Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives

Eisner-Nominated writer Ed Brubaker (Deadenders, Batman)
has announced he has found an artist for his upcoming Sandman Presents mini-series for Vertigo, The Dead Boy Detectives
and the Secret of Immortality – Luther Arkwright and
Sandman – World`s End creator Bryan Talbot.

According to Brubaker, Talbot will return to the world of
the Sandman and to the children`s book roots of One Bad Rat
with this new mini-series, Brubaker calls, “My homage to
the young adult fantasy books of my youth, John Bellairs
and Edward Gorey`s House with the Clock in its Walls, and
others in that series, which predate the Harry Potter
series by about 20 years.”

“The Dead Boys really appealed to me, because of that young adult aspect, and because of the mystery side of them,
obviously, so when [Vertigo editor] Shelly [Bond] asked me
if I had any ideas about them, I practically rushed to get
them onto the page.” said Brubaker.

And Brubaker couldn`t be more thrilled to have Talbot
onboard. “I have been a fan of Bryan`s for so long. It`s
amazing to get the chance to work with him, and something
never thought would happen. I tried as hard as possible to
woo him when I met him this year in San Diego, because I
knew how great it would be to get him on this project.”

According to the writer, the project will star the Dead Boy
Detectives, two characters that Neil Gaiman created in The
Sandman, and who also starred in The Children`s Crusade,
and concerns their exploits upon being hired by a lovely
young homeless girl to look into the bizarre deaths of her
friends.

“It`s a weird mix of horror and magic and humor, and it has a lot of themes in it that are central to me and my
thoughts about life. It`s a coming of age story about two
kids who never can.” said Brubaker. “I hadn`t planned on doing anything Sandman related, but this is just the right
project for me to try my hand at yet another genre, and
it`s fun to play with Neil`s toys.”

On Gaiman`s involvement, Brubaker noted, “Neil read the
initial proposal, and had some thoughts on it, which were
valid, and I incorporated some of his suggests into the
final proposal. It`s funny actually, because I was trying
to not tread on his territory too much, and he encouraged
me to go further into the Sandman field, instead. So,
expect to see a few other familiar faces in this book.”

Though the project is currently unscheduled, Brubaker has
begun work and Talbot will begin drawing soon, so it should
see the light of day sometime in the first half of 2001.