Neil Gaiman

Neil Richard GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. {{cite web|website= Lexington Minuteman|date= 14 January 2011|title=Wedding: Palmer — Gaiman|url=http://www.wickedlocal.com/lexington/newsnow/x1799249805/Wedding-Palmer-Gaiman|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131012070003/http://www.wickedlocal.com/lexington/newsnow/x1799249805/Wedding-Palmer-Gaiman|archive-date=12 October 2013|url-status= live}} was born on 10 November 1960{{cite web|last=Miller|first=John Jackson|url=http://cbgxtra.com/knowledge-base/for-your-reference/comics-industry-birthdays|title=Comics Industry Birthdays|work=Comics Buyer's Guide|date=10 June 2005|publisher=Krause Publications|location=Stevens Point, Wisconsin|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218031356/http://cbgxtra.com/knowledge-base/for-your-reference/comics-industry-birthdays|archive-date=18 February 2011|url-status=dead}} in Portchester, Hampshire. Gaiman's family is of Polish-Jewish and other Ashkenazi origins.{{cite book|last1=Wagner|first1=Hank|last2=Golden|first2=Christopher|author-link2=Christopher Golden|last3=Bissette|first3=Stephen R.|author-link3=Stephen R. Bissette|title=Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman|year=2008|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-312-38765-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/princeofstoriesm0000wagn/page/447 447–449]|chapter=The Interview|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/princeofstoriesm0000wagn/page/447}} His great-grandfather emigrated to England from Antwerp before 1914{{cite web|url= http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/01/journeys-end.html|title= Journeys End|first= Neil|last= Gaiman|date= 16 January 2009|publisher= Neil Gaiman's Journal|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120311025117/http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/01/journeys-end.html|archive-date= 11 March 2012|url-status= dead|access-date= 16 January 2009|quote= My paternal great-grandfather came to the UK before 1914; and he would have come from Antwerp.}} and his grandfather settled in Portsmouth and established a chain of grocery stores, changing the family name from Chaiman to Gaiman.{{cite journal|first=Andrew|last=Wearring|title=Changing, Out-of-Work, Dead, and Reborn Gods in the Fiction of Neil Gaiman|journal=Literature & Aesthetics|volume=19|issue=2|date=December 2009|page=236}} His father, David Bernard Gaiman, worked in the same chain of stores;{{cite news|last = Lancaster|first = James|title = Everyone has the potential to be great| pages = 10–11|newspaper = The Argus|date = 11 October 2005|quote= David Gaiman quote: "It's not me you should be interviewing. It's my son. Neil Gaiman. He's in the New York Times Bestsellers list. Fantasy. He's flavour of the month, very famous}} his mother, Sheila Gaiman (née Goldman), was a pharmacist. Neil has two younger sisters, Claire and Lizzy.{{cite web|url= http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008_12_01_archive.html|title= Trees|first= Neil|last= Gaiman|date= 20 December 2008|publisher= Neil Gaiman's Journal|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130929185556/http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008_12_01_archive.html|archive-date= 29 September 2013|url-status= dead|access-date= 26 July 2011}}

The Gaimans moved in 1965 to the West Sussex town of East Grinstead, where his parents studied Dianetics at the Scientology centre in the town; one of Gaiman's sisters works for the Church of Scientology in Los Angeles. His other sister, Lizzy Calcioli, has said, "Most of our social activities were involved with Scientology or our Jewish family. It would get very confusing when people would ask my religion as a kid. I'd say, 'I'm a Jewish Scientologist.{{' "}} Gaiman says that he is not a Scientologist, and that like Judaism, Scientology is his family's religion.{{Cite magazine |url= https://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/01/25/100125fa_fact_goodyear|title= Kid Goth Neil Gaiman's fantasies|magazine= The New Yorker|first= Dana|last= Goodyear|date= 25 January 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130427005709/http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/01/25/100125fa_fact_goodyear|archive-date= 27 April 2013|url-status= live}} About his personal views, Gaiman has stated, "I think we can say that God exists in the DC Universe. I would not stand up and beat the drum for the existence of God in this universe. I don't know, I think there's probably a 50/50 chance. It doesn't really matter to me."{{cite journal|last = Whitaker|first = Steve|author-link = Steve Whitaker|title = Neil Gaiman interview|journal = FA|issue = 109|pages = 24–29|date = January 1989}}

Gaiman was able to read at the age of four. He said, "I was a reader. I loved reading. Reading things gave me pleasure. I was very good at most subjects in school, not because I had any particular aptitude in them, but because normally on the first day of school, they'd hand out schoolbooks, and I'd read them—which would mean that I'd know what was coming up because I'd read it."{{cite book|editor-last= Abbey|editor-first= Cherie D. |title= Biography Today General Series|year= 2010|page= [https://archive.org/details/biographytodayge0000unse_h7i3/page/66 66]|publisher= Omnigraphics Inc.|isbn= 978-0-7808-1058-7|url= https://archive.org/details/biographytodayge0000unse_h7i3/page/66}} When he was about 10 years old, he read his way through the works of Dennis Wheatley; The Ka of Gifford Hillary and The Haunting of Toby Jugg made a special impact on him.{{cite web |url=http://bloomsburyreader.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/before-there-was-ian-fleming-there-was-dennis-wheatley/ |title=Before there was Ian Fleming, there was Dennis Wheatley |publisher=Bloomsburyreader.wordpress.com |date=10 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303173023/http://bloomsburyreader.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/before-there-was-ian-fleming-there-was-dennis-wheatley/ |archive-date=3 March 2014 |url-status=dead |access-date=12 June 2015 }}

Another work that made a particular impression was J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, which he got from his school library. Although they only had the first two of the novel's three volumes, Gaiman consistently checked them out and read them. He later won the school English prize and the school reading prize, enabling him to finally acquire the third volume. For his seventh birthday, Gaiman received C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. He later recalled that "I admired his use of parenthetical statements to the reader, where he would just talk to you ... I'd think, 'Oh, my gosh, that is so cool! I want to do that! When I become an author, I want to be able to do things in parentheses.' I liked the power of putting things in brackets." Narnia also introduced him to literary awards, specifically the Carnegie Medal, won by the concluding volume in 1956. When Gaiman won the 2010 Medal himself, he said "it had to be the most important literary award there ever was"

{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10404624.stm|title= Neil Gaiman wins children's book prize|date= 25 June 2010|access-date= 25 June 2010|work=BBC News|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130911115608/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10404624|archive-date= 11 September 2013|url-status= live}} and "if you can make yourself aged seven happy, you're really doing well – it's like writing a letter to yourself aged seven."

{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/24/neil-gaiman-carnegie-graveyard-book|title=Neil Gaiman wins Carnegie Medal|newspaper= The Guardian|date= 24 June 2010|access-date= 26 June 2010|first=Alison|last=Flood|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131026001809/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/24/neil-gaiman-carnegie-graveyard-book|archive-date=26 October 2013 |url-status= live}} Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was another childhood favourite, and "a favourite forever. Alice was default reading to the point where I knew it by heart." He also enjoyed Batman comics.

File:Ardingly College, Sussex.jpg in Ardingly, West Sussex]]

Gaiman was educated at several Church of England schools, including Fonthill School in East Grinstead, Ardingly College (1970–1974), and Whitgift School in Croydon (1974–1977).{{cite web|url=http://www.exclusivebooks.com/features/authors/ngaiman.php|title=Neil Gaiman|publisher=Exclusive Books|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204103401/http://www.exclusivebooks.com/features/authors/ngaiman.php|archive-date=4 December 2008|access-date=2 February 2012}} His father's position as a public relations official of the Church of Scientology was the cause of the seven-year-old Gaiman being forced to withdraw from Fonthill School and return to the school which he had previously attended.{{cite news|title=Head Bars Son of Cult Man|work=The Times|date=13 August 1968|page=2|url=http://cosmedia.freewinds.be/media/articles/tim130868.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029211637/http://cosmedia.freewinds.be/media/articles/tim130868.html|archive-date=29 October 2013|url-status=dead|quote=A headmaster has refused the son of a scientologist entry to a preparatory school until, he says, the cult "clears its name". The boy, Neil Gaiman, aged 7, (...) Mr. David Gaiman, the father, aged 35, a former South Coast businessman, has become in recent weeks a prominent spokesman in Britain for scientology, which has its headquarters at East Grinstead.|access-date=7 May 2011}} He lived in East Grinstead for many years, from 1965 to 1980 and again from 1984 to 1987.{{cite web|url= http://www.egnet.co.uk/halloffame/neilgaiman.htm|title= East Grinstead Hall of Fame – Neil Gaiman|date= n.d.|publisher= East Grinstead Community Web Site|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130818123747/http://www.egnet.co.uk/halloffame/neilgaiman.htm|archive-date= 18 August 2013|url-status= dead|df= dmy-all}}

In the 1970s, he spent three years as an auditor for the Church of Scientology, an unusually high-ranking position given his age. He also sang in a punk rock band Ex Execs, formerly called Chaos.{{cite news |title=Punk is growing up, says singer Neil |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/east-grinstead-observer-punk-is-growing/152476974/ |newspaper=East Grinstead Observer |location=East Grinstead, West Sussex, England |date=April 26, 1978 |page=10 |access-date=}}

He met his first wife, Mary McGrath, while she was studying Scientology and living in a house in East Grinstead that was owned by his father. The couple were married in 1985 after having their first child.

Gaiman has mentioned several writers who have influenced his work, including Mary Shelley,Abbey p. 68{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/18/my-hero-mary-shelley-neil-gaiman |title=My hero : Mary Shelley by Neil Gaiman|journal=The Guardian|first= Neil|last= Gaiman|date= 18 October 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150606155237/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/18/my-hero-mary-shelley-neil-gaiman|archive-date= 6 June 2015|url-status= live}} Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, Dave Sim,{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/books/review/neil-gaiman-shares-his-reading-habits.html |title=Neil Gaiman: By the Book |work=The New York Times |date=3 May 2012 |access-date=20 July 2021 |url-access=subscription}}{{cite magazine|last=Gaiman |first=Neil |title=300 Good Reasons to Resent Dave Sim |magazine=Comics Buyer's Guide |date=7 August 1992 |location=Iola, Wisconsin|publisher=Krause Publications}} Alan Moore, Steve Ditko,{{Citation|last=Darren Wilshaw|title=In Search Of Steve Ditko (2007)|date=21 May 2017|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gwDnhMO8is| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/3gwDnhMO8is| archive-date=28 October 2021|access-date=19 August 2018}}{{cbignore}} Will Eisner,{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/07/neil-gaiman-will-eisner-comic-books|title=Neil Gaiman on Will Eisner: 'He thought comics were an artform – he was right'|last=Gaiman|first=Neil|date=7 March 2017|journal=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=19 August 2018}} Ursula K. Le Guin, Harlan Ellison, John Crowley, Lord Dunsany, G. K. Chesterton and Gene Wolfe.{{cite news | last=Gaiman| first=Neil| date=13 May 2011| title= My Hero: Gene Wolfe| work= The Guardian| url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/may/13/gene-wolfe-hero-neil-gaiman-sf}} A lifetime fan of the Monty Python comedy troupe, he owned a copy of Monty Python's Big Red Book as a teenager.{{cite news |title=Monty Python's greatest skits |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jun/22/monty-pythons-greatest-skits-best-sketches-o2-shows |access-date=25 August 2019 |newspaper=The Guardian}} During a trip to France when he was 13, Gaiman became fascinated with the visually fantastic world in the stories of Metal Hurlant, even though he could not understand the words.{{Cite book|last=Goldsmith|first=Jeffrey|title=Heavy Metal - Interview with Neil Gaiman|date=May 1998|pages=10–11}} When he was 19 or 20 years old, he contacted his favourite science fiction writer, R. A. Lafferty, requesting advice on becoming an author and including a Lafferty pastiche he had written. Lafferty sent Gaiman an encouraging and informative letter back, along with literary advice.{{cite web |url= http://thislandpress.com/11/05/2014/lafferty-lost-and-found/?page_num=3|title= Lafferty Lost and Found|first= Natasha|last= Ball|date= 11 May 2014|publisher= This Land Press|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150920174814/http://thislandpress.com/11/05/2014/lafferty-lost-and-found/?page_num=3|archive-date= 20 September 2015|url-status= live}}{{Cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/aug/13/ra-lafferty-secret-sci-fi-genius-poised-for-comeback|title= RA Lafferty – the secret sci-fi genius more than ready for a comeback|journal= The Guardian|first= David|last= Barnett|date= 13 August 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150617183441/http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/aug/13/ra-lafferty-secret-sci-fi-genius-poised-for-comeback|archive-date= 17 June 2015|url-status= live}}

