Black Rainbow Comics

Daniel Johnston is an American singer, songwriter, and artist who has produced over thirty independent albums and hundreds of songs. Highly influenced by the Beatles, he began recording at a very young age in his parent’s basement and passed out cassette tapes to friends and potential fans in the Eighties. These efforts earned him a local following within the Austin, Texas music scene. His cassette tapes became so popular that they became the best selling local music recordings in Austin. MTV even gave him an  interview upon the  insistence of local Austin bands who supported Daniel’s endeavors. According to his biography on his “Hi, How are You?” website, Daniel “has spent the last 20 or so years exposing his heartrending tales of unrequited love, cosmic mishaps, and existential torment to an ever-growing international cult audience”.

Portrait of indie musician Daniel Johnston

Daniel also has a lengthy psychiatric history which spans over a decade. He suffers from Bipolar Disorder. At the height of his manic psychosis, he becomes heavily preoccupied with delusions of the Devil. He is has demonstrated bizarre, violent, and impulsive behaviors that has resulted in numerous involuntary admissions to the hospital. Apparently, it was not till the Nineties that Daniel was able to achieve some mental stability through medications. However, he has had relapses with his condition and the manic depression remains a persistent obstacle which has hindered his productivity as an artist. Now close to his fifties, Daniel is more or less stable, medication compliant, obese, and living in his parents’ basement in Waller, Texas.

Despite his struggles, Daniel has managed to garner a strong following which includes musical heavyweights such as the late Kurt Cobain, Sonic Youth, Tom Waits, Beck, SparkleHorse, and Death Cab for Cutie. His songs have been covered extensively by numerous artists.  His personal history inspired the making of the 2005 documentary titled “The Devil and Daniel Johnston” which outlined his struggles with mental illness and musical creativity.

Poster for 2005 documentary "The Devil and Daniel Johnston"

Opinions vary amongst consumers on Daniel’s musical abilities. His production, and lyrics have been criticized for being sub par and juvenile.  Upon scouring Internet forums, people have called his singing atrocious. But there exists a population of people who really connect with Daniel’s music. In a review of one of Daniel’s live performances in 2007, critic Suzanne Kleid noted how “…the skinny-jeaned, art-schoolish crowd got restless, chanting “Dan-iel! Dan-iel!” for a good few minutes…loving him because he is utterly authentic, free of artifice, expressing out loud a kind of adolescent turmoil that saner people hide at all costs.”

Personally, I respect the man as an artist. Not only does he produce music but his cartoons (felt tip on paper) have been exhibited throughout the world in posh art galleries. His artwork has a spontaneous but morbid and surreal quality to it. But whatever labels or opinions one assigns to his work, his drawings have become highly regarded and selling at high prices. His work has been featured in the Whitney Biennial, London’s Aquarium Gallery, New York’s Clementine Gallery,  Liverpool Biennial, and California’s Verge Gallery.

Two strange creatures boxing!

Captain America fights Vampires!!!

Evil Skeletor Thing Laughing HAHAHA

Daniel Johnston's most famous character design…Frog thing with long eyes.

A Daniel Johnston Comic

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Evil Dead Rising

Hallucinatory and Psychotic

That’s not all….an I Phone application has been developed using the characters that appear within his cartoons. The application designers Dr. Fun have expanded on the felt pen aesthetic and brought his cartoon world to life through “dynamic, physics-driven gameplay and is set in a psychedelic universe filled with the art, music, and iconic themes of [the] renowned indie artist Daniel Johnston”.

Finally, to top it off, Daniel’s song “Worried Shoes” was covered by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in the Spike Jonze directed “Where the Wild Things Are”. Not only is it a childhood staple of mine but the movie soundtrack contains my favorite singer! Karen O delivers the soundtrack with assistance from a bunch of choir kids.

Poster for Spike Jonze movie "Where the Wild Things Are" based on Maurice Sendak's book.

Worried Shoes – Karen O And The Kids

In closing I want to put forth this notion. I don’t think the question we ask Daniel Johnston should be “Hi, how are you?”. Instead, it should be “Daniel, what don’t you do?”