Episode 264 – Dean Haspiel

Virtual Memories Show 264:
Dean Haspiel

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“I decided at age 12 that I wanted to dedicate my life to making comics, so I became otherwise unemployable.”

Cartoonist and playwright Dean Haspiel joins the show to talk about his new play, The Last Bar At The End Of The World (running April 10-15, 2018!) and how he looks at his life & career after turning 50. We get into his New Brooklyn series of webcomics, our mutual upbringing on superhero comics, the inherent lie of being a freelancer, his father’s friendship with Marilyn Monroe, writing for theater vs. comics, his devotion to Mamet’s On Directing Film, my theory that most of Tarantino’s movies are about acting, fulfilling his youthful dream of drawing the Fantastic Four, and the validity of Jack Kirby’s (apocryphal) statement, “Comics will break your heart.” Give it a listen! And go see The Last Bar At The End Of The World!

“As much as I’ve studied film and storytelling structure, I like to throw curveballs, because I think that’s what life is: a bunch of curveballs.”

“I think a lot of auteur artists are trying to arrive at a shorthand, a signature, a calligraphy, that lets you show stories.”

Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!

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About our Guest

Emmy and Ringo award winner Dean Haspiel has created the comic characters Billy Dogma, and The Red Hook. He illustrated for HBO’s Bored To Death, is a Yaddo fellow, a playwright, and helped pioneer personal webcomics. Dino has written, drawn and collaborated on many superheroes and literary graphic novels (including The Quitter with Harvey Pekar, and The Alcoholic with Jonathan Ames) for DC/Vertigo, Marvel, Archie, IDW, Dark Horse, Heavy Metal, LINE Webtoons, and more. The Last Bar At The End Of The World is Dean’s third play, sharing a universe with his two other plays, Switch To Kill, and Harakiri Kane.

Credits: This episode’s music is Nothing’s Gonna Bring Me Down by David Baerwald, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at Dino’s apartment on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 Microphones feeding into a Zoom H5 digital recorder. I recorded the intro and outro on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Cloudlifter CL-1 and a Mackie Onyx Blackjack 2×2 USB Recording Interface. All processing and editing done in Adobe Audition CC. Photo of Dino by me. It’s on my instagram.