Gaiman has named Roger Zelazny as the author who influenced him the most."Of Meetings and Partings" by Neil Gaiman, introduction to This Mortal Mountain: Volume 3 of The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, NESFA Press, edited by David G. Grubbs, Christopher S. Kovacs, and Ann Crimmins, 2009, page 12."[http://www.tor.com/2012/11/11/something-else-like-roger-zelazny/ Something Else Like ... Roger Zelazny]" by Jo Walton, Tor.com, 11 November 2012. Gaiman claims that other authors such as Samuel R. Delany and Angela Carter "furnished the inside of my mind and set me to writing". Gaiman takes inspiration from the folk tales tradition, citing Otta F Swire's book on the legends of the Isle of Skye as his inspiration for The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/14/books/neil-gaiman-follows-the-guiding-light-of-instinct.html|title=A Literary Expert on Driving in the Dark|work=The New York Times |date=13 June 2014 |access-date=20 November 2018|language=en|last1=Lee |first1=Felicia R. }}

In the early 1980s, Gaiman pursued journalism, conducting interviews and writing book reviews, as a means to learn about the world and to make connections that he hoped would later assist him in getting published. He wrote and reviewed extensively for the British Fantasy Society.{{cite web|url= http://www.neilgaimanbibliography.com/bookreviews.html|title= Works by Gaiman – Book Reviews|date= n.d.|work= NeilGaimanBibliography.com|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131017032546/http://neilgaimanbibliography.com/bookreviews.html|archive-date= 17 October 2013|url-status= dead|access-date= 26 October 2013}} His first professional short story publication was "Featherquest", a fantasy story, in Imagine magazine in May 1984.

File:23 Denmark St.jpg comic store at its original location of Number 23, Denmark Street, central London (pictured).]]

While waiting for a train at London's Victoria Station in 1984, Gaiman noticed a copy of Swamp Thing by Alan Moore, and read it. Moore's approach to comics had such an impact on Gaiman that he later wrote "that was the final straw, what was left of my resistance crumbled. I proceeded to make regular and frequent visits to London's Forbidden Planet shop to buy comics".

In 1984, he wrote his first book, a biography of the band Duran Duran, and co-edited Ghastly Beyond Belief, a book of quotations, with Kim Newman. Although Gaiman thought he had done a terrible job, the book's first edition sold out very quickly. When he went to relinquish his rights to the book, he discovered the publisher had gone bankrupt.{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LmfCGy_ZLg | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/7LmfCGy_ZLg| archive-date=28 October 2021|title=Authors at Google – Neil Gaiman interview |publisher=YouTube |date=3 October 2006 |access-date=26 July 2011}}{{cbignore}} After this, he was offered a job by Penthouse. He refused the offer.

He also wrote interviews and articles for many British magazines, including Knave. During this, he sometimes wrote under pseudonyms, including Gerry Musgrave, Richard Grey, and "a couple of house names".{{cite web|url= http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/01/rumour-control.html|title= Rumour control?|first= Neil|last= Gaiman|publisher= Neil Gaiman's Journal|date= 2 January 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120215045349/http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/01/rumour-control.html|archive-date= 15 February 2012|url-status= dead|access-date= 26 July 2011}} Gaiman has said he ended his journalism career in 1987 because British newspapers regularly publish untruths as fact.{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/neilhimself/statuses/8379971068 |title=Neil Gaiman – Journalism |work= Twitter.com |date=29 January 2010|access-date=26 July 2011}}{{cite web|last=Kanazawa |first=Satoshi |url= http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201001/british-newspapers-make-things|title=Psychology Today – British Newspapers Make Things Up |work=Psychologytoday.com|archive-url= https://archive.today/20130819193027/http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201001/british-newspapers-make-things|archive-date= 19 August 2013|url-status= live|date=24 January 2010|access-date=26 July 2011}}

In the late 1980s, he wrote Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion in what he calls a "classic English humour" style.{{cite web |url= http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue345/interview.html|title= Neil Gaiman hitchhikes through Douglas Adams' hilarious galaxy|first= Kathie|last= Huddleston|date= n.d.|publisher= Science Fiction Weekly|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080612042852/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue345/interview.html|archive-date= 12 June 2008|url-status= dead}}

Following this, he wrote the opening of what became his collaboration with Terry Pratchett on the comic novel Good Omens, about the impending apocalypse.{{cite web|first=Gwyneth |last=Williams |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2014/r4-good-omens |title=Radio 4 to make first-ever dramatisation of Good Omens – Media Centre |publisher=BBC |date=5 September 2014 |access-date=12 June 2015}}

File:Neil Gaiman and Tori Amos - Comic Connections.webm

{{See also|Neil Gaiman bibliography#Comics}}

After forming a friendship with Alan Moore, who taught him how to write comic scripts,{{cite book|last = Olsen|first = Steven P.|title = Neil Gaiman (Library of Graphic Novelists)|publisher = Rosen Publishing|year = 2005|location= New York, New York|pages = 16–18|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Jc9MaZrG3j8C&q=gaiman%20-%20moore%20-%20friendship&pg=PA18|isbn = 978-1404202856}}{{Citation |title=Neil Gaiman on the Secret History of 'The Sandman' & Killing a Bad Script by Leaking It Online | date=24 August 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWFDQRnSNOk |language=en |access-date=5 September 2022}} Gaiman started writing comic books and picked up Miracleman after Moore finished his run on the series. He continued his professional relationship with Moore by contributing quotations for the supplemental materials in the Watchmen comic book series.

Gaiman and artist Mark Buckingham collaborated on several issues of the series before its publisher, Eclipse Comics, collapsed, leaving the series unfinished. His first published comic strips were four short Future Shocks for 2000 AD in 1986–87. He wrote three graphic novels with his favourite collaborator and long-time friend Dave McKean: Violent Cases, Signal to Noise, and The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch. Impressed with his work, DC Comics hired him in February 1987,{{cite book|last = Bender|first = Hy|title = The Sandman Companion|publisher = DC Comics|year = 1999|pages = 20–22|isbn = 978-1563894657}} and he wrote the limited series Black Orchid.{{Cite book|last = Irvine|first = Alex|author-link = Alexander C. Irvine|contribution = Black Orchid|editor-last = Dougall|editor-first = Alastair|title = The Vertigo Encyclopedia|pages = 32–34|publisher = Dorling Kindersley|year = 2008|location= London, United Kingdom|isbn = 978-0-7566-4122-1|oclc = 213309015}}{{cite book|last1=Manning|first1= Matthew K.|last2=Dolan|first2=Hannah|chapter= 1980s|title = DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|year=2010|location= London, United Kingdom|isbn= 978-0-7566-6742-9|page= 235|quote = Neil Gaiman scripted the complex Black Orchid prestige format limited series in December [1988], re-envisioning the character with the help of artist Dave McKean.}} Karen Berger, who later became head of DC Comics's Vertigo, read Black Orchid and offered Gaiman a job: to re-write an old character, the Sandman, but to put his own spin on him.

The Sandman tells the tale of the ageless, anthropomorphic personification of Dream that is known by many names, including Morpheus. The series began in January 1989 and concluded in March 1996.Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 238: "In arguably one of the greatest achievements in serialized modern comic books, writer Neil Gaiman crafted the seventy-five-issue ongoing series The Sandman, introducing its readers to a complex world of horror and fantasy." The various artists who contributed to the series include Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, Shawn McManus, Marc Hempel, and Michael Zulli, with lettering by Todd Klein, colours by Daniel Vozzo, and covers by Dave McKean. The series became one of DC's top selling titles, eclipsing even Batman and Superman.{{Cite news |last=Hoad |first=Phil |date=21 October 2013 |title=Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean: how we made The Sandman |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/oct/22/how-we-made-sandman-gaiman?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131025183948/http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/oct/22/how-we-made-sandman-gaiman?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487 |archive-date=25 October 2013 |journal=The Guardian}} The 75 issues of the regular series, along with an illustrated prose text and a special containing seven short stories, have been collected into 12 volumes that remain in print.

In the eighth issue of The Sandman, Gaiman and artist Mike Dringenberg introduced Death, the older sister of Dream, who became as popular as the series' title character.Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 240: "Neil Gaiman, aided by penciller Mike Dringenberg, introduced the character Death to a fascinated readership...Death was an instant hit and arguably became more popular than the Sandman himself." The limited series Death: The High Cost of Living launched DC's Vertigo line in 1993.Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 262: "In March 1993, DC Comics debuted a three-issue limited series entitled Death: The High Cost of Living...Written by Neil Gaiman and drawn by future comics superstar Chris Bachalo, The High Cost of Living had one notable trait besides a brilliant story: its cover bore a new logo. With this debut, DC's provocative new mature-reader imprint, Vertigo, was born."

Comics historian Les Daniels called Gaiman's work "astonishing" and noted that The Sandman was "a mixture of fantasy, horror, and ironic humor such as comic books had never seen before".{{cite book |last=Daniels |first=Les |author-link=Les Daniels |title=DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes |publisher=Bulfinch Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0821220764 |location=New York, New York |page=206 |chapter=The Sandman's Coming: A New Approach to Making Myths}}{{Cite news |title=The Inevitable Post About Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman' |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2009/11/the_inevitable_post_about_neil.html# |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816193925/http://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2009/11/the_inevitable_post_about_neil.html |archive-date=16 August 2017 |access-date=16 August 2017 |work=NPR |language=en}} DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz observed that "The Sandman became the first extraordinary success as a series of graphic novel collections, reaching out and converting new readers to the medium, particularly young women on college campuses, and making Gaiman himself into an iconic cultural figure."{{cite book |last=Levitz |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Levitz |title=75 Years of DC Comics The Art of Modern Mythmaking |publisher=Taschen |year=2010 |isbn=9783836519816 |location=Cologne, Germany |page=567 |chapter=The Dark Age 1984–1998}}

Gaiman and Jamie Delano were to become co-writers of the Swamp Thing series following Rick Veitch. An editorial decision by DC to censor Veitch's final storyline caused both Gaiman and Delano to withdraw from the title.{{cite book|last1 = Duncan|first1 = Randy|last2 = Smith|first2 = Matthew J.|title = Icons of the American Comic Book: From Captain America to Wonder Woman, Volume 1|publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group|year = 2013|location= Santa Barbara, California|pages = 741–742|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2GNaoeiY51EC&q=Neil+Gaiman+Jamie+Delano+Swamp+Thing&pg=PA741|isbn = 978-0313399237|quote= DC's censorship of Veitch's Swamp Thing #88 (1989) had a lasting negative impact on the series...With Veitch's immediate departure, the team that had been groomed to follow Veitch (writers Neil Gaiman and Jamie Delano) also left the title in solidarity with Veitch.}}

