Daniel by Ryan Kelly

"Sandman" was the first non-superhero comic book that I read and I've continued to love the character and those stories. When I can, I've asked artists to draw Dream and other members of the Endless (my favorite being Desire). This is the second of 2 commissions - this first was of Morpheus and this one shows Daniel. Intending to display them together, I asked Ryan for similar or related backgrounds and to include 2 common elements: a gem and a raven. In the first piece, Morpheus wears a ruby and is accompanied by the raven Matthew. Here, Daniel has the emerald "eagle stone" around his neck and beckons to his white raven Tethys. I'm grateful to Ryan for taking time to do these before TCAF. He'd written on his blog that he was feeling burned out after C2E2 with commission requests and his own projects. These are already among the best that I own but his extra effort makes me treasure them even more! (Toronto Comic Arts Festival, 05/2010)