Sandman Presents: Petrefax (2000-) #1

PETREFAX takes us to Malegrise, a land with the look of 18th-century England and a culture of magic all its own, where nearly every citizen is a sorcerer. When the beautiful, stubborn Calcinia Smith tries to escape a forced marriage by using gypsy magic to feign her death, she becomes trapped in a physical limbo her soul intact, but her body dead and deteriorating fast. Hired to embalm her, Petrefax is now the only one who knows her secret and the only one who can keep her "alive" with his skills. Pulled into Calcinia's cross-country quest to escape her fate, Petrefax must contend with supernatural monsters, bigoted aristocrats, and the sorcerous wrath of her jilted groom in a rousing tale that finds humanity in magic, and humor in the trappings of death.