David (Dave) de Vries (born 1961) is a New Zealand film writer, director, and producer who also writes and illustrates

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s. He was born in New Zealand and emigrated with his family to Australia. De Vries was born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand, in 1961, and grew up in the inner suburb of Ngaio. He emigrated to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

at an early age with his parents, where he lived until he was eighteen. After studying painting at

RMIT RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scienc ...

he started his comic book career in the early 1980s with work for ''OzComics'', '' Phantastique'', ''

MAD Magazine Mad, mad, or MAD may refer to: Geography * Mad (village), a village in the Dunajská Streda District of Slovakia * Mád, a village in Hungary * Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, by IATA airport code * Mad River (disambiguation), several ...

'' and ''

Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

''. Together with Gary Chaloner,

Glenn Lumsden Glenn Lumsden is an Australian comic book artist and writer. Born in Sydney in 1964, he began self publishing in 1985 with David de Vries, Gary Chaloner and Tad Pietrzykowski under the Cyclone Comics imprint, working on ''The Southern Squadr ...

and Tad Pietrzykowski he established Cyclone Comics in 1985, to ensure that their characters could be published while remaining under their control. De Vries and Lumsden entered the American market through

First Comics First Comics was an American comic book publisher that was active from 1983 to 1991, known for titles like '' American Flagg!'', ''Grimjack'', ''Nexus'', ''Badger'', '' Dreadstar'', and '' Jon Sable''. Along with competitors like Pacific Comics ...

, Nicotat and

Malibu Graphics Malibu Comics Entertainment, Inc. (also known as Malibu Graphics) was an American comic book publisher active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for its Ultraverse line of superhero titles. Notable titles published by Malibu included ' ...

with ''The Southern Squadron'', a superhero team that had taken over the

Cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

title. Together they have drawn a new look version of ''

The Phantom ''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The charact ...

'' for

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

, have worked on '' Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight'' ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' comics for

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

, ''The

Eternal Warrior Gilad Anni-Padda, also known as the Eternal Warrior, is a List of Valiant Comics characters, character/Superhero published by Valiant Comics and originally created by Jim Shooter and Don Perlin. Introduced originally in 1992, he was then rebooted ...

Yearbook'' for Valiant Comics, ''The Puppet Master'' for

Eternity Comics Eternity Comics was a California-based comic book publisher active from 1986 to 1994, first as an independent publisher, then as an imprint of Malibu Comics. Eternity published creator-owned comics of an offbeat, independent flavor, as well as so ...

and ''

Planet of the Apes ''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...

'' and ''

Flesh Gordon ''Flesh Gordon'' is a 1974 American sex comedy feature film serving as a spoof of Universal Pictures first (of three) ''Flash Gordon'' serial films from the 1930s. The film was produced by Walter R. Cichy, Bill Osco, and Howard Ziehm. It was co ...

'' for

Malibu Comics Malibu Comics Entertainment, Inc. (also known as Malibu Graphics) was an American comic book publisher active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for its Ultraverse line of superhero titles. Notable titles published by Malibu included ' ...

. de Vries also worked on a number of projects as a writer, including ''The Thing From Another World'' for First Comics, ''

Black Lightning Black Lightning (Jefferson Pierce) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character, created by writer Tony Isabella and artist Trevor Von Eeden, first appeared in ''Black Lightning'' #1 (April 1977), during ...

'' and a

Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...

annual for DC, as well as recreating the origin of

Captain Boomerang Captain Boomerang is the name of two supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, who respectively serve as enemies to both the Barry Allen and Wally West versions of the Flash. Created by writer John Broome and arti ...

with

John Ostrander John Ostrander (born April 20, 1949) is an American writer of comic books, including '' Suicide Squad'', ''Grimjack'' and '' Star Wars: Legacy''. Career Ostrander studied theology with the intent of becoming a Catholic priest, but now describes ...

in an issue of the ''

Suicide Squad The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...

''. De Vries lives in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

where he founded the Barossa Studios with Lumsden, David Heinrich, Rod Tokely and David G. Williams, doing artwork for magazines like ''Picture'', ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'', ''

Ralph Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

'', ''

The Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...

'' and '' The Bulletin''. In 2009 de Vries wrote and directed a feature film, ''Carmilla Hyde'', which won 'Best Feature' at the South Australian Screen Awards in March 2010 after winning 'Best Guerilla Feature' and 'Best Supporting Actress' at the

Melbourne Underground Film Festival The Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) is an Austalian independent film festival featuring mostly genre, controversial, transgressive and avant garde material. History The Melbourne Underground Film Festival was formed out of disagreeme ...

. ''Carmilla Hyde'' has won nine awards, which also include 'Best International Feature' Swansea Bay Film Festival, 'Best International Feature' International Film Festival South Africa, 'Best Australian Feature' Sexy International Film Festival and 'Best Foreign Film' Minneapolis Underground Film Festival. De Vries has written a number of live action and animation scripts for such film and TV. He is course coordinator of the Advance Production Projects for the Third Year Film & Television students at

UniSA The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

, and the Festival Director for the Barossa Film Festival.

Bibliography (as writer)

Australian Comic Books

OzComics Oz Comics #1 1 - 2 McKerr-Whitfield Cyclone 1 Cyclone! Australia 1 - 4 Cyclone Comics Australia Cyclone! Australia 5 - 8 Southern Squadron 9 - 13 Southern Squadron Special: The Waldon File 1 Cyclone! Super Special 1 - 2 G.I. Joe Australia 1, 4 Dark Nebula 7, 8 Cyclone Redux: The Adventures of Flash Damingo & The Jackaroo 3 - 4 Southern Aurora Comics Southern Aurora Comics Presents 1 - 2 Issue One Comics Da 'n' Dill 1 Puffin Books Round The Twist 1 - 2 Paul Jennings 1997 Super Diary Steve Carter's Comic Nasties A Mission from God - Complete Uncut Version

American Comic Books

Aricel Full Throttle 1 - 2 Comico Fathom 1 - 3 Srikeforce: America 1 Dark Horse Comics The Thing from Another World: Eternal Vows 1 - 4 Dark Horse Down Under 3 DC Comics Suicide Squad 44 Star Trek 34 Green Lantern Annual 3 Green Lantern Corps Quarterly 8 Black Lightning 9 -13 First Comics Grimjack 67 Mailbu/Eternity Comics Puppet Master 1 - 4 Puppet Master: Children of the Puppet Master 1 - 2 The Southern Squadron 1 - 4 Southern Squadron: The Freedom of Information Act 1 - 4 Bodyguard 1 - 3 Marvel Comics Marvel Comics Presents 148, 162 - 1965 The Phantom: Ghost Who Walks 1 - 3 Nicotat Boris The Bear 25 Valiant/Acclaim Eternal Warrior Yearbook 1 Magnus, Robot Fighter 34, 47 - 48 Rai and the Future Force 19

References

External links

David de Vries interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:de Vries, David Australian comic strip cartoonists Australian cartoonists Australian comics artists Australian people of Dutch descent New Zealand emigrants to Australia New Zealand people of Dutch descent People from Wellington City 1961 births Living people