McKean, Dave

The Graveyard Book

Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place-he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their timely ghostly teachings-like the ability to Fade.

Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead? And then there are things like ghouls that aren't really one thing or the other.

This chilling tale is Neil Gaiman's first full-length novel for middle-grade readers since the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed Coraline. Like Coraline, this book is sure to enchant and surprise young readers as well as Neil Gaiman's legion of adult fans.

The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 2

THE SANDMAN, written by New York Times best-selling authorNeil Gaiman, was the most acclaimed comic book title of the 1990s.A richblend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction,historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven, THE SANDMAN is also widely considered one of the most original and artistically ambitiousseries of themodern age. By the time it concluded in 1996, it had made significantcontributions to the artistic maturity of comic books and had become a popculture phenomenon in its own right.Now, DC Comics is proud to present this comics classic in an all-newAbsolute Edition format. The second of four beautifully designed slipcasedvolumes, THE ABSOLUTESANDMAN VOL. 2 collects twenty tales of THE SANDMAN and features completelynew coloring, approved by the author, as well as never-before-seen extramaterial.

Coraline

Coraline lives with her preoccupied parents in part of a huge old house--a house so huge that other people live in it, too... round, old former actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible and their aging Highland terriers ("We trod the boards, luvvy") and the mustachioed old man under the roof ("'The reason you cannot see the mouse circus,' said the man upstairs, 'is that the mice are not yet ready and rehearsed.'") Coraline contents herself for weeks with exploring the vast garden and grounds. But with a little rain she becomes bored--so bored that she begins to count everything blue (153), the windows (21), and the doors (14). And it is the 14th door that--sometimes blocked with a wall of bricks--opens up for Coraline into an entirely alternate universe. Now, if you're thinking fondly of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, you're on the wrong track. Neil Gaiman's Coraline is far darker, far stranger, playing on our deepest fears. And, like Roald Dahl's work, it is delicious.

What's on the other side of the door? A distorted-mirror world, containing presumably everything Coraline has ever dreamed of... people who pronounce her name correctly (not "Caroline"), delicious meals (not like her father's overblown "recipes"), an unusually pink and green bedroom (not like her dull one), and plenty of horrible (very un-boring) marvels, like a man made out of live rats. The creepiest part, however, is her mirrored parents, her "other mother" and her "other father"--people who look just like her own parents, but with big, shiny, black button eyes, paper-white skin... and a keen desire to keep her on their side of the door. To make creepy creepier, Coraline has been illustrated masterfully in scritchy, terrifying ink drawings by British mixed-media artist and Sandman cover illustrator Dave McKean. This delightful, funny, haunting, scary as heck, fairy-tale novel is about as fine as they come. Highly recommended. (Ages 11 and older) --Karin Snelson

In Coraline's family's new flat there's a locked door. On the other side is a brick wall—until Coraline unlocks the door . . . and finds a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.

Only different.

The food is better there. Books have pictures that writhe and crawl and shimmer. And there's another mother and father there who want Coraline to be their little girl. They want to change her and keep her with them. . . . Forever.

Coraline is an extraordinary fairy tale/nightmare from the uniquely skewed imagination of #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman.

Contains half a dozen e-book extras, not available in the standard print edition, including facsimile pages of Neil Gaiman's Coraline notebook and additional illustrations by Dave McKean. Terry Pratchett: "Coraline has the delicate horror of the finest fairy tales, and it is a masterpiece." The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring... In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close. The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own. Only it's different. At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself. Critically acclaimed and award-winning author Neil Gaiman will delight readers with his first novel for all ages.

Death: The High Cost of Living

The Wolves in the Walls

Truth be told, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's picture book The Wolves in the Walls is terrifying. Sure, the story is fairytale-like and presented in a jaunty, casually nonsensical way, but it is absolutely the stuff of nightmares. Lucy hears wolves hustling, bustling, crinkling, and crackling in the walls of the old house where her family lives, but no one believes her. Her mother says it's mice, her brother says bats, and her father says what everyone seems to say, "If the wolves come out of the walls, it's all over." Lucy remains convinced, as is her beloved pig-puppet, and her worst fears are confirmed when the wolves actually do come out of the walls.