Gaiman produced two stories for DC's Secret Origins series in 1989: a Poison Ivy{{cite book|last1= Manning|first1= Matthew K.|last2=Dougall|first2=Alastair|chapter= 1980s|title= Batman: A Visual History|publisher= Dorling Kindersley|year= 2014|location= London, United Kingdom|page= 183|isbn= 978-1465424563|quote= Secret Origins No. 36 Neil Gaiman gave readers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of Poison Ivy's mind.}} tale drawn by Mark Buckingham and a RiddlerManning "1980s" in Dougall (2014), p. 179: Secret Origins Special No. 1 "Gaiman wrote the Riddler's tale, with the help of artist Bernie Mireault." story illustrated by Bernie Mireault and Matt Wagner. A story that Gaiman originally wrote for Action Comics Weekly in 1989 was shelved due to editorial concerns but it was finally published in 2000 as Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame.{{cite journal|last= Martin|first= Brian|title= Where the Action is...Weekly|journal= Back Issue!|issue= 98|page= 77|date= August 2017}}

In 1990, Gaiman wrote The Books of Magic, a four-part mini-series that provided a tour of the mythological and magical parts of the DC Universe through a frame story about an English teenager who discovers that he is destined to be the world's greatest wizard.Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 247: "Neil Gaiman chronicled the adventures of magic pupil Timothy Hunter in this miniseries. each issue explored the realms of magic as portrayed by a different painter." The miniseries was popular, and sired an ongoing series written by John Ney Rieber.{{cite web|url=http://www.seriejournalen.dk/tegneserie_indhold.asp?ID=15 |title=Interview with John Ney Rieber |last=Andreasen |first=Henrik |publisher=Serie Journalen |date=1 December 1995 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620095158/http://www.seriejournalen.dk/tegneserie_indhold.asp?ID=15 |archive-date=20 June 2008 |url-status= dead}}

Gaiman's adaptation of Sweeney Todd, illustrated by Michael Zulli for Stephen R. Bissette's publication Taboo, was stopped when the anthology itself was discontinued.{{cite web|url= http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/06/05/get-your-free-neil-gaiman-and-michael-zulli-sweeney-todd-comic-here/|title= Get Your Free Neil Gaiman And Michael Zulli Sweeney Todd Comic Here|first= Rich|last= Johnston|date= 5 June 2012|publisher= Bleeding Cool|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120709084524/http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/06/05/get-your-free-neil-gaiman-and-michael-zulli-sweeney-todd-comic-here/|archive-date= 9 July 2012|url-status= live|access-date= 21 August 2013|df= dmy-all}}

In the mid-1990s, he also created a number of new characters and a setting that was to be featured in a title published by Tekno Comix. The concepts were then altered and split between three titles set in the same continuity: Lady Justice, Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man, and Teknophage,{{cite web |url=http://www.neilgaiman.info/Teknophage |title=Teknophage |work=Neilgaiman.info |date=23 July 2008 |access-date=26 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721230213/http://www.neilgaiman.info/Teknophage |archive-date=21 July 2011 |url-status=dead }} and tie-ins. Although Gaiman's name appeared prominently as the creator of the characters, he was not involved in writing any of the above-mentioned books.

Gaiman wrote a semi-autobiographical story about a boy's fascination with Michael Moorcock's anti-hero Elric of Melniboné for Ed Kramer's anthology Tales of the White Wolf. In 1996, Gaiman and Kramer co-edited The Sandman: Book of Dreams. Nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the original fiction anthology featured stories and contributions by Tori Amos, Clive Barker, Gene Wolfe, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Tad Williams, and others.

Asked why he likes comics more than other forms of storytelling, Gaiman said: {{Blockquote

|text=One of the joys of comics has always been the knowledge that it was, in many ways, untouched ground. It was virgin territory. When I was working on Sandman, I felt a lot of the time that I was actually picking up a machete and heading out into the jungle. I got to write in places and do things that nobody had ever done before. When I'm writing novels I'm painfully aware that I'm working in a medium that people have been writing absolutely jaw-droppingly brilliant things for, you know, three-four thousand years now. You know, you can go back. We have things like The Golden Ass. And you go, well, I don't know that I'm as good as that and that's two and a half thousand years old. But with comics I felt like – I can do stuff nobody has ever done. I can do stuff nobody has ever thought of. And I could and it was enormously fun.{{cite magazine|url= http://www.wildriverreview.com/4/worldvoices-neilgaiman.php|title= Myth, Magic and the Mind of Neil Gaiman|first= Tim E.|last= Ogline|date= 20 November 2007|magazine= Wild River Review|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120915045414/http://www.wildriverreview.com/4/worldvoices-neilgaiman.php|archive-date= 15 September 2012|url-status= dead|access-date= 21 November 2007}}}}

Gaiman wrote two series for Marvel Comics. Marvel 1602 was an eight-issue limited series published from November 2003 to June 2004 with art by Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove.{{cite book|last1 = Manning|first1 = Matthew K.|last2= Gilbert|first2= Laura|chapter= 2000s|title = Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History|publisher = Dorling Kindersley|year = 2008|location= London, United Kingdom|page = 317|isbn =978-0756641238|quote= Neil Gaiman...took his creative vision and penchant for times past to Marvel, crafting this eight-issue limited series alongside fan-favourite artist Andy Kubert. Digitally painted by Richard Isanove...this series took an alternative look at what the classic Marvel pantheon would be like if they had existed in the 17th century.}} The Eternals was a seven-issue limited series drawn by John Romita Jr., which was published from August 2006 to March 2007.{{cite web|url= http://www.comicbookresources.com/?id=7266&page=article|title= Following in the Footsteps: Romita Talks Eternals|first= Dave|last= Richards|date= 9 June 2006|website= Comic Book Resources|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131015104751/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?id=7266&page=article|archive-date= 15 October 2013|url-status= dead|access-date= 25 October 2013}}{{cite web|url= http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=11093|title= CCI XTRA: Spotlight on Neil Gaiman|first= Jim|last= MacQuarrie|date= 3 August 2007|website= Comic Book Resources|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121007033014/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=11093|archive-date= 7 October 2012|url-status= dead|access-date= 25 October 2013}}

In 2009, Gaiman wrote a two-part Batman story for DC Comics to follow Batman R.I.P. titled "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?"Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 337: "Writer Neil Gaiman and art legend Andy Kubert teamed up to present a touching imaginary tale of a wake for the dead Batman...A love song to the Dark Knight's long history...it went on to win SFX's Best Comic award in 2010." a play-off of the classic Superman story "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" by Alan Moore.{{cite web|url= http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17463|title= CCI: DC One Weekend Later – Gaiman on Batman|first= Hannibal|last= Tabu|date= 27 July 2008|website= Comic Book Resources|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131023185626/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17463|archive-date= 23 October 2013|url-status= dead|access-date= 4 August 2008}}{{cite news |url= http://www.newsarama.com/639-sdcc-08-more-on-gaiman-batman-with-dan-didio.html|title= SDCC '08 – More on Gaiman-Batman with Dan DiDio|first= Matt|last= Brady|date= 27 July 2008|work= Newsarama|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131025163034/http://www.newsarama.com/639-sdcc-08-more-on-gaiman-batman-with-dan-didio.html|archive-date= 25 October 2013|url-status= live}} He contributed a twelve-part Metamorpho serial drawn by Mike Allred for Wednesday Comics, a weekly newspaper-style series.Cowsill "2000s" in Dolan, p. 338: "The [series] contained fifteen continuous stories, including...'Metamorpho' scripted by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Michael Allred."{{cite web|first= Remy|last= Minnick|url= http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19775|title= Gaiman & Allred on Metamorpho|website= Comic Book Resources|date= 30 January 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131020235739/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19775|archive-date= 20 October 2013|url-status= dead|access-date= 31 January 2009}} Gaiman and Paul Cornell co-wrote Action Comics #894 (December 2010), which featured an appearance by Death.{{cite web |url= http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/09/23/neil-gaiman-co-wrote-action-comics-894/|title= Neil Gaiman Co-Wrote Action Comics #894?|first= Rich|last= Johnston|date= 23 September 2010|work= BleedingCool.com|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111019181629/http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/09/23/neil-gaiman-co-wrote-action-comics-894/|archive-date= 19 October 2011|url-status= live|access-date= 25 October 2013}} In October 2013, DC Comics released The Sandman: Overture with art by J. H. Williams III.{{cite web |url= http://www.digitalspy.com/comics/news/a393167/neil-gaiman-returns-to-the-sandman-comic-con-2012.html|title= Neil Gaiman returns to The Sandman – Comic Con 2012|first= Hugh|last= Armitage|date= 13 July 2012|work= Digital Spy|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130522015701/http://www.digitalspy.com/comics/news/a393167/neil-gaiman-returns-to-the-sandman-comic-con-2012.html|archive-date= 22 May 2013|url-status= live}}{{Cite magazine|url= https://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/07/neil-gaiman-sandman-overture/|title= 25 Years Later, Neil Gaiman's Sandman Returns With a Prequel|magazine= Wired|first= Laura|last= Hudson|date= 25 July 2013|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130901004735/http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/07/neil-gaiman-sandman-overture/|archive-date= 1 September 2013|url-status= live|df= dmy-all}} Gaiman's Angela character was introduced into the Marvel Universe in the last issue of the Age of Ultron miniseries in 2013.{{cite web|url= http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=44385|title= Gaiman Returns to Marvel, Brings Spawn's Angela|first= Steve|last= Sunu|date= 21 March 2013|website= Comic Book Resources|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130323192344/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=44385|archive-date= 23 March 2013|url-status= live|access-date= 23 March 2013|quote= Later this year, writer Neil Gaiman makes his return to Marvel Comics...Perhaps even more intriguing is the announcement that Gaiman plans to introduce Angela to the Marvel U.|df= dmy-all}}

Gaiman oversaw The Sandman Universe, a line of comic books published by Vertigo. The four series — House of Whispers, Lucifer, The Books of Magic, and The Dreaming — were written by new creative teams. The line launched on 8 August 2018.{{cite web|last=Bishop|first=Bryan|title=Neil Gaiman is turning The Sandman into an expanded comics universe|url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/1/17069162/the-sandman-universe-neil-gaiman-dc-comics-vertigo|website=The Verge|access-date=29 April 2018|date=1 March 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180302172636/https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/1/17069162/the-sandman-universe-neil-gaiman-dc-comics-vertigo|archive-date= 2 March 2018|url-status= live|df= dmy-all}}{{cite web|last=Polo|first=Susana|title=The Sandman Universe is Neil Gaiman's next comics project|url=https://www.polygon.com/comics/2018/3/1/17067712/sandman-dc-comics-universe-neil-gaiman|website=Polygon|access-date=29 April 2018|date=1 March 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180302172220/https://www.polygon.com/comics/2018/3/1/17067712/sandman-dc-comics-universe-neil-gaiman|archive-date= 2 March 2018|url-status= live|df= dmy-all}}

After teaming with Colleen Doran for a series of graphic novel adaptations based on his short stories "Troll Bridge", "Chivalry", and "Snow, Glass, Apples", Gaiman and the Terry Pratchett estate chose Doran to adapt Good Omens into graphic novel form, and to self publish the work via the Pratchett estate's Dunmanifestin label. It was financed on Kickstarter where it became a record-setter in less than a week as the top fan-supported and top-earning comics project in the history of the platform.Myrick, Joe Anthony (7 August 2023). [https://screenrant.com/good-omens-comic-kickstarter-record/ "Good Omens Campaign Sets a New Kickstarter Record (After Being Fully Funded in 10 Minutes)."] Screen Rant. Retrieved 13 August 2023.

{{See also|Neil Gaiman bibliography#Novels and children's books}}

File:Why We Need Fantasy.webm discuss Why We Need Fantasy at the British Library on 20 November 2023.]]

