Rating: 
Summary: Well told story of Dream's eldest sister
Review:
Proving once again that the Graphic Novel is a practical medium for storytelling, Gaiman's talent for weaving a story shines through again.
The personification of Death walks the earth for one day each year to avoid detachment. Far from the classical Reaper image, we find her to be caring and quite fun. Gaiman presents a refreshing view of death and life, as seen through the eyes of someone not completely human. The story is at once amusing, interesting, and deeply meaningful. Like much of Gaiman's other works, we find ourselves wondering about the story in relation to our lives.
Definately suggested, and a definate must for anyone who liked Gaiman's Sandman story arc.
Rating:
Summary: TORI!!!
Review: ok. first things first, tori amos writes the introdution. if there are any tori fans that don't have this. they need it.
second, as with all of neil's collected works, dave mckean designs the whole thing.
third, its the ultimate trendy neil gaiman book.... which is, i suppose, a good thing.
but its worth the money. i personaly would search a little harder, and find a specialty shop to find the hardcover. but the softcover is worth owning also... especialy for the sparkly writting. :)
Rating:
Summary: Death takes a holiday....
Review: Death spends one day as a mortal each century, to understand what it means to be the barrier between life and everything else... Gaiman is masterful here as usual. "Didi" spends a day with Sexton, a youth who's considering suicide, and her enthusiasm for the world makes him realize that maybe life is worth living. But Gaiman's tale is not sappy, or overly moral - it's simply a reminder that the most important thing to do in your life is to stop and remember you're alive. As Sexton says, "It would be nice if Death was like Didi... someone funny, and friendly, and maybe a little crazy." In Gaiman's poignant work (perfectly rendered by Chris Bachalo), Death becomes something worth living for.
Rating:
Summary: its better than bad, its good
Review: Neil Gaiman manages to spin together an excellent web using his "death" character from his Sandman series. The hook: Death isn't a morbid spectre, but a perky and likeable goth chick. Every century, she gets the chance to spend one day on Earth, the better to explore humanity from the other side of the black veil. The story of how she spends her day is interesting and uplifting, casual and sort of realistic. The other main character, Sexton, is someone you can really sympathize with. This is really a quirky and interesting book, and aside from the wonderful story you can revel in Chris Bachalo's beautiful artwork, which blends beautifully with Neils words. Basically, this book is tons of fun and you can read again and again. Gaiman or comic fans should definately pick this up.
Rating: 
Summary: Not so bad, once you know her
Review: Death, that is. In fact, she's quite a nice young lady. Helps an old lady find something that matters to her, that kind of thing. Everyone likes her - for Death, it's always "on the house."
Unfortunately, this doesn't present Death at her best. As part of the Sandman world, she was a much more complex and active figure. I guess the other stories set my hopes unrealistically high. That's not surprising, since Gaiman set the bar so high that not even he can match his own standard all the time.
Taken by itself, this is a pleasant but undistinguished comic. As part of the Sandman mythos, however, it contributes only a little.
//wiredweird
Rating:
Summary: An 'early autumn' experience in high summer
Review: "There's this thing they have in French: l'esprit d'escalier. The spirit of the stairway. I don't think we have a word for it in English. It means, well, the clever things to say that you only think to yourself when you're on the way out. All the cool stuff you wish you'd said at the time. So I'm walking down the stairs, thinking..."
- Sexton Furnival, herein
The artists are Chris Bachalo, Mark Buckingham (see WORLD'S END), and Dave McKean.
What you get out of this depends on what you're looking for. If you want magical fantasy, Death is taking a day off, as she does once a century to experience both life and death. But one can never have a day off in peace, can one? Two quasi-mortals seek her out as part of their plans to avoid her in her more official capacity: Mad Hettie, who wants help finding her heart (having hidden it from Death in traditional fashion), and a blind magician. While Hettie isn't a magician as such, she hasn't reached her age without learning a thing or two, and makes a practice of interpreting signs and portents.
However, the main story is that of sixteen-year-old Sexton Furnival, who is bored with life and seeking death in her official capacity - and alone of the three seekers, fails to recognize her. The question is, will finding Death while she experiences life teach him anything?