Up to this point, McKean's illustrations are spectacular, sinister collages awash in golden sepia tones evocative of the creepy beauty in The City of Lost Children. The wolves explode into the story in scratchy pen-and-ink, all jaws and eyes. The family flees to the cold, moonlit garden, where they ponder their future. (Her brother suggests, for example, that they escape to outer space where there's "nothing but foozles and squossucks for billions of miles.") Lucy wants to live in her own house...and she wants the pig-puppet she left behind.

Eventually she talks her family into moving back into the once-wolfish walls, where they peek out at the wolves who are watching their television and spilling popcorn on slices of toast and jam, dashing up the stairs, and wearing their clothes. When the family can't stand it anymore, they burst forth from the walls, scaring the wolves, who shout, "And when the people come out of the walls, it's all over!" The wolves flee and everything goes back to normal...until the tidy ending when Lucy hears "a noise that sounded exactly like an elephant trying not to sneeze." Adult fans of this talented pair will revel in the quirky story and its darkly gorgeous, deliciously shadowy trappings, but the young or faint of heart, beware! (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson

Lucy hears sneaking, creeping,
crumpling noises
coming from inside
the walls.

She is sure there are
wolves living in
the walls
of her house.

The Homecoming (Wonderfully Illustrated Short Pieces)

Illustrated classics for adults! Here, Collins Design's WISP series pairs two legendary creators–writer Ray Bradbury and artist Dave McKean–to create an irresistible package perfect for Halloween and all year 'round.

The WISP series (Wonderfully Illustrated Short Pieces) represents an ingenious marriage of two creative forces: the artistry of today's foremost illustrators and the literary legacy of beloved authors of popular short works for adults. The resulting offspring of this union are captivating, full–color illustrated editions of timeless classics that readers will want to savor and collect.

For the first time ever, the series makes selected popular short works previously offered only in collections available in a unique, stand–alone format. Also for the first time, WISPs harness the talents of top illustrators for the benefit and delight of a new, older audience.

This WISP presents Ray Bradbury's The Homecoming, a little boy's tale of his family reunion of vampires. This story was initially published in 1946 and later refashioned into further stories. Bringing this story to life are the wondrous illustrations of Dave McKean, whose delightful artwork perfectly matches the tale.

These one–of–a–kind, attractively priced and invitingly formatted illustrated editions will make a great impulse buy and appeal to a broad audience.

Lye Street (Deepgate Codex)

Alan Campbell has graced us with a 26,000 word novella, a prequel to his stunning fantasy debut, Scar Night, the first novel of the Deepgate Codex. Lye Street ends just where the novel picks up!

The Greene family is cursed. Every fifty years Deepgate s scarred angel, Carnival, returns to murder another descendant. Now, five hundred years after the first victim s death, Sal Greene is facing his own doom. His time has almost run out. In a desperate attempt to break the chain of violence and save his family, he summons a demon to the chained city: a warrior he hopes is powerful enough to stand against the angel.

Yet the creature which arrives in Deepgate is not quite the legendary mercenary Sal Greene was expecting.

Fables and Reflections (Sandman, Book 6)

Black Cocktail

Cages

One of the all-time best and most highly acclaimed graphic novels ever is now, finally, back in print! The first print was a quick sell-out from Kitchen Sink before they disappeared. Dave McKean, famous for Arkham Asylum and his covers for Sandman, presents a highly allegorical tale of the dwellers of an apartment building. They each have their own lives, their own takes on life and these intertwine and relate inevitably to each other in ways that make life¹s mystery. Running in parallel lines or tangentially, the differing lives each have their own tale to tell under the magic spin of McKean¹s brilliant imagery and story-telling. It¹s about a blocked painter, a controversial novelist and a wise musician. It may be about God, about jazz, about sex, but also about creativity and artistic fulfillment. A seminal work that proved, rather refreshingly without artifice, how thought-provoking comic art can be.