March 1, 2020

Event date: April 2, 2020 –

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: On Thursday, April 2, 2020, West Townshend, Vermont resident Rick Veitch will be appointed Vermont’s fourth cartoonist laureate during a live stream event. Veitch was to be recognized on the Vermont Statehouse floor and meet with Vermont Governor Phil Scott on April 2, but that will be rescheduled due to the pandemic. Vermont is the only state that regularly appoints a cartoonist laureate.

“Congratulations, Rick. Your honor is well deserved.” —Vermont Governor Phil Scott

When: Thursday, April 2 at 3pm
Where: Live Stream on YouTube

Rick has written and drawn groundbreaking comics and graphic novels that include Heartburst, The One, Bratpack, Maximortal, Can’t Get No, Army@Love, and The Big Lie. A native son of Bellows Falls, Vermont, Rick began his publishing career in Vermont, cartooning for the University of Vermont’s The Vermont Cynic and continued his practice as part of the underground comic movement with Two-Fisted Zombies. Rick graduated as part of the pioneer class of the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon & Graphic Art, Inc. in 1978 and then launched a career that would have him working on such iconic characters as Sgt. Rock, Swamp Thing, and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and in such publications as Heavy Metal and Epic Illustrated.

Since 2000, Rick has collaborated (with Steve Conley and Rick’s sons Ezra and Kirby) on innovative educational graphic novels for various textbook publishers while creating a new body of self-published original works: Super Catchy (2016), the Eisner Award-nominated The Spotted Stone (2017), Otzi (2018), and Redemption (2019).

Burlington’s James Kolchalka, Brookfield’s Ed Koren, and Bolton’s Alison Bechdel were the state’s first three cartoonist laureates respectively. Despite its small size, Vermont has had a disproportionately large impact on contemporary cartooning. In addition to The Center for Cartoon Studies, celebrated cartoonists Stephen Bissette, Harry Bliss, Glynnis Fawkes, Rachel Lindsay, Liniers, Jason Lutes, and James Sturm, all call Vermont home. For more information contact: media@cartoonstudies.org

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