David de Vries

David de Vries was born in 1961 in Wellington, New Zealand, and moved with his family to Melbourne, Australia, at an early age. After studying painting at RMIT, he entered comics in the early 1980s, contributing to OzComics, *MAD Magazine*, and *Penthouse*. In 1985, he co-founded Cyclone Comics with Gary Chaloner, Glenn Lumsden, and Tad Pietrzykowski, a collective that allowed the creators to retain ownership of their characters. De Vries and Lumsden soon brought their superhero team, The Southern Squadron, to the American market through First Comics and Malibu Graphics. Their collaborations extended to Marvel’s *The Phantom*, DC’s *Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight* and *Star Trek* titles, and Valiant’s *Eternal Warrior Yearbook*. As a writer, de Vries handled *The Thing from Another World* for First Comics, DC’s *Black Lightning* and a *Green Lantern* annual, and—with John Ostrander—recreated the origin of Captain Boomerang in *Suicide Squad*. He later founded Barossa Studios in South Australia, producing artwork for magazines such as *Picture*, *People*, and *The Australian Financial Review*. In 2009, he wrote and directed the feature film *Carmilla Hyde*, which won Best Feature at the South Australian Screen Awards. De Vries has also worked as a course coordinator for film and television production students.