InsaneJournal

Harvey Balentine grew up in the heart of New Orleans, a city rich with culture and spirituality. As a boy, it was the ghost stories which captured Harvey's imagination. An unhappy childhood lead to a less than outstanding academic record and provided an unending source of inspiration. He originally pursued journalism as a career but was unable to keep his sketches off the pages of his quote book, and his less than attentive nature prevented him from keeping a steady job. He went back to the drawing board, literally, and when he was 22, he presented DC Comics with his femme fatale Black Orchid.

He moved to New York and was picked up for a limited series of the character, but during that time, he met several industry insiders, who gave him the opportunity to write three graphic novels (collaborating with various artists), including The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch, Violent Cases, and Signal to Noise. His career in the graphic novel area expanded rapidly, by 25 he had finished The Sandman, a series of ten paperbacks hailed by Norman Mailer as "comic books for intellectuals". When he was 27, he moved to London and published his pride and joy, a series of short stories titled Smoke and Mirrors. Several of his stories have been adapted for the screen, including a television series of Neverwhere (published at age 28) and the motion pictures Mirrormask, Stardust, and Coraline.

Balentine is known for his use of allusions and references to mythology and historical periods. He has described his writing as 'dark fantasy', and has said that most of what goes in his books exist in his life in various forms. He is known for writing a particular friend, recording artist Issy Morgan, into his work. She has appeared in The Sandman as Delirium, and was the inspiration for both Flora Black and the Queen of Shadows in Mirrormask. Harvey has never married but keeps a close relationship with his pet ferret, Tristran. He currently resides in New York City (with Tristran) but keeps a residence in London for visits. Harvey has an extremely difficult time relating to people in general. When he was seven, his mother died. When he was nine, his father was remarried to a woman named Marie Seward. Harvey's mother had battled a long illness before her death and he already felt alienated from his peers in that respect.

When she died, he felt utterly alone save for Issy Morgan. His father's eventual depression led Harvey to believe that he could count on or trust no one. When Marie came into the picture, that didn't change. Though his father was exponentially happier, Marie wanted to take the place of Harvey's mother completely; she removed pictures of Harvey's mother, threw away memorabilia, and eventually forbade Harvey from mentioning her. Being forced to forget such an important person in his life affected Harvey deeply. He became reclusive and spent preadolescence and adolescence in a perpetually foul mood, relaxing only with his best friend. He found his escape with Issy and his art. His father now distant and emotionally unavailable, he provided no support when Marie disapproved of both Issy and Harvey's hobbies, at one time threatening to burn the stash of papers Harvey kept hidden.

Having spent most of his high school years sullen, he was unable to find a college to accept him, and he had no funds with which to move, so he remained at home, perpetually miserable, until he was twenty two, at which time Issy's exodus prompted him to flee New Orleans and move to Manhattan. Harvey is broody and seclusive by nature, has a profound distrust in most mothers, can't keep a relationship going for more than a year, smokes frequently, drinks rarely, and is occasionally violent. He dislikes interviews, the paparazzi, and overly affectionate people. His public persona is reserved but polite, and he never talks about his unhappy past anywhere near a recording device. He wishes his art and his writing to be taken at face value, without knowing the inspiration behind it. Since becoming famous and successful, Harvey has experienced an increased interest from Marie, who wishes to be mentioned on dustcovers and in 'thanks yous'. Harvey has never written a thank you to anyone but Issy.

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