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Drawn Here, Part 4

West Townshend, Vermont - May 15, 2007

Calling Vermont's anti-war movement vocal is an understatement. With drums and signs, protestors have been hitting the streets since the very first shot was fired in Iraq. Rick Veitch says, "I'm worried about the future."

Veitch took a stand by sitting down at his drawing table. He says, "I'm angry. I'm angry about the way things happened. And the whole bamboozlement."

He created a satirical comic book called Army@Love set five years from now in the fictional war zone of Afbaghistan. Rick Veitch says, "As an artist, it's my response to what I see as the mess our government put us in."

It imagines the fighting has gotten so bad, that military brass must turn to creative measures to recruit troops, like allowing cell phones in combat to make fighting seem less of a sacrifice.

Veitch explains, "The problem, I think, with comics, is it's been constricted. The money men had to sell them for ten cents so they thought they could only be Superman or Spiderman. What we're finding now is it can be a lot more than that."

The Bellows Falls native trained at the nation's first cartooning school in New Jersey, and worked on the popular horror/fantasy series Swamp Thing in the 1980. It was just one stop on his way to fame in the world of alternative comics. Veitch says, "They're a little deeper in their thinking, stranger in their imagery, and I think they appeal to a slightly older audience."

Non-stop video of real destruction got Veitch thinking how comic book history has tended to glorify war. So Army@Love is a direct opposite to popular heroes like Captain America, G.I. Joe, and Sgt. Rock. 

Some critics have called his comic audacious, even tasteless. Especially storylines that make fighting into a hormone-driven video game. But Veitch says the black comedy reflects how war-weary the country is. He adds, "First it will make them laugh. Then it will make them think. That's what satire does best."

A grown-up comic book, "Drawn Here," that brings this state's loud anti-war movement from the pavement to the page. Nationally. Veitch says, "Personally, I hope to God we're out of there."