Hans Rickheit
Encyclopedia
Profile
Rickheit was originally a resident of Ashburnham, MassachusettsAshburnham, Massachusetts
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,546 people, 1,929 households, and 1,541 families residing in the town. The population density was 143.4 people per square mile . There were 2,204 housing units at an average density of 57.0 per square mile...
. He originally self-published minicomic
Minicomic
A minicomic is a creator-published comic book, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding. In the United Kingdom and Europe the term "small press comic" is equivalent with minicomic reserved for those publications measuring A6 or less...
s which presented dark vignettes and short stories, many of them directly inspired
Dream art
Dream art is any form of art directly based on material from dreams, or which employs dream-like imagery.-History:References to dreams in art are as old as literature itself: the story of Gilgamesh, the Bible, and the Iliad all describe dreams of major characters and the meanings thereof...
by dream
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
s. He also produced short films.
Rickheit followed these up with a longer work, Kill, Kill, Kill. In the late 1990s, Rickheit moved to the Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
area where he associated himself with the Zeitgeist Gallery located in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. With the assistance of the gallery's owner, Alan Nidle, he started a publication the short-lived publication Cambridge Inferno for more general audiences as a vehicle to showcase local cartoonists. In 2001, he self-published
Self-publishing
Self-publishing is the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher. The author is responsible and in control of entire process including design , formats, price, distribution, marketing & PR...
the first edition of his original graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
Chloe. A Xeric Foundation
Xeric Foundation
The Xeric Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation based in Northampton, Massachusetts, which for twenty years awarded self-publishing grants to comic book creators, as well as qualified charitable and nonprofit organizations...
grant enabled him to produce a second and revised trade paperback edition of Chloe which received wider distribution and favorable reviews by the comics press. In 2003, Rickheit produced a color wraparound cover for the zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
The Comics Interpreter
The Comics Interpreter
The Comics Interpreter is a zine of comics criticism, published and edited by Robert Young. It focuses on alternative comics, and is characterized by interviews and reviews of greater length and detail than most comics-oriented publications, resembling the long-running Comics Journal in these...
, which in that issue also published a long interview with him. More recently, Rickheit has had short stories published in a number of alternative
Alternative comics
Alternative comics defines a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to "mainstream" superhero comics which in the past have dominated the US comic book industry...
small press comics anthologies and periodicals and in the The Stranger
The Stranger (newspaper)
The Stranger is an alternative weekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, USA. It runs a blog known as Slog.-History:The Stranger was founded by Tim Keck, who had previously co-founded the satirical newspaper The Onion, and cartoonist James Sturm. Its first issue came out on September 23, 1991...
weekly.
He re-located Philadelphia, where Rickheit still released the occasional issue of Chrome Fetus, his showcase for his own shorter works, and has made performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
and played music with Katt Hernandez
Katt Hernandez
Katt Hernandez is a violinist living in Stockholm, Sweden with strong connection to Boston, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Baltimore, Maryland. Katt's violin playing employs many virtuostic extended techniques, as well as microtones. Her influences range a vast gamut of music, and...
as the character "Doctor Selenium". The Squirrel Machine, his longest graphic novel to date, has been published by Fantagraphics Books
Fantagraphics Books
Fantagraphics Books is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, magazines, graphic novels, and the adult-oriented Eros Comix imprint...
in 2009. In early 2010, he returned to Massachusetts. He presently creates Ectopiary, a webcomic released in weekly installments.