Dean Haspiel Quick Questions
Dean Haspiel is one of our featured guests for STAPLE! 2007. Don't miss his talk on March 3rd, 2007 in Austin. See venue information and more featured guests.
Q1 (Courtesy of Bryan Lee O'Malley): What's the best food you have ever gotten to eat within a comics show or convention? (This is tricky because usually you can only eat stuff like Pepsi, cookies, bad pretzels, bad coffee, etc.)
Dean: There's a great Thai restaurant I enjoy in Bethesda, MD whenever I used to attend SPX [Small Press Expo]. I also enjoy a great Thai restaurant whenever I visit the San Diego Comicon. Baltimore Comicon has great Thai and New York City, home of MoCCA and NYCC, expands on every culinary menu the world has to offer, including great Thai. Hmm, I seem to be trapped in a trend...
STAPLE!: What was your first work in comics?
Dean: Besides assisting Bill Sienkiewicz, Howard Chaykin, and Walter Simonson, in 1985 on NEW MUTANTS, ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN, AMERICAN FLAGG!, and THOR [respectfully], my first published illustration work in comics was THE VERDICT, a 4-issue mini-series I co-created with writer Martin Powell published by Brian Marshall at Eternity Comics.
STAPLE!: In what ways does your life influence your art?
Dean: No matter how much I fictionalize stories in my comix, I make sure to balance it with the emotional truths I've experienced in real life so as to create universal connections in my narratives.
STAPLE!: What new artists or works (whether in comics or otherwise) excite you?
Dean: Alison Bechdel's FUN HOME changed the way I thought about comic book memoirs and I'm looking forward to more books like that. However, I'm still a superhero nerd and a huge fan of Frank Quitely's work and, even though Grant Morrison usually brings "the stuff," ALL-STAR SUPERMAN has been a great surprise. Brian K. Vaughan writes a serial like nobody's business and Paul Pope is an auteur to ape and admire. I'm enjoying most anything Sammy Harkham edits and draws and I wish Pete Sickman-Garner of HEY, MISTER fame would get back in the game. I recently read K. Thor Jensen's compelling RED EYE, BLACK EYE, and, I just picked up Miss Lasko-Gross' ESCAPE FROM SPECIAL and Jeff Smith's SHAZAM. Finally, I'm excited by all the web-comix at ACT-I-VATE, the comix blog studio/anthology that takes fresh stabs at the graphic novel medium on a daily basis for free: www.act-i-vate.com. Take a look at Michel Fiffe's PANORAMA or Leland Purvis' VULCAN & VISHNU or Jennifer Tong's ORIFICE, and you'll see what I mean.
STAPLE!: Have you got a good convention or show story you can tell us?
Dean: All good convention stories occur behind closed doors where they should stay under lock and key.
About Dean
Dean Haspiel is a native New Yorker and the author of super-psychedelic romances and semi-autobiographical comix who occasionally mangles franchise characters. Dean recently collaborated with Harvey Pekar on Vertigo's THE QUITTER, AMERICAN SPLENDOR, and is currently drawing various cool projects while manifesting weekly BILLY DOGMA web-comix for the online studio, ACT-I-VATE.
Please visit: http://www.deanhaspiel.com/