Egyptian symbol worn by
Death in the award winning
comic book series by
Neil Gaiman,
Sandman.
Interpretations of the ankh vary; the
simplest definition being
life. Some also
believe that it represented
balance - specifically the balance between life and death, though also the balance of
man and
woman.
The
key to it all was that you could not have life without the existance of death - the two hold each other in check.
As for
why Mike Dringenberg, the
artist who developed the
image of Death for Gaiman and Sandman, chose the ankh in his visual
interpretation of Death:
"Part of that simply came out of the ankh being in vogue at the time. I also like the irony, though, because the ankh is the Egyptian symbol for life; and in some other cultures it became a symbol for immortality."
-- taken from The Sandman Companion, by Hy Bender. Copyright 1999.