Rick Veitch
Encyclopedia
Richard "Rick" Veitch is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 artist and writer who has worked in mainstream, underground, and alternative comics
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...

.

Early career

Veitch studied cartooning at The Kubert School, and was in the first class to graduate from the school in 1978, along with his future long-time collaborators Steve Bissette and John Totleben
John Totleben
John Totleben is an American illustrator working mostly in comics.-Biography:After studying art at a vocational high school in Erie, Totleben attended The Kubert School for one year...

. Veitch had already made his publishing debut prior to attending the Kubert School: in 1972, he illustrated the horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

 parody Two-Fisted Zombies (written by his brother Tom Veitch
Tom Veitch
Tom Veitch is an American writer, best known for his contributions to the Dark Horse Comics line of Star Wars comic books, primarily Dark Empire and Tales of the Jedi. For DC Comics Veitch wrote Animal Man, along with two Elseworlds series featuring Kamandi and an elder Superman...

), but this one-shot failed to make a splash in the fading underground comix field of the '70s. His next major project was an adaptation, with Bissette, of the film 1941
1941 (film)
1941 is a 1979 period comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and featuring an ensemble cast including John Belushi, Ned Beatty, John Candy, Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee and Dan Aykroyd...

.

During the 1980s, Veitch became known as a distinctive fantasy artist and writer for Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

's Epic Comics
Epic Comics
Epic Comics was a creator-owned imprint of Marvel Comics started in 1982, lasting through the mid-1990s, and being briefly revived on a small scale in the mid-2000s.- Origins :...

 line, for which he created three graphic novels, Abraxas and the Earthman (serialized in Epic Illustrated
Epic Illustrated
Epic Illustrated was a comics anthology in magazine format published in the United States by Marvel Comics. The series lasted for 34 issues, from Spring 1980 to February 1986....

), Heartburst (published as a standalone graphic novel) and The One (originally published as a six-issue comic book limited series). Heartburst was straightforward science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

, while The One was an ambitious and bizarre fantasy-adventure involving monstrous superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...

es, the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, and spiritual evolution; During this period Veitch also contributed numerous self-contained comics short stories to Epic Illustrated.

Swamp Thing

Veitch's highest-profile title was DC
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

's Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing, a fictional character, is a plant elemental in the created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson. He first appeared in House of Secrets #92 in a stand-alone horror story set in the early 20th century . The Swamp Thing then returned in his own series, set in the contemporary world and in...

. His friends Totleben and Bissette had both illustrated the series since Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...

 took over as writer; Veitch joined the team for issue #37, in which Moore's popular character John Constantine
John Constantine
John Constantine is a fictional character, an occult detective anti-hero in comic books published by DC Comics, mostly under the Vertigo imprint. The character first appeared in Swamp Thing #37 , and was created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, John Totleben and Rick Veitch...

 was introduced, and appeared regularly after issue #50. He also worked with Moore on Miracleman, illustrating the story that graphically depicted the birth of Miracleman's child.

When Moore left the series after issue #64, Veitch took over as writer, dividing art duties between himself and Alfredo Alcala
Alfredo Alcala
Alfredo P. Alcala was a Filipino comic book artist, born in Talisay, Negros Occidental in the Philippines. Alcala was an established illustrator whose works appeared in the Alcala Komix Magazine. His 1963 creation Voltar introduced him to an international audience, particularly in the United...

. His Swamp Thing stories took a similar approach to Moore's, combining horror-fantasy, ecological concerns, and an encyclopedic knowledge of DC Comics fantasy characters; however, he gradually turned his attention from the DC Universe
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...

 to history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 and mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

, using time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...

 to introduce his hero to a variety of legendary figures. This was to conclude in issue #91. However things hit a snag after Veitch's plan for issue #88, a story in which Swamp Thing met Jesus Christ, was scrapped by DC President Jenette Kahn
Jenette Kahn
Jenette Kahn is an American comic book editor and executive. She joined DC Comics in 1976 as publisher, and five years later was promoted to President. In 1989, she stepped down as publisher and assumed the title of Editor-in-Chief while retaining the office of president...

