Just what the world needs

Neil Gaiman gave NPR a lengthy interview about The Sandman: Overture, a prequel series to his long-running Sandman comic book series. I'm mildly stoked about the idea, but why on earth was Dave McKean only given the "variant cover"? Admittedly, I like the new cover, too, but McKean's artwork was what attracted me to the Sandman series in the first place, and I'm a big believer in sticking with what works.