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Artist: Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth; Cages; Black Orchid; Signal to Noise; Celluloid; Violent Cases Cover artist: The Sandman; Hellblazer; The Dreaming; Black Orchid; Death: The High Cost of Living Attending: Saturday Afternoon Only A 21st century Renaissance Man, Dave McKean's talents and renown extend far beyond the world of comics to include photography, filmmaking, sculpture and music. Although he debuted with a contribution to Knockabout's Outrageous Tales From The Old Testament, the British artist's comics career really kicked into gear later in 1987 with the release of Violent Cases. Published by Britain's Titan Books, for whom the artist had already produced a handful of covers, the graphic novel was written by Neil Gaiman, a fellow Brit who would loom large in McKean's comics credits down the years. It led to McKean beginning a parallel career as a noted cover artist. Starting in 1988 with Hellblazer, he went on to produce numerous characteristic covers for a variety of DC titles, especially those that were brought under the Vertigo umbrella or were originated as part of that mature readers line. Among them wereThe Dreaming and Sandman Midnight Theatre but most prominent was The Sandman, the Gaiman-written series that became the imprint's cornerstone. McKean also provided covers for Black Orchid, the ongoing series spawned by the 1988 miniseries of the same name. Written by Gaiman and illustrated by McKean, the three-parter marked the pair's entrance into the US market but its significance was eclipsed by the publication a year later of the Grant Morrison-written Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. A huge commercial and critical success, the hardcover DC graphic novel was a mould-breaker that really put the artist on the map. Although he devoted much of his time covering DC comics, the British artist was increasingly in demand by other publishers for whom he would produce covers as well as the occasional strip for an anthology. Despite all that activity, in 1990 McKean began writing and drawing a creator-owned series. Initially published by Tundra but finished at Kitchen Sink, the 10-issue Cages wasn't completed until 1996. In 1992 McKean again got together with Gaiman; this time at Dark Horse for Signal to Noise. The graphic novel was a revised and expanded version of a serial the duo had produced for The Face magazine three years earlier. The artist, who has produced many album covers for a variety of bands and solo artists, also contributed to Freak Show, a 1992 Dark Horse anthology based on The Residents album of the same name. Two years later came another Gaiman-written graphic novel. Released by Vertigo,The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr Punch was followed in 1995 by Rolling Stones: Voodoo Lounge. Published under Marvel's short-lived Marvel Music label, the one-shot was written and drawn by Mackean, who reunited with Gaiman in 1996 to provide illustrations for the author's children's picture book The Day I swapped my Dad for 2 Goldfish. It was published by White Wolf while two similar books – The Wolves in the Walls and Crazy Hair – were released in 2003 and 2009, respectively, by Harper Collins, which also published 2002's Coraline and The Graveyard Book (2008), two Gaiman-authored children's novels that McKean also illustrated In 1999, Cyber Octave released The World of Buckethead one-shot. Written and drawn by McKean, the comic was part of a promotional campaign to promote the label's Monsters and Robots album by Buckethead. Six years later William Morrow released MirrorMask: The Illustrated Film Script, which was a tie-in with McKean's directorial debut, which the artist co-scripted with Gaiman. The same year The Alchemy of Mirrormask (a "making of" type book) was released. That was published by Collins Press for which McKean would subsequently illustrate 2006's The Homecoming, which featured Ray Bradbury stories. Two years later the artist returned to the master storyteller's tales to provide art for Subterranean Press's Skeletons with another Bradbury title, The Shop of the Mechanical Insects, following from the same publisher in 2009. McKean had continued to create a steady stream of covers for Vertigo but by the turn of the century The Dreaming – which ended in 2001 with #60 – was his only ongoing title for the DC imprint. By 2003, the artist (who had effectively created the Vertigo look) had all but ceased working for the label, his work outside the comics arena making more and more demands on his time. In 2011 he wrote and drew Celluloid, a graphic novel, for France's Delcourt. It was his last significant comics work although he continues to contribute to the occasional anthology while producing covers from time to time, most notably revisiting Vertigo in 2013 to cover the six issues of The Sandman: Overture. While renowned within the comics community for his unique approach to the medium, McKean has produced several books of his photographs. He has also illustrated books about his travels.