Tom De Haven
Encyclopedia
Tom De Haven is an American
author
, editor
, journalist
, and writing teacher.
His recurring subjects include literary and film noir
, the Hollywood studio system
and the American comics industry. De Haven is perhaps most known for his comics-themed novels: the Derby Dugan trilogy and It's Superman.
in a neighborhood that the author says isn't far from where Steven Spielberg
filmed War of the Worlds
. He attended Catholic School
, where he was a classmate of fellow author George R. R. Martin
, though he notes that they weren't friends, even though Martin was an editor of the school newspaper where he was a cartoonist
.
De Haven originally wanted to be cartoonist before attending college, but by the time he graduated from the university, he realized that he would never be a professional cartoonist, and considers the realization "the First Great Disappointment Of My Life". He received a Sociology
degree from Rutgers University
in 1971 and an MFA
from Bowling Green State University
in 1973.
An avid reader of comic book
s and graphic novel
s, De Haven considers himself a narrative writer, and considers the storytelling style of comics to have been a major influence on his writing since he was a child of almost six or seven.
He began teaching creative writing part-time at Hofstra University
in 1981, before moving in 1987 to Rutgers to teach American Studies
(including one of the first college courses on American comics) before relocating to Richmond, VA to become a full-time teacher.
De Haven is currently a full professor of Creative Writing at Virginia Commonwealth University
in Richmond, VA in the MFA program, and often teaches at least one American Studies course, including "The Graphic Novel", De Haven is also the co-creator (with author Laura Browder) of the VCU's First Novelist Award
, honoring the best debut novel published during a calendar year. He is also a licensed private investigator. He considers himself a Democrat
, and has been criticized for anti-Republican
statements he has made over the years.
The author noted in an interview that he agreed with Robert Crumb
's observation that the Thirties
was the pinnacle of American culture. He also notes in the same interview that he finds truth to Art Spiegelman
's statement "that we are, for whatever reason, most nostalgic for the decade before the one we were born in", as he was born in the Forties
.
As a freelance journalist, he has written criticism
for publications such as the New York Times Book Review and Entertainment Weekly
. De Haven’s novels include the Funny Paper trilogy (consisting of Funny Papers (1985), Derby Dugan’s Depression Funnies (1996) and Dugan Under Ground (2001)). The trilogy's storyline stretches from the beginnings of the newspaper comic strip
s in the 1890s to the 1970s.
The New York Times Book Review calls the Derby books "a mighty accomplishment: John Dos Passos
’s U.S.A. trilogy
for comic geeks." The Boston Globe hails the trilogy as a "wild ride"
In 2005, his novel, “It’s Superman,” reinvented the early years of the well-known superhero of the same name amidst the Great Depression
. The author noted his initial apprehension when he was contacted by DC Comics
in 1997 in regards to writing a novel about Superman
: "[S]hould I do a novel with a character that I don’t own? So I had to think about it, but I didn’t think about it very long, really. I just thought...this is too good to let go...they were giving me carte blanche." He states that his prior novels about comic strips are what prompted DC to contact him about writing the period piece
. For the novel, he took as his inspiration the early Superman stories of the thirties through the fifties
; wherein the hero is not fighting super-villains and Lex Luthor, but clearing slums in the New Deal
era and expose corrupt politicians. De Haven says he was aiming for his hero to develop a social conscience during the Great Depression. He states in the interview that only real departure from the Superman that Jerry Siegel
and Joe Shuster
originally created is that while their original hero lived in Cleveland, De Haven places his hero in the real "Metropolis
" of New York.
with his wife of 35 years and has two grown daughters.
. His novel, Depression Funnies, received an American Book Award
in 1997. Dugan Under Ground received the Library of Virginia
Fiction Award (also called the Library of Virginia Literary Awards]].
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, and writing teacher.
