I was compelled to be a fan of Rick Veitch. When SWAMP THING was at its creative peak in the 1980s I was onboard, and I believed in the collective creative staff from that book. I liked the work but even more than “like”, I felt the crew had accomplished something new, and noteworthy. Thereafter, whenever I could afford to, I bought the new works of any of those talents from the title SWAMP THING. Thereafter to the present, Rick Veitch has written and illustrated many comics I like to read, so getting the opportunity to chat with him is deeply appreciated by me.
Alex Ness: What was your first published comics work?
Rick Veitch:I consider TWO FISTED ZOMBIES, written by my brother Tom Veitch with art by me, as my official first published work. It came out from Last Gasp in 1972. But Tom and I had previously collaborated on a weekly strip for the University of Vermont campus newspaper, THE VERMONT CYNIC. It was called CRAZYMOUSE and ran for ten or twelve weeks, I think.
Alex Ness: You went to the Kubert School, to what extent did it prepare you fully for work in the comic book world?
Rick Veitch: Kubert School was exactly what I needed at that point in my life. To spend two straight years completely focused on comics was a real gift! The school gave me the first honest art instruction I'd ever had. It also prepared me for the business end of things and because it was located near New York, put me in a good position to make my initial contacts in what was then the center of comics publishing. And of course I made some life long friendships that have been very important to me.
Alex Ness: Who are your influences artistically and writing wise?
Rick Veitch: As a kid I essentially taught myself to draw by copying whoever my favorite artist was at the time. So I drew from all the usual suspects like Frazetta, Kubert, Infantino, Williamson and especially Kirby. Jack not only influenced my art but also my storytelling in a very organic way. He was definitely my main guy growing up. I only began to think about writing professionally when I was at Kubert School. During that period Joe Kubert and Bob Kanigher had the most influence since I was working directly from their scripts. My early professional work was over at Marvel under Archie Goodwin and I was also lettering Archie's stuff for Al Williamson so a lot of his stylisms found their way into my early style. Then, I guess, Alan Moore showed up and changed the whole paradigm for all of us and since I was lucky enough to be working on his scripts I picked up on him as much as I could too.
Alex Ness: As a writer and artist do you find that the creative people who compose your list of influences would be less craft centric and more philosophy about creativity?
Rick Veitch: I think most of the people in comics who influenced me did so through an appreciation of their craft. But I was in awe of Kirby's creative imagination. He seemed to up the idea ante with every new issue he drew at Marvel in the sixties and then kind of topped all that with the FOURTH WORLD stuff; consciously and successfully creating a modern myth. Outside of the comic book continuum, I read a lot and I do tend to gravitate to authors who grapple with big spiritual questions. Henry Miller probably had the most profound impact on me.
Alex Ness: Swamp Thing had a writer and two artists (Bissette and Totleben) yet you were heavily involved in the book. What would you define your work upon that title prior to your own run as writer /artist?
Rick Veitch: I helped Steve on a bunch of issues in his run, beginning with "The Anatomy Lesson". It wasn't a true collaboration in the sense of other stories we had done together such as "Monkey Sea" in EPIC or "1941" for HEAVY METAL. The SWAMP THING gig was Steve's and repr
Alex Ness: Your own run ended in such a way that I ended up personally boycotting DC comics for a couple years. Was the ultimate reason DC's fear of religiosity in their books, Jeanette Kubla Kahn's personal religious views or something else entirely?
Rick Veitch: I still don't know what DC's reasoning was. I do cop to having overreacted when I resigned. I should have finished the last three issues as I'd promised and then walked away. It would have been the professional thing and I wouldn't have spent the last fifteen years with a hole in my heart because I never got to finish my novel.
Alex Ness: Will fans ever be able to read the censored story?
Rick Veitch: I donated a copy of the script to the CBLDF and I think they sell photocopies at their convention table.
Alex Ness: How was your perception of the character of Swamp Thing any different than Alan Moore?
Rick Veitch: I benefited greatly from the depth of characterization Alan had accomplished with Swamp Thing and Abby and all the other regular characters. What changed was the tone of the title. There's quite a strong streak of social satire that runs through my SWAMP THING stuff. I'm sure there are old time DC readers who never forgave me for trapping ROY RAYMOND in the back of his limo for all those months. In Alan's run the plot situations are essentially set up so that the hero's task appears hopeless and impossible, and SWAMP THING and ABBY bob along on events that are beyond their control. My SWAMPY and ABBY have a strategy and clear goal to fight for.
