Dean Haspiel's Newsletter #7

(reading at the inaugural "Secret Salon" in Carroll Gardens)

SHHHH: Gather your friends, family & peers around a milk crate or fire. Read your stories to each other (fiction, works-in-progress, text exchanges, the truth). Maybe give each other a monthly prompt; a word, phrase or query to ignite a new ditty for next time. Be vulnerable. Be bold. Afterwords, play a board game and cards (CODE NAMES and SKULL). Hop outside and live new stories. Order in pizza & Chinese food and watch a late night B-movie. Snuggle & crash. Sleep the sleep of lions. Then do it again, TOGETHER.

(The Red Hook & The Coney pay respect to those who can't be with us)

Postcards From The Edge 2020: 22nd annual benefit sale and exhibition of original postcard-size art works. All proceeds support Visual AIDS work to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy because AIDS is not over.

MIRTH & MERRIMENT: Jen Ferguson is selling Xmas arts & crafts at Marché d'Hîver Holiday Baazar at Boreum Hill School (284 Baltic Street BK/NY 11201) on Sunday, Dec 15th, 10am - 5pm.

AND, you're invited to our annual comix studio holiday party at Mary O's (32 Avenue A, NYC 10009) on Weds., Dec. 18th, starting @9pm.

"Meh."
"I'll never get those two hours back."
"What they should have done was..."

KEEP IT REAL. Whether corporate- or creator-owned, "they" can do whatever they want to, and you don't have to like it. Art & entertainment is supposed to be challenging, and sometimes it can be offensive (sometimes on purpose). But not everything is gonna be for everyone. Sure, you won't like some things you watch, read, and listen to, but do you really need those "two-hours back?" 

Think about that the next time you peruse your smart phone: Watch two hours fly by staring at a tsunami of data and images (not that there's anything wrong with that ~ welcome to A.D.D.). I encourage and welcome good, healthy, constructive criticism (and you can always vote with your wallet), but remember that it took a lot of sweat, blood, tears, imagination, innovation, money, and sometimes someone's life savings to make that thing you think sucks rotten eggs. Dollars to donuts, no one sets out to make something bad. Can't more people show a modicum of respect and think twice before they publish how much they loathed something? Turn me on, not off. 

Now, go take a risk: Make something you care about. Show it to strangers. See what happens.

A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING: I don't remember who gave me my first comic book but, when I was very young, the newsstand across the street from my upper west side apartment in Manhattan sold comics in front of a church.

Once a week I picked up new superhero comics like Shazam!, Spider-man, Daredevil, Green Lantern, Iron Man, Hulk, Batman, and The Uncanny X-men. The Fantastic Four, and Marvel Two-In-One were my favorite. A few years later I discovered She-Hulk and Camelot 3000 at West Side Comics (where I sometimes saw Mark Hamill shopping with his kid in a stroller), Marvel Fanfare and back issues at Funny Business, Judge Dredd at Forbidden Planet, and American Splendor and Yummy Fur at Soho Zat. And then I became aware of St. Mark's Comics.

I don't remember meeting Mitch Cutler, the owner of St. Mark's Comics, for the first time. But, he was (still is) a bespectacled, mild-mannered guy who knew comics inside and out. The first retailer I could talk to honestly about the state and business of comics before I ever got published.

After being an assistant to Bill Sienkiewicz, Howard Chaykin, and Walter Simonson on The New Mutants, Elektra: Assassin, American Flagg!, and The Mighty Thor, respectfully, in 1985, I produced my first published comic, a co-creation with writer Martin Powell called The Verdict in 1987. But, it wasn't real until I saw it on the racks at St. Mark's Comics. I remember how proud Mitch was of me. I went from fan to professional in St. Mark's Comics. But, the truth is, I'm still just a fan. We all are.

I spent many years shopping at St. Mark's Comics, famous for its punk rock yet knowledgeable staff. My fondest memory is my first signing there when St. Mark's Comics moved down to the street level. I can't remember what comic book I was promoting (probably Keyhole #1 with Josh Neufeld), but a table and chairs had been set up for me and a few other cartoonists. And, I remember, distinctly, the jarring sound of a baseball bat slamming down on the floor, over and over again. Not in rapid succession, but intermittently. Out of the blue. The slamming of wood on linoleum would suddenly interrupt a thought or the punchline to a joke. Mitch was walking up and down the aisle with a baseball bat, tapping the floor as hard as he could to ward off potential thieves and criminals.

At the time, I felt Mitch's scare tactic was annoying. I suspect a patron or two might have picked up a comic and fearfully returned it upon Mitch's looming threat and kindly exited the premises. I was a tad perturbed but, oddly, it remains my favorite memory of St. Mark's Comics.

On the heels of St. Mark's Comics shuttering February of this year, after an honorable 36-year run on the lower east side, as the lower east side transitions into something culturally unrecognizable and, frankly, abominable, I'd like to think that Mitch was acting as comics' guardian. A defender of cool and what is good in life. Like Marvel Comics' all-seeing demi-god, Heimdall, Mitch was on the look-out and doing his best to protect the sanctity of comics while disguised as a bespectacled, mild-mannered comic book shop owner with a baseball bat.

Thank you, Mitch. THANKS, St. Mark's Comics.

--Dino

PS -- These days, JHU Comics is my regular comix shoppe and a better, kinder staff I've never met.

Listen to SCENE BY SCENE WITH JOSH & DEAN, the podcast that breaks down American Splendor the movie, Josh Neufeld & Dean Haspiel's relationship with the late/great Harvey Pekar, and growing up in NYC learning to make comix.

Read THE RED HOOK saga for free at Webtoon:
Season 1:  THE RED HOOK
Season 2:  WAR CRY
Season 3: STARCROSS

THE RED HOOK vol.1 New Brooklyn is also available at ComiXology
THE RED HOOK series published by Image Comics

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