indie box: Teknophage

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Bryan Talbot, dinosaur, indie box, Indie Comics, Neil Gaiman, Rick Veitch, Tekno Comics, Teknophage

Inside the indie comics box today, it’s Teknophage: a walking, talking, totally evil dinosaur who rules a world much like ours, only infinitely more terrible. Teknophage feeds on souls, which he extracts from helpless humans in the horrifying vats of his mobile city. He cruises his planet spreading misery every where he goes. Many have tried to overthrow him, only to have their souls ripped from their tortured bodies and consumed.

Rick Veitch created this evil bastard reptile for Tekno Comix, a Neil Gaiman venture. With artist Bryan Talbot, Veitch blends horror, science fiction, and a cynically hilarious social satire to make Teknophage a story you will never forget — assuming you survive!

Here is a preview of the pages where Teknophage recounts his earliest days as just another evil telepathic dinosaur, and how he discovered the multi-dimensional technology that made him master of the planet.

Collector’s Guide: From Teknophage #4-5; Tekno Comix, 1995.

indie box: Rare Bit Fiends

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black and white, dream journal, Dreaming, dreams, indie box, Indie Comics, King Hell Press, Neil Gaiman, Rare Bit Fiends, Rick Veitch

What’s in the short-box of indie and small-press comics this week? It’s Rare Bit Fiends by Rick Veitch! Here to introduce the descent into the dreamworld is a strange and nameless beast who begins every issue of this unique series.

In Rare Bit Fiends, Rick Veitch made his dreams into pages of comic book art. Don’t look for traditional stories in Rare Bit Fiends. You’ll only find the psychedelic language of dreams and the weird workings of the inner mind. Veitch’s artwork is in top form.

Below is a sample of an illustrated dream whose narrative comes from a special-guest dreamer Neil Gaiman and rendered by Roarin’ Rick in ultra-cosmic perfection!

Collector’s Guide: From Rare Bit Fiends. Collections include Crypto Zoo, Pocket Universe, and Rabid Eye. King Hell Press.

The title Rare Bit Fiends is a nod to the early 20th Century comic strip Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend by Winsor McCay, who created Little Nemo in Slumberland.

Swamp Think!

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DC Comics, Rick Veitch, Swamp Thing, Swamp Think, Vertigo Comics

Swamp Thing #75, part of Rick Veitch’s run on the title, remains a favorite of ours due to the lavishly large panels full of Swampy’s psychedelic ponderings on life, the universe, and everything.

Swamp Thing sits down and grows a bigger brain to consider a thorny problem: how to find a host for the spirit of the next elemental force of the Green.

Long-time fans know this elemental force eventually takes the form of his daughter, a character Brain K. Vaughn would develop in his time on the series.

Collector’s Guide: From Swamp Thing #75; DC Comics, 1988.
Written by Rick Veitch, with art by Veitch and Alfredo Alcala.

Rick Veitch’s Swamp Thing: We Could Be Diving for Pearls

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Abigail Arcane, DC Comics, John Constantine, Parliament of Trees, Rick Veitch, Swamp Thing

When Rick Veitch began writing Swamp Thing, he’d already drawn many issues of it. In his first issue as writer, he continued several of Alan Moore’s themes, like the Parliament of Trees and the psychedelic effects of eating Swampy’s tubers. While Swamp Thing descends into the green realm of the Parliament, Abby takes a weird hallucinogenic trip in issue #65. The events here kick off the main theme of Veitch’s run: Swamp Thing and Abby’s attempts to have a baby, and the unusual role John Constantine plays in that endeavor.

Collector’s Guide: from Swamp Thing #65; DC Comics, 1987. Reprinted in Swamp Thing TPB Vol. 7: Regenesis.

Rick Veitch Swamp Thing Collection

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Abigail Cable, collection, DC Comics, Rick Veitch, Saga of the Swamp Thing, Swamp Thing

Rick Veitch took over the creative helm of Swamp Thing after having worked on it as artist for Alan Moore’s stories of Gotham City and Swamp Thing’s space travel, among others. Let’s have a look inside his memorable contributions.

But first, let us mention that a full Veitch collection is nicely rounded out by two Annuals (one with work by Steve Bissette), an odd issue of Secret Origins that covers the Floronic Man (revisited by Veitch in his S.T. run), and a couple issues that complete Veitch’s unfinished cliff hanger.

Recall that Veitch had wanted an issue where Swamp Thing met Jesus, but DC would not publish it. Frustrated, he left, but the resolution by the next creative team works well. With brilliant Totleben covers and the return of Tom Yeates’s art to these pages, Veitch’s long saga of the unborn child of the Swamp Thing comes to a satisfying conclusion.

Veitch maintains several strong motifs from the Moore saga. Swamp Thing’s travels through the surreal sentient plant dimensions of the Green take on new life with the Parliament of Trees. The Parliament reveals Swampy is one of a number of plant-like avatars of the Green. Meanwhile, Abigail Cable, now Mrs. Swamp Thing, starts taking more psychedelic trips by eating the tubers of the Swamp Thing. Whoa, dude.

We made some scans of one of our favorite Veitch issues where Swamp Thing thinks deep thoughts by growing a giant plant brain. Veitch seems to have fun revisiting the drug-fueled aesthetics of underground comix of the 1970s, and the reader gets many a lavish visual treat.

Some lucky Swamp Fan picked up this collection from us on eBay, but you can usually find Rick Veitch issues of Swamp Thing in stock. You want issues #65-87, and go all the way to #91 if you want the concluding story arc. It resolves Veitch’s two main plot lines: Swampy & Abby’s attempt to conceive a child, and a time-travel saga through the history of the DC Universe.

Sgt Rock 339: The Collector by Rick Veitch!

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Rick Veitch, Sgt Rock, The Collector, war, war comics

Before taking on Swamp Thing and moving on to careers producing their own works, artists Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch drew stories for DC’s Sgt. Rock. This week we’ll look at a few of their back-ups for DC’s once-popular war comic.

Collector’s Guide: From Sgt. Rock #339; DC Comics, 1980.

Sgt Rock 338: Future War by Rick Veitch!

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Future War, Rick Veitch, Sgt Rock, war, war comics

Before taking on Swamp Thing and moving on to careers producing their own works, artists Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch drew stories for DC’s Sgt. Rock. This week we’ll look at a few of their back-ups for DC’s once-popular war comic.

Collector’s Guide: From Sgt. Rock #338; DC Comics, 1980.

Sgt Rock 347: Go Down Moses by Rick Veitch!

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Go Down Moses, Harriet Tubman, racism, Rick Veitch, Sgt Rock, slavery, war, war comics

Before taking on Swamp Thing and moving on to careers producing their own works, artists Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch drew stories for DC’s Sgt. Rock. This week we’ll look at a few of their back-ups for DC’s once-popular war comic.

Collector’s Guide: From Sgt Rock #347; DC Comics, 1980.

This Pure Act of Creation!

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Alan Moore, birth, birth scene, Eclipse Comics, Indie Comics, MiracleMan, MiracleMan 9, Rick Veitch

The birth scene in Miracleman #9 made it one of the most controversial issues of arguably the greatest superhero story of the twentieth century. Isn’t it strange that a candid depiction of birth, an event all of us experience at least once, often draws harsher criticisms than graphic depictions of violence? Hats off to Alan Moore and Rick Veitch for this one.

Collector’s Guide: From Miracleman #9; Eclipse. Reprinted in MiracleMan TPB #2.