David Collier (born January 24, 1963) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

best known for his fact-based "comic strip essays."

Biography

As a child, Collier was introduced to the work of

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...

, whose work has been a significant influence. (Collier's cross-hatching style is particularly reminiscent of Crumb's work.) Before breaking into comics, Collier served in the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

from 1987 to 1990. He drew

comic strips A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st c ...

for the army newspapers the ''Cornwallis Ensign'', ''CFB Chilliwack Mountaineer'', and ''CFB Valcartier Adsum''. His Army training also introduced him to long-distance running and the

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

, in which he has competed nationally. His first comic strip was published in 1986 in the R. Crumb-edited magazine '' Weirdo'', and his work has been published in numerous other comics anthologies, including ''

Duplex Planet Illustrated ''The Duplex Planet'' is a zine edited and published by David Greenberger since 1979. It contains transcriptions of his interviews with elderly residents of senior centers and "meal sites" in the Massachusetts area. For many years, the zine focuse ...

'', ''

Drawn & Quarterly Drawn & Quarterly is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic content, a ...

'', ''

The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing re ...

'', and '' Zero Zero''. Most of the material from his anthology submissions was collected in ''Just the Facts: A Decade of Comic Essays''. Since 1990, Collier has done comics and illustrations for Canadian newspapers such as ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' and the '' Saskatoon StarPhoenix''. He has illustrated stories for Harvey Pekar's '' American Splendor'', most notably the three-issue ''American Splendor: Unsung Hero.'' Fantagraphics published four issues of the aptly titled series ''Collier's'' in the 1990s. Much of this material was reprinted in ''Portraits from Life''. Drawn & Quarterly later published volume two of ''Collier's'', lasting two issues. Collier's ''Surviving Saskatoon'' documents the true story of

David Milgaard David Milgaard (July 7, 1952 – May 15, 2022) was a Canadian man who was wrongfully convicted for the 1969 rape and murder of nursing student Gail Miller in Saskatoon and imprisoned for 23 years. He was eventually released and exonerated. Up ...

, a man who spent over 20 years in prison after he was wrongfully accused of the brutal rape and murder of a nurse in 1969. Collier featured in a 2013 episode of

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined belo ...

program

Wiretap Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...

, describing his experiences rejoining the army at 41, also the subject of his book ''Chimo''. For the 2014–15 Alex Colville retrospective held at the Art Gallery of Ontario and National Gallery of Canada, Collier produced a commissioned work inspired by Colville that was displayed as an installation and also published in print under the title ''Colville Comics'' (2014). Collier lives with his wife, Ontario artist Jennifer Hambleton, and son James (born in 1999), in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilto ...

Awards

Collier's ''The Frank Ritza Papers'' was nominated for a Doug Wright Award for Best Book in 2005. ''Hamilton Illustrated'' was awarded the

Pigskin Peters Award The Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning (established in December 2004) are literary awards handed out annually since 2005 during the Toronto Comic Arts Festival to Canadian cartoonists honouring excellence in comics (including webcomics) ...

for 2013 at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. The award recognizes the best in experimental or avant-garde comics.

Bibliography

;Comic books ;Collections and graphic novels

References

External links

Lambiek Comiclopedia entry
* *

- 2002 interview
2008 audio interview
at Inkstuds
"Pay Attention: David Collier’s Chimo"
- essay by

Jeet Heer Jeet Heer is a Canadian author, comics critic, literary critic and journalist. He is a national affairs correspondent for '' The Nation'' magazine and a former staff writer at '' The New Republic''. As of 2014, he was writing a doctoral thesis at ...

2012 audio interview
at Resonance FM
"“Hopefully You Reach a Few People Here and There”: A David Collier Interview"
- 2018 interview at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, David Alternative cartoonists Artists from Windsor, Ontario Canadian Army soldiers Living people 1963 births Canadian cartoonists