Naturen er noget, der omgiver os konstant, og som vi normalt ikke er meget opmærksomme på, fordi den altid er der og går sin gang. Men hvis vi er omgivet af det, er det af en grund: Vi har brug for den for at leve. Planter giver os ilt til at trække vejret, dyr har deres eget økosystem, som vi forstyrrer til vores egen fordel. Dave McKean talte på den 25. Naples Comicon om et af sine seneste værker, Raptor: A Sokol Graphic Novel, hvor naturen er en vigtig del af hans inspiration. "I wrote and illustrated it from three strands of ideas," indrømmede han over for Gamereactor.
"I was very interested in a stream of nature writing, books about the natural world, but expressed in a very strong, almost political way, claiming the language of the earth, of ecology. There is one writer in particular, Robert McFarlane, at the centre of a whole series of wonderful books. I go walking every day and the natural world is very important to me.
En anden af hans inspirationskilder var den walisiske gyserforfatter Arthur Mappin. "His life was very moving, the death of his wife led him to believe that there was another realm, another place he could reach to see her again, a supernatural world around us. I don't believe that, but he, in his mourning, felt he could reach her, and I was really moved by his story," siger McKean.
Den tredje gren af hans grafiske roman handler om politiske kræfter og den kaotiske verden omkring os. "I wanted to try to make sense of it for myself, not write a specifically political book. I think politics in England is very different from politics in Italy or America, it's hard to generalise. What I think is true is that in all of them money corrupts and corrupts all politics absolutely," forklarer forfatteren "These three strands seemed to talk to each other and it became a book.
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