His recurring subjects include literary and film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
, the Hollywood studio system
Studio system
The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1960s. The term studio system refers to the practice of large motion picture studios producing movies primarily on their own filmmaking lots with creative personnel under...
and the American comics industry. De Haven is perhaps most known for his comics-themed novels: the Derby Dugan trilogy and It's Superman.
Background
Born in Bayonne, New JerseyBayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...
in a neighborhood that the author says isn't far from where Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
filmed War of the Worlds
War of the Worlds (2005 film)
War of the Worlds is a 2005 American science fiction film adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp. It is one of three film adaptations of War of the Worlds released that year, alongside The Asylum's version and...
. He attended Catholic School
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
, where he was a classmate of fellow author George R. R. Martin
George R. R. Martin
George Raymond Richard Martin , sometimes referred to as GRRM, is an American author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He is best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, his bestselling series of epic fantasy novels that HBO adapted for their dramatic pay-cable series Game of...
, though he notes that they weren't friends, even though Martin was an editor of the school newspaper where he was a cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
.
De Haven originally wanted to be cartoonist before attending college, but by the time he graduated from the university, he realized that he would never be a professional cartoonist, and considers the realization "the First Great Disappointment Of My Life". He received a Sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
degree from Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in 1971 and an MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
from Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University, often referred to as Bowling Green or BGSU, is a public, coeducational research university located in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The institution was granted a charter in 1910 by the State of Ohio as part of the Lowry Bill, which also established Kent State...
in 1973.
An avid reader of comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s and graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
s, De Haven considers himself a narrative writer, and considers the storytelling style of comics to have been a major influence on his writing since he was a child of almost six or seven.
He began teaching creative writing part-time at Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
in 1981, before moving in 1987 to Rutgers to teach American Studies
American studies
American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of the United States. It traditionally incorporates the study of history, literature, and critical theory, but also includes fields as diverse as law, art, the media, film, religious studies, urban...
(including one of the first college courses on American comics) before relocating to Richmond, VA to become a full-time teacher.
De Haven is currently a full professor of Creative Writing at Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University is a public university located in Richmond, Virginia. It comprises two campuses in the Downtown Richmond area, the product of a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia in 1968...
in Richmond, VA in the MFA program, and often teaches at least one American Studies course, including "The Graphic Novel", De Haven is also the co-creator (with author Laura Browder) of the VCU's First Novelist Award
First Novelist
The First Novelist Award is an American literary award for debut novels. It has been presented annually since 2001 on behalf of Virginia Commonwealth University's MFA in Creative Writing Program. Nominations are solicited from MFA programs nationwide as well as from publishers, editors, agents, and...
, honoring the best debut novel published during a calendar year. He is also a licensed private investigator. He considers himself a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, and has been criticized for anti-Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
statements he has made over the years.
The author noted in an interview that he agreed with Robert Crumb
Robert Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded...
's observation that the Thirties
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson show the effects of the Great Depression; Due to the economic collapse, the farms become dry and the Dust Bowl spreads through America; The Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese...
was the pinnacle of American culture. He also notes in the same interview that he finds truth to Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...
's statement "that we are, for whatever reason, most nostalgic for the decade before the one we were born in", as he was born in the Forties
1940s
File:1940s decade montage.png|Above title bar: events which happened during World War II : From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching "Omaha" Beach on "D-Day"; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Holocaust occurred during the war as Nazi Germany...
.
As a freelance journalist, he has written criticism
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
for publications such as the New York Times Book Review and Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
. De Haven’s novels include the Funny Paper trilogy (consisting of Funny Papers (1985), Derby Dugan’s Depression Funnies (1996) and Dugan Under Ground (2001)). The trilogy's storyline stretches from the beginnings of the newspaper comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s in the 1890s to the 1970s.