Alex Ness: King Hell Press is your publishing outlet, to what extent did that come from your experience at DC Comics?
Rick Veitch: The real influence on me to self publish came from Peter Laird, Kevin Eastman and Dave Sim who had all been able to prosper outside the large companies. This was in the mid 1980's when Marvel and DC were doing business in the old way.
Alex Ness: The ONE, Maximortal and Brat Pack are all available through King Hell, so do you censor yourself by any means?
Rick Veitch: Well, none of those titles are meant to completely release the sublimated Id of Veitch in the same manner S. Clay Wilson or Rory Hayes approach their comics. With BRAT PACK and THE MAXIMORTAL I'm trying to get under the skin of comics; peel it back to reveal the pathologies at play. In that sense I don't censor anything.
Alex Ness: I have been told that there are some people who consider Brat Pack's satire of the super hero sidekick cliché to be an anti gay statement. I read it, do not think it so, but I think from a mainstream publisher you could not have said something similarly.
Rick Veitch: BRAT PACK was a satire of the hidden socio-psycho-sexual elements that super hero comics have always traded in. It's all in there; vigilanteism, objectification of women, fetishism, misogyny, hyper violence, drug use, child endangerment. How can a book that takes on those subjects ignore homo-eroticism? Look to the language; the phrase "Batman and Robin" has been slang for a certain type of homosexual relationship since the '40's. I have met a few people who were hurt or angry about the depiction of the Midnight Mink (Dirk Deppey told me the book traumatized him so much as a teenager that he burned it), but BRAT PACK was meant to piss off EVERYONE who was still hanging onto an unconsciously neurotic fascination with super hero comics.
Alex Ness: I bought and enjoyed 1963, but wondered what it was. I realize that there was homage involved, and good stories, but wonder why the series happened. Your work at IMAGE on the series 1963 ended with a spreading of the creative assets among the creative talents (Moore, Bissette and yourself) involved. Why did it fail?
Rick Veitch: 1963 was Alan's reaction to how insane and awful super hero comics became in the early 90's. He told me he felt somehow responsible by letting the cat out of the bag with WATCHMEN and wanted to completely reverse course and get back to that 'state of grace' that super heroes existed in during the Silver Age. The point of the series was to be demonstrated in the 80 Page Annual when the sweet and simple 1963 characters battle the pumped and vicious Image super heroes (the basic concept was later lifted for KINGDOM COME). 1963 failed because the Annual was never completed. Alan began the script, finishing the first 24 pages, but Jim Lee never started the art. Steve Bissette also pulled out while I was drawing Book 6 and since he was scheduled to handle the production on that issue everything then fell into my lap and it just wasn't possible at that late date to reboot the Annual. In the years following I've tried to organize a number of publishing deals, some of which were built around a new approach to finishing the project. But so far I've never been able to put all the pieces together.
Alex Ness: You continued to work with Alan Moore or at least, Alan Moore's intellectual properties with Greyshirt for Wildstorm and then Wildstorm/DC. Did your continued work relationship with Moore suggest that you were not a party to the split between Bissette and Moore?
Rick Veitch: Those two guys really loved each other and I love them both so to be in the middle when they split apart so wrenchingly was one of the worst relationship things I've ever had to deal with.
Alex Ness: Upon RAREBIT you've collected and presented sequential adaptations of dreams, both yours and those submitted by readers and contributors. What is your goal there and do you believe in dreams as anything but interesting source material? Why?
Rick Veitch: I've always done dreamwork, which is essentially just paying attention to your dreams. But at a critical moment of my young adulthood (as described in CRYPTO ZOO) my dreams clearly pulled me out of the mess I'd made of my life and showed me where my true path lay. So I have a deep connection and respect for dreaming and have always relied on it as a sort of sixth sense. Making comics from dreams is the most satisfying art experience I have ever had (and I've had a few). When I create comics from my dreams I experience a lovely circuit of intuition that moves through me. RARE BIT FIENDS may have been difficult for com
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