Windsor artist Stephen R. Bissette has been named Vermont’s sixth cartoonist laureate.
The Vermont Arts Council and the White River Junction-based Center for Cartoon Studies announced Monday that Bissette will be named laureate on April 9 at a ceremony in the Statehouse in Montpelier.
A Waterbury, Vt. native, Bissette has perhaps the longest and most glowing resume of any cartoonist with Vermont roots. He co-created, with Alan Moore, and drew “The Saga of the Swamp Thing” in the 1980s, which brought new life to horror comics.
He also was a participant in the 1988 “Northampton Summit,” a meeting of cartoonists that led to the Creator’s Bill of Rights, which gave independent comics artists greater control of their work.
Bissette was a member of the faculty of the Center for Cartoon Studies from the school’s first year until his retirement in June 2020. Around the same time he retired, he published a flurry of new and collected work. He is also the author of “Green Mountain Cinema,” a book on Vermont films and filmmakers.
His appointment means the laureateship will remain in the Upper Valley. Bissette will replace Tillie Walden, of Norwich. It also coincides with the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Center for Cartoon Studies. Vermont is the only state that names a cartoonist laureate.
In addition to the April 9 ceremony, a celebration of Bissette is planned for April 11, in Springfield, Vt., where Springfield Cinemas 3 will screen the 2005 film “Constantine.” Bissette helped create the title character of John Constantine in the “Swamp Thing” series of comics. Proceeds from the 12:30 screening will benefit the production lab at the Center for Cartoon Studies. For tickets or more information, call the Springfield Cinema 3 Box Office at 802-885-1009 for tickets.