Twenty-five years after The Sandman, Neil Gaiman's critically acclaimed series of graphic novels, first appeared, the award-winning author is returning to the books that helped make his name.

The very first Sandman comic, published in 1988, tells the story of how Morpheus, or Dream, is captured and imprisoned by an occultist. Gaiman stopped writing the popular and award-winning books more than 10 years ago, but announced yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con that, in 2013, a new mini-series will tell the story of Morpheus before he was captured. JH Williams, who has worked on Batwoman and Promethea, will illustrate the new stories, which will be published by DC Comics' imprint Vertigo.

"When I finished writing The Sandman, there was one tale still untold – the story of what had happened to Morpheus to allow him to be so easily captured in The Sandman No 1, and why he was returned from far away, exhausted beyond imagining, and dressed for war. It was a story that we discussed telling for Sandman's 20th anniversary … but the time got away from us. And now, with Sandman's 25th anniversary year coming up, I'm delighted, and nervous, that that story is finally going to be told," said Gaiman.

In a video announcement about the news, the novelist admitted that the book had "been an incredibly long time coming". "It was one of the few stories that I actually felt, when I finished Sandman, that I had failed because I had not told [it], and I'm really looking forward to telling it," he said.

Vertigo executive editor Karen Berger described The Sandman series as Gaiman's "dark, soulful, literary epic that transformed comics and continues to captivate countless new readers year after year". The graphic novels are some of the few comics to have made the New York Times bestseller lists, and one issue, Dream Country: A Midsummer Night's Dream, won a World Fantasy award. The series' fans include Norman Mailer, who said of the books: "Along with all else, Sandman is a comic strip for intellectuals, and I say it's about time."

• The picture on this article was changed on 15 July 2012 because the original showed the wrong Sandman character.