I picked this up after watching the first few episodes of the Netflix series, but it was very disappointing. I understand that, from the perspective of the late 80s, a comic book that was not a superhero story was something new and imaginative, but yikes. Some installments worked well--especially the last one, where we meet Death--but some were just plain weird. I'm not sure how much of this is my not knowing how to really read comic books, and how much of it is 'this is volume 1 and Gaiman was still finding his feet'. Gaiman's own afterword suggests that there is a lot of the latter, and my sister, who is much better at graphic novel reading than I am, says the same. So I'll continue reading it--it's not like it's a huge time commitment after all--but hmmph. 

I think, oddly, that what I find most disappointing is the artwork. A lot of it seems quite rough and sketchy, and many of the panels are cramped. I was so struck by the beautiful cinematography of the Netflix series, and repeatedly thought to myself 'Oh, this visual, this shot, must absolutely be making reference to iconic panels from the source text'. But, um, no. So, good job visual artists at Netflix, well done! But I did want better art in the comic book. What's the point of a comic book if you don't like the art? Might as well just have a regular novel and benefit from the improved flexibility of plot and narrative and dialogue and length and complexity of story. Cheaper to print, too.