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.”

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 15, 2006, Ray Olson, review of Scrublands, p. 31.

Creative Review, September 4, 2006, review of Scrublands, p. 64.

Publishers Weekly, May 29, 2006, review of Scrublands, p. 43.

ONLINE

artSMart, http://www.artsmart.co.za/ (January 13, 2004), Ruby Bernard, review of The Red Monkey: The Leaking Cello Case.

Lambiek.net, http://lambiek.net/ (January 20, 2007), author profile.*