File:Gaiman-headshot.jpg

In a collaboration with author Terry Pratchett, best known for his series of Discworld novels, Gaiman's first novel Good Omens was published in 1990. In 2011, Pratchett said that while the entire novel was a collaborative effort and most of the ideas could be credited to both of them, Pratchett did a larger portion of writing and editing if for no other reason than Gaiman's scheduled involvement with Sandman.{{cite web|url=http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/words-from-the-master.html|first= Terry|last= Pratchett|title= Words from the Master|work= Lspace.org|date= n.d.|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130929041235/http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/words-from-the-master.html|archive-date= 29 September 2013|url-status= live|access-date=26 July 2011}}

The 1996 novelisation of Gaiman's teleplay for the BBC mini-series Neverwhere was his first solo novel. The novel was released in tandem with the television series, though it presents some notable differences from the television series. Gaiman has since revised the novel twice, the first time for an American audience unfamiliar with the London Underground, the second time because he felt unsatisfied with the originals.{{cite web |url=https://slate.com/culture/2015/08/author-s-preferred-text-of-neil-gaiman-s-neverwhere-what-do-those-words-mean.html |title=What Does It Mean When a Book Is Stamped With the Words 'Author's Preferred Text?'|last=Martinelli |first=Marissa |date=20 August 2015 |website=Slate |access-date=11 January 2021}}

In 1999, the first printings of his fantasy novel Stardust were released. The novel has been released both as a standard novel and in an illustrated text edition.{{Cite web |title=BOOKS: Stardust: Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess |url=https://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/books-stardust-neil-gaiman-charles-vess/article_07ef7ef6-6fc0-5f12-b023-83ebd495e6a9.html |website=Valdosta Daily Times |date=27 June 2020 |access-date=27 November 2020 |quote=However, Gaiman initially wrote "Stardust" for Vertigo Comics as a novel illustrated by comics legend Charles Vess. Vertigo published the earliest edition filled with Vess' gorgeous colour and black-and-white illustrations. Some subsequent editions have only contained Gaiman's words without Vess' illustrations.}} This novel was highly influenced by Victorian fairytales and culture.{{Cite news|last=Gaiman|first=Neil|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/oct/13/film.fiction|title=Neil Gaiman on the importance of fairytales|date=12 October 2007|work=The Guardian|access-date=4 April 2020|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}

American Gods became one of Gaiman's best-selling and multi-award-winning novels upon its release in 2001.{{cite web|url= http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/About_Neil/Press_Releases/American_Gods_wins_a_Hugo!|title= American Gods wins a Hugo!|work= Neilgaiman.com|date= 17 September 2002|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130920150246/http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/About_Neil/Press_Releases/American_Gods_wins_a_Hugo!|archive-date= 20 September 2013|url-status= dead|access-date= 26 July 2011}} A special 10th Anniversary edition was released, with the "author's preferred text" 12,000 words longer than the original mass-market editions.{{Cite web|url=https://slate.com/culture/2015/08/author-s-preferred-text-of-neil-gaiman-s-neverwhere-what-do-those-words-mean.html|title=What Does It Mean When a Book Is Stamped With the Words "Author's Preferred Text?"|last=Martinelli|first=Marissa|date=20 August 2015|website=Slate Magazine|language=en|access-date=30 January 2020}} Gaiman has not written a direct sequel to American Gods but he has revisited the characters. A glimpse at Shadow's travels in Europe is found in a short story which finds him in Scotland, applying the same concepts developed in American Gods to the story of Beowulf. The 2005 novel Anansi Boys deals with Anansi ('Mr. Nancy'), tracing the relationship of his two sons, one semi-divine and the other an unassuming bookkeeper, as they explore their common heritage. It debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/books/bestseller/1009besthardfiction.html|title= Best-Seller Lists: Hardcover Fiction|date=9 October 2005|work= The New York Times|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131027003946/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/books/bestseller/1009besthardfiction.html?_r=0|archive-date=27 October 2013 |url-status= live|access-date= 6 March 2010}}

In 2002, Gaiman entered the world of children's books with the dark fairy tale Coraline. In 2008 he released a young adult novel, The Graveyard Book. It follows the adventures of a boy named Bod after his family is murdered and he is left to be brought up by a graveyard. It is heavily influenced by Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and H. P. Lovecraft’s The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.{{cite book|last1=Bleiler|first1=Richard|editor1-last=Olson|editor1-first=Danel|title=21st Century Gothic: Great Gothic Novels Since 2000|date=2011|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Plymouth, UK|isbn=9780810877283|pages=269–278|edition=1st|chapter=Raised by the Dead: The Maturational Gothic of Neil Gaiman's _The Graveyard Book_}} Literary critic Danel Olson defended it as one of the first canonical novels of 21st century Gothic literature.{{cite book|editor1-last=Olson|editor1-first=Danel|title=21st Century Gothic: Great Gothic Novels Since 2000|date=2011|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Plymouth, UK|isbn=9780810877283|edition=1st}} {{As of|2009|01|alt=As of late January 2009}}, it had been on The New York Times Bestseller children's list for fifteen weeks.{{cite web|url= http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/11/beyond-tea.html|title= Beyone Tea|first= Neil|last= Gaiman|date= 19 November 2008|publisher= Neil Gaiman's Journal|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120215045029/http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/11/beyond-tea.html|archive-date= 15 February 2012|url-status= dead|access-date= 27 November 2008}}

In 2013, The Ocean at the End of the Lane was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards.{{Cite news |author=Press Association |date=26 December 2013 |title=Neil Gaiman novel wins Book of the Year |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/26/neil-gaiman-book-year |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402181554/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/26/neil-gaiman-book-year |archive-date=2 April 2015 |access-date=27 December 2013 |work=The Guardian}} The novel follows an unnamed man who returns to his hometown for a funeral and remembers events that began forty years earlier.{{cite news|last=Byatt|first=AS|title=The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – review|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/03/ocean-end-lane-gaiman-review|access-date=4 July 2013|newspaper=Guardian|date=3 July 2013}} Themes include the search for self-identity and the "disconnect between childhood and adulthood".{{cite news|last=Lofuto|first=Tina|title=With The Ocean at the End of the Lane, fantasy master Neil Gaiman presents a mythical view of childhood's fears|url=http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/with-the-ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane-fantasy-master-neil-gaiman-presents-a-mythical-view-of-childhoods-fears/Content?oid=3451385|access-date=4 July 2013|newspaper=Nashville Scene|date=3 July 2013|archive-date=27 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151027102402/http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/with-the-ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane-fantasy-master-neil-gaiman-presents-a-mythical-view-of-childhoods-fears/Content?oid=3451385|url-status=dead}} It was later adapted into a critically acclaimed stage play at the Royal National Theatre in London.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/ocean-at-the-end-of-lane-review-b1952097.html|title=The Ocean at the End of the Lane review: A thunderous, sometimes terrifying adaptation|date=6 November 2021|work=The Independent|first=Anya|last=Ryan}}

In September 2016, Neil Gaiman announced that he had been working for some years on retellings of Norse mythology.{{Cite web|url=http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2016/09/a-cover-revealed-book-exposed-year.html|title=A cover revealed! A book exposed! A year mislaid!|last=Gaiman|first=Neil|website=journal.neilgaiman.com|access-date=18 September 2016}} Norse Mythology was released in February 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://comicbook.com/2016/09/15/neil-gaiman-puts-his-spin-on-thor-in-norse-mythology-book/|title=Neil Gaiman Puts His Spin On Thor In Norse Mythology Novel|website=Comicbook.com|access-date=18 September 2016}}

Several of his novels have been published as paperbacks with retro covers by artist Robert McGinnis.[https://www.tor.com/2016/09/22/robert-e-mcginnis-creates-retro-covers-for-neil-gaimans-anansi-boys-neverwhere-and-stardust/ Mr. Nancy is One Swingin’ Spider in the New Retro Cover for Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys!]{{Cite web|url=https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/649850604049645568/the-graveyard-book-cover-ask-reminded-me-of|title=Neil Gaiman}}

{{See also|Neil Gaiman bibliography#Film}}

Gaiman wrote the 1996 BBC dark fantasy television series Neverwhere. He co-wrote the screenplay for the movie MirrorMask with his old friend Dave McKean for McKean to direct. In addition, he wrote the localised English language script for the anime movie Princess Mononoke, based on a translation of the Japanese script.{{cite book|last1=Wagner|first1=Hank|last2=Golden|first2=Christopher|author-link2=Christopher Golden|last3=Bissette|first3=Stephen R.|author-link3=Stephen R. Bissette|title=Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman|year=2008|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York, New York|isbn=978-0-312-38765-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/princeofstoriesm0000wagn/page/413 413–448]|chapter=The Scripts|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/princeofstoriesm0000wagn/page/413}}

After his disappointment with the production limitations of Neverwhere, Gaiman asked his agent to pull him out of an (unnamed) UK television series that was to begin production immediately afterwards. "I didn't want to do it unless I had more control than you get as a writer: in fantasy, the tone of voice, the look and feel, the way something is shot and edited is vital, and I wanted to be in charge of that."

He co-wrote the script for Robert Zemeckis's Beowulf with Roger Avary, a collaboration that has proved productive for both writers.{{cite web|url= http://video.stv.tv/bc/info-outFilmsVideo_interviews-20071120-neil-gaiman-and-roger-avary-shaping-beowulfs-story/?redirect=no|title= Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary: Shaping Beowulf's story|year= 2007|work= Stv.tv|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120625235711/http://video.stv.tv/bc/info-outFilmsVideo_interviews-20071120-neil-gaiman-and-roger-avary-shaping-beowulfs-story/?redirect=no|archive-date= 25 June 2012|url-status= dead|df= dmy-all}} Gaiman has expressed interest in collaborating on a film adaptation of the Epic of Gilgamesh.{{cite news |first = Tom |last= Ambrose|title = He Is Legend|newspaper=Empire|date = December 2007|page= 142}}

File:Good Omens panel at NYCC (61091).jpg TV series at New York Comic Con in 2018]]

He was the only person other than J. Michael Straczynski to write a Babylon 5 script in the series' last three seasons, contributing to the season five episode "Day of the Dead". The series also features a recurring alien race called the Gaim, who resemble the character of Dream and are named after Gaiman.

Gaiman has also written at least three drafts of a screenplay adaptation of Nicholson Baker's novel The Fermata for director Robert Zemeckis,{{cite web|url= http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_About_Neil/Neil_Gaiman's_Film_Work|title= Neil Gaiman's Film Work|work= Neil Gaiman.com|date= 13 August 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130920140546/http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_About_Neil/Neil_Gaiman's_Film_Work|archive-date= 20 September 2013|url-status= dead|access-date= 2 August 2010}}{{cite web |url= http://www.ugo.com/ugo/html/article/?id=17624|title= Neil Gaiman Takes Hollywood|first= Tom|last= Burns|date= n.d.|work= UGO.com|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110513203340/http://www.ugo.com/ugo/html/article/?id=17624|archive-date= 13 May 2011|url-status= dead|access-date= 2 August 2010}} although the project was stalled while Zemeckis made The Polar Express and the Gaiman-Roger Avary-penned Beowulf film.

Neil Gaiman was featured in the History Channel documentary Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked.

{{cite AV media

| url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/61347142

| access-date = 2025-01-15

| title = Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked

| date = 2003

| publisher = Triage Entertainment, Inc.

| type = Television production

| location = New York, USA

| minutes = 73

| isbn = 0-7670-8365-2

| oclc = 61347142

}} Broadcast by the History Channel.

Several of Gaiman's original works have been optioned or greenlighted for film adaptation, most notably Stardust, which premiered in August 2007 and stars Charlie Cox, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes and Mark Strong, directed by Matthew Vaughn. A stop-motion version of Coraline was released on 6 February 2009, directed by Henry Selick and starring the voices of Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher.