This story puts me in mind of Robert Parker's novel EARLY AUTUMN, in which Spenser attempts to salvage someone Sexton's age with many of the same problems: parents who don't relate to him or each other, who haven't taught him the art of living.
"The Spirit of the Stairway" Sexton's mother sends Sexton out of the apartment during her July 'spring cleaning' - and while brooding at the garbage dump, Sexton takes a nasty fall, only to be rescued by Death. Or rather, by a mortal named Didi, who for this one day is *not* Death. Didi even has a mortal past, specially for the occasion.
She enjoys all the little things that one of the Endless doesn't often experience, since they don't need to: breathing; the taste and texture of food. She's honest with Sexton about her true identity, but he has neither the innocence nor maturity to take her seriously. He walks away with a rush of l'esprit d'escalier - only to be grabbed by Mad Hettie as a way to get Death's attention.
"A Night to Remember" The net result (after a bit of discussion among the principals, who do not include Sexton himself) is that Sexton escorts Death for the rest of the evening - and everyone they meet finds her an instant good friend, saddled with a sourpuss boyfriend. :) Her philosophy is, "If you know someone really well, it's hard to be mad at them for very long...I know *everybody* really well."
The hostile seeker after Death makes *his* appearance in this episode - the Eremite, an eyeless magician who'll settle for Death's symbol if he cannot capture the lady herself. (These magicians never learn, do they?)
Foxglove and Hazel appear as supporting players, making it clear in passing that this is set some months after A GAME OF YOU but before DEATH: THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE.
"The High Cost of Living", like "A Night to Remember", begins by resolving a cliffhanger, and showing how all the quests of the seekers after death turn out.
"Death Talks About Life" A brief public-service speech from Death regarding sexually transmitted diseases, with John Constantine of HELLBLAZER making a brief appearance (he also appeared in PRELUDES AND NOCTURNES, Dream's quest for the endlessly renewed pouch of sand).
The "Introduction" and "A Brief History of Death" were both written by Tori Amos about her favourite character, and aren't part of the storyline.
Rating: 
Summary: Quality industrial-strength, sub-plots by the pound
Review: Neil Gaiman truly is the consummate storyteller able to weave first-class storylines and memorable characters seemingly at the drop of a hat. In this 3-chapter collection, Gaiman expands on his epochal Sandman universe by focusing on the Dreamlord's fetching younger sister - Death. Those who already follow the Sandman series are already familiar with this sassed-up, Goth personification of Death and will surely be remiss not to indulge in this graphic treat. Those completely new to the Sandman saga will still be able to dive straight into the story without missing a beat, enjoying the full brunt of Gaiman's genius. The strangest thing about this volume is a 6 page, Public Service Announcement of sorts found at the very end. In this PSA, Death gives a full blown lecture on safe-sex, AIDS, and even gives a demonstration of proper condom insertion utilizing a banana! A bit weird, no doubt and in the end very much dates this book as somewhat of a relic from the mid-90's.
Rating:
Summary: A perfect introduction and a great, great read
Review: It's been said so many times in so many different introductions and reviews, but it remains true: Neil Gaiman is the king of dreams. With deft and subtle touches his work lifts you out of ordinary life and into a world where Great Things Happen, imagination-sparking things. In Death: The High Cost Of Living there are no supreheros in spandex, no ultrapowerful weapons, just hi-fidelity characters that catch tantilizing glimpses of magic just beneath the surface; it is one fun and fulfilling comic, best read by those who haven't yet encountered the classic Sandman series (knowing more about the character of Death spoils some of the tasty ambiguity, in my opinion), and a perfect introduction to Neil Gaiman and Comix-as-literature in general.
Rating: 
Summary: Snooze fest
Review: I love a lot of Gaiman's stuff, but this is really bad. No action at all, almost no "magic", a completely unlikable supporting character, and supposedly touching ending. It's really short, and besides a witty line or two there's just nothing there. It's not like I have to have muscle popping heroes in leotards, to enjoy a graphic novel but this is just really good stuff to fall asleep to. Try anything by Alan Moore or Warren Ellis instead.
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