Opposable Thumbs

by Dean Haspiel (Contributor), Harvey Pekar (Introduction), Josh Neufeld (Introduction)

Opposable Thumbs is Dean Haspiel's stories of a born & bred New Yorker and the trials and tribulations of living in the big bad city which serves as the backdrop for the informed, existential expression in his sociological comics. Even the bleakest and grubbiest settings are lovingly, lusciously rendered by Haspiel's sharp brush.

Genres: Comics

53 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 15, 2001

About the author

Emmy award winning artist, Dean Haspiel is a native New Yorker who created the Eisner Award nominated BILLY DOGMA, the semi-autobiographical STREET CODE, and helped pioneer personal webcomics with the invention of ACT-I-VATE.com. Dino has collaborated on many great superhero and semi-autobiographical comic books published by Marvel, DC, Vertigo, Dark Horse, Image, Scholastic, Toon Books, and The New York Times, including collaborations with Harvey Pekar, Jonathan Ames, and Inverna Lockpez, and draws for HBO's "Bored To Death," for which he won an Emmy for his contributions to the opening title sequence. Dean is a founding member of DEEP6 Studios in Gowanus, Brooklyn and steeps in psychotronic movies, cosmic electronica, and Jack Kirby pulp.

Photo by Luigi Novi

Reviews

[Matt Graupman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Look, your typical indie cartoonist is kind of a nerd, am I right? There’s nothing wrong with that (I mean, I’m totally a nerd myself) but that makes a dude like Dean Haspiel stick out like a *ahem* sore thumb (sorry). Hairy-chested, extroverted, hard-drinking and -drugging, but poetic and sensitive, Haspiel could easily stake a claim as the Hemingway of comix. Known mostly for his work with gruff auto-bio comics legend Harvey Pekar, “Opposable Thumbs” is a collection of Haspiel’s own personal stories. Freewheeling and utterly unique, these comics may sometimes stretch credibility but they’re never boring.

FAVORITES:
“Proud Flesh” - Haspiel recounts the origins of the numerous scars on his body.
“Minding Millie” - Haspiel’s interactions with a lonely elderly neighbor and her invalid husband.
“Rubulad” - A story about a raucous and secretive party that Haspiel attended.

[Chad Jordahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the B&W art. The short stories were somewhat interesting, but not appealing.

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been meaning to read this for awhile, and I was finally prompted to do so because of Haspiel's new book, Beef with Tomato. We discussed that one on the podcast: http://comicsalternative.com/episode-.... The latter is a follow up, apparently, to Opposable Thumbs. I like Haspiel's other works, but his autobiographical comics are some of my favorites.