In 2007, Gaiman announced that after ten years in development, the feature film of Death: The High Cost of Living would finally begin production with a screenplay by Gaiman that he would direct for Warner Independent. Gaiman said that he agreed to direct the film "with the carrot dangled in front of me that I could direct it. And we'll see if that happens, and if I'm a good director or not."{{Cite book|last=Gaiman|first=Neil|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/939277355|title=The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction|date=2016|isbn=978-0-06-226226-4|edition=1st|publisher=William Morrow|location=New York, NY|pages=242|oclc=939277355}} Don Murphy and Susan Montford were named as producers, and Guillermo del Toro was named as the film's executive producer.{{cite web|last= Sanchez| first= Robert|title= Neil Gaiman on Stardust and Death: High Cost of Living!|work= IESB.net|date= 2 August 2006|url= http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=105&Itemid=42|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060813153610/http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=105&Itemid=42|archive-date= 13 August 2006|url-status= dead|access-date= 25 February 2007}}{{cite web |url= http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/labels/Death%20movie.html|title= The best film of 2006 was…|last= Gaiman|first= Neil|date= 9 January 2007|publisher= Neil Gaiman's Journal|access-date= 25 February 2007}} By 2010, it had been reported that the film was no longer in production.{{cite web|url=https://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/10/the_vulture_transcript_neil_ga.html|title=The Vulture Transcript: Neil Gaiman on Comics, Twilight, Twitter Etiquette, Killing Batman, and Sharing Porn With His Son|date=14 October 2010}}

Seeing Ear Theatre performed two of Gaiman's audio theatre plays, "Snow, Glass, Apples", Gaiman's retelling of Snow White, and "Murder Mysteries", a story of heaven before the Fall in which the first crime is committed. Both audio plays were published in the collection Smoke and Mirrors in 1998.{{cite book|last = Gaiman|first = Neil |title = Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions|url = https://archive.org/details/smokemirrorsshor00gaim|url-access = registration|publisher = Avon|year = 1998|page = 384|isbn = 978-0380789023}}

At Guillermo del Toro's request, he rewrote the opening of Hellboy II: The Golden Army to make it look more like a fairy tale.{{cite magazine| url = https://ew.com/movies/hellboy-gave-neil-gaiman-his-start-in-writing-movies-tv/| title = Hellboy gave Neil Gaiman his start in writing for movies and TV| magazine = Entertainment Weekly}}

Gaiman's 2009 Newbery Medal winning book The Graveyard Book will be made into a movie, with Ron Howard as the director.{{cite magazine |url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ron-howard-talks-direct-disneys-414344|title= Ron Howard in Talks to Direct Disney's Graveyard Book|first= Borys|last= Kit|date= 22 January 2013|magazine= The Hollywood Reporter|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131026032403/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ron-howard-talks-direct-disneys-414344|archive-date=26 October 2013 |url-status= live|access-date= 25 October 2013}}

Gaiman wrote an episode of the long-running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, broadcast in 2011 during Matt Smith's second series as the Doctor.{{cite web|url = http://www.sfx.co.uk/2010/02/06/exclusive_neil_gaiman_confirms_doctor_who_episode/|title = Exclusive Neil Gaiman Confirms Doctor Who Episode|work = SFX|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130819135539/http://www.sfx.co.uk/2010/02/06/exclusive_neil_gaiman_confirms_doctor_who_episode/|archive-date = 19 August 2013|url-status = dead|access-date = 17 March 2010}} Shooting began in August 2010 for this episode, the original title of which was "The House of Nothing"{{cite news|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10146657.stm|title = Neil Gaiman reveals power of writing Doctor Who|first = Tim|last = Masters|date = 24 May 2010|work= BBC News|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130318033931/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10146657|archive-date= 18 March 2013|url-status= live| access-date= 24 May 2010}} but which was eventually transmitted as "The Doctor's Wife".{{cite news|url=http://www.sfx.co.uk/2011/03/28/doctor-who-title-of-the-neil-gaiman-episode-revealed/|title=Doctor Who: Title Of the Neil Gaiman Episode Revealed|work=SFX|date=28 March 2011|access-date=6 May 2011}} The episode won the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form).{{cite web|first=Lauren|last=Davis|url=http://io9.com/5900047/the-2012-hugo-nominations-have-been-announced|title=The 2012 Hugo Nominations have been announced!|publisher=io9|date=7 April 2012|access-date=7 April 2012|archive-date=10 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130210095208/http://io9.com/5900047/the-2012-hugo-nominations-have-been-announced|url-status=dead}}{{cite web | url = http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/genreville/?p=2092 | title = Hugo Awards Liveblog | first = Rose | last = Fox | date = 2 September 2012 | access-date = 2 September 2012 | work = Publishers Weekly | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131013143317/http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/genreville/?p=2092 | archive-date = 13 October 2013 | df = dmy-all }} Gaiman made his return to Doctor Who with an episode titled "Nightmare in Silver", broadcast on 11 May 2013.{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/DWMtweets/status/316494714994040832|title=Tweet|publisher=Twitter|work=Doctor Who Magazine|date=26 March 2013|access-date=16 April 2013}}{{cite web|first=Morgan|last=Jeffery|url=http://www.digitalspy.com/british-tv/s7/doctor-who/news/a436955/doctor-who-writer-neil-gaiman-i-want-to-make-cybermen-scary-again.html|title=Doctor Who writer Neil Gaiman: 'I want to make the Cybermen scary again'|work=Digital Spy|date=9 November 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121111175924/http://www.digitalspy.com/british-tv/s7/doctor-who/news/a436955/doctor-who-writer-neil-gaiman-i-want-to-make-cybermen-scary-again.html|archive-date= 11 November 2012|url-status= live|df= dmy-all|access-date=16 April 2013}}

Gaiman returned to the Whoniverse in 2020 for the web series Doctor Who: Lockdown; he wrote the mini-episode "Rory's Story" which saw Arthur Darvill reprise his role of Rory Williams. Also in 2011, it was announced that Gaiman would be writing the script to a new film version of Journey to the West.{{cite web|url=http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/03/quick-in-and-out.html |title=Neil Gaiman's Journal: A quick in and out |work=Journal.neilgaiman.com |date=12 March 2011 |access-date=26 July 2011}}{{cite news |url=https://variety.com/2011/film/markets-festivals/neil-gaiman-to-script-journey-1118033705/ | work=Variety | first=Clifford | last=Coonan | title=Neil Gaiman to script 'Journey' | date=10 March 2011 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313060152/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118033705 | archive-date=13 March 2011 | df=dmy-all }} Gaiman appeared as himself on The Simpsons episode "The Book Job", which was broadcast on 20 November 2011.{{Cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12180166|title= Author Neil Gaiman to guest star on The Simpsons|journal= BBC News|date= 13 January 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111230095521/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12180166|archive-date= 30 December 2011|url-status= live|access-date= 13 January 2011}}{{cite web|url= http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2011/11/19/neil-gaiman-on-his-simpsons-appearance-teen-lit-and-trolls/|title= Neil Gaiman on His Simpsons Appearance, Teen Lit and Trolls|first= Josie|last= Campbell|date= 19 November 2011|website= Comic Book Resources|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131005215624/http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2011/11/19/neil-gaiman-on-his-simpsons-appearance-teen-lit-and-trolls/|archive-date= 5 October 2013|url-status= dead|access-date= 26 October 2013}}{{cite web|url= http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/11/hey-hey-were-er-on-simpsons.html|title= Hey Hey We're, er, on The Simpsons|first= Neil|last= Gaiman|date= 20 November 2011|publisher= Neil Gaiman's Journal|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120124151056/http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/11/hey-hey-were-er-on-simpsons.html|archive-date= 24 January 2012|url-status= dead|access-date= 26 October 2013|df= dmy-all}}

In 2015, Starz greenlighted a series adaptation of Gaiman's novel American Gods. Bryan Fuller and Michael Green wrote and were showrunners for the series.{{cite magazine|url= https://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/16/neil-gaimans-american-gods-coming-starz|title= Neil Gaiman's American Gods gets series order at Starz|first= Dana Rose|last= Falcone|date= 16 June 2015|magazine= Entertainment Weekly|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150905055349/http://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/16/neil-gaimans-american-gods-coming-starz|archive-date= 5 September 2015|url-status= live|df= dmy-all}} Gaiman received a Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form Hugo Award in 2020 for the TV miniseries adaptation of Good Omens, for which he wrote the screenplay.{{cite web| url = https://www.tor.com/2020/07/31/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-winners/| title = Announcing the 2020 Hugo Award Winners| date = August 2020}} He voiced Gef in the black comedy film Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose, one of the film's titular characters, in 2023.{{cite web |last=Grobar |first=Matt |date=1 December 2022 |title=Dark Comedy 'Nandor Fodor' Finds Its 'Talking Mongoose' In 'The Sandman's Neil Gaiman |url=https://deadline.com/2022/12/neil-gaiman-cast-in-dark-comedy-nandor-fodor-and-the-talking-mongoose-1235185442/ |accessdate=24 May 2023 |website=Deadline Hollywood}}

A six-part radio play of Neverwhere was broadcast in March 2013, adapted by Dirk Maggs for BBC Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra. The performance featured James McAvoy as Richard, Natalie Dormer, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christopher Lee, Bernard Cribbens, and Johnny Vegas.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r522y/profiles/about|title=BBC Radio 4 - Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere - About Neverwhere|website=BBC}}

In September 2014, Gaiman and Terry Pratchett joined forces with BBC Radio 4 to make the first-ever dramatisation of their co-penned novel Good Omens, which was broadcast in December in five half-hour episodes and culminated in an hour-long final apocalyptic showdown. In 2021, Gaiman was cast as Duke Aubrey in an adaptation of Hope Mirrlees' Lud-in-the-Mist, a novel Gaiman had previously proclaimed one of his favourites (and to which he had contributed a foreword for an edition by Cold Spring Press), for BBC Radio 4.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011458|title=BBC Radio 4 - Drama, Lud-in-the-Mist|website=BBC}}

Gaiman frequently performs public readings from his stories and poetry, and has toured with his wife, musician Amanda Palmer. In some of these performances he has also sung songs, in "a novelist's version of singing",{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/arts/music/amanda-palmer-takes-connecting-with-her-fans-to-a-new-level.html?pagewanted=all|work=The New York Times|date=5 June 2012|title=Giving Love, Lots of It, To Her Fans|first=Ben|last=Sisario}} despite having "no kind of singing voice".{{citation|journal=The Independent|title=Amanda Palmer & Neil Gaiman, Queen's Hall, Edinburg|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/amanda-palmer--neil-gaiman-queens-hall-edinburgh-8038697.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/amanda-palmer--neil-gaiman-queens-hall-edinburgh-8038697.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|date=14 August 2012|first=David|last=Pollack}}

In 2015, Gaiman delivered a 100-minute lecture for the Long Now Foundation entitled How Stories Last about the nature of storytelling and how stories persist in human culture.[http://longnow.org/seminars/02015/jun/09/how-stories-last/ Neil Gaiman How Stories Last] Filmed on Tuesday 9 June 2015 at The Long Now Foundation. Audio and video available. In April 2018, Gaiman made a guest appearance on the television show The Big Bang Theory, and his tweet about the show's fictional comic book store became the central theme of the episode "The Comet Polarization".{{cite web|url=https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2405962/what-neil-gaiman-did-on-the-big-bang-theory|title=What Neil Gaiman Did On The Big Bang Theory|date=20 April 2018}}

In 1993, Gaiman was contracted by Todd McFarlane to write a single issue of Spawn, for Image Comics, which McFarlane had recently co-founded. McFarlane was promoting his new title by having guest authors Gaiman, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and Dave Sim each write a single issue.Listen to the "Oral Argument," [http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/fdocs/docs.fwx?caseno=03-1331&submit=showdkt&yr=03&num=1331.PD List of Documents in case: 03-1331 : Gaiman, Neil v. McFarlane, Todd] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020045431/http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/fdocs/docs.fwx?caseno=03-1331&submit=showdkt&yr=03&num=1331.PD|date=20 October 2008}}. Retrieved 22 September 2008.See also the [http://vlex.com/vid/20111002 official decision by Judge John Shabaz in The United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit Nos. 03–1331, 03–1461] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205043220/http://vlex.com/vid/20111002|date=5 December 2008}}. Retrieved 22 September 2008.

