From the Portland Mercury: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=41984&category=22148



Can?t Get No
by Rick Veitch (Vertigo/DC Comics)


BY ERIK HENRIKSEN

As comic books have evolved, they've dealt with everything from massive alien wars to the pedestrian annoyances of Harvey Pekar. But they've always had a pretty standard
relationship with language: Comics' text informs the images, and vice versa. Ideally, the two parts are clear and artful, creating an inimitable middle ground: an otherwise impossible
amalgamation of image and thought. But with Rick Veitch's Can't Get No, comics venture into the realm of haughtily poetic literature.

Can't Get No fails fantastically at some things, and is remarkably effective at others. Single-handedly written and drawn by Veitch, it's a black-and-white epic that follows Chad Roe, an exec at a permanent marker company. Shortly before 9/11, Roe's company implodes, and he doesn't fare any better: After a wild night, Roe wakes up with every inch of his body covered with makeshift tattoos, drawn on his skin with his own indelible brand of marker. The tattooed, confused Chad hits the road, and so begins his rambling journey—through a surreal and broken post-911 America.

A friend of mine who tried to read Can't Get No summarized it in one word: "Unreadable." Which both is and isn't true. Yeah, Can't Get No is clunky and heavy-handed, and
Veitch's lilting, dense prose—split into barely sensical snippets, and punctuated with endless ellipses—annoys. But something weird happens about halfway through the book: The words pick up a rhythm, and Chad's trip takes on an entirely visual life. With Veitch's words fading into the background and his images becoming ever more hectic, it does become unreadable—in the sense that, unlike most graphic novels, it's impossible to experience Can't Get No with the same expectations as one would have for a prose novel. No, this is a true synthesis—of barely understandable words paired with jarring images, of sequential illustrations leading the story, of text fading into the cadence and tempo of a background soundtrack. Eventually, Can't Get No hits a strange, fascinating balance, sneaking in a few profound messages and more than a few memorable images. Of all the twists and
mutations that comics have taken, the one demonstrated by Can't Get No is a new one—and one that's unexpected, tough, weird, flawed, and welcome.

Finally figured out how to make it work with UBB:

recurring dream

Rick,

Congratulations on all the good reviews. Truth to tell, I think Henriksen's comes the closest to mirroring my experience of Can't Get No. The narration of CGN is of the abstract sort -- so much of it is in the form of questions, nay, Big Questions! -- upon which my brain, with apparent instinct, has difficulty finding purchase. Especially when I'm not only trying to follow another strain of narrative working on an entirely different level (in this case, the sequential images) but also trying to put those two narrative strains *together* to see what the author means by using them both and by juxtaposing particular segments of them.

But, this difficulty in reading Can't Get No is precisely part of what I liked about the comic book (after one reading -- I hope to re-read it soon, depending on how caught up I get with my other reading). As a review you posted earlier pointed out, few Vertigo titles have taken the chances that CGN has, and I like that you've tasked me this way with those chances you've taken.

And not just on principle. Yes, I'm pleased on principle that you've produced a work that demands effort on my part -- and that DC, of all people, have actually published it -- but I also find the process of trying to "put together" and ponder Can't Get No is engrossing and even entertaining. The synthesis which Henriksen discusses -- yes, that's just it. The odd combination of your abstract narration and the much more concrete sequential images really maps it's own territory. It isn't the words, it isn't the image -- it's very much they long-form manner in which you've chosen to wed them that make Can't Get No's "story" -- make the graphic novel what it IS. Trying to put it all together as a reader makes it what it is.

For me, at least. And it's a really cool experience.

The way I looked at it, when I came away from that first read, is that the choices you made, in terms of what kinds of words to use, with what kind of sequential narrative, was that you'd created a POEM. An Epic Poem, in it's own way. But, as Henriksen might agree, not an Epic Poem like ancient, classical Epic Poems. A work that achieves its poetry by the JOINING of your subject matter, your philosophical intent (for want of a better term, if it sounds too high-falutin'), the actual words and narration you've chosen and the actual images and visual narrative you've chosen. You've transformed the comic book medium into a kind of political/matric (I just made that word up: it means "like unto a mantra") poetry in a way only the comic book medium can be transformed.

