A few months ago, I noticed something of a bargain on Amazon.com: volume one of Absolute Sandman, collecting issues one to twenty of Neil Gaiman’s weird and wonderful The Sandman comic series in a very snazzy deluxe edition. When I say “comic”, this isn’t just some Beano effort, or well-worn tale of some superhero in tights, but an epic modern fable about the Prince of Dreams encompassing myth and history, ordinary life to the literal depths of hell, with wit and imagination and storytelling.

So when I saw the price tag for pre-order was reduced from $99 to $14.99, I quickly placed an order, believing it to be too good to be true! Alas, I was right. Amazon later emailed to say there had been a computer error, and that my order had been cancelled. I thought no more about it.

Until this morning, when I received an email saying “Your order has been dispatched”. Puzzled because I’ve not ordered anything recently, I read the email – telling me that my order for Absolute Sandman at $14.99 has been dispatched and should arrive across the Atlantic at the end of November! Woo hoo!

Including postage, that works out at a mere £13 for a 600+ oversized leatherbound, slipcased edition, with digitally recoloured artwork and including 70 pages of extras which has a UK RRP of £70. Jammy, or what?