June 25, 2012
neil-gaiman: bibberly: Advertisement for Sandman, 1990. This advert was the reason there are graphic novels today in such profusion. Well, more or less. Rolling Stone made Sandman their Hot Comic for 1990. Well, Mikal Gilmore chose it, and his interview with me went into the Rolling Stone Hot Issue. The Rolling Stone ad dept. called DC Comics and offered them a cheap ad page to go with it. DC had nothing to advertise. Bruce Bristow, their marketing manager, decided that they should do a collection of The Doll’s House.  They rushed it out - the book appeared about a week after Sandman 16 appeared on the stands. Meanwhile, I was going “but that’s not even the first storyline!”  Bruce thought the whole thing was a failure. Nobody ordered a copy through the ad in Rolling Stone. But Sandman:The Doll’s House went on to sell in the thousands and the hundreds of thousands. So they did a collection of the first book. And the third. And all the rest of them. And pretty soon, storylines of ongoing mainstream comics were coming out as collections in comic shops and then being sold in bookshops…  Thank you Rolling Stone ad dept., for changing history. Or at least, giving it a push.

neil-gaiman:

bibberly:

Advertisement for Sandman, 1990.

This advert was the reason there are graphic novels today in such profusion. Well, more or less.

Rolling Stone made Sandman their Hot Comic for 1990. Well, Mikal Gilmore chose it, and his interview with me went into the Rolling Stone Hot Issue. The Rolling Stone ad dept. called DC Comics and offered them a cheap ad page to go with it.

DC had nothing to advertise. Bruce Bristow, their marketing manager, decided that they should do a collection of The Doll’s House.  They rushed it out - the book appeared about a week after Sandman 16 appeared on the stands.

Meanwhile, I was going “but that’s not even the first storyline!” 

Bruce thought the whole thing was a failure. Nobody ordered a copy through the ad in Rolling Stone. But Sandman:The Doll’s House went on to sell in the thousands and the hundreds of thousands. So they did a collection of the first book. And the third. And all the rest of them. And pretty soon, storylines of ongoing mainstream comics were coming out as collections in comic shops and then being sold in bookshops… 

Thank you Rolling Stone ad dept., for changing history. Or at least, giving it a push.

4:11pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZvdmZyO6uFki
(Notes: 695)
  
Filed under: Sandman Rolling Stone Mikal Gilmore 
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    One of the best graphic novel series of all time
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    Fascinating piece of history and art.
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