In issue No. 9 of the series, Gaiman introduced the characters Angela, Cogliostro, and Medieval Spawn. Prior to this issue, Spawn was an assassin who worked for the government and came back as a reluctant agent of Hell but had no real direction in his actions. In Angela, a cruel and malicious angel, Gaiman introduced a character who threatened Spawn's existence, as well as providing a moral opposite. Cogliostro was introduced as a mentor character for exposition and instruction, providing guidance. Medieval Spawn introduced a history and precedent that not all Spawns were self-serving or evil, giving additional character development to Malebolgia, the demon that creates Hellspawn.

As intended, all three characters were used repeatedly throughout the next decade by Todd McFarlane within the wider Spawn universe.See Judge Shabaz's ruling for the legal reasoning: "As a co-owner, McFarlane was not violating the Copyright Act by unilaterally publishing the jointly owned work, but, as in any other case of conversion or misappropriation, he would have to account to the other joint owner for the latter's share of the profits." In papers filed by Gaiman in early 2002, however, he claimed that the characters were jointly owned by their scripter (himself) and artist (McFarlane), not merely by McFarlane in his role as the creator of the series. Disagreement over who owned the rights to a character was the primary motivation for McFarlane and other artists to form Image Comics (although that argument related more towards disagreements between writers and artists as character creators).See Khoury, George, Image Comics: The Road To Independence (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2007), {{ISBN|1-893905-71-3}} As McFarlane used the characters without Gaiman's permission or royalty payments, Gaiman believed his copyrighted work was being infringed upon, which violated their original oral agreement. McFarlane initially agreed that Gaiman had not signed away any rights to the characters, and negotiated with Gaiman to effectively "swap" McFarlane's interest in the character Marvelman.See Judge Shabaz's [http://vlex.com/vid/20111002 ruling] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205043220/http://vlex.com/vid/20111002|date=5 December 2008}}: "A tentative agreement was reached that... Gaiman would exchange his rights in Medieval Spawn and Cogliostro for McFarlane's rights in another comic book character, Miracleman." McFarlane had purchased an interest in the character when Eclipse Comics was liquidated while Gaiman was interested in being able to continue his aborted run of the Marvelman title. McFarlane later changed his initial position, claiming that Gaiman's work had only been work-for-hire and that McFarlane owned all of Gaiman's creations entirely. The presiding judge, however, ruled against their agreement being work for hire, based in large part on the legal requirement that "copyright assignments must be in writing."Judge Shabaz, [http://vlex.com/vid/20111002 Official ruling] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205043220/http://vlex.com/vid/20111002|date=5 December 2008}}, as per "Schiller & Schmidt, Inc. v. Nordisco Corp., 969 F.2d 410, 413 (7th Cir. 1992)"

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court ruling in February 2004{{cite web |last=Yarbrough |first=Beau |date=3 October 2002 |title=Gaiman in Stunning Victory over McFarlane in Spawn Case: Jury Finds for Gaiman on All Counts |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=1513 |access-date=22 September 2008 |website=Comic Book Resources}} granting joint ownership of the characters to Gaiman and McFarlane. On the specific issue of Cogliostro, presiding Judge John C. Shabaz proclaimed, "The expressive work that is the comic-book character Count Nicholas Cogliostro was the joint work of Gaiman and McFarlane—their contributions strike us as quite equal—and both are entitled to ownership of the copyright".See Judge Shabaz's [http://vlex.com/vid/20111002 ruling] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205043220/http://vlex.com/vid/20111002|date=5 December 2008}} for similar statements on Angela and Medieval Spawn. Similar analysis led to similar results for the other two characters, Angela and Medieval Spawn.

This legal battle was brought by Gaiman and the specifically formed Marvels and Miracles, LLC, which Gaiman had previously created to help sort out the legal rights surrounding Marvelman. Gaiman had written Marvel 1602 in 2003 to help fund this project{{cite web |last=Weiland |first=Jonah |date=27 June 2003 |title=Marvel's "1602" Press Conference |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=2308 |access-date=22 September 2008 |website=Comic Book Resources}} and all of Gaiman's profits for the original issues of the series were donated to Marvels and Miracles. The rights to Marvelman were subsequently purchased, from original creator Mick Anglo, by Marvel Comics in 2009.{{cite web |last=Phegley |first=Kiel |date=24 July 2009 |title=CCI: Marvel Acquires Marvelman |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22206 |access-date=24 July 2009 |website=Comic Book Resources}}

Gaiman returned to court again over the Spawn characters Dark Ages Spawn, Domina, and Tiffany, claiming that they were "derivative of the three he co-created with McFarlane."{{cite web |last=Treleven |first=Ed |date=25 May 2010 |title=Gaiman takes on McFarlane in Wis. federal court comic book clash |url=http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/article_03bae1b4-684e-11df-84dd-001cc4c03286.html |access-date=26 May 2010 |work=Wisconsin State Journal}} The judge ruled that Gaiman was right in these claims as well and gave McFarlane until the beginning of September 2010 to settle the matter.{{cite web |last=Melrose |first=Kevin |date=21 July 2010 |title=Judge rules Dark Ages Spawn, Domina and Tiffany are derivative characters |url=http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/07/judge-rules-dark-ages-spawn-domina-and-tiffany-are-derivative-characters/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819124043/http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/07/judge-rules-dark-ages-spawn-domina-and-tiffany-are-derivative-characters/ |archive-date=19 August 2013 |access-date=31 July 2010 |website=Comic Book Resources}}

In July 2024, five women accused Gaiman of sexual assault and abuse. All five were interviewed on the Tortoise Media podcast Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman. One, using the pseudonym "Claire", was also interviewed by The New York Times.{{cite news |last=Jiménez |first=Jesus |date=September 26, 2024|title=Production Linked to Neil Gaiman Is Halted Amid Sexual Assault Claims |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/26/business/neil-gaiman-allegations.html |access-date=September 27, 2024 |work=The New York Times}} Claire described non-consensual kissing and groping by Gaiman after meeting him at a book tour event, with Gaiman making a $60,000 payment to her in August 2022. A woman identified as "K", who also first met Gaiman at a book signing, said that during their relationship he subjected her to painful sex that she "neither wanted nor enjoyed".{{Cite web |last1=Caruana Galizia |first1=Paul |last2=Johnson |first2=Rachel |date=July 3, 2024 |title=Exclusive: Neil Gaiman accused of sexual assault |url=https://www.tortoisemedia.com/2024/07/03/exclusive-neil-gaiman-accused-of-sexual-assault/ |website=Tortoise Media}}

Scarlett Pavlovich, a former nanny for Gaiman and Palmer's child, alleges that Gaiman sexually assaulted her within hours of their first meeting in February 2022. Pavlovich recalled that he said "Amanda told me I couldn't have you" after the assault; according to one of Palmer's friends, Palmer had previously told Gaiman "You could really hurt this person and break her; keep your hands off of her". She said that Gaiman had anal sex with her in the presence of his son.

A former tenant of Gaiman's named Caroline Wallner alleges that he demanded sexual favours in exchange for being allowed to continue living on his property.{{Cite web |last1=Caruana Galizia |first1=Paul |last2=Johnson |first2=Rachel |date=2024-08-01 |title=Exclusive: Two more women accuse Neil Gaiman of sexual assault and abuse |url=https://www.tortoisemedia.com/2024/08/01/exclusive-two-more-women-accuse-neil-gaiman-of-sexual-assault-and-abuse/ |website=Tortoise Media}} Wallner says that on one occasion Gaiman grabbed her hand and placed it on his penis while his young son was asleep in the same bed. In 2021, Wallner, her ex-husband, and Gaiman signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), and Gaiman paid Wallner {{USD|275000|long=no}}. In early 2025, Gaiman and Wallner both requested arbitration, the dispute resolution method mandated by the NDA, each accusing the other of violating the agreement.{{Cite web |last=Shapiro |first=Lila |date=April 21, 2025 |title=Neil Gaiman Seeks $500,000 From Accuser Caroline Wallner |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/neil-gaiman-nda-caroline-wallner.html |access-date=April 23, 2025 |website=Vulture |language=en}}

The writer Julia Hobsbawm accused Gaiman of "an aggressive, unwanted pass" and described how Gaiman pushed her onto a sofa and French kissed her in 1986.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-01 |title=Mehrere Frauen erheben Vorwürfe gegen »Sandman«-Autor Neil Gaiman |url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/sandman-autor-neil-gaiman-immer-mehr-frauen-erheben-vorwuerfe-a-9653c1a8-d272-45ec-8ac4-620d0ca1c6a8 |website=Der Spiegel |language=de}}

In September 2024, Disney halted production on the film adaptation of The Graveyard Book due to a variety of factors, including the sexual assault allegations against Gaiman.{{cite web |last=Blauvelt |first=Christian |date=September 4, 2024 |title=Disney Pauses Neil Gaiman's 'The Graveyard Book' Adaptation in Wake of Sexual Assault Allegations — Exclusive |url=https://www.indiewire.com/news/breaking-news/neil-gaiman-film-the-graveyard-book-sexual-assault-claims-1235043606/ |access-date=September 4, 2024 |website=IndieWire}}{{cite news |last1=Shanahan |first1=Mark |date=September 5, 2024 |title=Amid allegations against Neil Gaiman, Disney postpones 'The Graveyard Book' adaptation |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/09/05/arts/neil-gaiman-sexual-allegations-disney-graveyard-book-movie/ |access-date=September 9, 2024 |work=The Boston Globe}} That same month, production on season three of Good Omens was put on hold; Gaiman ultimately left the project in October.{{Cite web |last=Rice |first=Lynette |date=2024-09-09 |title='Good Omens': Production Paused On Amazon Drama From Neil Gaiman |url=https://deadline.com/2024/09/good-omens-production-paused-on-amazon-drama-neil-gaiman-1236082924/ |access-date=2024-09-10 |website=Deadline Hollywood |language=en-US}}{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Peter |date=24 October 2024 |title='Good Omens' To End With One 90-Minute Episode As Neil Gaiman Exits Following Sexual Assault Allegations |url=https://deadline.com/2024/10/good-omens-to-end-90-minute-episode-neil-gaiman-exits-1236157372/ |access-date=25 October 2024 |work=Deadline Hollywood}}

In January 2025, the New York magazine published a cover story detailing the allegations against Gaiman. This article, which was published online on Vulture, included interviews with four of the women who had previously spoken to Tortoise Media, as well as four more women.{{cite web |last=Cobb |first=Kayla |date=January 13, 2025 |title=Neil Gaiman Accused of Sexual Misconduct by 4 More Women |url=https://www.thewrap.com/neil-gaiman-new-sexual-misconduct-allegations/ |access-date=January 13, 2025 |website=TheWrap}} Later the same month, Dark Horse Comics announced that they would cut ties with Gaiman over the allegations, including cancelling his ongoing comic adaptation of Anansi Boys.{{Cite web |last=Hughes |first=William |date=January 25, 2025 |title=Dark Horse Comics dumps Neil Gaiman, cancels Anansi Boys adaptation |url=https://www.avclub.com/dark-horse-cuts-ties-neil-gaiman-abuse-allegations |access-date=January 25, 2025 |website=The A.V. Club |language=en-US}} A week later, Netflix announced that The Sandman was canceled, with the series set to conclude with its second season.{{Cite web |last=Maas |first=Jennifer |date=January 31, 2025 |title=Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman' Canceled at Netflix, Will End With Season 2 (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/the-sandman-canceled-neil-gaiman-netflix-season-2-1236287571/ |access-date=January 31, 2025 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} Gaiman was also dropped as a client by his agent Casarotto Ramsay.{{Cite web |last=Kanter |first=Jake |date=January 30, 2025 |title=Neil Gaiman Scrubbed From Agent Casarotto Ramsay's Client List After Sexual Misconduct Allegations |url=https://deadline.com/2025/01/neil-gaiman-dropped-agent-casarotto-ramsay-sexual-misconduct-claims-1236272049/ |access-date=January 31, 2025 |website=Deadline Hollywood|language=en-US}}

