80s through early 90s colouring, at least within DC (I'm not familiar enough with that of other publishers from that time), tended toward the garish, for some reason. It's visible not only in The Sandman original issues and early trade editions, but also in Eclipse's original Miracleman run (both the colourized Marvelman stories from the Warrior magazine era and the new issues). In the case of both titles, digital recolouring has toned things down so the colours, while still vibrant, aren't gaudy as such.