Neil Gaiman has written a lot of stuff. Novels, short stories, movies, television shows, commentaries, comic books.

Comic books gave Gaiman his start. His “Sandman” for DC Comics remains dually legendary and timely 30 years later. Note the popularity of the ongoing Audible series and reports of a developing Netflix television adaptation of “Sandman.”

And though he’s increased the breadth of how he tells stories, Gaiman has never completely left comics.

Dark Horse Comics recently celebrated Gaiman’s contributions to its comic book company by collecting them in three volumes of “The Neil Gaiman Library.”

The “Library” contains some pretty heady stuff. Some of Gaiman’s Dark Horse work involves adaptations of his already penned short stories, some is work created originally for the comics.

“Volume I” contains four stories as well as pages of creative notes, artist designs, etc. Enough material to fill more than 300 pages. 

The stories are:

– “A Study in Emerald,” a mystery tale combining the Victorian world of Sherlock Holmes as skewed by H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulu. 

– “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” where something as common as a well-told coming-of-age tale is nicely blended with something otherworldly.

– “Murder Mysteries” has a man meeting a fallen angel who trades a story of a time before the world in exchange for a cigarette … and possibly something more.

– “Forbidden Brides” turns the conceit of what we consider normal and fantasy, the mundane and the horrific, on its head. Imagine what Edgar Allan Poe would write about if he lived in a world that looked like something created by, well, Poe.

The volume contains great illustrations by artists such as P. Craig Russell, Rafael Albuquerque, Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba, Rafael Scavone, Shane Oakley.

“Volume I” is a treasure for regular Gaiman readers and could prove a magnificent find for someone just being introduced to Gaiman. And if readers enjoy what they find here, there are two more volumes of “The Neil Gaiman Library” to find and read.