Tom Veitch (September 26, 1941 – February 14, 2022) was an American writer, known for his work in the

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

industry. He was also a novelist and a poet. He was the brother of comics writer and artist

Rick Veitch Richard Veitch (born May 7, 1951) is an American comics artist and writer who has worked in mainstream, underground, and alternative comics. Early life Rick Veitch is a native of the small town of Bellows Falls, Vermont. One of six children, he w ...

Early life

Veitch was born on September 26, 1941, as the oldest of six children. His family moved from

Walpole, New Hampshire Walpole is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,633 at the 2020 census. The town's central village, where 573 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as the Walpole census-designated place (CDP) and ...

, to

Bellows Falls, Vermont Bellows Falls is an incorporated village located in the town of Rockingham in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,747 at the 2020 census. Bellows Falls is home to the Green Mountain Railroad, a heritage railroad; the ...

. He attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. While living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, he published his first book ''Literary Days'' (1964). From 1965 to 1968, Veitch was a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monk at

Weston Priory Weston Priory is a community of Benedictine monks who reside in Weston, Vermont, founded in 1953. The Priory is within the confines of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, which encompasses the entirety of Vermont. They are particularly know ...

. In 1968, he moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and started a poetry magazine, the ''Tom Veitch Magazine.''

Comics career

Veitch was a contributor to the

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

movement of the early 1970s. His collaborations with underground comix artist

Greg Irons Greg Irons (September 29, 1947 – November 14, 1984) was an American poster artist, underground cartoonist, animator and tattoo artist. Profile Irons was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He moved to San Francisco, California, in 1967, whe ...

(the creative team known as "GI/TV") included such titles as ''Legion of Charlies'', ''Deviant Slice'' and contributions to many other underground comix, including ''Skull Comix'' and ''

Slow Death Funnies ''Slow Death'' is an underground comix anthology published by Last Gasp, the first title published by the San Francisco Bay Area-based press. Conceived as an ecologically themed comics magazine (in conjunction with the first Earth Day), the title ...

''.

Creator-owned In the United States, creator ownership in comics is an arrangement in which the comic book creator retains full ownership of the material, regardless of whether the work is self-published or published by a corporate publisher. In some fields of ...

comics by Veitch include ''

The Light and Darkness War ''The Light and Darkness War'' is a limited series, six-issue comic book written by Tom Veitch and illustrated by Cam Kennedy. Originally published by Epic Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics, Titan Books released a collected hardcover editio ...

'' with artist

Cam Kennedy Campbell ("Cam") Kennedy is a Scottish comics artist. He is best known for his work on '' 2000 AD'', especially the flagship titles ''Judge Dredd'' and ''Rogue Trooper''. Biography Following work in commercial art in his hometown of Glasgow, ...

, published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

and

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...

, and ''The Nazz'' with artist

Bryan Talbot Bryan Talbot (born 24 February 1952) is a British comics artist and writer, best known as the creator of ''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'' and its sequel '' Heart of Empire'', as well as the ''Grandville'' series of books. He collaborated ...

, ''Clash'' with artist

Adam Kubert Adam Kubert (; born 1959) is an American comics artist known for his work for publishers such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics, including work on ''Action Comics'', '' Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine'', ''The Incredible Hulk'', ''Ultimate Fantas ...

, and ''My Name Is Chaos'' with artist John Ridgway, each published by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

. Also for

he wrote ''

Animal Man Animal Man (Bernhard "Buddy" Baker) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. As a result of being in proximity to an exploding extraterrestrial spaceship, Buddy Baker acquires the ability to temporarily "borrow" t ...

'' No. 33–50 with art by

Steve Dillon Steve Dillon (22 March 1962 – 22 October 2016) was a British comic book artist, best known for his work with writer Garth Ennis on ''Hellblazer'', ''Preacher'' and ''The Punisher''. Early life Dillon was born in London in 1962 and raised i ...

Tom Mandrake Tom Mandrake (born 1956) is an American comics artist, perhaps best known for his collaborations with writer John Ostrander on several series, including ''Grimjack'' (from First Comics) and ''Firestorm'', ''The Spectre'', and ''Martian Manhunter'' ...

Dick Giordano Richard Joseph Giordano (; July 20, 1932 – March 27, 2010) was an American comics artist and editor whose career included introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes and serving as executive editor of DC Comics. Early li ...

, David G. Klein,

Mark Badger Mark Billings Badger (October 16, 1958), known as Mark Badger, is an American illustrator who has worked as a penciler, inker, cover artist, painter, and occasional colorist in the American comic book industry. In addition to his career as a comic ...

Brett Ewins Brett Ewins (1955 – 16 February 2015) was a British comic book artist best known for his work on ''Judge Dredd'' and ''Rogue Trooper'' in the weekly anthology comic '' 2000 AD''. Biography Ewins studied Conceptual Art at Goldsmiths College, ...

, Jim McCarthy and

Steve Pugh Steve Pugh ( ;) is a British comic book artist who has worked for American and British comic producers including DC Comics, DC, Marvel Comics, Marvel, Dark Horse Comics, Dark Horse and ''2000 AD (comic), 2000 AD''. He broke into the industry in ...

, as well as two

Elseworlds ''Elseworlds'' was the publication imprint (trade name), imprint for American comic books produced by DC Comics for stories that took place outside the DC Universe Canon (fictional), canon. Elseworlds publications are set in alternate realitie ...

series, '' Kamandi: At Earth's End'' and '' Superman: At Earth's End''. He is known for initiating the

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

line of

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

s, with ''

Dark Empire ''Dark Empire'' is a ''Star Wars'' comic book metaseries produced by Dark Horse Comics. It consists of a six-issue Limited series (comics), limited series written by Tom Veitch and drawn by Cam Kennedy, followed by a second six-issue limited seri ...

'' and '' Tales of the Jedi''.

Prose and poetry

Veitch's novels include: ''The Luis Armed Story'' (Full Court Press, 1978); '' Eat This!'' (Angel Hair Books, 1974); and ''Antlers in the Treetops'', written with poet

Ron Padgett Ron Padgett (born June 17, 1942, Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American poet, essayist, fiction writer, translator, and a member of the New York School. ''Great Balls of Fire'', Padgett's first full-length collection of poems, was published in 1969. He ...

(

Coach House Press Coach House Books is an independent book publishing company located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Coach House publishes experimental poetry, fiction, drama and non-fiction. The press is particularly interested in writing that pushes at the boundar ...

, 1970). His poetry collection ''Death College and Other Poems'', with an afterword by

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

, was published in 1976 by

Bill Berkson William Craig Berkson (August 30, 1939 – June 16, 2016) was an American poet, critic, and teacher who was active in the art and literary worlds from his early twenties on. Early life and education Born in New York City on August 30, 1939, Bil ...

's Big Sky Books. During his years as a Benedictine monk, Veitch formed friendships with two former

Trappists The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...

. One of those men, whose religious name was Elias, agreed to be interviewed by Tom and discuss his inner spiritual life, covering a period of more than fifty years. The result was the book ''The Visions of Elias'', published in 2016 by Sky River Books.

Personal life and death

Veitch was married to Martha Veitch, and they had a daughter Angelica. He died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, on February 14, 2022, at the age of 80, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Vermont.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Veitch, Tom 1941 births 2022 deaths American male poets Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Vermont Underground cartoonists Writers from New Hampshire Writers from Vermont Former Benedictines Roman Catholic writers People from Walpole, New Hampshire