Derek McCulloch (comics)
# Derek McCulloch (comics)

Derek McCulloch (born 1964) is a writer, known for graphic novels such as Stagger Lee, Gone to Amerikay, Pug, and Displaced Persons. He was born in Ottawa, Ontario, raised in Grande Prairie, Alberta, and lives in Oakland, California.

## Biography

Throughout the mid-1980s and early 1990s, he was the publisher of Strawberry Jam Comics, and wrote To Be Announced and night life. He was also co-founder of The Comic Legends Legal Defense Fund in Canada and co-edited the organization's two True North anthologies. His stories have appeared in comics series including Open Season, Shred!, and Cerebus High Society. He works as a technical editor at an engineering company.

He wrote Stagger Lee, a graphic novel based on the story of Stagger Lee and drawn by Shepherd Hendrix, which was published by Image Comics in May 2006. It has been nominated for several awards, including the Eisner Awards 2007 and the Eagle Awards 2006, and won several Glyph Comics Awards in 2007, including Story of the Year and Best Writer.

McCulloch wrote Gone to Amerikay, an original graphic novel drawn by Colleen Doran and released in 2012 to numerous positive notices from The Wall Street Journal, Boing Boing, Irish Echo, The Miami Herald, Irish Central, and The Sunday Times, Dublin edition. An excerpt from the book was included in the anthology The Best American Comics 2013 under the title "The Story of Gráinne Ní Mháille."

In 2009, he released his first book for children, T. Runt!, illustrated by Jimmie Robinson.

In 2010, he self-published a print on demand anthology of short stories, Stories of a Callow Youth.

Pug, his 2010 graphic novel with artist Greg Espinoza, was nominated for the 2011 Spinetingler Award, in the category of Best Crime Comic/Graphic Novel.

In December 2011, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis announced that its 2012 new theatre series, Ignite! would feature a reading of a stage musical adaptation of Stagger Lee with a book by McCulloch and music and lyrics by Stew and Heidi Rodewald. When the reading took place on March 15, 2012, it was with not just book but also lyrics by McCulloch. It was directed by Amanda Dehnert and had a cast including Ken Page, Rebecca Naomi Jones, and Javier Munoz.

In August 2014, Image Comics published Displaced Persons, an original graphic novel by McCulloch and Anthony Peruzzo, described as a "tale of murder, love, crime, friendship, betrayal, and just the slightest bit of time travel," taking place in San Francisco in the years 1939, 1969, and 1999. Displaced Persons was previously announced (and solicited) in 2008 as a project for McCulloch and Rantz Hoseley. but Hoseley was not connected with the final version of the book.

In February 2016, 59E59 Theaters, an off-Broadway theater announced a stage musical adaptation of Damon Runyon's Madame La Gimp, with a book by McCulloch and Giles Havergal, lyrics by McCulloch, music by Kyle Athayde, and arrangements and orchestrations by Peter and Will Anderson. The production was scheduled for October 2016, and was to be directed by Amanda Dehnert.

In December 2018, the first of several collaborations with musician Richard Stuverud appeared, when Green Monkey Records included their song "Empty Branches" (lyrics by McCulloch, music written and performed by Stuverud) on their 2018 Christmas compilation, "A Green Monkey Christmas for Martians Up on Mars." The following year, two different versions of their song "Snowing in Frisco" appeared on Green Monkey's "Hail the Jolly Christmas Monkey!"

In May 2020, Stuverud released his first solo album, "Memories in Kodachrome," with 10 of its 11 songs featuring lyrics by McCulloch.