The New York Times Book Review calls the Derby books "a mighty accomplishment: John Dos Passos
John Dos Passos
John Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
’s U.S.A. trilogy
U.S.A. trilogy
The U.S.A. Trilogy is a major work of American writer John Dos Passos, comprising the novels The 42nd Parallel ; 1919, also known as Nineteen Nineteen ; and The Big Money . The three books were first published together in a single volume titled U.S.A by Harcourt Brace in January, 1938...
for comic geeks." The Boston Globe hails the trilogy as a "wild ride"
In 2005, his novel, “It’s Superman,” reinvented the early years of the well-known superhero of the same name amidst the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The author noted his initial apprehension when he was contacted by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
in 1997 in regards to writing a novel about Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
: "[S]hould I do a novel with a character that I don’t own? So I had to think about it, but I didn’t think about it very long, really. I just thought...this is too good to let go...they were giving me carte blanche." He states that his prior novels about comic strips are what prompted DC to contact him about writing the period piece
Period piece
-Setting:In the performing arts, a period piece is a work set in a particular era. This informal term covers all countries, all periods and all genres...
. For the novel, he took as his inspiration the early Superman stories of the thirties through the fifties
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
; wherein the hero is not fighting super-villains and Lex Luthor, but clearing slums in the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
era and expose corrupt politicians. De Haven says he was aiming for his hero to develop a social conscience during the Great Depression. He states in the interview that only real departure from the Superman that Jerry Siegel
Jerry Siegel
Jerome "Jerry" Siegel , who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S...
and Joe Shuster
Joe Shuster
Joseph "Joe" Shuster was a Canadian-born American comic book artist. He was best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with writer Jerry Siegel, first published in Action Comics #1...
originally created is that while their original hero lived in Cleveland, De Haven places his hero in the real "Metropolis
Metropolis
A metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...
" of New York.
Personal life
De Haven lives in Midlothian, VirginiaMidlothian, Virginia
Midlothian is an unincorporated community in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. Founded over 300 years ago as a coal mining village, it is now a suburban community located in the Southside of Richmond well beyond the city limits of Richmond in the Richmond–Petersburg region.It was named...
with his wife of 35 years and has two grown daughters.
Awards
His awards include a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and he has twice won fellowships from the National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
. His novel, Depression Funnies, received an American Book Award
American Book Award
The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
in 1997. Dugan Under Ground received the Library of Virginia
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, its archival agency, and the reference library at the seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and is located at 800 East Broad Street, 2 blocks from the Virginia State...
Fiction Award (also called the Library of Virginia Literary Awards]].
Novels
- Freak's Amour (1979)
- Jersey luck: A novel (1980)
- Funny Papers (1985)
- The Orphan's Tent (1986)
- Top Secret U.S.S.A.: Book 1 (1987)
- Joe Gosh (1988)
- Neuromancer: the Graphic Novel, Volume 1 (1989)
- Pixie Meat (1990)
- Sunburn Lake (1990)
- Walker of Worlds (Chronicles of the King's Tramp, Book 1) (1991)
- End-Of-Everything Man (Chronicles of the King's Tramp, Book 2) (1992)
- The Last Human (Chronicles of the King's Tramp, Book 3) (1992)
- Derby Dugan’s Depression Funnies (1996)
- Green Candles (with artist Robin SmithRobin Smith (comics)Robin Smith is a British artist best known for his work on Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog for 2000AD and The Bogie Man for Fat Man Press.A 2-part interview with Smith appears in the Judge Dredd Megazine, issues 225-226, alongside a new Bogie Man adventure....
, Paradox Graphic Mystery) (1997)
- Dugan Under Ground: A Novel (2001)
- It's Superman!It's Superman!It's Superman! is a novel by Tom De Haven based on the comic book superhero Superman. It was released on September 15, 2005 in hardcover and August 29, 2006 in paperback...
(2005)
- Our Hero: Superman on Earth (Icons of America) (2011)
Television writing
- Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (1986)
- The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: Chained and Other Tales (1986)
- Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: Mindnet and Other Tales (1986)
- Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: Mistwalker and Other Tales (1986)
- Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: Tortuna (1986)
- The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: Sundancer and Other Tales (1986)
- Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: Supertroopers