David Heatley


David Heatley is an American cartoonist, illustrator, graphic designer, and musician.

Biography

Education

Born in Teaneck, New Jersey, Heatley graduated from Teaneck High School in 1993. He graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2000.

Comics

Though he studied painting and filmmaking at Oberlin College, Heatley started drawing comics regularly in the late 1990s. Since then, his comics and illustrations have appeared on the cover of The New Yorker, in The New York Times, McSweeney’s, Mome, and Kramers Ergot, among others. He has been featured three times in The 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. 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,", "Black History", "Portrait of My Mom" and "Portrait of My Dad", and "Family History". Interwoven throughout these narratives are Heatley's "dream comics," which explore similar themes through surreal, unconscious logic. In his review for The New York Times, critic Douglas Wolk wrote of the book that it "seems to encompass every uncomfortable thought he's ever had about sexuality, race and his family."
In 2019, Pantheon released Heatley's second graphic memoir, Qualification: A Graphic Memoir in Twelve Steps, an exploration of his experiences with twelve-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Debtors Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, and more. Reader's Digest cited Qualification in its 2024 round-up of the 50 Best Graphic Novels for Adults.
Also in 2019, Heatley self-published 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. The limited-edition, digest-size work was printed in blue on a risograph.

Music

Heatley's high school band Velvet Cactus Society released two albums on Shimmy Disc in the early 1990s. In 2008, he recorded a soundtrack to his graphic novel My Brain is Hanging Upside Down, featuring a cover of The Ramones song by the same name. The soundtrack was released on WonderSound records.

Personal life

Heatley lives in Jackson Heights, New York, with his wife Rebecca Gopoian and their two children, Maya and Samuel Heatley.

Inspiration

Heatley lists among his influences Daniel Clowes, Gary Panter, Fort Thunder, and Paper Rad.

Selected works

Books

  • Otis Dooda
  • Otis Dooda: Downright Dangerous
  • Qualification: A Graphic Memoir in Twelve Steps
  • ''Amy''

    Solo Comics

  • Deadpan #1
  • Deadpan #2

    Collaborative Comics

  • My Home Birth by Christen Clifford

    Anthology appearances

Interviews

Category:1974 births
Category:Living people
Category:Alternative cartoonists
Category:Underground cartoonists
Category:Oberlin College alumni
Category:People from Teaneck, New Jersey
Category:Teaneck High School alumni