Keyhole 25
Hang Dai Editions. 2021. 36 pp., $8.00
Longtime friends and cartoonists Dean Haspiel and Josh Neufeld celebrate a quarter-century of collaborations with a new issue of the comic that started it all: KEYHOLE COMICS!
KEYHOLE was an acclaimed two-man indie anthology that ran for six issues in the 1990s. Since then, Josh & Dino have achieved quite a lot in their individual careers. But in the spirit of collaboration and competition that has always fueled their friendship, the two men have reunited for a 25th-anniversary seventh issue of KEYHOLE. The issue is chock-full of Josh & Dino’s signature stories: in Josh’s case true-life tales of the pandemic, food riots, and the story of his own name; while Dino regales us with stories of the Red Hook, Frankenstein, and Molotov Marshmallows. Confused? You’ll have to buy KEYHOLE 25 to figure it out!
KEYHOLE 25 is presented in a unique “flip-book” fashion with two front covers, one by each man.
Because of YOU: An Exquisite Corpse
Hang Dai Editions. 2017. 40 pp., $7.00
Created over a three-year period beginning in the summer of 2001, Because of You is an unscripted, impromptu, dynamic dialogue between myself and Dean Haspiel, a unique two-man exquisite corpse that plumbs unparalleled depths of agony and personal humiliation.
The protagonist, “Lionel,” wakes up one morning to an unpleasant surprise. From that point on he faces domestic crises, public transportation, the New York City streets, and his own hyperactive imagination — all in the course of one infamous ill-fated day.
Stowaway
The Atavist, 2012. $2.99 , for the tablet or desktop.
More info ->>
My collaboration with journalist Tori Marlan. This “enhanced e-comic” traces the 12,000-mile journey of Danel, an orphan from the streets of Addis Ababa, across the world to America. Along the way, he encounters child traffickers, dangerous strangers, and border coyotes, searching for the only friend he has left.
All told through The Atavist’s immersive storytelling technology, which includes sound, music, video, and interactive graphics.
“The images, by artist Josh Neufeld, along with the additional layers of sound, animation, dynamic paging, and interactive web-based content, transform Fanuel’s tale from a passive script to the portrait of a real person in a real place. Furthermore, the use of interactive content incorporates the reader’s presence into the story.”
The Rumpus
“… [a] harrowing tale . . . in an awesome, immersive, wonderfully illustrated format.”
Gizmodo
… an engaging meld of investigative journalism and graphic illustration with just enough New Journalism panache to keep a reader interested. . . . [S]hould be a must-read for politicians of every stripe.”
Brooklyn Rail
Katrina Came Calling: A Gulf Coast Deployment
More info and excerpts ->>
Self-published, 2010. 102 pp., $5.
A self-published collection of blog entries from my stint as a Red Cross volunteer shortly after Hurricane Katrina. (It is not a comic book.)
“A great little book. Most of us watched hours of news footage after Katrina, but I can’t say I read or saw anything as personal as this—through Josh’s eyes, we really get to know the people, places and destruction that surrounded him.”
Whitney Matheson, USA Today’s “Pop Candy”
A Few Perfect Hours (and Other Stories from Southeast Asia & Central Europe)
More info and excerpts ->>
Self-published (via a grant from the Xeric Foundation), 2004. 128 pp., $12.95 softcover
Autobiographical comics tour of Thailand, Singapore, and the former Yugoslavia. Highlights include a stint as extras in a Chinese-language Singaporean soap opera, a train trip through war-torn Serbia, and a near-disastrous cave adventure in Thailand. A Few Perfect Hours explores religion and spirituality, politics and personalities, and the mysteries of everyday life. The stories reflect the backpacker’s conflicted feelings: a yearning for adventure mixed with homesickness and a sense of disconnection, trapped in a reality constantly in flux.
“[Provides] a street-level view of other cultures, with nothing whitewashed. . . . The stories often remind us of the point of traveling—to experience and come to terms with the unknown.”
Comics Worth Reading
Keyhole
Order->>
Keyhole #1–4 (Millennium Publications, 1996–1997). 32 pp., $2.95 | Keyhole #5–6 (Top Shelf Productions, 1998). 32 pp., $2.95. | Keyhole 25 (#7) (Hang Dai Editions, 2021). 36 pp., $8.
An eclectic two-man anthology I co-created with Dean Haspiel, Keyhole mixed autobiographical stories of international travel with stark tales of introspection and social commentary.
In Keyhole I began telling stories from the around-the-world backpacking adventures of Josh and Sari. My other regular contributions included humorous one-page “travel tips,” “Lionel’s Lament,” and “Titans of Finance.”
Keyhole #1-5 are sold out.
Keyhole cover gallery
Praise for Keyhole
“The stories of Josh and . . . Sari traveling through Thailand provide a street-level view of other cultures, with nothing whitewashed. . . . The lessons learned are basic but universal, made more relevant through seeing exactly how the travelers came to them. . . . The stories often remind us of the point of traveling — to experience and come to terms with the unknown, and ultimately to address your own spirituality and reason for being.”
— Comics Worth Reading
“(Two) talented young cartoonists who are aggressively exploring the comics medium.”
— Subliminal Tattoos
“Pushing the creative envelope to the limit.”
— World of Fandom
“One of the most thought-provoking, interesting, entertaining and all-out cool comics.”
— Poopsheet
“A head-on collision between American Splendor and Hate, but rest assured that its eccentric appeal is no accident.”
— Comic Shop News
“(Fans of) Acme Novelty Library or Zero Zero should check out this very mixed but highly entertaining bag.”
— Comics Buyer’s Guide