Comic Writer Gerry Duggan Turns His Talents Behind The Camera

I’ve been carrying a camera around for years.

This book is a collection of candids and portraits of creators in Hollywood and comic books, and streets scenes from my travels around the world. It all goes back to my wanting to draw, but not being good enough to draw comics. I couldn’t get images onto the page the way I saw them in my head. Today, I am lucky enough to work with the best artists in comics, I tell them a story, and then they show our readers their version of the story.

Photography is how I manage to scratch that visual itch. The fun thing about making photos is that even though it’s just me an the camera, it’s still a collaboration between the light, the environment, my eye, the camera. Sometimes things just come together. Photographers are always chasing the right subject for the the right moment in the right light.

I was privileged to have a dark room in both my middle and high schools. I was shooting on a Nikon with a 50mm lens that my father bought for 50 bucks off a fellow solider in Vietnam in 1969 who wanted to some fast money for R&R. I’d always been fascinated by my father’s photos of Vietnam. They tell so many stories. Those photos were the first time I time traveled. That is what photography is — it’s indelible proof of a moment in time’s existence. I took that camera to Emerson College where I continued to shoot Boston. Most of those photos are lost to time.

I learned the basics of photography when it was expensive and messy and I’m glad I did. There was a cost to pressing the shutter and taking a photo. Every click was one less photo in your roll. There was even a greater cost to develop the film, and create negatives and prints. I loved experimenting in the dark room. That’s not to say I have not completely fallen in love with digital. There are too many advantages.

My son was born in 2009 and I quickly bought a Fuji-X100 because the phone camera photos just weren’t going to cut it. I made the effort to cart it around and some of those photos are in this book. When my Image Comics collaboration Analog was option to be a film by Lionsgate I sank some of the money into a Leica Q. Most of the photos in this book are from the Leica. It was the perfect camera for me. I could shoot surreptitiously, it was quiet, and it shot well at night.

I had over a thousand hours of live TV experience around the time I started collaborating on Deadpool for Marvel. That lead me to a lot of award show writing. They’re silly, fun, and I’ve captured a lot of moments where artists are just enjoying hanging around other creators that they admire.

It’s going to be a pricey book to produce, it’s a niche item, and I’d like it to be comfy alongside some of my favorite photo books from Taschen, so I’m really pushing the quality on the book. Everything from the paper to the cloth, to the ink, it will all be top-shelf. A special vellum page will be signed in Los Angeles and sent to the printer where it will be bound into the book. We’re going to have special shipping boxes created so that when they arrive, any giclee prints can be added to the box and deployed for shipping to you. The book has a couple hundred photos, and some essays from me about my life and career.

Note The Photos Below Available As 10×12 Signed Giclee Prints:

Sarah at the 2018 WGA(W) Awards.

The Brothers Oswalt entertain Mark Hamill.

Jock driving the streets of Los Angeles. Available as an ultra limited print signed by us both.

Kyoto Alley. Available as a signed open edition with a book in this crowdfunding.

Kobe Coffee. Available as a signed 10×12 giclee print.

Shinjuku Rain. Available as a signed 10×12 giclee print.

Welcome to Los Angeles. Available as a signed 10×12 giclee print.

Threaded the needle.

It’s been a privilege to be invited to comic cons and editorial retreats around the world. Life is too short to travel to new cities and sit around hotel rooms.

Most of the photos have never been seen. Looking back during the pandemic forced me to ask the question:

Why was I taking all these photographs?

The answer is that there is something interesting about them. Usually it’s the subject, sometimes it’s the light, or framing…and in rare instances it’s all of those things. Each photo is a story, but collectively they tell my story and that’s why I love them.

The book is a mash-up of dark streets, bright minds and green rooms. Hope you find something worth taking in. This one is for my wife and son, here’s what I was up to while I was away from home.

Thanks for the support,

Gerry Duggan

Los Angeles. August, 2022

Subjects subject to change, but as of the launch of this crowdfuning effort, the subjects of the book include: Patton Oswalt, Meredith Salinger, Matt Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, Brian Posehn, Bob Odenkirk, Weird Al Yankovic, Tom Lennon, Jon Hamm, Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Rick Remender, Clint Eastwood, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Matt Fraction, Chip Zdarsky, Esad Ribic, Anne V Coates, Evan Rachel Wood, Donny Cates, Jeff Lemire, Jonathan Hickman, Al Ewing, Skottie Young, Nick Spencer, CB Cebulski, Scott Buoncristiano, G Willow Wilson, Mark Hamill, Todd McFarlane, Robert Kirkman, Eric Stephenson, John McCrea, Jock, Ed Brisson, Pepe Larraz, Scott Aukerman, Mike Hawthorne, Mark Waid, Brian K Vaughn, Christopher Priest, Dan Slott, Charles Soule, Alex Maleev, Steve Agee, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian, Tini Howard, Brian Azzarello, Leah Williams, Ben Percy, Vita Ayala, Barbara Crampton, Matthew Modine, Kevin Feige, Eric Garcetti, Ivan Brandon, Phil Noto, David O’Sullivan, John Hawkes, Jonah Ray, Matt Mira, Chris Elliott, Bob Forster, Vince Gilligan, Kumail Nanjiani, Akiva Schaffer, Michael McKean, Ryan Coogler, Puddles Pity Party, Deanna Rooney, Chris Foreman, Joey King, Declan Shalvey, Stephen Mooney, Ram V, Matthew Rosenberg, David Finch, Marc Silvestri, James Tynion IV, Sarah Guzzardo, Blaine Capatch, Ken Daly, Zeb Wells, Steve Wacker, David Mack, Michael Gaydos, Eric Warheim, Matt Selman.

You? I dunno. Maybe you’re in the book.