New York Comicon 2024
Tourist Trap, Hour of the Wolf, and Toxic Avenger
The rush of reading stories out loud to folks in a packed room gets me every time. I love a line up of writers spinning yarns. You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine. It's akin to live theater. A literary gong show of sorts. You can feel it when something is working — and when it isn’t. I like what a story can do and how it can prompt people. Get them talking. Revealing something naughty or nice. Telling tall tales just to see the look on your face. Suffice it to say, I had a grand time sharing stories about my late neighbor and my late brother at the Scrappy Reading Series in Red Hook, BK/NY.
Big Ups to Heather Quinlan for inviting me to participate in her new series, SCREAM YOUR ENTHUSIASM, at HiLobrow. I wrote about one of my favorite horror movies, Tourist Trap!
Excerpt:
It was the mid-1980s and I was channel-surfing the few available to us. As luck would have it, I turned to WPIX-TV—and stumbled upon a spooky scene halfway into Tourist Trap. A large man wearing a female face with a blonde wig chases a young woman in the woods taunting, “Wait, little girl. Be my friend!” He hurls a decapitated mannequin head at her. Suddenly, the head comes alive and starts to howl her name: “Molly!!!”
I was petrified yet elated. A large man wearing a face and wig? Had I found my new Leatherface?
Wait - what does Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre have to do with Tourist Trap?
Read the rest of it HERE.
I drew an exclusive variant cover for Hour of The Wolf #1, created by Mark London, Danilo Beyruth, Fabi Marques, Dave Sharpe, and published by Mad Cave. It’s comes out October 23, 2024.
What’s it about?
When Owen Blackwood is called across time to a seemingly normal home to destroy a haunted painting, it didn’t feel like anything out of the ordinary to this agent of Wolvenheart. Upon arrival, however, Owen finds himself trapped in the very painting he was called to destroy. With only a one hour window of time in which to operate, will Owen be able to save the family from certain death and destroy the painting? Or will he get lost in time and become a cross-dimensional walking ghost?
Click HERE for more info.
I also drew a variant cover for Mat Bors and Fred Harper's Toxic Avenger #2 published by Ahoy! That comes out November 13th, 2024.
What’s it about?
Continuing the 21st-century reinvention of New Jersey's classic monster/hero. Once one of Melvin (pre-Toxie) Junko's high school tormentors, Pluto is now more disgustingly transformed than even the Toxic Avenger himself! This can only lead to the brutal, ghastly monster fight you've been waiting for!
Click HERE for more info.
From Todd Solondz's Happiness to Onur Tukel's The Misogynists, actor Dylan Baker has courageously embodied vile, cringe inducing characters, giving unexpected gravitas and empathy to complicated monsters. He should portray The Joker someday! It was an honor to meet one of my favorite actors at the Roxy Cinema the other night.
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I sat next to actor John Amos at The Russian-Turkish Bathhouse in NYC (years ago). I was Jack Nicholson to his Will Sampson, like that famous scene with a pack of Juicy Fruit gum in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. I let him know how much I admired his work and he acknowledged me with a grunt while taking in the steam. Below is a link to one of the most heartbreaking scenes in television history. Anybody who knew John Amos and/or his work will feel the same way. Rest In Peace, brother.
I’ve hardly seen Jen Ferguson as she’s been hunkered down in her DUMBO studio the last month painting a gaggle of new art for her new exhibition in Los Gatos, CA this coming Saturday, October 19th, 2024. From Brooklyn to the Bay Area, Jen will be featured at Enoteca La Storia, accompanied by fine wine and fancy food. Please visit (tickets are limited) if you’re in town.
DETAILS HERE
I'll be at New York Comicon 2024 this weekend in Artists Alley sharing table # H-27 with fabulous Nick Bertozzi from October 17th - 20th. I'll have copies of my recently self-published comix, including The Red Hook x Dean Haspiel, Billy Dogma + Jane Legit, and Covid Cop.
Ask me about my new comix Kickstarter launching October 23rd!
Love,
—Dean
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Following the new Kickstarter! Your mention of WPIX brought back so many memories, I discovered so many movies on that channel. XD