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, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
s. He was born in New Zealand and emigrated with his family to Australia.
De Vries was born in
Wellington
Wellington 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 third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
, New Zealand, in 1961,
and grew up in the inner suburb of
Ngaio. He emigrated to
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
at an early age with his parents, where he lived until he was eighteen.
After studying painting at
RMIT
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...
he started his comic book career in the early 1980s with work for ''OzComics'', ''
Phantastique'', ''
MAD Magazine'' and ''
Penthouse''.
Together with
Gary Chaloner,
Glenn Lumsden 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,
Nicotat and
Malibu Graphics 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 ant ...
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 char ...
'' for
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
,
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 Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
'' comics for
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
,
''The
Eternal Warrior Yearbook'' for Valiant Comics,
''The Puppet Master'' for
Eternity Comics and ''
Planet of the Apes
''Planet of the Apes'' is a science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic world in which humans and intelligent apes c ...
'' and ''
Flesh Gordon'' for
Malibu Comics
Malibu Comics Entertainment, Inc. (launched 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 ''Th ...
.
de Vries also worked on a number of projects as a writer, including
''The Thing From Another World'' for First Comics, ''
Black Lightning'' 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 (DC Comics character), Flash. Created by wr ...
with
John Ostrander 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 States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
where he founded the Barossa Studios with Lumsden,
David Heinrich,
Rod Tokely and David G. Williams,
doing artwork for magazines like ''Picture'', ''
People
The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...
'', ''
Ralph
Ralph (pronounced or ) is a male name of English origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Old High German ''Radulf'', cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf").
The most common forms are:
* Ra ...
'', ''
The Australian Financial Review
The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...
'' 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. ''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 is a Public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1991, it is the successor of the former South Australian Institute of Technology. Its main campuses along ...
, 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
New Zealand comics artists
Australian comics artists
Australian people of Dutch descent
New Zealand emigrants to Australia
New Zealand people of Dutch descent
Mass media people from Wellington City
1961 births
Living people