Comics the Dean Haspiel Way

This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on July 25, 2006 Sign up now!

by Chris Arrant, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 7/25/2006

Dean Haspiel has been prominent in the world of comics since the late 1980s, but he's not the kind of artist whose work can be easily pegged on any single style or type of book. Some of his most popular work can be found in his collaborations with Harvey Pekar on American Splendor and on last year's original graphic novel The Quitter. Best known as an alternative cartoonist, he's the creator of the lyrical mock-libertarian hero Billy Dogma. But he's also done drawings for such superhero comics as Batman and Spider-man, while also contributing comics to magazines like Spin, Playboy, Nickelodeonand High Times.

He uses the word "comix" to describe his work and points to comics works of the 1960s and 1970s as his big influences. Haspiel's work evokes some of the classic stylings of the legendary Jack Kirby: bold, thick linework is combined with kinetic physical posturings in drawings that threaten to keep moving right off the page. An artist that can create his own work or collaborate with a variety of writers, Haspiel offers a versatile style not often found on a single resume.

PW Comics Week: You're an anomaly of sorts. In America, comic creators are focused on either superhero comics or so called "art comix," but you have bucked that trend and found success in both areas. Is this a conscious decision on your part, or simply the way it goes?

Dean Haspiel: I've made a very conscious effort to not be identified by any specific genre, franchise and/or "art comix" trend. I grew up reading Marvel and DC Comics, Yummy Fur, American Splendor, Shazam and The Spirit. I don't think a comic book reader-cum-creator growing up in the late 1970s/early 1980s can get more diverse influences than that. Couple that with working for [veteran comics artists] Howard Chaykin, Bill Sienkiewicz and Walter Simonson, comix makers with polar diverse sensibilities, and I'm a recipe for anomaly. In many ways, not being pegged is great because it means I'm not resting on laurels and being hired to repeat myself. The downside of never having had a surefire hit is that some editors don't know how to hire me, so I'm a marketing risk. Yet, time and time again, I hustle gigs, get the job done and prove myself.

PWCW: You mentioned time spent learning your craft under Chaykin, Sienkiewicz and Simonson. Can you tell us about the experience working side by side with them?

DH: I befriended Larry O'Neil in the early 1980s at Music and Art High School in Harlem, N.Y., and soon discovered that his father was legendary comic book writer/editor Denny O'Neil. In the course of [Larry and my] friendship, Larry's dad got wind that Howard Chaykin was looking for an assistant at Upstart Studios [which, at the time, also housed James Sherman and Walter Simonson] and Larry got the gig. Down the hall from Upstart was [comics artists] Bill Sienkiewicz and Denys Cowan, among others. Bill needed an assistant and Larry put in a good word for me and I got the gig. Over the course of a year, I worked with Sienkiewicz on New Mutants and Elektra: Assassin, and then split Sienkiewicz for Chaykin and worked for Howard on American Flagg! with Larry. Once in a while, I would assist Simonson on Thor. Overall, the experience was life altering and rich with comix-making knowledge.

PWCW: What's on your drawing table today?

DH: I've got five panels drawn for the next episode of Immortal, my free weekly Web-comix strip for Act-i-vate [an online comics serial]. Otherwise, I'm currently on page 21 of a 40-page comix adaptation of R.L. Stein's Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes for Scholastic Graphix' Goosebumps: Scary Summer anthology. And, I'm on page three of a new Harvey Pekar story for American Splendor #2 for Vertigo. Toggling between projects can be quite schizophrenic, but it keeps the artwork fresh.

PWCW: Let's talk about that Goosebumps adaptation. What led you to this story in particular, and what's it about?

DH: Last fall, my schedule was opening up for the summer, and I got news from my pal/cartoonist, Greg Ruth, that he was drawing a Goosebumps graphic novel and I wanted to know more about it. So Greg hooked me up with Scholastic Graphix editor Sheila Keenan, and she took an instant liking to my stuff. At first I feared condensing 120 pages of classic kids literature into 40 pages of comix. I thought it would be a daunting task, but I wanted the challenge. I figured, if I could translate Harvey Pekar's handwritten hieroglyphics into The Quitter, I could most certainly adapt a pre-existing story from one medium to another. The process has been incredibly enlightening and taught me narrative short cuts I'd never considered while making sure to maintain the integrity of the original story. Sheila and Scholastic have been a pleasure to work with, and I hope to create original graphic novels for them down the road.

PWCW: You've had a long friendship and partnership with Harvey Pekar. How would you describe your relationship with him?

