The Sandman

This is the series of graphic novels written by Neil Gaiman (and much contributed to by artists, etc, whom I know nothing about.)

So far, this is the only graphic novel I have read, so I can't really tell you how it compares to other graphic novels, but the awards it has won probably testifies to its quality almost as well as I could. According to Wikipedia, it is the only comic book to ever win the World Fantasy Award and one of the few comic books to ever make it on the New York Times Bestseller List.

Well, I'm really just drawing a blank here...what can I say?

Gaiman is at his best in these stories. The world he creates becomes not just something the reader wants to believe, but something the reader can believe, an achievement made all the greater by the inclusion and morphing of so many religions and mythologies.

If you love Neil Gaiman already, you need to read The Sandman. If you don't know who Neil Gaiman is yet, go read something he wrote in a more respected medium, fall in love with him, then read The Sandman.