Unless it's a commission, I never sell my original art. It's a problem I have -- letting go.
I've been lucky enough to have generous people ask to buy my published art but I never sell it. It's embarrassing. I can't let go. It's kept me in the land of cheap eats and holes in t-shirts but I find it difficult to put a price on the art I create.
The last original piece of art I drew and sold was for a charity at Baltimore Comicon in 2019 (my favorite comix show). It was The Red Hook and Blacksad. Someone at the auction bought it for forty bucks.
Forty bucks.
That made me feel bad. I should've bought my own art back for $41 and kept it in my archive.
Come this Fall, the finale of my "New Brooklyn Saga" (featuring The Red Hook) bows with "PTSD: Post-Traumatic Superhero Disorder" at Webtoon, and I have no current prospects. The comix landscape has shifted so much. Especially the business of comix. I don't know where I stand anymore. To be honest, I never did and it's always kept me on my toes.
Maybe it's time to let go.
At the end of May, I turned 54. We celebrated my birthday in Coney Island where I rode the life-affirming Cyclone rollercoaster. Nathan's Famous kept us grounded as we crashed bumper cars, got haunted by the Spook-A-Rama, played ski-ball and circled The Wonder Wheel. It was a great day.
I chatted with the fellas at the Cinemental podcast about Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor in John Huston's adaptation of Carson McCullers' RELECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE.
And, we talked about Harmony Korine'sSPRING BREAKERS starring James Franco, Selena Gomez & Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine, featuring an infectious song by Skrillex.
Nightwork studio mate Whitney Matheson and I fell down a press release rabbit hole and recorded three different sessions that yielded a lot more than just PR:
My father, James Haspiel was written about in Cindy Adams' column in the NY Post. He's currently dealing with critical back and leg pain. Please send him some healing thoughts. Thanks.
Read "TAP TAP TAP,"Larry O'Neil's tribute to his father, the late/great Denny O'Neil (legendary comic book writer and editor who helped give me my first big break in comics), in THE GREEN ARROW 80TH ANNIVERSARY (published by DC Comics)
You can also read an interview Larry did about his father and tribute via Comic Book Resources.
Bleeding Cool wrote about it, too, suggesting Larry's tribute might win awards. I agree.
NIGHTWORK Studio: my multimedia collaboration project with Whitney Matheson.
SCENE BY SCENE WITH JOSH & DEAN, podcast with Josh Neufeld that breaks down the film American Splendor,Harvey Pekar's legacy & growing up making comix in NYC.
