''Cages'' is a ten-issue

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

limited series by

Dave McKean David McKean (born 29 December 1963) is an England, English artist. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art, and sculpture. McKean has illustrated works by authors such as S. F. Said, S.F. Said, ...

. It was published between 1990 and 1996, and later collected as a single volume. Cages is a story about artists, belief, creativity and cats, illustrated in a stripped-down pen and ink style.

Publication history

The first seven issues of the series were published by American publisher

Tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

(December 1990 - June 1993) and the last three by Kitchen Sink (August 1993 - May 1996).

Plot

Collected editions

Tundra collected the first three issues into one trade paperback in June 1991 (ISBN). ''Cages'' was eventually completely collected as a 500-page hardcover volume by

Kitchen Sink Press Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in hardcov ...

in 1998 (), and in a new edition by NBM Publishing in 2002 ().

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

published a softcover edition in July 2009 () and a hardcover in October 2010 ().

Awards

''Cages'' won two Harvey Awards, for "Best New Series" in 1992, when it was also nominated for "Special Award For Excellence In Presentation" and "Best Artist", and "Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work" in 1999. It was also nominated for the "Best Finite Series"

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

in 1993 and in the same year McKean was nominated for the "Best Cover Artist" Eisner Award for this work on ''Cages'' and '' Sandman''.

Film

McKean revealed, via his

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account, that he has been in talks concerning adapting ''Cages'' into an animated film.Dave McKean Reveals Animated 'Cages' Film In The Works
Splashpages,

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, October 21, 2009

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cages (Comics) Harvey Award winners for Best New Series 1998 graphic novels Ignatz Award winners for Outstanding Graphic Novel or Collection