. Although DC had approved Veitch's initial script for the Jesus story, the topic was later deemed too inflammatory and was cancelled at the last minute. The publisher and writer were unable to reach a compromise; Veitch quit, and vowed never to work for DC until the story saw print. Though the story arc has still never been printed, Veitch eventually did return to DC.

Later work

After leaving DC, Veitch turned to the alternative comics
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...

 field, where the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a fictional team of four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu and named after four Renaissance artists...

 had provided the impetus for a black-and-white independent comics boom. After doing a Ninja Turtles storyline for Mirage, The River, he began creating his own titles again, published by the Mirage spin-off Tundra.

During this period, he produced the graphic novels Bratpack
Bratpack (comics)
Brat Pack is the title of a comic book limited series by Rick Veitch . It is a dark satire on superhero sidekicks, influenced partly by the fans' decision to kill off Batman's sidekick Jason Todd, but also built on other long-standing rumors and undercurrents in the history of the superhero genre,...

and The Maximortal, which were to be part of a planned cycle of books called The King Hell Heroica.
After Tundra collapsed, Veitch chose to emulate the successful self-published artist Dave Sim
Dave Sim
David Victor Sim is an award-winning Canadian comic book writer and artist.A pioneer of self-published comics and creators' rights, Sim is best known as the creator of Cerebus the Aardvark, a comic book published from 1977 to 2004, which chronicles its main character in a 6,000-page self-contained...

 by creating his own publishing imprint, King Hell Press. King Hell has reprinted black-and-white editions of all of his original graphic novels.

Veitch was reunited with Alan Moore on two titles for Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...

, 1963 and Supreme
Supreme (comics)
Supreme is a fictional superhero created by Rob Liefeld and first published by Image Comics, then Maximum Press, and later by Awesome Entertainment...

. He then became a regular artist on Moore's America's Best Comics line published by Wildstorm
Wildstorm
WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, published American comic books. Originally an independent company established by Jim Lee and further expanded upon in subsequent years by other creators, WildStorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1999...

, co-creating and then illustrating the graphically innovative "Greyshirt" serial (a Spirit
The Spirit
The Spirit is a crime-fighting fictional character created by writer-artist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940 in "The Spirit Section", the colloquial name given to a 16-page Sunday supplement, distributed to 20 newspapers by the Register and Tribune Syndicate and reaching five million...

 homage) in Tomorrow Stories, and later writing a spin-off Greyshirt
Greyshirt
Greyshirt is a comic book character in Alan Moore's Tomorrow Stories, published by Wildstorm , under the America's Best Comics imprint. The character was co-created by Moore and Rick Veitch. The character is a pastiche of Will Eisner's The Spirit...

series. When Wildstorm was sold, both Veitch and Moore found themselves working indirectly for DC again, despite both having long-standing conflicts with the publisher; Veitch took this opportunity to mend relations and has since begun working directly for DC again, notably on its relaunch of Aquaman
Aquaman
Aquaman is a fictional superhero who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in More Fun Comics #73 . Initially a backup feature in DC's anthology titles, Aquaman later starred in several volumes of a solo title...

and on a mini-series reimagining DC-owned Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...

 character The Question
Question (comics)
The Question is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by DC Comics. The original was created by writer-artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Blue Beetle #1...

as a self-trained urban shaman. In 2006, Vertigo published his 352-page graphic novel, Can't Get No
Can't Get No
Can't Get No is a graphic novel by Rick Veitch which concerns businessman Chad Roe's depression after the financial collapse of his business, his seemingly permanent full-body marker tattoos, and the September 11 attacks, which prompt Roe to take a road trip....

, a psychedelic 'road' narrative about a failed businessman finding himself after the World Trade Center attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

 told without word balloons but embellished in captions with stream-of-consciousness free verse poetry loosely relating to plot developments.

During the 1990s, Veitch became interested in the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 as an alternative to traditional comics distribution. In 1998, with Steve Conley
Astounding Space Thrills
Astounding Space Thrills was a webcomic by begun in 1997. It is also the title of a comic book series of the same name published by Image Comics....

, he created the "online convention" site Comicon.com, a combination message board, news portal, and web host for comics creators. He continues to run the site, and is a vocal advocate of self-publishing in both print and digital media.

