Death the Endless (Patreon)

Neil Gaiman is one of those authors that is so deeply influential that there's no way around it. Neverwhere was my first Gaiman book and I loved it so hard that it was very clearly the inspiration point for my comic Finder's Keepers. Ocean at the End of the Lane is one of the most poignant things I've ever read. But perhaps the most iconic Gaiman influence was when he depicted Death as a small waif of a punk rock goth girl.