Dean Edmund Haspiel (born May 31, 1967) is a comic book artist living in Brooklyn, New York. He is known for his collaborations with writer Harvey Pekar on his American Splendor series as well as the graphic novel The Quitter. He has been nominated for numerous Eisner Awards, and won a 2010 Emmy Award for TV design work.
Haspiel was born May 31, 1967 in New York City. He grew up on Manhattan's Upper West Side and attended The High School of Music & Art/Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, graduating in 1985.
In the mid-1980s, Haspiel worked as an assistant to Howard Chaykin on American Flagg!, Bill Sienkiewicz on New Mutants and Assassin, and Walter Simonson on Thor. Later, Haspiel attended the State University of New York at Purchase, first majoring in illustration and eventually switching to film.
In 1987, while still an undergraduate, Haspiel inaugurated his professional comics career when he co-created The Verdict with Martin Powell. Haspiel went on to co-create the two-man comics anthology Keyhole with cartoonist Josh Neufeld.
Haspiel's "last romantic anti-hero" Billy Dogma debuted in Keyhole, and has appeared in a number of comics since then, published by Top Shelf Productions and Alternative Comics. Recent works starring Billy Dogma include Brawl a "creature romance double feature" mini-series with Michel Fiffe for Image Comics; and "Sex Planet," a Billy Dogma interlude for Popgun volume 2 (also published by Image).
Haspiel was a long-time collaborator with Harvey Pekar on American Splendor. The culmination of their work together was The Quitter, published by Vertigo in 2005. In fall 2008, Vertigo released the original graphic novel The Alcoholic, written by Jonathan Ames and drawn by Haspiel. Also in 2008, Françoise Mouly's Toon Books published Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever, written by Jay Lynch and drawn by Haspiel. Haspiel is currently serializing Street Code, a webcomic for Zuda Comics, after editing the webcomics anthology Next-Door Neighbor for SMITH Magazine.
