Volpone
Zombie Hunter
My first definite encounter with Sandman was issue #8: "The Sound of Her Wings"--the first issue with Death. They'd just finished the 7 issue run, introducing Morpheus and it was a sort of breather, leading into the ongoing series. I was at a party that was winding down and it was on an end table. Sat down on the floor at the party and read it cover to cover. Went to the comic book shop the next day to get the first issue of "The Doll's House" arc.
In retrospect, I was in a comic book shop in another town months earlier and they had a point of purchase display on the counter by the register. As I was paying for my purchase, I asked the guy about it. He said "Oh, it's some limited run. I think it's about over." If he'd done a better job selling--or any job at all--I wouldn't have had to track down back issues of 1-8.
) and ducking into a cafe (in the early '90s, before Starbuck's put a bullet in the head of neat coffee houses) to read the issue of The Wake where Delirium speaks at the wake. I was young enough that I didn't cry easily but I definitely cried over that issue, right there in an awesome late 20th century coffee house that's name evades me.