IMHO, when he is working on his “own” ( his or strong ones like Gaiman’s version of Lucifer )characters I like Carey’s style. I’d also add The Unwritten, however that one is still ongoing.
That is not the premise of Dial H for Hero. That was Mieville’s innovation. In the original, the dials were standalone items with lettered (not numbered) buttons, that the original owner found in a cave. The later series had the dials only having the letters H E R O, although originally, it had a full alphabet, allowing the dialing of M O N S T E R or V I L L A I N.
Well, how about that! Obviously I haven’t actually read the original series or its other previous incarnations. I’d like to blame my misinformation on a summary I read on Bleeding Cool or Newsarama or one of their ilk, but in all likelihood I just assumed that the least plausible elements of the new series must have been silver age in origin. Thanks for the correction!
I came here to recommend Sandman and I’m pleased to see you’re way ahead of me and enjoying it. Don’t forget the extra books after the main story (Endless Nights and The Dream Hunters), as well as the spin-offs that have already been mentioned.
Nothing is as good as Sandman, but I sure envy you getting to read it for the first time. I wish I could do that again. 
On a related note: When you’re done with Sandman, you should check out the full cast production audio book of American Gods. It is one of the finest pieces of fiction I’ve ever consumed. It draws on themes from Sandman and parts of it are narrated by Gaiman himself.
Also, this may be a silly question, but have you read Order of the Stick and Erfworld? Both are well written and ongoing, albeit updating painfully slowly.
I withdraw my suggestion of Order of the Stick, upon closer inspection of your OP (not “well drawn”).
Erfworld could be considered well drawn, but I vastly preferred the art in Book One, which was done by a different artist than Book Two.
Kamino Neko:
The original series was in the late 1960’s, and the dial was found in a cave by a boy named Robby Reed. The dials in the second series - Adventure Comics, early 1980’s, protagonists Chris King and Vicki Grant - were not the same dials (later revealed to have been created by Robby Reed). At the conclusion of the second series, all three dials were in use simultaneously (the third was given to a friend of Chris and Vicky).
I’m enjoying Dial H, though my favorite Dial series is still H-E-R-O by Wil Pfeifer. The first dozen or so issues were a brilliant character study of how ordinary people might act if handed the opportunity to dial up super-powers.
I’m going to say it. I liked Lucifer better than Sandman. He was a brilliant character.
Forgot to add that it’s available in book format. The added content in Volume I was worth paying for, in my opinion.
Thanks for clarifying - the clumping was a pretty much inevitable result of simplifying about 20 years into a single short paragraph. Heh.
Yeah, HERO was really good. I should dig it our and give it a reread.