Motor City Comic Con
The Tin Man, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Smoke Monster + more
Back in February 2022, I was invited by the kind folks at HiLobrow to write about my enthusiasm for a certain sidekick of which I’m sharing here…
TIN MAN
Born in the late 1960s, I grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan watching a lot of syndicated television. I was supposed to identify with Captain Kirk, Batman, the Fonz, and the Six Million Dollar Man but my first action hero was an adolescent badass named Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz.
Dorothy didn’t have a phaser or a Batmobile, a cool leather jacket or a bionic eye. But she could sing, assassinate witches, and transport through time and space with the click of her red ruby heels. More importantly, she made friends with vulnerable outliers. One of her pals was an axe-wielding woodsman made out of tin who she helped resurrect from a rusty bout with self-doubt. And he was missing a heart! Jack Haley’s rendition of the Tin Man in the 1939 film was emotional and charming. I had an immediate affection for the character that lingers to this day.
I played the Tin Man in my elementary school musical production of The Wizard Of Oz and, like the rust that almost kept him eternally frozen by a yellow brick road, I was paralyzed with fear to be on stage in front of my parents and peers. One could misconstrue my nervous stuttering and embarrassing dance moves with method acting, but I was simply too shy. It took many years to construct a faux bravado, a veritable tin skin to help quell public shame and anxiety.
When I wasn’t putting my G.I. Joe and Star Trek action figures through imaginary rigmaroles with my late brother, Michael, I was reading comic books that often featured matters of the heart. In Jack Kirby’s post-apocalyptic comic book series, Kamandi, a character named Ben Boxer had a Cyclo-Heart, a fission chamber that, upon punching his chest, altered the atomic structure of his body to protect himself from deadly radiation. Another Jack Kirby co-creation was The Fantastic Four featuring Benjamin J. Grimm, a pilot irradiated by cosmic rays and mutated into a rocky golem feared by society. But he had a heart of gold.
My empathy for other misunderstood misfits with heartfelt intentions like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein monster and Boo Radley from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird manifested in my own complicated work when I became a cartoonist and, later on, a playwright.
I created an avatar named Billy Dogma, the last romantic antihero, who is attracted to conflict and trades love bombs with his paramour, Jane Legit. Later on, I created Sam Brosia aka The Red Hook, a thief who is bequeathed the Omni-Fist of Altruism by a dying demigod who wraps his hand around his heart to insure he’s good for goodness sake. In my play Harakiri Kane, a pugilist cum reluctant angel of death with amnesia uncovers the truth of his mortal demise and tries to beat death at its own game, only to fall in love with its most prized acolyte. In my play, The War of Woo, a demon recruits a posse of New Yorkers to help kidnap Satan in hopes of brokering a romantic treaty with God to merge Heaven and Hell.
What started as an infatuation with The Tin Man has turned into a lifetime of excavating the emotional truths about love, life, and death. In The Wizard Of Oz, the Tin Man tells Dorothy, “A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”
I think it cuts both ways.
I saw Mike Nichols' brilliant adaptation of Edward Albee's Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at Film Forum in NYC last week. I've seen it many times but never in a theater with strangers. Intellectually and emotionally brutal, the film got a lot more laughs than I expected. And, overall, confirmed to me that it is absolutely, 100% a love story. One of my favorite movies.
The event also featured author Philip Gefter, who wrote Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in live conversation with filmmaker Tamara Jenkins (Slums Of Beverly Hills). Afterwards, Jenkins was in the lobby showing some people an old movie magazine that showed behind-the-scenes filming of Woolf, and I brought up the unconventional film making style of Elaine May's Mikey And Nicky.
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Eons ago, I saw author Paul Auster (RIP) read at a school benefit in Park Slope, BK/NY. During the Q&A I asked him about writing an original graphic novel and he said that he loved the comix adaptation of City Of Glass (adapted by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli) but he wasn't very interested in pursuing the medium. Someone else asked Auster about his writing process and any tips he might have writing a long form story, and he offered that when you're done writing for the day, leave your text with a question. That way it keeps you interested in discovering the answer the next time you sit down to confront your story.
I've used that helpful method many times for my solo work and for certain collaborations. I believe comic book writer/friend/collaborator, Mark Waid has admitted to writing characters into a corner at the end of any given issue sans solution, leaving the reader to debate an impossible cliffhanger. A conundrum that Waid wasn't sure how the hero was gonna get out of until he picked up where he left off — energizing creative juices.
Whitney Matheson's pocket-sized short story collection, Trudy Sellout, is FOR SALE!
Sharing a studio with Whitney makes me privy to most of what she's working on and it's TRULY INSPIRING. I hope her first collection becomes a series of collections (and then a book) — that's how many wonderful stories she’s written, thus far. That, plus her upcoming memoir, plays and comix! Whitney’s a regular renaissance woman. Read "The Smoke Monster", the latest chapter from her memoir. And be sure to subscribe to her newsletter for more enchanting life elucidations.
Magma announced they're publishing Joey Esposito and Sean Von Gorman's new comic book series, The Pedestrian — of which I drew a variant cover for.
“Behold, The Pedestrian! A strange visitor speedwalks into Summer City and silently changes the lives of its residents. But not all is quiet in this sleepy, small town—an ancient conflict linked to the secret history of street signs is brewing! DON’T WALK… RUN! In The Pedestrian, justice always has the right of way!”
Learn more about The Pedestrian HERE
I'm a guest at Motor City Comic Con this weekend (May 17th - 19th, 2024), and I will be in Artist’s Alley (table E4) and doing a panel about “creator owned comics” on Sunday with cartoonist/raconteur, Billy Tucci.
BILLY TUCCI & DEAN HASPIEL
Sunday from 12:30PM-1:30PM • CORNERSTONE IV
Creator Owned Comics - Billy Tucci and Dean Haspiel are two of the most prolific independent creators in the industry. Learn about how they crafted their characters,
pitched them to publishers, and gained an audience.
Grosse Pointe, Michigan is my mother’s old stomping grounds, but I hope to see you in Motor City!
—Dean
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This was absolutely refreshing and beautiful! Now I would love to experience Motor City Comic Con if only once in my life. Saving this post for reference Thank you for sharing!
Beautiful writing, Dean. I agree, Dorothy is an incredible hero figure and I love the Tim Man and his wisdom. I’d pay anything to go back in time to whisper some encouragement to young Dean as Tin Man, waiting to walk out onto the stage! Have fun in Detroit!