Daly, Joe 1979-

views updated

Daly, Joe 1979-

PERSONAL: Born 1979, in London, England. Education: Attended City Varsity College.

ADDRESSES: Home—Cape Town, South Africa.

CAREER: Comic book artist and writer.

WRITINGS

COMICS

The Red Monkey: The Leaking Cello Case (graphic novel), Double Storey Books (Johannesburg, South Africa), 2003.

Scrublands (stories), Fantagraphics (Seattle, WA), 2006.

Regular contributor to Student Life, a South African magazine. Work has been anthologized in Africa Comics.

SIDELIGHTS: Born in London, England, and raised in South Africa, Joe Daly had originally intended on a career in animation. After two years of college, he decided to pursue his passion for creating comic books. The title character in The Red Monkey: The Leaking Cello Case, Daly’s first book, is a young man named Dave who is chasing a career as a professional illustrator and is burdened with an unusual birth defect: monkey feet. In addition to dealing with the most universal of conflicts—a failed relationship, poor self-esteem, and strange neighbors—Dave becomes unintentionally embroiled in a smuggling plot. Ruby Bernard wrote in a review for the artSMart Web site that the book “encapsulates much of the dynamics of the generation that [Daly] hails from. In the events that lead up to the grand finale you are given a first-hand account of the dilemmas and enquiries into life that most young adults experience.”

Scrublands is the first book of Daly’s to be released in the United States and is a compilation of fantastical and graphic stories. “Funky, weird and wonderful,” wrote a Publishers Weekly reviewer, who added: “Daly’s surprisingly compelling collection is a fever dream of a place.”Booklist contributor Ray Olson described the book as a “handsome, generous album.” A contributor to Creative Review called the stories “amusing and frequently surreal.”