Netflix's Sandman lures the comics' iconic cover artist Dave McKean back for more

The release of Netflix’s much-anticipated adaptation of Sandman is less than a couple of weeks away, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some surprises left for the show to reveal to delight fans of the property. For example, at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday afternoon during Netflix's Sandman panel, Neil Gaiman revealed that his longtime collaborator Dave McKean will be contributing to the series in an unexpected way.

Gaiman told an eager crowd at Hall H that, while McKean had officially retired from creating artwork connected with the Sandman after contributing cover artwork to the title since its 1989 debut, he knew that the artist should be attached in some manner to the Netflix show. To that end, McKean has created unique closing credits for each episode of the ten-part series – an announcement that prompted both Gaiman and showrunner Allan Heinberg to plead to the crowd to, for once, not skip the closing credits of each episode.

While he’s primarily known as a visual artist concentrating on static images, McKean has a lengthy history of working with moving parts. In the past, he’s created concept art and animation for the 1996 television series Neverwhere (written by Gaiman), as well as directed the 2005 movie Mirrormask from a Gaiman script. Additionally, he’s directed short films as well as the features The Gospel of Us and Luna.

McKean’s Sandman art ran through all 75 issues of the original series and their multiple collected editions, as well as variant covers for the Sandman: Overture miniseries, cover artwork for two hardcover collections of his Sandman artwork, and covers for the original run of The Dreaming.

Netflix’s The Sandman debuts August 5.

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