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Like many people who work in the comic book retail industry who try and read beyond superhero comics and Silver Age sci-fi, Neil Gaiman's work was one of my go-to recommendations when someone came in looking for a safe entry point into comics. While there was always a Trigger Warning for some sexual assault content in Sandman, I would always mention that the sexual assault wasn't glorification or pornographic, it was a plot point where the victim was given agency and that the incident felt like a necessary part of the story, and not something the writer threw in to make a male character seem more heroic. I loved recommending Sandman, The Graveyard Book, 1602, Coraline, and Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader? to people. The books themselves are still wonderful, and I haven't thrown out my copies of them but I don't know that I'll read them again, and I certainly won't be buying any more of his work. I understand anyone's reticence to support a sexual predator. Sadly, that looks to be what Gaiman is. The unmasking of Gaiman is the most disappointed I've been in someone who was outed as a predator. He has always been supportive of shops I've worked at, writers and artists I've enjoyed, and he even plugged this website once or twice. His social media account was wholesome, progressive, and important for many years. All of my interactions with Gaiman were pleasant and uplifting. Of course, I'm not a twenty-year-old white woman. If you were a big fan of Gaiman's who is looking for similar stories to replace the Neil sized hole in your reading experience, or if you're someone new to comics, looking for some fun non-superhero comics to consume without the sexual predator baggage, here's my list.  Sandman is the series most comic book retailers will suggest as a starting point to non-superhero comics. Luckily, this is the easiest series to find alternatives for. Sandman is a myth-based fantasy series with a lot of religious trope-twisting and hugely-flawed characters trying-to-be, and getting, better by the end of the story. Dream, the protagonist of Sandman, mostly sucks. He's spent centuries being a power-hungry sad-sack-dick. The story is mostly his redemption amongst a community that's mostly apologized for his behavior, anyway. Talk about a self-insert. The most obvious replacement for this is Mike Carey's Lucifer, which is actually a spin-off of Sandman. During Sandman (which you do NOT have to read to follow any of this story), Lucifer renounced his position in Hell, left Dream in charge, and went off to start his own Creation. Lucifer is the story of the drama around that new creation. I have always recommended this as an addendum to Sandman. It's a better-written story. The narrative is more focused, the plot easier to follow, and the characters more likeable, even though they are just as flawed. It's currently available in five trade paperbacks, and I recommend the entire series. Mike Carey has also written an amazing series called Unwritten, which would be perfect for a list of fantastic magic books to read in place of either Neil Gaiman's Books Of Magic or JK Transphobe's Harry Potter books (which, if you can throw off your childhood-nostalgic glasses, aren't written very well, anyway). Unwritten follows a boy whose father wrote a series similar to the Harry Potter books, which he based on his son's likeness, and it's not long before the events of the children's books start spilling over into the protagonist's real life. I adore this series, and have reread it several times. Some people might suggest Bill Willingham's Fables as an alternative to Sandman. While Willingham is not a sexual predator to my knowledge, if you're trying to be progressive and support writers and artists without right wing baggage, you're going to want to skip out on any of his work, too. Fables is a series of diminishing returns anyway, so you're not missing much.  Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie's Wicked + Divine is another fantastic series based around mythology that you can feel good about reading. It focuses on a pantheon of gods who are reborn every ninety years, and their 21st century versions are revered as pop stars. Flawed characters? Check. Religious themes? Check. Violent conflict? Check. Are the flawed characters likeable? Mostly. Is the art amazing? Hell YES. Visually, this is a much more striking book than anything I've listed so far. Written or drawn by irredeemable kaiju? Not that I've heard. The best part of this recommendation for me is that if someone loves Wicked + Divine, it's really easy to recommend the creative team's work on Young Avengers, which is a superhero book with a similar feel. And if you love that, too, I can tentatively recommend Phonogram, which was also written by the creative team but isn't as polished as the other books. But if you like British Pop, British Rock, or are just fans of writers who infuse their comics with music, then Boy Howdy is this series going to bring you joy.  I think most comic book retail employees engaged with reading recent and/or current non-superhero comics will recommend Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda's Monstress. It's a matriarchal fantasy story with some of the most gorgeous art in comic history. Takeda is about one or two series away from being my all-time favorite artist. She has backgrounds that are more complex and beautiful than most peoples' covers. That said, I have a hard time staying engaged with Monstress. I like the characters, I love the concept but the story gets a bit jumbled for me, and apart from the first couple of volumes, I couldn't tell you the overarching plot of the series, even though I've read the first six or seven volumes several times. Luckily, the same creative team also puts out Night Eaters. While the first volume has the dumbest subtitle in all of literature: She Eats The Night, the story is awesome. Mythology, generational trauma, and Sana Takeda's art make this one my favorite series from the last couple of years to recommend to people.  I refuse to spoil anything about this book. Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá is my #1 reality-grounded fantasy book recommendation. I think everyone who wants to read comics but not engage with superhero comics should read this book with no preconceptions. It's just one volume, and I have yet to have someone I've recommended the book to come back and tell me they didn't love it.  Though more like Gaiman's American Gods than Sandman, Jonathan Hickman's East Of West is a mythology-based, post-apocalyptic fable about an America split into seven parts after a Civil War. Some of it hits close to reality but most of it is just excellent world-building on top of a fallen empire.
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January 2025
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