Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
From: [t--g] at [HQ.Ileaf.COM] (Thomas Galloway)
Subject: Neil Gaiman on Sandman pencillers and Karen Berger
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1993 04:55:42 GMT

Due to a conversation I had with Neil at WonderCon where this came up, I
knew there was another side to the reports of problems artists were/are
having with Karen Berger. So I forwarded the relevant parts of some posts
about same to him and asked if he either wanted to respond or wanted me
to post about what he'd said at the con. He replied with the following, which
I'd added one factual clarification to and noted same:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom,
 
I saw Dave Sim's reply to that letter in CEREBUS (and realised why he
apologised to me for it before I'd seen it). I will be replying.
 
For the record: Sam Kieth quit before Sandman 1 came out because he was
miserable. I'm not sure what he was miserable about -- I don't think, at the
time, it was the inking, and it wasn't the colouring (he was long gone by the
time we saw anything coloured.)
 
Mike Dringenberg was pretty happy on Sandman. He just didn't like -- and
wasn't able to -- cope with drawing a monthly book. He'd make strange "the dog
ate my homework" excuses, and drive Karen and Tom Peyer nuts.
 
Karen worked very hard to accomodate Mike. When he intially wanted a break
from monthly Sandman, we set up for him to paint Books of Magic 2. After 3
months, no-one had seen any artwork. Karen repeatedly asked Mike to let her
see all the pages he'd told her he'd done. She sent him a letter (he wouldn't
answer the phone) asking to see what he'd done or she'd have to fire him, and
he sent in, as I recall, 4 pages. We were forced to get Scott Hampton in --
Mike just wasn't doing it.
 
Then Mike got two last chances at Sandman, which he did more or less okay on,
but promptly drove everyone nuts over at Doom Patrol with his Doom Patrol
fill-in. It was three months late, and had to be sent back to him to redraw at
least twice ("Well, if The Chief was meant to be in a wheelchair it should
have said so in the script.").
 
His last SANDMAN was # 28. At that point we were going to work on Death: The
Hgh Cost of Living. There was a specific look that we were talking about for
the book, so Mike agreed to do a few sample pages to show people. He never
completed them.
 
Mike's main gripes with Sandman, while he was working on it, were with the
colourist, Robbie Busch.
 
He's currently working on a book for Epic. He's done about 20 pages in 2
years. During this time most of the money he's made has been Sandman
royalties. [tyg: he's getting royalties from things like the trade pbs, Death
watch, poster, t-shirt, etc.]

Michael Zulli did Sandman 13 after the Swamp Thing incident, because he liked
Swamp Thing. As I recall, his complaints were all with the colouring.  And
he'll be doing Sandman 54. He's also working on the WITCHING HOUR book with
editor Stuart Moore, which is nothing to do with me.
 
Kelley Jones and Charles Vess both want to do more Sandman work.
 
Colleen Doran and Karen Berger fell out over some Shade work, although I think
Colleen still wants to do another Sandman.
 
Stan Woch doesn't want to pencil currently. Bryan Talbot's been working on
Sandman here and there since Augustus. Shawn McManus has, as far as I know, no
complaints (Shawn was never very vocal).
 
Duncan Eagleson did a terrific job, although I believe he had a falling out
with Karen over a SHADE fill-in; John Watkiss is doing Sandman 52 as I write
this; Jill Thompson would kill to get back onto Sandman; and Craig Russell's
Sandman hasn't come out yet.
 
Anyway, that's artist-by-artist (or at least, penciller by penciller).
 
Feel free to quote this, or bits of it; I'll probably be tidying it up for
the Cerebus lettercol.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it is too dark
to read." --Groucho Marx
tyg   [t--g] at [hq.ileaf.com]