Billy Dogma - 'Sex Planet'.
Dean Haspiel is an American alternative comic book artist, best-known for his semi-autobiographical work, like his signature series 'Keyhole' (1995-1998). The protagonist Billy Dogma became a recurring anti-hero in many of Haspiel's later stories. Haspiel was also also a regular contributor to Harvey Pekar's 'American Splendor'.
Early life and career
Dean Haspiel was born in 1967 in New York City, where he graduated from theThe High School of Music & Art/Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in 1985. He made his first steps in the comic book industry as an assistant of Howard Chaykin on 'American Flagg!', Bill Sienkiewicz on 'New Mutants' and 'Elektra: Assassin', and Walter Simonson on 'Thor' in the mid-1980s. Haspiel later attended the State University of New York at Purchase, where he majored in illustration and film. He made his professional debut during his study years, co-creating 'The Verdict' with Martin Powell for Eternity Comics in 1987.
Keyhole
With Josh Neufeld, Haspiel developed the black-and-white alternative comic book 'Keyhole' (1995), presented as a two-man anthology. The initial run consisted of four mini comics, after which six full-sized issues were published by Millennium Publications and then Top Shelf Productions between 1996 to 1998. Some stories were made by Neufeld and Haspiel together, others are solo endeavors. 'Keyhole' was inspired by Harvey Pekar's 'American Splendor' and 'Love and Rockets' by Los Bros Hernandez, featuring autobiographical stories, or otherwise slice-of-life stories with fictional characters. Haspiel created the one-page feature 'Travel Tips', some personal memories visualized in short comics, but made the strongest impression with the character Billy Dogma.
'Opposable Thumbs'.
Billy Dogma
In 'Keyhole', Billy Dogma is a gruff tough guy, who fancies himself a superhero, but is actually more an emotionally conflicted individual, guided too much by his immature fantasies. Often he sees violence as the only way to solve an issue. Readers learn that Billy also has a soft spot for his girlfriend Jane, making him more relatable and ultimately pitiful. Apart from the 'Keyhole' comic book itself, 'Billy Dogma' also ran as a weekly comic strip in an Seattle altrnative newspaper.
Billy Dogma made additional appearances in later works by Haspiel, including 'Billy Dogma' (3 issues at Millennium Publications, 1997), 'Daydream Lullabies: A Billy Dogma Experience', (Top Shelf, 1999), 'Boy in My Pocket: The Billy Dogma Experience' (Top Shelf, 2000), 'Aim to Dazzle' (Alternative Comics, 2004) and 'Brawl', a 3-issue miniseries with Michel Fiffe (Image Comics, 2007).
The author was nominated for an Eisner Award for his groundbreaking semi-autobiographical comic 'Opposable Thumbs' (Alternative Comics, 2001), about a born-and-bred New Yorker and the trials and tribulations of living in the big bad city. He was also nominated for an Ignatz Award for 'Aim to Dazzle' (Alternative Comics, 2004).
Cover illustrations for Keyhole 5 and American Splendor.
SLC Punk
In 1998, James Merendino directed the punk movie 'SLC Punk!' (1998), which later developed a cult following. Haspiel adapted the story into a comic book, 'SLC Punk!', published by Southampton Press. In a 20 June 2013 interview conducted by Dan Greenfield for New York Post, Haspiel said that while he "dug the film", he considered the comic book to be an old shame.
American Splendor
Haspiel has worked regularly with Harvey Pekar on the autobiographical 'American Splendor' series, first from 1999 to 2001, and then from 2006 to 2009. They also created the non-fiction graphic novel 'The Quitter' in 2005.
With writer Jonathan Ames, Haspiel released his graphic novel 'The Alcoholic' at DC/Vertigo in 2008.
Another notable collaboration was with Jay Lynch, with whom Haspiel made 'Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever' for Toon Books in 2008.
Cuba: My Revolution
In 2010, he illustrated the semi-autobiographical novel 'Cuba: My Revolution' (2010, Vertigo), written by Inverna Lockpez and colorized by José Villarubia. The comic is a coming-of-age story about teenager Sonya who lives through Fidel Castro's Communist takeover of Cuba in 1959 and the CIA's failed attempt to stage a coup against Castro in the Bay of Pigs (1961). Gradually she loses her ideals about the revolution and its new regime. The book gained wide media coverage.
'The Quitter'.
Graphic contributions
Dino, as Dean Haspiel is often called, has also contributed to anthologies like 'Bizarro Comics' (DC, 2001), 'The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist' (Dark Horse Comics, 2003 and 2008) and 'Alternative Comics' (2003-2005). He has done singles issues and stories for several Marvel comic books, such as 'X-Men Unlimited' #40 (2003), 'Spider-Man's Tangled Web' #20 (2003), 'Cyclops' #1 (2011), 'X-Men: First Class - Class Portraits' (2011) and 'The Amazing Spider-Man' #692 (2012). Dean Haspiel has worked with writer Evan Dorkin on Marvel's 4-issue mini-series 'The Thing: Night Falls on Yancy Street' in 2003. He additionally made features like 'Video King', 'Mummy Monster Sign' and 'The Scuzzbournes' for Nickelodeon Magazine, 'Thor's Day' for Shuttle Sheet magazine and 'Pot Monkeys' for High Times magazine. In 2015, Haspiel made five issues of the superhero comic 'The Fox' for Archie Comics with writer Mark Waid.
'Cuba: My Revolution'.
Webcomics
Haspiel is also one of the USA's more prominent authors of webcomics. In 2006, Haspiel was one of the founders of ACT-I-VATE, a webcomics collective, which also featured work by Dan Goldman, Nick Bertozzi, Michel Fiffe, Leland Purvis, Nikki Cook, Tim Hamilton, and Josh Neufeld. Among Haspiel's contributions to the group were new 'Billy Dogma' serials like 'Immortal' (2006) and 'Fear, My Dear' (2007). Haspiel published his webcomic 'Street Code' on DC's webcomics imprint Zuda Comics in 2008, and in that same year he edited the webcomic anthology 'Next-Door Neighbor' for Smith Magazine. Tor.com ran his webcomic with writer Tim Hall, 'The Last Mortician', in 2011. In that same year, Haspiel spearheaded the online platform 'Trip City', which is described as "a Brooklyn-filtered, multimedia, literary arts salon featuring free regular exclusive content created by a fellowship of 21st Century auteurs".
Recognition
Haspiel received critical acclaim and an Emmy Award for his main title designs for the HBO show 'Bored to Death' in 2010. In 2017 he won a Ringo Award for 'The Red Hook' (2017).
Books about Dean Haspiel
A monograph called 'Dean Haspiel: The Early Years' was written by Christopher Irving and published by IDW/Graphic NYC Presents in 2010.
'The Thing: Night Falls on Nancy Street'.