Alan Watts by South Park creators (All in one in HD)

Neil Gaiman's Sandman returns for prequel A quarter-century after his ground-breaking Sandman comic was launched, Neil Gaiman is returning to the character that made him famous with a six-issue prequel about Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams. Gaiman – currently basking in the glory of phenomenal reviews and booming sales for his first adult novel in eight years, The Ocean at the End of the Lane – has penned a limited series that tells a new story about the much-loved character he created for DC comics in 1988 and which ran for 75 issues. Sandman was initially published as part of the main DC comics line but in 1993 was incorporated into the publisher's new Vertigo imprint which offered edgier, more adult comics. The first issue introduced Morpheus, or Dream, one of the immortal siblings known as the Endless. The ruler of a kingdom known as the Dreaming, the character was an instant hit, and when Gaiman introduced Dream's sister Death as a cocksure goth girl he won over a legion of fans seemingly for ever.

Steep Canyon Rangers & Steve Martin - Letterman Why a Bukowski-Sondheim Musical Makes Sense Left, Eckarth Palutke/Huntington Library via Associated Press; Peter Kramer/Associated PressLeft, Charles Bukowski in 1980; Stephen Sondheim in 2007. It’s hard to imagine the writings of Charles Bukowski, the dyspeptic poet of drink and loneliness, being set to a jaunty musical theater score. (Five, six, seven, eight – “Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead” – and jazz hands, chorus!) That is, unless you’re Joanne Gordon, the artistic director of the California Repertory Company in Long Beach. Ms. “They’re the two icons of my artistic life,” Ms. “I met Hank,” she said, referring to Mr. She e-mailed Mr. “They seem like such an unlikely pair,” Ms. “I keep talking in contradictions,” she added, “but I think that’s what was exciting about both their work.” Ms.