When I was 7 years old, I fell in love with the cool girl at camp. She was 14, with a shaved head, an ankh necklace, and a copy of The Sandman. Neil Gaiman has been my favorite author ever since.

One of the coolest moments of my career was when, last spring, Neil twittered me and asked me to draw a poem poster for him. I agonized over it for months. Nothing seemed good enough. I tore through tent cities, researched Canaanite gods. At long last, here it is, ready to present to you. It’s one of my favorite illustrations ever.

This is a 10″ x 22″ full-color bleed print illustrating Neil’s dark mirage of a tale DESERT WIND. It’s designed by Nicola Black, one of my fave collaborators.

You can pre-order it tomorrow, Friday April 2, 2010 at 4 pm PST where, for a full twenty-four hours, it will be priced at $28.00 instead of the $38.00 that it will retail for.

$5.00 from each print will go to the COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND.

Cat Mihos, the headmistress of the convocation of coolness that is Neverwear, gave me a sweet interview too.