DH: American Splendor was one of the very first examples that proved to me that comix could be about anything. It was in Keyhole that I first tried my hand at telling autobiographical stories and, later, the "best of" those tales were collected into the Eisner Award-nominated Opposable Thumbs. Since then, my writing has focused on fictionalizing the truth by making it more universal. However, over the years, I am gratefully afforded to scratch the semi-autobio itch by interpreting Harvey Pekar's uniquely domestic stories and being a part of an art force that represents the life of a Cleveland Heights, Ohio, man. Not many authors can lay claim to showing and telling their near entire existence in comix form. Dollars to doughnuts, Harvey Pekar has set some kind of Guinness Book "world record" with over 30 years of American Splendor stories, et al., in print. And, with that in mind, there's plenty more to tell, and I aim to help the old guy tell 'em.

PWCW: A project close to your heart is the webcomic Immortal for the virtual studio Act-i-vate. Can you tell us about it?

DH: I must admit, when I started Immortal I had no idea where I was going with it. Nothing was mapped out. I tapped into hard feelings I needed to express, and once I had a bunch of episodes strung together, I realized I was making a small epic. Immortal explores the rigors of high romance in a lost town at a crossroads where the men are swaggering bruisers and thuggish chumps and the women are crass dames and sassy broads. Crank the noir up a few notches by making the protagonists metaphorical titans of love in a pathological war of woo, and all hell breaks loose. I'm curious what happens when the hyperidiosyncrasies of two lovers take on a public persona and how that sends their town into a tailspin of nigh-apocalyptic proportions. Turns out, Immortal is about loyalty to a fault and rectifying irresponsible behavior and the excruciating steps it takes to change, reconcile and learn how to love each other right. It's my most honest and proud work to date and I plan to negotiate it into a graphic novel with an appropriate publisher, soon.

PWCW: With all the paying work out there you're getting, why's it so important to set aside time for this project?

DH: As much as I enjoy collaborating with some of my favorite writers on original graphic novels, it's important for me to express my fiction, too. My dream is to draw and write my own comix full-time. And, because I love so many Marvel and DC Comics characters, I often cite the careers of artists like Frank Miller, Jeff Smith or Paul Pope as something to strive for. My own comix projects, like Billy Dogma by way of Immortal, and other concepts like A-Okay Cool, Volcano Girl, Opposable Thumbs and any graphic novels I chose to create will hopefully be the stuff I can focus on in the near future. Projects like Immortal take me one step closer to achieving my dreams.

PWCW: After you finish the Goosebumps comic adaptation, you've got a collaboration with underground cartoonist Jay Lynch and New Yorker art director Francoise Mouly. Can you tell us about that?

DH: Believe it or not, I received one of those once in a lifetime letters where an authority in high art solicited my lowbrow sensibilities for work. New Yorker art director Francoise Mouly dared to declare me "one of the great artists of the generation." How could I turn her down with an opening line like that? Then Francoise ups the ante by matching me up with legendary underground cartoonist Jay Lynch. I'm collaborating with Jay on an original kids book for a new reading series developed by Raw Jr. for children ages 5-7. We've already nailed the concept and edited a final draft before I start character designs and layouts. Once I'm finished with my Goosebumps adaptation, I will immediately hop into working on the tentatively titled The Mighty Mojo.

PWCW: Another project you have in the loop is a collaboration with writer Jonathan Ames on an original graphic novel called The Alcoholic for Vertigo. What can readers expect with that?

DH: Fans of Jonathan Ames know he's a Renaissance man, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Jonathan would decide to tackle the comix form. Our collaboration promises to bring out each other's artistic virtues while creating an original clash [of sensibilities] on paper. I'm an expert in showing a story, while Jonathan is a god of words and timing. Caramelize some of Jonathan's more wild adventures into an episodic series of humorous binges and blackouts caused by the pain of a broken heart, and you have the origins of The Alcoholic. A tale of misadventure, opportunity, slapstick and redemption.

PWCW: In your free time, you're been working on a self-described "Brooklyn art memoir" called Lift Here to Open based on your blog. As a Brooklyn resident, how does doing comics and living in Brooklyn affect your work differently from say, living in the rural countryside?

DH: Moving to Brooklyn from my native Manhattan almost a decade ago was the best leap of faith I ever made. Except for the occasional semi-autobio comix story, I never intended to keep a public diary or report regular events of my life. Sparking a blog was a way for me to stay in touch with school chums of mine while dealing with the newness of working full-time freelance from home, alone. With my blog I was able to parlay with my virtual office mates while massaging my inner narcissist and work to develop a tribal, 24-hour community. I discovered that I liked to type and hype more than I should and blogging provided the obvious platform.

And when you have a plethora of personal meanderings, you can excavate a good 200 pages worth of anecdotal gold into an intriguing tome for anthropological enthusiasts. People love to read about people. Heck, Jack Kerouac and Henry Miller were the original bloggers, and they did okay in print. It was the work of Jonathan Ames, Tim Hall, and Charles Bukowski's The Captain Is Out to Lunch and the Sailor's Have Taken Over The Ship that inspired me to consider creating a personal essay collection. Ergo, my proposed Brooklyn art memoir, Lift Here to Open, which is slowly being shaped into something tight yet substantial for folks who might dig reading about a comix bruiser living in New York.