Cat Garza’s space tale continues! Read the rest of the story – and more than a dozen others – in the NEW STARS anthology from the Trees & Hills comics group. On sale this week at SPX!

Here’s page one of Cat Garza’s contribution to NEW STARS, the Trees & Hills comics group’s new anthology of work by New England creators inspired by the launch of Sputnik 50 years ago this month!

You can read the whole thing in NEW STARS, on sale next week at the Small Press Expo in Maryland. Only $3!

The final page of the NEW STARS anthology story by Dan Barlow, Keith Moriarty and Tim Hulsizer, the team that brings you $ELL OUTS. More than 50 pages of cartoons by New England folks inspired by the launch of Sputnik 50 years ago. On sale next week at SPX!

Just back from camping and I thought I’d post the first page to “The Cosmic Cocktail Conundrum,” the story that will be printed in the new Trees & Hills anthology, NEW STARS, which we’re publishing in time for the Small Press Expo later this month.

NEW STARS is our third anthology book and our first themed one. Full on promotion to begin this week. Tons of comics inspired by the 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite, which kicked off the space race.

Other contributions to the book include Matthew Reidsma, Cat Garza, Marek Bennett and a host of others. 52 pages of comics by people from New England for only $3!

This comic is brought to you by the $ELL OUTS team of myself, Keith Moriarty and Tim Hulsizer. Two more pages to follow later. And for the comic smart people out there, yes, we did do that; letters of apology have been sent to Stan Lee and the family of Jack Kirby.

MONTPELIER, Vt. – On October 4th, 1957, the Soviet Union shot an object the size of a basketball into space. And the world was never the same again.

To celebrate the historic launch of the Sputnik satellite, the Trees & Hills comics group of Vermont, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts will publish a mini-comics anthology featuring cartoons inspired by the event that kicked off the space race.

The anthology book, the second one published by Trees & Hills this year, will be released in time for the 2007 Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland in early October. The deadline for submissions is Sept. 19th and anyone interested should soon contact the group co-founders, Colin Tedford and Dan Barlow.

We’re also looking for someone to arrange an awesome cover image for the book, which would obviously be eye-catching and cosmic. There is a strong chance that the cover will be screen-printed this time too! Anyone interested in drawing the cover, please let us know.

The size of the mini-comic anthology will be 5.5 x 8.5 inches and it will be black and white. We are mostly looking for work that would appeal to people of all ages, so if there is a question about content or style in your cartoon, please just ask us first.

All contributors will receive one copy of the comic per page of their work we publish and can buy further copies at cost. It will be for sale at conventions, on-line and at various retail outlets in the three states.

Also, please do not send original art! High-quality scans of the cartoons can be e-mailed to either Dan Barlow at barlowdaniel at gmail dot com or Colin Tedford at colintedford at gmail dot com. Snail mail photocopies can be sent to Colin Tedford, PO Box 645, Winchester, NH 03470 or Dan Barlow, 182 Main Street #2, Montpelier, VT 05602.

The Trees & Hills comics group formed at a 24-Hour Comic challenge in Brattleboro, Vt. nearly two years ago. Since then, the group has published two anthologies featuring new work by regional creators such as Stephen R. Bissette, Cat Garza, Marek Bennett and Colleen Frakes.

“Field Guide to Cartoonists,” the latest anthology, was released in June 2007 at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival in New York City. For more information, including the time and location of the group’s next drawing party, please visit www.treesandhills.org