Death: The High Cost of Living

Death: The High Cost of Living
Cover of Death: The High Cost of Living TPB.
Art by Dave McKean, featuring Tori Amos.
Publication information
PublisherVertigo
FormatLimited series
Publication dateMarch – May 1993
No. of issues3
Main character(s)Death of the Endless
Creative team
Created byNeil Gaiman
Mike Dringenberg
Written byNeil Gaiman
Penciller(s)Chris Bachalo
Inker(s)Mark Buckingham
Letterer(s)Todd Klein
Colorist(s)Steve Oliff
Editor(s)Karen Berger
Lisa Aufenanger
Collected editions
HC (Nov 1993)ISBN 1-56389-132-8
TPB (Jun 1994)ISBN 1563891336

Death: The High Cost of Living is a 1993 comic book limited series written by Neil Gaiman with art by Chris Bachalo and Mark Buckingham. It is a spin-off from Gaiman's best-selling Vertigo Comics series The Sandman, featuring the Sandman (Dream)'s elder sister, Death of the Endless. Its premise is that Death takes human form once a century, to remain grounded and in touch with humanity,[1] an idea touched upon in several other media, for example in the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday and in the Terry Pratchett novel Reaper Man.

A movie based on this series has been in the works for several years in various stages of development and was in the works at New Line Cinema. Gaiman had previously confirmed that this movie was in progress and that he was planning on writing the script and directing it, with Guillermo del Toro as executive producer. The film was developed under the title Death and Me, but as of 2010 development was put on hold.

  1. ^ Irvine, Alex (2008). "Death". In Dougall, Alastair (ed.). The Vertigo Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. pp. 54–56. ISBN 978-0-7566-4122-1. OCLC 213309015.