BOOKS BY HANS RICKHEIT:
1989 to 2009 - CHROME FETUS COMIX
Self-Published Mini-Comics by Hans Rickheit
“Trying to describe his work never does it anywhere near justice. For the people who have already read his comics and somehow missed this one, it’s absolutely indispensible. For those of you who haven’t read his stuff, unless you have an especially weak stomach or just can’t stand to be disturbed, Hans is one of the more talented people working today. If those samples won’t convince you, nothing will…” - Optical Sloth
“Hans Rickheit's comics are filled with nightmarish imagery. Cats are fed into machines that grind them into dog food, midget delinquents shoot giant guns into crowds of people, tearing them apart, bear faced figures become afflicted with strange mutations. A perpetual list of oddities occur throughout Rickheit's fantasy world. I highly recommend purchasing any of Rickheit's comics from his website as you won't find anything like them in your average comic shop.” - Monster Brains
2002 - CHLOE
Self-Published Graphic Novel by Hans Rickheit
Xeric Award Winner 2002
132 Pages
2009 - THE SQUIRREL MACHINE
Graphic Novel by Hans Rickheit
Published by Fantagraphics Books
179 Pages
“Rickheit strikes at the heart of what it means to be human: connecting with other emotionally and physically, seeking to express oneself through art, investigating the world around us--in other words, to be emotionally and intellectually curious. He takes that and presents the worst case scenario for every one of these urges, blended through the frequently merciless and occasionally sociopathic lens of childhood. Rickheit makes the reader understand that not all adventures are noble ones, and that unfettered, unmediated desire can lead to degradation and ruin.” - High Low
“The velvety ease of the narrative and the facile blend of sexual, familial and natural intimacies on display suggest one of those steps forward with which the comics medium has been blessed over and over again this past decade. One falls through The Squirrel Machine as much as reads it, and the collection of feelings it imparts is as much due to the clarity of its narrative as it is the horror show that occasionally surges toward the reader from some deep place in Rickheit's mind, righteous and angry and wet.” - Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
2012 - FOLLY - The Consequences of Indiscretion
Graphic Novel Collection of Comics and Drawings by Hans Rickheit
Published by Fantagraphics Books
132 Pages
“Though I have no single clue what the hell is going on in Hans Rickheit’s stories, I’m glad comics like this exist if only to showcase the range and possibilities of the medium, though I do find them perplexingly compelling. These are images and stories ripped straight from Rickheit’s imagination and as such are utterly unique – you’ll never read a comic like this anywhere else, for better or worse.” - Comic Ally
“The frighteningly hilarious world of Rickheit’s graphic novel is a deranged cabinet of curiosities…each vignette builds on the last by cycling through a small cast of characters and through Rickheit’s illustrations of his grotesque Victorian world. The result is a narrative mosaic that pairs sumptuous, horrific imagery against a strange but lighthearted sense of humor.” - Publisher’s Weekly
“I want to have sex with Hans Rickheit. Even if Rickheit's characters aren't doing anything explicit, you know that what's going on can't possibly be innocent. These comics aren't all that pornographic, but there is a sexuality seeping from everything he draws, more horrifying for its coy implications. Rickheit's jointed tentacled biomasses, nestled in their grooved Victorian devices, never seem like a metaphor for anything. They just are. It's as if other masters of visual bodyhorror — Cronenberg, Burns, Dan Clowes, Tarsem Singh — are weird by choice. Rickheit, it seems, just can't help it. There's a conviction to his creepiness, a compulsive nature even in his early draftsmanship (his current drawings, in their architectural perfection, resemble those of a savant). His work seems completely, horrifyingly honest.” - Boston Phoenix
“Hans Rickheit mines a rich vein of personal visionary splendor and generously take the time and trouble to share astonishing discoveries with the rest of us.” - Jim Woodring
2014 - COCHLEA & EUSTACHIA- Volume 1
Graphic Novel by Hans Rickheit
Published by Fantagraphics Books
76 Pages
“The world of the graphic novel is vividly rendered, filled with strange, fleshy creatures, intricate inventions and devices, and hostile animal-like people (or people-like animals). Rickheit’s signature characteristic is creepiness, and in this he succeeds. Every line of his invented world suggests decay and sexuality. This adds up to continuous horrific violence visited upon the three young girls, accompanied by their persistent sexual objectification. Even when fully mutilated they appear ready and willing for anything. It’s deeply disturbing, and that’s just what was intended.” - Publisher’s Weekly
“Scary, beautiful, disturbing and often utterly inappropriate, the full-colour exploits of the masked misfit misses is accompanied by an enticing extra tale in muted monochrome as the mysterious masqueraders return to show ‘How It Works’, after finding a possibly handsome stranger stashed in a box in a starkly surreal swamp. Reminiscent of Rick Geary, Jason Lutes and Charles Burns whilst being nothing like them at all, Rickheit presents singularly surreal and mannered designs; highly charged, subtly disturbing delusions that chill, bewilder and possibly even outrage. Compelling, seductive, sublimely quirky, blackly hilarious and nigh-impossible to forget – as long as you’re braced for the unexpected. If you are at all tempted or intrigued you must see this splendidly slewed and offbeat chronicle.” - Slings & Arrows
