Death: The High Cost of Living

Death: The High Cost of Living is a 1993 three-issue comic book limited series written by Neil Gaiman with art by Chris Bachalo and Mark Buckingham. It is a spin-off from Gaiman's best-selling Vertigo Comics series The Sandman, featuring the Sandman (Dream)'s elder sister, Death of the Endless. Its premise is that Death takes human form once a century, to remain grounded and in touch with humanity, an idea touched upon in several other media, for example in the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday and in the Terry Pratchett novel Reaper Man.

A film based on Death: The High Cost of Living was in the works for several years in various stages of development at New Line Cinema. Gaiman had previously confirmed that the film was in progress and that he was planning on writing the screenplay as well as directing it, with Guillermo del Toro as executive producer. The film was developed under the title Death and Me, but as of 2010 development was put on hold. In 2025, a television adaptation of Death: The High Cost of Living was released on July 31 as a special episode of The Sandman, featuring Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death, Colin Morgan as Sexton Furnival, Jonno Davies as Theo, and Clare Higgins as Mad Hettie.