In the Sandman Companion (which I was taking a peek at), it says that Ramadan (included in the collection Fables and Reflections) is the highest selling issue in the series. Whoa.

Now generally it isn't on my top ten, but is that cool or what? My question: why? I figure that maybe it had an appeal in it's cover art (you never know) or because it isn't directly linked to the rest of the series.

I think it is because of P. Craig Russel's highly intricate artwork. I've only seen that kind of detail in tarot cards (The Robin Wood deck to be specific). He is by far my favourite Sandman artist.

quote:

Originally posted by Sandwitch:
I think it is because of P. Craig Russel's highly intricate artwork. I've only seen that kind of detail in tarot cards (The Robin Wood deck to be specific). He is by far my favourite Sandman artist.

I read up on him in The Sandman Companion, and I'll agree that the visuals were great. They were what kept me moving. I also really like the ending.

It was a big anniversary stand alone issue (issue 50), so people who had heard the buzz on Sandman could pick it up and I guess not all of them stuck around.
And DC gave it a significant advertising push.

Agreed. It was the 50th issue, double-sized, one-shot aspect that allowed people unfamiliar with the title to give it a test drive, so to speak. Remember that the print run is determined by the presale on the book, so it would have been announced three or four months ahead of time, and Diamond would have reported to DC that it had a higher than usual pre-order. If Sandman had lasted to issue 100, I'm sure it would have set the record.
Back issues were already rather pricey by then, so it was an economical intro as well.

Ramadan began two days ago. Just thought I'd mention it.

Interesting website where a guy lists his favorite Gaiman works.
http://www.jkrweb.com/gaiman/best.php
He's a big fan of the work of P. Craig Russell, and he says that you can sample all of the series' strenghts in this issue.