“With a drawing style that resembles Jason Lutes and Charles Burns, and a storytelling style similar to Jim Woodring and Al Columbia, Rickheit excels in making nightmares lucid.” - The A.V. Club
2022 - DELIA
Graphic Novel by Hans Rickheit & Krissy Dorn
Published by Fantagraphics Books
236 Pages
“The characters in this graphic novel may be squirrels, but the world in which they live is familiar and human. Delia’s homeland is a sort of 1950s United States, complete with beatniks, sexism and a red scare. The setting works well for the story. After all, the 1950s saw many a science-fiction film and the debut of the “Twilight Zone” television series. Delia’s story is the sort of bleak, dramatic tale that would have thrived in that setting. It is intriguing … and ultimately unsettling.” The Greenfield Recorder
“Delia has moved away from her farming family to study in the city, proving so capable at mechanical engineering that she’s employed as a research assistant. Professor Tak’s speciality is philosophy, but he’s convinced he can take a giant step from the theoretical to the practical by finalizing a machine that decodes signals from the cosmos. It sounds crackpot theory, but it works. How will humanity change? Delia Eichhorn is a humanoid squirrel, one of a world exclusively populated by them in otherwise familiar trappings supplied in exquisite cartoon detail by Hans Rickheit, his style attractively inked by Krissy Dorn. He delivers a well-rounded and attractive version of the early 1950s down to cars on the streets and accessories in the kitchen. A capacity for detail extends to the multiple machine parts populating the local scrapyard, rendered extraordinarily precisely, and the imagination extends to the gloriously constructed nonsense machine through which communication occurs. Delia and other people are drawn to appeal, and have the rich emotional characterization seen in the best Rupert the Bear books, and it turns out there’s a reason for them being squirrels.” - Slings & Arrows
2018 to present - THE GLOAMING
Ongoing Adults-Only Comic Book Series by Hans Rickheit
Published by Chrome Fetus Comix
“I relate to Rickheit’s touch of strange. I aspire to pushing limits in my own work in comics: seeking out distinctive storytelling paths; refining a signature style; challenging the reader. I see all of that happening in Rickheit’s work. Of course, I am not alone. His quirky, creepy, and overall gorgeous art has struck a chord with readers world-wide. Fast forward to now, and we find Rickheit raising the stakes higher with his most provocative comics ever. Has he gone out on a limb and is it worth it? This is a daring experiment and one perhaps inevitable. It’s clear that it engages this masterful cartoonist and, in turn, it will engage the discerning mature reader. Blutch, for example, has claimed he’d like nothing more than to create pure porn but then he doesn’t go and actually do that because artful and literary concerns kick in. I think what he really means is that he just wants the freedom to do as he sees fit. At the end of the day, usually that will mean that he wants to create something with integrity. That’s what Rickheit is after too.” - The Comics Grinder
2019 to present - COCHLEA & EUSTACHIA - Volume 2
Ongoing Comic Book Series by Hans Rickheit
Published by Chrome Fetus Comix
“It’s hard to tell how much analysis Cochlea & Eustachia warrants. Is it art for art’s sake, akin to an abstract painting in a trendy New York gallery? Is it so cerebral that one can (and does) easily miss the point? Whatever the answer, one thing is for certain: Rickheit’s narrative belongs in a world of its own, which is precisely what the writer/illustrator delivers. The book won’t be for everyone—in fact, it probably won’t be for most—but this off-the-beaten-path tale fills a definite, albeit small, dark and fetishized” - Under The Radar
“This is a fantastic work, at once a vivid, visual feast, darkly disturbing and an adventurous story. Once you enter you’ll never want to leave because there’s nothing else quite like it.” - Indie Comic Corner
FOREIGN EDITIONS
2014 - LA MACHINE ÉCUREUIL
French Translation Edition of The Squirrel Machine by Hans Rickheit
Published by Ici Meme
2017 - THE SQUIRREL MACHINE
Italian Translation of The Squirrel Machine by Hans Rickheit
Published by Eris Edizioni
2020 - COCHLÉA Y EUSTACHIA
French Translation of Cochlea & Eustachia Volume 1 by Hans Rickheit
Published by Huber Éditions
PUBLICATION CONTRIBUTIONS
1999 - CAMBRIDGE INFERNO
Comics Anthology Newspaper Edited by Hans Rickheit
Published by Zeitgeist Gallery
2000 - PAPER RODEO
Comics Newspaper Appearance
Published by Fort Thunder
2001 to 2003 - PROPER GANDER ANTICOMICS
Comics Newspaper Anthology Appearance
Published by Grady Roper
2001 - SICK PUPPY COMIX
Comics Anthology Appearance
Published by Rabid Publishing
Published by Byzant
Published by Robert Young
2003 - KRAMER’S ERGOT - Volume 3
Comics Anthology Appearance
Published by Avodah Books
2003 - LEGAL ACTION COMICS
Comics Anthology Appearance
Published by Dirty Danny Legal Defense Fund
Published by Byzant
Published by International Strip Festival
Published by Chris Auman
Published by Brett Wood
Published by Blurred Books
Cover Art #4 by Hans Rickheit
Published by Mental Note Press
Published by Dirty Danny Press
2010 - STRIPOLIS #2
Comics Anthology Appearance
Published by Branko Djukic
Published by Big If
Published by Jeremy Baum
Published by Locust Moon Press
Comic Book Anthology Appearance
Published by Cinema Sewer
Published by Toon Books
Published by Snuff Comix
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