In February 2025, Scarlett Pavlovich filed three federal lawsuits in the US that alleged human trafficking under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, alongside formal allegations of sexual assault and coercion. One named Gaiman and Palmer as co-defendants and two were against Palmer alone, seeking at least {{US$|7}}{{nbsp}}million in damages.{{Cite web |last=Shapiro |first=Lila |date=February 3, 2025 |title=Neil Gaiman Accused of Human Trafficking, Sexual Abuse in New Lawsuit |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/neil-gaiman-human-trafficking-amanda-palmer-lawsuit.html |access-date=February 4, 2025 |website=Vulture |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=February 3, 2025 |title=Woman's lawsuits say sci-fi author Neil Gaiman repeatedly sexually assaulted her |url=https://apnews.com/article/neil-gaiman-federal-lawsuits-sexual-assault-59c66061118e47af9ee8a6b94900ef46 |access-date=February 5, 2025 |work=Associated Press News |language=en}} In his response to the lawsuit, Gaiman claimed that the American court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case because the alleged assaults happened in New Zealand, and asked for the case to be dismissed.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/05/neil-gaiman-asks-us-court-to-dismiss-lawsuit-alleging-and-sexual-assault |title=Neil Gaiman asks US court to dismiss lawsuit alleging rape and sexual assault |newspaper=The Guardian |first=Ella |last=Creamer |date=5 March 2025}} Gaiman also accused Pavlovich of lying, presenting text messages in which she appeared to confirm that no sexual abuse had taken place, and claimed that police in New Zealand had already investigated her claims and found them to be false.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y07w7nyxzo.amp |title=Neil Gaiman says nanny's allegations are 'a sham' |newspaper=BBC News |date=5 March 2025}}

Gaiman has denied engaging in non-consensual sex, and dismissed Hobsbawm's allegations as his misreading a situation. Gaiman's representatives claim that Wallner initiated their sexual encounters and that none of these occurred in the presence of Gaiman's child. In a blog post responding to coverage of the allegations against him, Gaiman said there were "moments I half-recognise and moments I don't". He denies engaging in any non-consensual sexual activity, but said he could have "done so much better" and was "trying to do the work needed".{{cite web |last=Gaiman |first=Neil |title=Breaking the Silence |url=https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2025/01/breaking-silence.html |access-date=14 January 2025 |work=Neil Gaiman Journal}}{{cite web |last=Blair |first=Elizabeth |title=Neil Gaiman has responded to sexual misconduct allegations |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/01/14/nx-s1-5259516/neil-gaiman-response-sexual-misconduct-allegations|date=January 14, 2025 |access-date=January 14, 2025|work=NPR }}{{cite web |last1=Egan |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Alter |first2=Alexandra|date=January 15, 2025|title=Neil Gaiman Responds to Explosive Report of Sexual Assault |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/14/books/neil-gaiman-responds-sexual-assault-allegations.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=January 15, 2025 |website=The New York Times}}

File:Amanda Palmer - Arena Vienna 2011 a10 Neil Gaiman.jpg in Vienna, 2011]]

Gaiman moved near Menomonie, Wisconsin, in 1992 to be closer to the family of his then-wife, Mary McGrath, with whom he has three children. Gaiman has also lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts.{{Cite book |last=Gaiman |first=Neil |url=https://archive.org/details/oceanatendoflane00neil |title=The Ocean at the End of the Lane |date=18 June 2013 |publisher=William Morrow and Company |isbn=978-0062255655 |page=Back Flap |url-access=registration}}{{cite news | title=A writer's life: Neil Gaiman | date=12 December 2005 | newspaper=The Telegraph| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3648663/A-writers-life-Neil-Gaiman.html | first=Dina | last=Rabinovitch | author-link = Dina Rabinovitch| access-date=20 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091113225058/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3648663/A-writers-life-Neil-Gaiman.html |archive-date= 13 November 2009 |url-status=live}} He was close friends with fellow author Terry Pratchett until the latter's death in 2015.{{Cite web |last=Dougary |first=Ginny |date=2019-06-07 |title=Good Omens: Neil Gaiman reveals what he and Terry Pratchett shared |url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/good-omens-neil-gaiman-reveals-what-he-and-terry-pratchett-shared-20190603-p51u1y.html |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}} Gaiman met Amanda Palmer in 2008,{{cite web |last1=Shapiro |first1=Lila |date=13 January 2025 |title=There Is No Safe Word |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/neil-gaiman-allegations-controversy-amanda-palmer-sandman-madoc.html |access-date=13 January 2025 |website=Vulture |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250113110712/https://www.vulture.com/article/neil-gaiman-allegations-controversy-amanda-palmer-sandman-madoc.html |archive-date=13 January 2025 |url-status=live}} and the two entered a relationship in 2009,{{cite web |date=4 May 2020 |title=Amanda Palmer's Patreon Subscribes Found Out About Her Breakup Before Neil Gaiman Did |url=https://www.vulture.com/2020/05/amanda-palmer-patreon-neil-gaiman-breakup.html |website=Vulture.com}} marrying in 2011.{{cite web |last=Zutter |first=Natalie |title=Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman Marry |url=http://www.ology.com/celebs-and-gossip/amanda-palmer-and-neil-gaiman-marry |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120909065144/http://www.ology.com/celebs-and-gossip/amanda-palmer-and-neil-gaiman-marry |archive-date=9 September 2012 |access-date=4 January 2011 |work=Ology Magazine}} They have one son together. The two had an open marriage,{{cite news |last=Portwood |first=Jerry |date=20 September 2012 |title=Amanda Palmer Gets Intimate |url=http://www.out.com/entertainment/music/2012/09/20/amanda-palmer-neil-gaiman-open-relationship |access-date=26 November 2012 |work=out.com}} and encouraged one another to have affairs, including with fans of their work.

Gaiman, Palmer and their son moved to New Zealand in March 2020. Weeks later, their marriage collapsed and Gaiman left the country, travelling from New Zealand to his holiday home on the Isle of Skye, which broke COVID-19 lockdown rules. Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP Ian Blackford described Gaiman's behaviour as unacceptable and dangerous.{{Cite news |date=17 May 2020 |title=Author's 11,000-mile lockdown trip to Scots island |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-52697289 |access-date=19 May 2020 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} Gaiman published an apology on his website, saying he had endangered the local community.{{Cite web |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=19 May 2020 |title=Neil Gaiman apologises to people of Skye for breaking lockdown rules |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/19/neil-gaiman-apologises-skye-breaking-lockdown-rules-new-zealand |access-date=19 May 2020 |website=The Guardian |language=en}} After Gaiman's departure, Palmer announced on Patreon that she and Gaiman had separated. Gaiman stated the split was "my fault, I'm afraid", and requested privacy. The couple later released a joint statement clarifying that they were not getting divorced,{{Cite web |last=Gaiman |first=Neil |title=Where I am, what I'm doing, how I'm doing and how I got here |url=http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2020/05/where-i-am-what-im-doing-how-im-doing.html |access-date=15 May 2020 |website=Journal.neilgaiman.com}} reconciled in 2021,{{Cite web |date=13 January 2021 |title=UK author Neil Gaiman reunites with his son and Amanda Palmer in Havelock North |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/300204981/uk-author-neil-gaiman-reunites-with-his-son-and-amanda-palmer-in-havelock-north}}{{cite news |last1=Kiefer |first1=Halle |date=15 May 2020 |title=Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer Weren't Driven to Divorce by Quarantine After All |url=https://www.vulture.com/2020/05/neil-gaiman-and-amanda-palmer-arent-divorcing-says-gaiman.html |access-date=23 August 2021 |work=Vulture |language=en-us}} but confirmed they would divorce in a November 2022 joint statement.{{cite web |date=4 November 2022 |title=A joint statement from Amanda and me |url=https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2022/11/a-joint-statement-from-amanda-and-me.html |access-date=12 November 2022 |website=NeilGaiman.com / Journal}}{{cite web |date=4 November 2022 |title=A joint statement from me and Neil |url=http://amandapalmer.net/posts/a-joint-statement-from-me-and-neil/ |access-date=12 November 2022 |website=AmandaPalmer.net}} {{As of|2025|January}}, in the fifth year of proceedings, negotiations had become "ugly", with Palmer moving in with her parents due to financial difficulties.

In February 2001, when Gaiman had completed writing American Gods, his publishers set up a promotional website featuring a weblog in which Gaiman described the day-to-day process of revising, publishing, and promoting the novel. After the novel was published, the website evolved into a more general Official Neil Gaiman Website.{{cite web |title=Official Neil Gaiman Website |url=http://neilgaiman.com/ |access-date=26 July 2011 |work=Neilgaiman.com}} Gaiman generally posts to the blog describing the day-to-day process of being Neil Gaiman and writing, revising, publishing, or promoting whatever the current project is. He also posts reader emails and answers questions, which gives him unusually direct and immediate interaction with fans. One of his answers on why he writes the blog is "because writing is, like death, a lonely business."{{cite web |date=11 February 2008 |title=Neil Gaiman's journal, 2/11/2008 |url=http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/02/m-is-for-mirrors-youll-stare-in-forever.html |access-date=26 July 2011 |work=Journal.neilgaiman.com}} The original American Gods blog was extracted for publication in the NESFA Press collection of Gaiman miscellany, Adventures in the Dream Trade.{{cite web |title=Adventures in the Dream Trade: Table of Contents |url=http://www.nesfa.org/press/Books/Gaiman.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807161953/http://www.nesfa.org/press/Books/Gaiman.html |archive-date=7 August 2011 |access-date=23 August 2011 |work=www.nefsa.org |publisher=NEFSA Press}} To celebrate the seventh anniversary of the blog, the novel American Gods was provided free of charge online for a month.{{cite web |last=Gaiman |first=Neil |title=Death, and Free Revisited |url=http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/02/death-and-free-revisited.html |date=12 February 2011 |access-date=22 August 2011 |work=Neil Gaiman Journal}}

Gaiman joined Twitter in 2008. In 2013, Gaiman was named by IGN as one of "The Best Tweeters in Comics", describing his posts as "sublime".{{cite web |last=Yehl |first=Joshua |date=20 February 2013 |title=The Best Tweeters in Comics |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/02/20/the-best-tweeters-in-comics |access-date=22 April 2014}}

Gaiman is godfather to Tori Amos's daughter Tash,{{cite web |date=30 November 2004 |title=Neil Gaiman's Journal: listening to unresolving |url=http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2004/11/listening-to-unresolving.asp |access-date=2 August 2010 |work=Journal.neilgaiman.com}}{{cite news |last1=Cochrane |first1=Kira |title=Tori Amos on trauma, Trump and Neil Gaiman: 'It's a heartbreaking grief' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/dec/03/tori-amos-on-trauma-trump-and-neil-gaiman-a-heartbreaking-grief |access-date=15 December 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=3 December 2024}} and wrote a poem called "Blueberry Girl" for Tori and Tash.{{cite web |date=7 July 2007 |title=Neil Gaiman's Journal: Blueberry Girls |url=http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2007/07/blueberry-girls.html |access-date=2 August 2010 |work=Journal.neilgaiman.com}} The poem was adapted into a book by illustrator Charles Vess.{{cite web |date=6 July 2007 |title=News from Green Man Press " Blog Archive " Blueberry Wanderings |url=http://greenmanpress.com/news/archives/185 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525060731/http://greenmanpress.com/news/archives/185 |archive-date=25 May 2013 |access-date=2 August 2010 |publisher=Green Man Press}} Gaiman read the poem aloud to an audience at the Sundance Kabuki Theater in San Francisco on 5 October 2008 during his book reading tour for The Graveyard Book.{{cite web |date=6 October 2008 |title=Neil Gaiman's Journal: Chapter Six in San Francisco yesterday |url=http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/10/chapter-six-in-san-francisco-yesterday.html |access-date=2 August 2010 |work=Journal.neilgaiman.com}} It was published in March 2009 with the title Blueberry Girl.

