McKean and "Sandman"

What is the significance of McKean's cover art in "Sandman"

Of all the bizarre imagery in the first volume of Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" imprint, entitled "Preludes and Nocturnes," the most striking visuals in my opinion are the fantastic cover art pieces created by Dave McKean. Of course, there is a practical reason that the art is so different: McKean is more of a traditional artist than a comic book artist, having worked in film, photography, and design, but the covers he has created resonate with the comic medium while still providing unique representations of Lucifer, Dream, and other characters from the comic. the little shadowboxes that line the edges of the pages form a sort of paneling that mirrors the comic while still providing something much more abstract and realistic. The use of shadowboxes is interesting because the medium in a way echoes the themes of darkness and shadow in the graphic novel and is reminiscent of the dark palette which regularly surrounds the protagonist throughout the story.

What is the significance of the artifacts, relics, trinkets, and other objects located in the shadowboxes in McKean's covers for "Sandman"?

The use of these abstract objects, often unexplained or even difficult to identify, deepens the sense of the mysterious that is found in the series and also serves to locate this sense of mystery within the object. Tying significance to objects is a theme found in the first six issues of Gaiman's "Sandman," which the protagonist Dream spends trying to recollect the artifacts of his office, which are laden with both symbolic power and a very tangible, "actual" power as well. The plot teaches us to regard these sorts of objects (a mask, a pouch of sand, a jewel) with suspicion, interest, and wariness, and we are thus invited by McKean to regard the objects in his illustrations in the same way.


In the chapter "A Hope in Hell" for instance, the shadowboxes are filled with burnt and charred pages that appear to come from either Milton's "Paradise Lost" or Dante's "Divine Comedy," both classic pieces of literature which describe a descent into Hell. That the pages are burnt evokes the power of Hell so evident in the chapter, the memory of fire without actually visually showing the fire itself. McKean does a fantastic job of capturing that sense of the ominous which the reader encounters regularly throughout "Preludes and Nocturnes".