Weaned on the images of Kirby and Steranko in comic books, and Hammett and Himes in prose, Gary Phillips also draws on his experiences ranging from community organizer, teaching incarcerated youth, to delivering dog cages in writing his tales of chicanery and malfeasance. He has a graphic novel out now about the struggle for water rights -- Big Water, in September premiering an online serial about a working class family buffeted by the issues of the day on capital & main, and has a short story in the upcoming Asian Pulp from Pro Se Press.