A short interview about our Halloween comics appears in Jen Vaughn’s Halloween blog post at The Beat.

EAST MONTPELIER – The fictional world of “Watchmen”– set in a 1985 where Richard Nixon is still president and the threat of nuclear war looms over the United States – doesn’t have much in common with the idyllic, laid-back Vermont.

But the writer of that comic, which sees its film version debut nationally today, enjoyed a special working relationship with two Vermont comic artists for years – Stephen R. Bissette of Windsor and Rick Veitch of West Townshend.

“I first met Alan Moore as most of you did: as a reader,” Bissette wrote in his chapter for the book, “Alan Moore: Portrait of An Extraordinary Gentleman.” “And upon first reading, I knew: this was magic.”

Read the rest of the story here.

By Daniel Barlow Vermont Press Bureau Published: December 24, 2008

MONTPELIER – During a recent interview to promote his film adaptation of Will Eisner’s “The Spirit” comic strip, Frank Miller remembered first discovering reprints of the cartoonist’s work in a small drugstore in Barre.

“I was 14 years old, driving my bicycle in Vermont, and I would go to two drug stores to buy all my comic books,” Miller told the Film Journal International earlier this month. “And at the second drug store in Barre, Vt., I came across this oversized magazine that was in black-and-white and I was entranced.”

That comic was a 1970s reprint of Eisner’s work decades earlier on “The Spirit,” which ran for 12 years as a supplement to newspapers’ Sunday comics section. Miller quickly devoured Eisner’s work – forever influencing his own artistic direction.

More than 30 years later, Miller, who grew up in the Barre area and attended high school in Montpelier, brings his own version of “The Spirit” to the big screen on Christmas Day. The film stars Gabriel Macht as Denny Colt, a police officer who fights crime as the masked, noirish Spirit.

[Read more →]

Photo: Jeb Wallace-Brodeur/Times Argus

By Daniel Barlow
Vermont Press Bureau
Published: November 29, 2008

MONTPELIER – Tim Newcomb has satirized four sitting Vermont governors over hundreds of political cartoons during his 25-year career – and he usually always feels bad about it afterward.

One cartoon this year showed Republican Gov. James Douglas in a rubber boat literally riding a wave of national party contributions soon after vetoing a bill that would place new limits on campaign fundraising.

Newcomb’s Douglas takes key traits from the real-life politician and transforms them into exaggerated quirks as the cartoon version sports just a wisp of hair, a thin frame and oversized glasses across a childlike face.

“Jim Douglas is such a gracious gentleman,” Newcomb said Friday from his downtown Montpelier studio. “He is such a naturally likeable guy that I find myself apologetic to him whenever I see him.”

Read the rest at the Times Argus Web site.

Howard Cruse is launching a new free publication on August 1 – click the image for details on that day’s launch party, sure to be remembered as a historic event! Read more about the origin of the Perp at Howard’s blog.

While you’re reading cartoonists’s blogs, check out Marek Bennett‘s ongoing series chronicling his whirlwind summer teaching comics to kids over at his blog. Then head over to comics podcast Indie Spinner Rack to hear Marek interviewed during their MoCCA coverage. He’s about an hour in, a ways after noted Vermont cartoonist Alison Bechdel (herself a prolific blogger, as you know if you’ve been watching our blogroll down to the right).