Thanks to the holidays it’s a super-slow news week and I’m jetlagged after coming home on a red-eye flight this morning after a week of binge-eating in Arizona with my family and the cats are going crazy and the mail is piled up and whaaaaa… OMG, what is this heavy package that arrived from the offices of DC Comics?

It’s an advanced copy of The Annotated Sandman Volume One!!!

(That’s it, my beautiful copy, in the photo above – w00t!)

Neil Gaiman‘s Sandman, which is published through DC’s Vertigo imprint, is my favorite comic book series of ALL time. I have the original graphic novels, the reissued graphic novels, the remastered/recolored editions, and some of the Absolute Editions. And now this, the Annotated Edition.

So, will I read it again? Umm, YES! I’m what you would call an Annotated Edition junkie.

In October 2010, I wrote about the plans for an Annotated Sandman from Leslie Klinger, who worked on The Annotated Sherlock Holmes and The Annotated Dracula. This first volume will be the first of four from Klinger.

This 560-page annotated hardcover edition is available for pre-order right now through Amazon, which release it on January 10, 2012. The price at Amazon is currently set at $29.65 (suggested retail price is $49.99). DC has the release date as January 4, 2012, so you’ll probably be able to get it at your local comic shop starting that day.

From DC’s product page:

Written by Neil Gaiman
Art by SAM KIETH, MIKE DRINGENBERG, MICHAEL ZULLI, KELLEY JONES, CHARLES VESS and COLLEEN DORAN and others
Cover by DAVE McKEAN

In-depth, informative and entertaining, THE ANNOTATED SANDMAN is a fascinating look at the New York Times best-selling series by Neil Gaiman.

Edited by and with an introduction and notes by Leslie S. Klinger, the expert researcher and editor behind the Edgar®-winning New Annotated Sherlock Holmes and the critically acclaimed New Annotated Dracula, THE ANNOTATED SANDMAN is a panel-by-panel journey through every issue of THE SANDMAN. Beginning with issues #1-#20, this volume provides commentary, historical and contemporary references, hidden meanings and more, presented side-by-side with the series’ art and text. Using scripts and hours of conversation with Gaiman, Klinger reveals fascinating details of THE SANDMAN’s hundreds of unforgettable characters and its place in literary history.

The first of an incredible four volume series, the ANNOTATED SANDMAN Vol. 1 is a must-have for every Sandman fan!