To commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of "The Sandman", Gaiman wrote a new tale involving the battle that had exhausted Morpheus prior to the beginning of the original story. Written by Gaiman and with art by J. H. Williams III, "" tells the previously hinted story of Dream's adventure prior to "Preludes and Nocturnes", which had exhausted him so much that it made Burgess' actions capable of capturing him. The limited series had six issues. Issue #1 was released on October 30, 2013, and although it was planned to have a bi-monthly release schedule, issue 2 was delayed until March 2014, which Gaiman explained was "mostly due to the giant signing tour I was on from June, and me not getting script written on the tour, with knock-on effects". Special editions were released approximately a month after the original editions, which contain interviews with the creative team, alongside rare artwork.