He wrote and penciled the satirical Army@Love
Army@Love
Army@Love is an American comic book series from DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, which started in May 2007. It is drawn and scripted by Rick Veitch, with Gary Erskine on inking duties. Issue #12 published in February 2008 was the "season finale". The title was featured in The Washington's Post Best of...

for Vertigo in 2007-2009.

In September 2011, he wrote and penciled The Big Lie, a comic book in which the protagonist – a physicist widowed on September 11, 2001 – travels back in time to attempt to save her husband. The book takes the position that the towers' destruction was a controlled demolition.

Dream art

Veitch created a series of strips titled Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends (a reference to Winsor McCay
Winsor McCay
Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator.A prolific artist, McCay's pioneering early animated films far outshone the work of his contemporaries, and set a standard followed by Walt Disney and others in later decades...

's Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend
Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend
Dream of the Rarebit Fiend was a newspaper comic strip written and drawn by Winsor McCay beginning September 10, 1904. It was McCay's second successful newspaper strip, after Little Sammy Sneeze secured him a position on the cartoon staff of the New York Herald newspaper...

), which first appeared as backup features in his self-published titles. In 1994 he began a full-sized Rare Bit Fiends series. King Hell published 21 issues of Rare Bit Fiends and has collected the first 20 in three paperback volumes, which also include essays by Veitch speculating about the nature of 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...

ing. The original series also reproduced dream comics submitted by readers.

Veitch had a cameo in the Cerebus the Aardvark
Cerebus the Aardvark
Cerebus the Aardvark, or simply Cerebus , is an independent comic book, written and illustrated by Canadian artist Dave Sim, with backgrounds by fellow Canadian Gerhard. Cerebus ran for 300 issues from December 1977 to 2004, and was over 6000 pages long, the longest-running original...

story arc "Guys" as "Roaring Rick" where Cerebus is dreaming, and Roaring Rick appears to him and gives a surreal monologue on the nature of dreams, lucid dreaming, etc.

Graphic novels

  • 1979 (reprinted 1994): 1941 (with Steve Bissette). LPC Group. ISBN 99940-24-20-5
  • 1982–1983 (reprinted 2006): Abraxas and the Earthman—Originally serialized in Epic Illustrated. Marvel Comics. Collected edition TPB: King Hell Press. ISBN 0-9624864-8-5.
  • 1984: Heartburst. Marvel Books. ISBN 0-939766-82-5.
  • 1989 (reprinted 2003): The One. King Hell Press. ISBN 0-9624864-5-0.
  • 1992 (reprinted 2003): Bratpack. King Hell Press. ISBN 0-9624864-4-2.
  • 2002: The Maximortal. King Hell Press. ISBN 0-9624864-3-4.
  • 2006: Can't Get No. DC Comics. ISBN 1-4012-1059-7.

Series collections

  • 1991: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The River. Mirage Publishing.
  • 2003: Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset. DC Comics. ISBN 1-56389-909-4.
  • 2003: Aquaman: The Waterbearer (with Yvel Guichet). DC Comics. ISBN 1-4012-0088-5.
  • 2004: Swamp Thing: Regenesis (with Alfredo Alcala). DC Comics. ISBN 1-4012-0267-5.
  • 2005: Swamp Thing: Spontaneous Generation (with Alfredo Alcala). DC Comics. ISBN 1-4012-0793-6.
  • 2006: Swamp Thing: Infernal Triangles (with Delano, Bissette, Alfredo Alcala, Tom Mandrake). DC Comics. ISBN 1-4012-1008-2.
  • 2007: Army@Love: The Hot Zone Club (with Gary Erskine). DC Comics. ISBN 1-4012-1474-6.
  • 2008: Army@Love: Generation Pwned (with Gary Erskine). DC Comics. ISBN 1-4012-1832-4.

Dream art collections

  • 1995: Rabid Eye. King Hell Press. ISBN 0-9624864-1-8.
  • 1996: Pocket Universe. King Hell Press. ISBN 0-9624864-2-6.
  • 2004: Crypto Zoo. King Hell Press. ISBN 0-9624864-6-9.

Miscellaneous compilation

  • 2007: Shiny Beasts (including many of Veitch's one-shot stories). King Hell Press.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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