So, I'm not sure everything works perfectly, but, then, I'm not sure I've really absorbed it all after only one read. But I do know that it is beautiful, it is compellingly expressive and WHOLE a reading experience in that it so fully FORMS itself into itself by doing what it does, and it is marked by masterful cartooning.

Matthew

Are these available in any stores yet? I got to my comic store (for the first time in 6 months) yesterday, and there wasn't any. I went to B. Daltons and Barnes & Noble and didn't find one there either.

I didn't see any at the Heroes Con when I went Saturday, although I might have just missed spotting it on the various dealer tables I was pawing through. I sure would have picked it up.

If you guys can't find it at your local retailer, get it on-line. Amazon.com sold out last week but has since re-stocked. I believe Paneltopanel.net still has some of the signed bookplate editions.

An in-depth review of CAN'T GET NO, MAXIMORTAL and CRYPTO ZOO over at Rain Taxi.

This guy didn't think the narration worked at all: Nashville City Paper

Forbidden Planet is recommending it to their Fantagraphics customers.

From Bill Baker at Bookslut.com:

There've been a fair amount of comics about 9/11 in the wake of that tragedy. They've appeared with any number of purposes, bearing a fairly wide range of messages delivered creatively or crudely, depending on the abilities of the authors and artists involved. And while I haven't read all of those books, I think I can say with a fair amount of certainty that there's nothing else out there quite like Rich Veitch's Can't Get No.

There are a number of obvious things that mark this trade from Vertigo as something different. Take the format, for instance. Can't Get No is a thick, squat graphic novel with black and white interiors, a real departure from the full color interiors featured in the majority of Vertigo's line. Then there's the art style, a rich blend of Jack "King" Kirby, EC Comics, and '60s Underground sensibilities intermixed with Veitch's rough-hewn realism and dead-on storytelling. But what's really distinctive about Can't Get No is Veitch's daring, even defiant approach to telling his story, and this is what truly sets this particular book apart from the others released since the fall of the towers.

In essence, what Veitch has presented readers with is a tale featuring two seemingly separate and distinct narratives -- the visual tale focuses on the life of troubled businessman Chad Roe whose fall from grace nearly coincides with the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC, while the script consists of an extended poetic vision of an apocalyptic apotheosis, redolent of William Blake and other visionary poets. These two narratives share the pages and panels, their individual plot courses converging and diverging thematically, symbolically and otherwise. This sets up resonances and almost forces the reader to create new and unusual associations between words and their meanings, and even words and the things they represent, creating an atmosphere which echoes the strange and awful chaos the characters are experiencing firsthand. Even more amazing, both narratives in turn are enriched and further informed by all of this interaction, gathering subtle and surprising connections and meanings which would never have been produced by a more traditional approach to storytelling.

The cumulative effect is somewhat overpowering, and certainly results in a rich reading experience that is singular and uniquely individual. While I know that every encounter and reacquaintance with a book is special and particular, this is one of those rare books which I believe will provide a totally idiosyncratic experience for each reader. Furthermore, I strongly suspect that each and every re-reading will result in a distinctive experience, as the reader’s changing moods, circumstances, etc. will affect the outcome.

But if you dig just a little deeper, concentrating on the essential arc of both of these narratives, you'll discover something even more iconoclastic about Can't Get No. Yes, this is a book about The Tragedy of 9/11, true. But in a very real sense, this is a book about how that larger event reflects and is in turn reflected by our individual tragedies and losses. It is about the journey we've all been on since then, since we've all had to embark on something analogous to a voyage of discovery to even begin understanding what has happened, much less initiate anything resembling a healing process. We're sailing uncharted waters, traversing terra incognita, scanning the horizon or the surrounding brush for sea serpents and tigers alike.

As mirrored in Can't Get No, we've entered a strangely familiar, yet terribly deformed landscape both culturally and individually. There are all manner of pitfalls, terrors, and unfounded fears, as well as real and present dangers. But we must never forget that there are also good things everywhere, and good people in those places, despite what any cynic or doom-mongering profits [yes, the spelling is intentional] would have you believe. As demonstrated throughout this phenomenal and powerful work, we have more in common with both our friends and foes -- real or imagined, global or local -- than any of us would like to admit. We are all capable of thinking, and even doing, terrible and hurtful things, just as we are also able to lend that helping hand or show of support. We are all foolish and wise in our own ways. And we all aspire to be more than we are at present; we all desire a transcendence of sorts, literal or otherwise. The fatal difference arises from the manner in which we strive for our goals, and our choices to either help, hinder, or even block those who might be reaching for something else.

