| David Heatley | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1974-10-17)October 17, 1974 (age 51) Teaneck, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist, Musician |
Notable works | My Brain is Hanging Upside Down Qualification |
| www | |
David Heatley (born October 17, 1974) is an Americancartoonist, illustrator, graphic designer, and musician.
Born inTeaneck, New Jersey,[1] Heatley graduated fromTeaneck High School in 1993. He graduated from theSan Francisco Art Institute in 2000.[2]
Though he studied painting and filmmaking atOberlin College, Heatley started drawing comics regularly in the late 1990s. Since then, his comics and illustrations have appeared on the cover ofThe New Yorker, inThe New York Times,McSweeney’s,Mome, andKramers Ergot, among others. He has been featured three times inThe Best American Comics series.Fantagraphics published two issues of his solo comic book series,Deadpan, which mostly featured Heatley's "dream comics", exploring his often sexual- and violence-tinged dreams in a straightforward, guileless style.
In September 2008,Pantheon Books released Heatley's first full-length book,My Brain is Hanging Upside Down. (Some of the material had originally appeared in such places asDeadpan,Mome,McSweeney's #13,The Best American Comics 2006,The Best American Comics 2007, andKramers Ergot #5.) A graphic memoir,My Brain is Hanging Upside Down employs an unfiltered candor that borders on the confessional, presenting Heatley's life story through six interconnected narrative threads: "Sex History," (every sexual encounter of his life, beginning as early as kindergarten), "Black History" (a brutally honest reflection on Heatley's own experiences with racism, confronting uncomfortable truths), "Portrait of My Mom" and "Portrait of My Dad" (comic strip-style vignettes that both critique and celebrate his endearingly dysfunctional parents), and "Family History" (tracing his family's lineage from the lives of his great-great-grandparents through to the birth of his own children).[3] Interwoven throughout these narratives are Heatley's "dream comics," which explore similar themes through surreal, unconscious logic. In his review forThe New York Times, criticDouglas Wolk wrote of the book that it "seems to encompass every uncomfortable thought he's ever had about sexuality, race and his family."[4]
In 2019, Pantheon released Heatley's second graphic memoir,Qualification: A Graphic Memoir in Twelve Steps, an exploration of his experiences withtwelve-step programs likeAlcoholics Anonymous,Overeaters Anonymous,Debtors Anonymous,Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, and more.[5]Reader's Digest citedQualification in its 2024 round-up of the 50 Best Graphic Novels for Adults.[6]
Also in 2019, Heatley self-published (in partnership with the Brooklyn retailerDesert Island)Amy, a 190-page graphic memoir that explores his intense, unrequited love for a teenage friend, and the profound, lasting effects it had on his life. (Some of Amy had been serialized by Heatley onInstagram.)[5] The limited-edition,digest-size work was printed in blue on arisograph.[7]
Heatley's high school band Velvet Cactus Society released two albums onShimmy Disc in the early 1990s. In 2008, he recorded (under his own name) a soundtrack to his graphic novelMy Brain is Hanging Upside Down, featuring a cover of TheRamonessong by the same name. The soundtrack was released on WonderSound records.
Heatley lives inJackson Heights, New York, with his wife Rebecca Gopoian (an agnostic, Jewish-Armenian poet) and their two children, Maya and Samuel Heatley.[8][9]
Heatley lists among his influencesDaniel Clowes,Gary Panter,Fort Thunder, andPaper Rad.[10]
| Publication | Publisher, Date, ISBN | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Kramers Ergot 4 | Gingko Press ISBN 0-9677989-5-7 ISBN 0-9800039-7-0 | |
| Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern Issue 13 | McSweeney's May 14, 2004 ISBN 1-932416-08-0 | Original printing of "Portrait of My Dad"; a strip on the table of contents page. |
| Kramers Ergot 5 | Gingko Press December 31, 2004 ISBN 1-58423-172-6 | 15-page story: "My Sexual History" |
| Bête Noire #1 | Fantagraphics 2004 | cover art |
| The Education Of A Comics Artist | Allworth Press May 1, 2005 ISBN 1-58115-408-9 | 2-page strip called "How I Became the Cartoonist I am today." |
| Mome Vol. 1 - Summer 2005 | Fantagraphics Books September 12, 2005 ISBN 1-56097-650-0 | Part 1 of serial comic "Overpeck" |
| Mome Vol. 2 - Fall 2005 | Fantagraphics November 30, 2005 ISBN 1-56097-684-5 | Part 2 of serial comic "Overpeck" |
| Mome Vol. 3 - Winter 2006 | Fantagraphics April 24, 2006 ISBN 1-56097-697-7 | Part 3 of serial comic "Overpeck" |
| Mome Vol. 4 - Spring/Summer 2006 | Fantagraphics July 31, 2006 ISBN 1-56097-726-4 | dream comics |
| The Best American Comics 2006 | Best American October 11, 2006 ISBN 0-618-71874-5 | "Portrait of My Dad" |
| Mome Vol. 6 - Winter 2007 | Fantagraphics January 16, 2007 ISBN 1-56097-781-7 | dream comics |
| Mome Vol. 7 - Spring 2007 | Fantagraphics May 22, 2007 ISBN 1-56097-834-1 | dream comics |
| The Best American Comics 2007 | Best American October 10, 2007 ISBN 0-618-71876-1 | cover art; 10 pages of dream comics |
| The Best American Comics 2008 | Best American October 8, 2008 ISBN 0-618-98976-5 | |
| An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories: Volume 2 | Yale University Press October 21, 2008 ISBN 0-300-12671-9 | |
| Kramers Ergot 7 | Buenaventura Press November 1, 2008 ISBN 0-9800039-5-4 |
