Robert Pollie interviewed Dean Haspiel for the 7th Avenue Project. Dean was suffering chronic lower back pain and was high on muscle relaxants when he spoke and has almost no memory of what they discussed. This is what Robert wrote about their parley:

“If you’re going to tell cool stories in comic books, it helps to have had a colorful life and interesting friends. Dean Haspiel has had both. His dad was a writer, occasional street vigilante and confidante of Marilyn Monroe. Mom’s pals included Shelley Winters and the young Bobby De Niro, who was one of Dean’s babysitters. Dean worked with Harvey Pekar and Jonathan Ames on their respective graphic novels, and won an Emmy for his title work on Jonathan’s HBO sitcom Bored to Death. He was also the inspiration for Ray the cartoonist, played on BTD by Zack Galifianakis. We talked about all of the above, plus Dean’s beginnings as a comic artist, his love of superheroes and his own hero complex, his residencies at the Yaddo artist colony, and his latest comic memoir, Beef with Tomato.”

You can listen to it here: http://7thavenueproject.com/post/131182473730/comics-artist-dean-haspiel