This is one of the most beautiful books ever made. Story and illustrations are the handiwork of the brilliant Mr. McKean, and have a subtle whirlwind beauty and thoughtfulness that is simply stupefying. Also, he draws adorable cats. ( )

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/... ( )

http://tinyurl.com/7o9hk

From Publishers Weekly

Best known for his work with Neil Gaiman, McKean is also an accomplished cartoonist in his own right. This is his magnum opus to date: an immense, pulsing graphic novel that's also a treatise on art, creativity and the uses and misuses of technique. Originally serialized between 1990 and 1996 (and collected in 1998), it's been out of print for several years. The book's plot is fairly rudimentary: a painter, a writer and a musician who live in the same apartment building find their lives intersecting. But the book's gradual shift from literalism to fanciful allegories and stories-within-stories mostly serves as the springboard for a visual tour de force. For most of the book, McKean restricts himself to wobbly, jagged two-tone pen-and-ink drawings, occasionally in the manner of Egon Schiele. But he often signals shifts in storytelling mode by switching media or style (to ink-wash brushwork, airbrushed photography, white-on-black "woodcuts," bold near-abstractions or whatever seems appropriate); when the artwork erupts into full-color paintings and collages, the effect is explosive. Even when the story falters or drifts into endless philosophical chitchat, McKean's artwork saves the day. His characters, built out of crazily bent lines and splatters, have perfectly choreographed body language, and his daring visual experiments serve the ideological goals of his writing.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

McKean is possibly the most widely known of the current artists creating comics for adults; he painted the covers of all 75 Sandman issues and has also drawn The Black Orchid and Violent Cases. Cages is the only work that McKean has both written and drawn, and he uses the opportunity to present a dialog on the rewards and hazards of creativity. Cages tells the story of three artists: Leo Sabarsky, a painter in need of inspiration; Angel, a nightclub musician who seems oblivious to the adulation of his fans; and Jonathan Rush, a writer whose novel Cages so enraged his readers that he now lives in captivity. How these characters break free of their mental cages forms the central conflict of this book, which evolves into a meditation on creativity and godhood. The artwork is dynamic and changes form as McKean feels appropriate. This is as much an art book as a narrative. If your library is only going to buy one graphic novel for adults this year, make it this one. For public and academic libraries. Stephen Weiner, Maynard P.L., MA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition. ( )