Dean Haspiel

Dean Edmund Haspiel (born May 31, 1967, in New York City) is an American comic book artist, writer, and playwright. He is known for creating Billy Dogma, The Red Hook, and for his collaborations with writer Harvey Pekar on his American Splendor series as well as the graphic novel The Quitter, and for his collaborations with Jonathan Ames on The Alcoholic and HBO's Bored to Death. He has been nominated for numerous Eisner Awards, and won a 2010 Emmy Award for TV design work.

Early life Haspiel grew up on Manhattan's Upper West Side and attended The High School of Music & Art/Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, graduating in 1985.

In the mid-1980s, Haspiel worked at Upstart Associates (a shared studio space on West 29th Street in New York City) as an assistant for Howard Chaykin on American Flagg! and for Walter Simonson on Thor; he also worked (at a different studio) as an assistant for Bill Sienkiewicz on New Mutants and Elektra: Assassin. Haspiel went on to co-create the two-man comics anthology Keyhole with cartoonist Josh Neufeld (a fellow graduate of LaGuardia High School). and has appeared in a number of comics and graphic novels since then, published by the likes of Top Shelf Productions, Alternative Comics, Z2 Comics, and Hang Dai Editions.

Haspiel was a long-time collaborator with Harvey Pekar on American Splendor. The culmination of their work together was the 104-page nonfiction graphic novel The Quitter, published by Vertigo in 2005.

In 2006 Haspiel spearheaded the foundation of ACT-I-VATE, a webcomics collective which featured the works of founding members Haspiel, Dan Goldman, Nick Bertozzi, Michel Fiffe, Leland Purvis, Nikki Cook, Tim Hamilton, and Josh Neufeld. (In 2009, IDW Publishing published the ACT-I-VATE Primer, which featured an original Haspiel story as well as work by other members of the collective.)

In fall 2008, Vertigo released the original graphic novel The Alcoholic, written by Jonathan Ames and drawn by Haspiel; the book was re-issued in 2018. Also in 2008, Françoise Mouly's Toon Books published Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever, written by Jay Lynch and drawn by Haspiel. In 2008, Haspiel serialized Street Code, a webcomic for Zuda Comics, after editing the webcomics anthology Next-Door Neighbor for SMITH Magazine.

In 2010, IDW/Graphic NYC Presents published the monograph Dean Haspiel: The Early Years, by writer Christopher Irving. That same year, Haspiel illustrated Inverna Lockpez's Cuba: My Revolution, published by Vertigo. The book was covered by, among others, NPR's Tell Me More, the New York Post, and Graphic Novel Reporter. Also in 2010, Haspiel won an Emmy Award for outstanding main title design for the HBO show Bored to Death.

In 2011, Haspiel helped spearhead the creation of Trip City, "a Brooklyn-filtered, multimedia, literary arts salon featuring free regular exclusive content created by a fellowship of 21st Century auteurs." For a period, it was the online home of new Haspiel comics and postings. Haspiel's Fear, My Dear: A Billy Dogma Experience was published by Z2 Comics in 2014.

Beginning in 2016, Haspiel wrote and drew the serialized webcomic The Red Hook, about a master thief living in the "New Brooklyn Universe," for Webtoon. The series ran for four seasons before ending in 2021.

In 2019, Haspiel and long-time collaborator Josh Neufeld launched a weekly podcast, Scene by Scene with Josh & Dean, that focused on Harvey Pekar and the American Splendor movie.