In 2016, Gaiman, as well as several celebrities, appeared in the video "What They Took With Them", from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to help raise awareness of the issue of global refugees.{{Cite news|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refugeeday/stories/|title=2016 Stories – #WithRefugees|newspaper=Unhcr |language=en-US|access-date=14 September 2016}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refugeeday/what-they-took-with-them/|title=What They Took With Them – #WithRefugees|newspaper=Unhcr |date=7 September 2016|language=en-US|access-date=14 September 2016}}

Gaiman is a supporter of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and has served on its board of directors.{{cite web |url= http://www.cbldf.org/articles/archives/000152.shtml|title= Neil Gaiman Talks Sandman, CBLDF on NPR |date= 19 September 2003 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090814222141/http://www.cbldf.org/articles/archives/000152.shtml|archive-date= 14 August 2009|url-status= dead|access-date=22 September 2008}} In 2013, Gaiman was named co-chair of the organization's newly formed advisory board.{{cite web|url=https://icv2.com/articles/comics/view/25454/cbldf-announces-advisory-board|title=CBLDF Announces Advisory Board|website=ICv2|date=8 April 2013|access-date=5 July 2020}}

In 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Gaiman supported Ukraine by announcing on Twitter that he does not want to renew contracts with Russian publishers.{{Cite tweet |last=Gaiman |first=Neil |user=neilhimself |number=1500158016494125056 |date=5 March 2022 |title=I'm trying to find out right now what Russian contracts I control and where they are in the publishing cycle. I would not want to renew them while Putin and this administration was in power, that is for certain. |access-date=12 March 2022 |link=https://twitter.com/neilhimself/status/1500158016494125056}} Gaiman also encouraged donating to Ukrainian refugees.{{Cite tweet |last=Gaiman |first=Neil |user=neilhimself |number=1499366200077393927 |date=3 March 2022 |title=1 million refugees in one week. That's how many people have been forced to flee into neighbouring countries from Ukraine. If you do just one thing today, please donate to @Refugees... |access-date=12 March 2022 |link=https://twitter.com/neilhimself/status/1499366200077393927}}{{Cite web |date=4 March 2022 |title=Killing, Gaiman, Evaristo: writers from around the world call for donations for Ukrainian refugees |url=https://chytomo.com/en/killing-gaiman-evaristo-writers-from-around-the-world-call-for-donations-for-ukrainian-refugees/ |access-date=12 March 2022 |website=chytomo.com |language=en-GB}}

In 2023, Gaiman signed an open letter addressed to Russian president Vladimir Putin, alongside over 100 other public figures, calling for the release of Russian prisoner Alexei Navalny.{{cite news |title=A letter to Vladimir Putin: Release Alexei Navalny |url=https://www.economist.com/letters/2023/04/28/a-letter-to-vladimir-putin-release-alexei-navalny |access-date=18 June 2024 |date=28 April 2023 |newspaper=The Economist}}{{cite news |title=Free Navalny! Western public figures sign open letter demanding Alexey Navalny's immediate release |url=https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2023/04/28/free-navalny-en |access-date=18 June 2024 |work=Novaya Gazeta Europe |date=28 April 2023}}

Gaiman's work is known for its use of allusions.See particularly Rodney Sharkey, James Fleming, and Zuleyha Cetiner-Oktem's articles in ImageTexT's [http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/#Articles special issue] on Gaiman's work. Meredith Collins, for instance, has commented upon the degree to which his novel Stardust depends on allusions to Victorian fairy tales and culture.Collins, Meredith. [http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/collins/ "Fairy and Faerie: Uses of the Victorian in Neil Gaiman's and Charles Vess's Stardust"] ImageTexT 4.1. In The Sandman, literary figures and characters appear often; the character of Fiddler's Green is modeled on G. K. Chesterton, and both William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer appear as characters, as do several characters from A Midsummer Night's DreamSee this [http://www.satt.org/comic/02_10_faery_1.html detailed analysis]. and The Tempest. The comic also draws from numerous mythologies.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Analyzing Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, bibliographer and librarian Richard Bleiler detects patterns of and allusions to the Gothic novel, from Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. He concludes that Gaiman is "utilizing works, characters, themes, and settings that generations of scholars have identified and classified as Gothic... [yet] subverts them and develops the novel by focusing on the positive aspects of maturation, concentrating on the values of learning, friendship, and sacrifice."{{cite book|last1=Bleiler|first1=Richard|editor1-last=Olson|editor1-first=Danel|title=21st Century Gothic: Great Gothic Novels Since 2000|date=2011|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Plymouth, UK|isbn=9780810877283|pages=269–278|edition=1st|chapter=Raised by the Dead: The Maturational Gothic of Neil Gaiman's _The Graveyard Book_}} Regarding another work's assumed connection and allusions to this form, Gaiman himself quipped: "I've never been able to figure out whether Sandman is a gothic."{{cite journal|last1=Olson|first1=Danel|title=Casket Letters: The Essential Comics of Horror, Gothic, and the Weird for 2014|journal=The Weird Fiction Review|date=2014|volume=5|pages=285–291}}

Clay Smith has argued that this sort of allusiveness serves to situate Gaiman as a strong authorial presence in his own works, often to the exclusion of his collaborators.Smith, Clay. [https://imagetextjournal.com/get-gaiman-polymorpheus-perversity-in-works-by-and-about-neil-gaiman/ "Get Gaiman?: PolyMorpheus Perversity in Works by and about Neil Gaiman]" ImageTexT 4.1. However, Smith's viewpoint is in the minority: to many, if there is a problem with Gaiman's scholarship and intertextuality it is that "... his literary merit and vast popularity have propelled him into the nascent comics canon so quickly that there is not yet a basis of critical scholarship about his work."{{Cite journal |url=http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/introduction.shtml |title=A Special Issue on the Works of Neil Gaiman, Introduction |volume=4 |issue=1 |journal=English.ufl.edu |access-date=26 July 2011 |year=2008 |last1=Sandifer |first1=Philip |last2=Eklund |first2=Tof |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728061227/http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/introduction.shtml |archive-date=28 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}

David Rudd takes a more generous view in his study of the novel Coraline, where he argues that the work plays and riffs productively on Sigmund Freud's concept of Unheimlich ("the Uncanny").{{cite journal |url=http://digitalcommons.bolton.ac.uk/emcs_journals/1/ |title=An Eye for an 'I': Neil Gaiman's Coraline and the Question of Identity |last=Rudd |first=David |journal=Children's Literature in Education |volume=39 |number=3 |year=2008 |pages=159–168 |doi=10.1007/s10583-008-9067-7 |s2cid=144285798 |access-date=28 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928032720/http://digitalcommons.bolton.ac.uk/emcs_journals/1/ |archive-date=28 September 2008 }}

Though Gaiman's work is frequently seen as exemplifying the monomyth structure laid out in Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces,See Stephen Rauch, Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and Joseph Campbell: In Search of the Modern Myth, Wildside Press, 2003 Gaiman says that he started reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces but refused to finish it: "I think I got about halfway through The Hero with a Thousand Faces and found myself thinking if this is true – I don't want to know. I really would rather not know this stuff. I'd rather do it because it's true and because I accidentally wind up creating something that falls into this pattern than be told what the pattern is."{{cite web |last=Ogline |first=Tim E. |url=http://www.wildriverreview.com/worldvoices-neilgaiman.php |title=The Wild River Review, "Interview with the Dream King" |work=Wildriverreview.com |access-date=26 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718061508/http://www.wildriverreview.com/worldvoices-neilgaiman.php |archive-date=18 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}

Note: Gaiman's Carnegie Medal win for The Graveyard Book made him the first author to have won both the Carnegie & Newbery Medals for the same work.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/24/neil-gaiman-carnegie-graveyard-book | title=Neil Gaiman wins Carnegie medal | work=The Guardian | date=24 June 2010 | last1=Flood | first1=Alison }}

;Other Awards & Honours

• 3- time winner (1991/1992/1993) of the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards for "Favorite Writer".

• 3-time (1992/1993/1994) winner of the Don Thompson Awards for "Best Achievement by a Writer".

• 1997 Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Defender of Liberty award{{cite web|url=http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_About_Neil/Neil_Gaiman_and_Comics |title=Cool Stuff | Essays | Essays About Neil | Neil Gaiman and Comics |work=Neilgaiman.com |access-date=12 June 2015}}

• 2005 The William Shatner Golden Groundhog Award for Best Underground Movie, nomination for MirrorMask. The other nominated films were Green Street Hooligans, Nine Lives, Up for Grabs, and Opie Gets Laid.{{cite web | url=https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Shatner-Gets-His-Own-Award-2037.html | title=Shatner Gets His Own Award | access-date=10 September 2009 | last=Tyler | first=Joshua | date=10 January 2006 | publisher=Cinema Blend}}

• 2007 & 2008: Winner of the Galaxy Award for Most Popular Foreign Writer.

• 2010 Gaiman was selected as the Honorary Chair of National Library Week by the American Library Association.{{cite web| url=http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2009/october2009/nlwgaiman_pio.cfm| title=Neil Gaiman named Honorary Chair of National Library Week| date=12 October 2009| access-date=15 April 2010 }}

• 2012: Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of the Arts{{cite web|url= http://uarts.edu/news/2012/05/neil-gaiman-headlines-134th-commencement|title= Neil Gaiman Headlines 134th Commencement: Award-winning author, graphic novelist tells graduates to 'make good art'|publisher= University of the Arts|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130513035650/http://www.uarts.edu/news/2012/05/neil-gaiman-headlines-134th-commencement|archive-date= 13 May 2013|url-status= dead|access-date= 17 May 2012|df= dmy-all}}

• 2016: University of St Andrews Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters{{cite web|url= http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/archive/2016/title,561592,en.php|title= Laureation Address: Professor Neil Gaiman|date= 21 June 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170213164121/https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/archive/2016/title,561592,en.php|archive-date= 13 February 2017|url-status= dead|df= dmy-all|access-date= 12 February 2017}}

• 2018: Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.{{cite web | url=https://www.mopop.org/sffhof/neil-gaiman | title=Neil Gaiman | SFFHOF Inductee }}

• 2019: Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award ("celebrat[ing] authors who have given generously to other writers or to the broader literary community.") Gaiman was given the award "for advocating for freedom of expression worldwide and inspiring countless writers."{{cite web| url = https://locusmag.com/2019/01/gaiman-wins-writers-for-writers-award/| title = Gaiman Wins Writers for Writers Award| date = 8 January 2019}}

• 2020: Children's Literature Lecture Award

• Inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame in 2022.

• 2023: Time’s 100 most influential people in the world list{{cite news |url=https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2023/ |title=Time 100 |magazine=Time |date=13 April 2023 |access-date=15 April 2023 }}

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120417212254/http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2010/06/neil-gaiman-the-prospect-interview/ Neil Gaiman in conversation] with Tom Chatfield in Prospect magazine, 2010
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