Pop Culture American Gods

The book club reading for July is Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (2001), so as usual, here are some pop culture links.

In Print

First, those who only know him from his novels may not realize this, but Neil Gaiman got his fame with this essentially pop culture medium, writing comic books, most notably The Sandman and the initial story arc of The Books of Magic.  There are several cross-references between American Gods and, in particular, The Sandman and its spin-offs, all pulished under DC’s Vertigo imprint.

The Sandman is excellent and remains strong for a long time.  If you ever want to sample it but don’t want to get tangled in a long story line, I recommend trying issue #50 (June 1993), which has a lovely standalone story.  If you like it, try buying the collected books from the start; if you don’t like it, this comic is probably not for you.

Gaiman also wrote the mini-series 1602 for Marvel Comics in 2003-2004, which ties well with American Gods.