Rick Veitch

next major project was an adaptation of the Steven Spielberg film 1941 with Bissette.

Richard Veitch (born May 7, 1951) is an American comics artist and writer who has worked in mainstream, underground, and alternative comics.

Rick Veitch is a native of the small town of Bellows Falls, Vermont.

One of six children, he was raised Catholic.

One of his elder brothers was the writer Tom Veitch, his first collaborator in comics.

In an interview, Veitch recalled visiting the [WPA] muralist Stephan J.Belaski to ask his advice on becoming an artist.

"He just said, 'Don't do it, kid.'" Winning honorable mention in a "draw a monster" contest hosted by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, for Drag Cartoons when he was in seventh grade reassured him that he was on the right path.

Today, Veitch lives in West Townshend, Vermont with his wife Cindy.

His sons Ezra Veitch and Kirby Veitch are also artists, contributing to Eureka Comics.

While still in high school, Veitch and his brother Tom created the comic strip Crazymouse, which ran regularly in The Vermont Cynic.

He made his professional debut in 1972, illustrating the underground comix horror parody Two-Fisted Zombies published by Last Gasp and written by Tom.

This one-shot was excerpted in Mark James Estren's 1974 study, A History of Underground Comix.

According to Veitch, it also proved to be his ticket to admission to The Kubert School.

Veitch enrolled in the Kubert School in 1976,.

Studying under veteran cartoonists Joe Kubert, Ric Estrada and Dick Giordano, he was part of the school's first graduating class in 1978, along with his future long-time collaborators Stephen R. Bissette and John Totleben.

While still at school Veitch began his professional career in mainstream comics, contributing over a dozen short stories to DC’s combat title, Our Army at War.

Out of school, Veitch contributed to Heavy Metal.

During the 1980s, Veitch became known as a distinctive fantasy artist and writer for Marvel's Epic Comics line, for which he created three graphic novels, Abraxas and the Earthman serialized in Epic Illustrated; Heartburst published as a standalone graphic novel; and The One.

During this period Veitch contributed numerous short comics to Epic Illustrated.

He also worked with Alan Moore on Miracleman, published by Eclipse Comics.

As Moore would later write: "The One ... is a kind of landmark; a pulling together of obsessions and ingenious storytelling ideas into a coherent whole ... Its revisionist superheroics, while conceived at roughly the same time, predate Watchmen and Dark Knight in terms of publication, as does its packaging. Its political and humanist preoccupations were voiced before such sentiments became chic. Its deranged, culture-conscious humor offers an alternative and an antidote to today's rather gloomy trend of pessimistic, post-modern ultra-humans... Whatever it is that the comic books of the 1980s turn out to be remembered for, The One was right there in the thick of it, carving out a niche in the mainstream for dangerous ideas long before dangerous ideas became box-office certainties."

Veitch's highest-profile title in the 1980s was DC Comics' Swamp Thing.

His friends Totleben and Bissette had both illustrated the series since Alan Moore took over as writer.

Published between 1985 and 1986, The One presaged both Alan Moore's The Watchmen (1986-1987) and Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (1986) in its revisionist approach to superheroics.

Veitch joined the team for issue #37 (cover dated June 1985), in which Moore's popular character John Constantine was introduced, and appeared regularly after issue #50.

When Moore left the Swamp Thing series after issue #64, Veitch took over as writer, dividing art duties with Alfredo Alcala.

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; he gradually turned his attention from the DC Universe to history and mythology.

Veitch concocted a plot device—a mystical piece of amber called The Claw of Aelkhund that gives him the power of time travel.

This allowed Veitch to introduce his hero to a variety of legendary figures, from Jonah Hex, Bat Lash, and Tomahawk, to Sgt. Rock and Etrigan the Demon.

While thrilling to many readers, this approach ultimately hit a bump that derailed the series.

Personally inclined towards metaphysics, Veitch submitted a script for issue #88 titled "Morning of the Magician" that moved DC to censorship.

Set in Jerusalem, the principal characters include three evil Magi, several demons, the Holy Grail, Mother Mary, Joseph of Arimathea, and Mary Magdalene, here imagined as an active prostitute whose clients include the DC Silver Age hero Golden Gladiator.

At the climax of the story, Swamp Thing meets Jesus Christ.

Although DC initially had approved Veitch's initial script for "Morning of the Magician," the story was scrapped by DC President, Jenette Kahn, who deemed it too inflammatory.

"The subject was handled with integrity and respect," she wrote.

"but we believe that the story concept itself would be offensive to many of our readers."

He illustrated the story that graphically depicted the birth of the superhero's child in Miracleman #9 (July 1986).

With Moore and Bissette, Veitch collaborated on the original version of The Mirror of Love, published in an 1988 anthology by AARGH (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia).

Moore later revised the text and published it with new illustrations by José Villarrubia.

Originally published as a six-issue comic book limited series, The One was an ambitious and bizarre fantasy-adventure involving monstrous superheroes, the Cold War, and spiritual evolution.