Death: The High Cost of Living
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| Death: The High Cost of Living | |
 Cover of Death: The High Cost of Living TPB. Art by Dave McKean |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Vertigo Comics |
| Format | Limited series |
| Publication date | March, 1993 - May, 1993 |
| Number of issues | 3 |
| Main character(s) | Death of the Endless |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Neil Gaiman |
| Penciller(s) | Chris Bachalo |
| Inker(s) | Mark Buckingham |
| Letterer(s) | Todd Klein |
| Colorist(s) | Steve Oliff |
| Creator(s) | Neil Gaiman Mike Dringenberg |
| Editor(s) | Karen Berger Lisa Aufenanger |
| Collected editions | |
| HC (Nov 1993) | ISBN 1563891328 |
| TPB (Jun 1994) | ISBN 1563891336 |
Death: The High Cost of Living is an American comic book miniseries, written by Neil Gaiman with art by Chris Bachalo and Mark Buckingham. It is a spin-off from Gaiman's best-selling Vertigo Comics series The Sandman, featuring the Sandman (Dream)'s elder sister, Death of the Endless in a self-contained story based around the fable that Death takes human form once a century, to remain grounded and in touch with humanity,[1] an idea touched upon in several other media, for example in the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday and in the Terry Pratchett novel Reaper Man.
A movie based on this series is currently in the works with New Line Cinema. Gaiman has confirmed that this movie is in progress and that he is planning on writing the script and directing it, with Guillermo del Toro as executive producer. The film is currently operating under the title Death and Me.
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[edit] Publication history
Death: The High Cost of Living was originally published as a three-issue comic book miniseries, published monthly by Vertigo, DC Comics' mature readers imprint and cover-dated March to May 1993. It was the first stand-alone mini-series derived from the then-on-going Sandman series by Gaiman, and was written by him with artwork by Bachalo and Buckingham and covers by regular Sandman cover artist Dave McKean. The High Cost of Living was one of the first new titles published under the newly-created Vertigo imprint, alongside Peter Milligan's Enigma, and is also notable for being one of the very few Vertigo comics to feature an alternate cover, as #1 did.[2] Vertigo's other output in its debut month consisted of a half-dozen continuing DC series, newly moved to the mature imprint. These continuing series' included Hellblazer and Gaiman's own The Sandman.[3]
[edit] Collected editions
The High Cost of Living became one of Vertigo's earliest hardcover collected editions when it was published as such in November, 1993. The collection was prefaced with a foreword written by Gaiman-fan and collaborator, singer Tori Amos, as well as the hard-to-find public service announcement AIDS-awareness 8-page comic Death Talks about Life.[4] This short comic was written by Gaiman and drawn by Dave McKean, and featured basic safe sex information about the transmission of HIV and AIDS. Included in issues of Sandman, Shade, the Changing Man and Hellblazer, it featured Death discussing life and demonstrating how to wear a condom through the use of a prop banana, and a cameo from Hellblazer protagonist John Constantine.[1]
The hardcover collection was reprinted as a trade paperback in June 1994 under a new McKean cover, with identical content.
[edit] Awards
The mini-series shared the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Limited Comic-Book Series for 1993 with Frank Miller's Daredevil: The Man Without Fear.
[edit] Plot
The main character is a teenage girl named Didi, who appears to be an eccentric, orphaned goth, but who also insists that she is Death personified, taking her one day every hundred year sabbatical as a living person. She guides a suicidal young male protagonist called Sexton on a journey of self discovery. As the story goes on, Sexton gains a reason for not wishing to die, his love for the girl claiming to be Death.
Gaiman's take, as he started in issue 8 of The Sandman, is a young, attractive, perky Death in this fresh interpretation of the concept. For it was said in Sandman 19: 'One day in every century, Death walks the Earth to better understand those to whom she will be the final visitor.' Didi manages to eat from street vendors, run into a number of people including a megalomaniac known only as "The Eremite" (not overtly stated, but implied to be an alternate future version of Mister E, after his return from the end of time at Death's hands in The Books of Magic volume 1), and a British woman named Mad Hettie who is looking for her heart.[1] In the end, her brief life ends as everyone else's does.
The simple concept of the story is that Death itself is the "high cost" of living. This is why Death must become human and in the end die to actually experience the joys and pleasure of life. Because without death, life would have no meaning.
[edit] Film adaptation
| Death and Me | |
| Directed by | Neil Gaiman |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Guillermo del Toro |
| Written by | Neil Gaiman |
| Starring | N/A |
| Distributed by | New Line |
| Release date(s) | TBA |
| Language | English |
Death and Me is a film in development based upon Death: The High Cost of Living. The concept is that, once every century, the embodiment of Death is incarnated as a mortal woman for a single day to experience what she takes from others. Gaiman wrote the screenplay himself, and will also be making his directorial debut. Guillermo del Toro will serve as executive producer. Gaiman spent several days on the set of del Toro's film Hellboy II: The Golden Army to get pointers on how to direct.[5]
Other than two additional scenes at the beginning (set in a Tibetan monastery and Alaska), and a move from New York City to London for the main setting, the screenplay is relatively unchanged from the comic script.[6]
After being in development hell for several years, work on it was renewed in 2007, but quickly derailed again due to the WGA strikes.[7] According to Gaiman, the studio "may still be New Line, but Warner Independent is keen on it too." Shia LaBeouf may have a role in the film, possibly as the lead character Sexton, due to his role in helping the movie come about.[8]
[edit] Other Sandman spin-offs
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Irvine, Alex (2008), "Death", in Dougall, Alastair, The Vertigo Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 54-56, ISBN 0-7566-4122-5, OCLC 213309015
- ^ The reatialer's premium Platinum cover, described on itself as a "Collector's Edition" ComicBookDb: Death: The High Cost of Living #1 Platinum Edition. Accessed May 7, 2008
- ^ Vertigo Comics Bibliography: Vertigo's First Month. Accessed May 7, 2008
- ^ Henry Mietkiewicz, "Death teaches sex-ed for the age of AIDS" in The Toronto Star, January 2, 1993. Accessed May 7, 2008
- ^ Del Toro Wants Gaiman On Death
- ^ Script Review: Death And Me By Neil Gaiman
- ^ Death: The High Cost of Striking
- ^ Neil Gaiman Looks Beyond ‘Stardust’ And Into ‘Death’
