Tom De Haven

Tom De Haven (born 1949) is an American author, editor, journalist, and writing teacher. His recurring subjects include literary and film noir, the Hollywood studio system and the American comics industry. De Haven is noted for his comics-themed novels, including the Derby Dugan trilogy and It's Superman!.

Life and career De Haven was born in Bayonne, New Jersey.

De Haven originally wanted to be a cartoonist before attending college, but by the time he graduated from the university, he realized that he would never be a professional cartoonist, and considers the realization "the First Great Disappointment of My Life".

The author noted in an interview that he agreed with Robert Crumb's observation that the Thirties was the pinnacle of American culture. He also notes in the same interview that he finds truth to Art Spiegelman's statement "that we are, for whatever reason, most nostalgic for the decade before the one we were born in", as he was born in the Forties. The Boston Globe hails the trilogy as a "wild ride".

In 2005, his novel It's Superman! reinvented the early years of the well-known superhero of the same name amidst the Great Depression. The author noted his initial apprehension when he was contacted by DC Comics in 1997 in regards to writing a novel about Superman: "hould I do a novel with a character that I don't own? So I had to think about it, but I didn't think about it very long, really. I just thought [...] this is too good to let go [...] they were giving me carte blanche." His novel, Depression Funnies, received an American Book Award in 1997. Dugan Under Ground received the Library of Virginia Fiction Award (also called the Library of Virginia Literary Awards).

Works

Novels Adult fiction Freaks' Amour (1979) Jersey Luck: A Novel (1980) The Funny Papers Trilogy Funny Papers (1985) Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies (1996) Dugan Under Ground: A Novel (2001) Joe Gosh (1988) Pixie Meat (1990) Chronicles of the King's Tramp Walker of Worlds (1991) End-Of-Everything Man (1992) The Last Human (1992) It's Superman! (2005)

Children's and Young Adult fiction The Orphan's Tent (part of mult-author Chill series) (1986) U.S.S.A.: Book 1 (part of multi-author U.S.S.A. series) (1987)

Comics Neuromancer: the Graphic Novel, Volume 1 (1989) (adapted with Bruce Jensen from the novel by William Gibson) Green Candles (with artist Robin Smith, Paradox Graphic Mystery series) (1997) Love By Labor Lost (2010) (Co-writer, with David Kantor, illustrated by Kelly Alder)

Short fiction collections Sunburn Lake (1990)

Television Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (1986) "One Million Emotions" (1986) "Galaxy Stranger" (1986) "Rainmaker" (1986)

Nonfiction "In Flagrante Delicto" "Out in the Big Empty Spaces" Our Hero: Superman on Earth (part of the Icons of America series, 2011)