We are all standing in the gutters, lusting after stars of one nature or another. Now all we have to do is find a way to stop killing each other in our desperate efforts to reach those shinning and distant dreams.

In an ideal world, Can't Get No wouldn't have been necessary. Sadly, in this world, at this time, it just might be the first comic that is necessary reading.

Bookslut review

Ooop. Looks like Bookslut has a second bit on CAN'T GET NO. This is part of an overview of Vertigo by Clayton Moore with me answering a few questions:

By far, the most unusual of Vertigo’s upcoming offerings is Rick Veitch’s Can’t Get No, a new book that explores the American landscape and culture in an entirely new way. Published in June, this is a book so startling that even Neil Gaiman calls it, “supremely, magnificently strange.”

Can’t Get No, written and illustrated by Veitch (Swamp Thing, Bratpack) is a surreal chronicle of one man’s adventure during and immediately after 9/11. It begins sedately enough as Chad Roe, the repressed CEO of a company that makes Eter-No-Mark permanent markers, heads off for work in New York City. That day, the city joins with property owners in a suit against the company for graffiti damage. The resulting chaos sends Roe into a drinking binge that culminates in two female artists tattooing him from head-to-toe with his own permanent marker. He tries to cover his new markings but can’t. His odd appearance causes him to be driven away from certain death in the Twin Towers. Subsequently, Roe snaps and goes on the road.

“I’d heard the urban legend of the guy who got drunk and woke up drawn all over with Magic Markers,” Veitch remembered. “It kind of struck me that it might be interesting to follow through on someone in that predicament. It’s also a way to graphically ‘tag’ a character. You always know it’s Chad, even in long shots.”

The project took two years and even with nearly five years’ psychic distance from the event, Berger finds Can’t Get No very timely.

“What we’re finding with many works about 9/11, both fiction and film, is that the resonant effect of that time takes a while to seep in and that it comes out creatively in different ways,” she said. “I will tell you that it was very amorphous. Rick knew how it started but he wasn’t sure how it was going to end up. I knew that whatever he did would end up breaking new ground and exploring new territory in graphic novels, though, and I think he succeeded brilliantly.”

Perhaps the most aberrant aspect of Can’t Get No is its “narration,” a kind of sing-song, incongruous poetry that adds an otherworldly soundtrack to Veitch’s startling black-and-white artwork.

“Can’t Get No differs from most graphic novels in the way that it works, with the lyrical captions dancing in and out of the unfolding visual narrative,” Veitch explained. “It’s meant to work on a reader’s brain in a new way. The trick was in creating just the right amount of dissonance between word and image so readers naturally fill in any gaps with their own imagination. People seem to see all kinds of things in there that weren’t my intention, which is really cool. It means that they’re making Can’t Get No their own.”

It also differs from the traditional 8x10 comic book in size. Roughly the shape of a thick paperback turned on its side, the art is presented in a widescreen format that is cinematic in its presentation.

“I knew from the beginning that I wanted the format of the book to be different,” Veitch said. “It wasn’t just to make it look original but also to break through the mindset that comes from reading the same shaped comics all the time. Vertigo came up with the final size and shape and I think they made a perfect choice. I like the way the book feels like a fat brick and just falls open in your hand.”

The book is heavy. So are its messages.

“When I talk to individuals, most of them are still struggling with aspects of how the event impacted our lives,” Veitch observed. “It seems like after the actual shock wore off and we geared up for war, our media moved on and a dialogue we needed to engage in never happened. I suspect there is something about the whole tragedy that we, as Americans, don’t want to face in the political sphere. Fiction is a good tool to get at complex issues that are stuck in the craw of the national consciousness, and of course I hope my book facilitates that in some way.”

VERTIGO RAISES THE BAR

I am about half way through the book and felt compelled to post on it.

First off, Bravo, Rick! Truly an important work in a medium that may only see something that will stand the test of time every 2 to 3 years. I would put it in the same category as Safe Area Gorazde, From Hell and Jimmy Corrigan.

The other thought/ takeaway is that the narrative is as close to a "Soundtrack" as I've ever seen in comics. By that I mean, I get the feeling intended from the words if not the entire meaning, much like a film's soundtrack.

Gotta go finish it now...