'Annotated Sandman' Editor Leslie Klinger Talks Other Projects

Expert researcher and editor Leslie S. Klinger is best known for his Edgar-winning book "The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes" and the critically acclaimed "New Annotated Dracula." He was also a technical consultant on both of Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes" movies. Klinger's latest project was putting together "The Annotated Sandman" for Vertigo Comics. I had the opportunity to talk to Klinger about his extensive work providing notes and commentary for the groundbreaking and legendary comic book series.

Have you been a consultant on any other comic book projects?

I've been a consultant on a number of comic books. There are probably half a dozen Dracula and Sherlock Holmes comic books including "Victorian Undead," "Sherlock Holmes: Year One," "The Trial of Sherlock Holmes," and a series called "The Complete Dracula" by John Reppion and Leah Moore for Dynamite Entertainment. There's also a terrific sequel to "Dracula" written by a friend of mine called "Harker."

These are all graphic novels or comic books. I was a consultant on all of them. [I] basically read the scripts, gave comments, made suggestions, and all that. I was a consultant on another one that's just come out for a younger audience called "The Baker Street Irregulars."

If you had your choice of another comic book, graphic novel, or character you could do an annotated version of, what or who would it be?

I would do "Watchmen" in a heartbeat. [That's] another wonderful literate work. If it had to be something longer I might say "Swamp Thing" or "Hellblazer." There's so many. It's funny. Several years ago a friend of mine wanted me to write a biography of Superman and I thought about it long and hard. I finally realized that the problem with Superman is that there have been so many retroactive changes with him. It's not really a consistent arc and you can't do it. I'll stick with "Watchmen" and "Hellblazer."

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Eric Shirey is the founder and editor of Rondo Award nominated movie and comic book news websites MovieGeekFeed.com and TheSpectralRealm.com. His work has been featured on Yahoo!, DC Comics, StarWars.com, and other national entertainment websites. Besides his three decades long obsession with everything sci-fi, horror, and fantasy related in TV and movies, Eric has what some would call an unhealthy love for comic books. This has led him to interviewing and covering legendary writers and artists in the medium like Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder, Steve Niles, Bernie Wrightson, and Howard Chaykin.