It’s been far too long since I delved into Dave McKean’s strange and surreal artwork and even longer since I’ve engaged with the Sandman universe, so this was an excellent treat of a book to come in over Inter-Library Loan! This collection explores the work that McKean created for the later iterations of the Sandman universe books, including covers for the Dreaming, the Dead Boy Detectives, and the latest Sandman book itself: Overture (among others). Now, I haven’t read all of the books yet, since they’re not always the easiest to find outside of the internet (and ebooks are not my preferred medium), so I am sure that I’m missing some of the more subtle details that hint towards the actual storylines in comics like the Dreaming, but that doesn’t make the artwork itself any less enjoyable. McKean is so symbolically strange that even with the storylines revealed his artwork could likely be interpreted in a million different ways, so it was great fun to imagine all the forthcoming stories I’ll get to enjoy - even if they end up being totally different than what I’ve imagined. Familiar characters appear here as well, and it was a complete delight to stumble upon Marvin Pumpkinhead, Goldie, Cain & Abel, and my personal favourite, Matthew the Raven, many of whom I haven’t seen in years. I may just have to break out the e-reader and tackle some of the digital versions of the comics I have waiting, since my life needs more McKean (and the Sandman universe) STAT, and I don’t know if I can wait to order over the internet in this uncertain time... ( )