Windsor cartoonist Stephen R. Bissette has been named Vermont’s sixth cartoonist laureate. The artist — renowned for his work as cocreator of the graphic novel series The Saga of the Swamp Thing, his comic book S.R. Bissette’s Tyrant and his adaptation of the Steven Spielberg film 1941 into a graphic novel — will receive his appointment at the Vermont Statehouse on Thursday, April 9. The term for the laureate role is three years.

Stephen R. Bissette Credit: courtesy

“As a cartoonist, scholar, and teacher, Steve Bissette’s influence on comics is profound,” Center for Cartoon Studies cofounder James Sturm said in a statement announcing the appointment. “This honor is richly deserved and reflects a lifetime of extraordinary work.”

Bissette, 70, is a founding faculty member of the White River Junction cartoon school and taught there from 2005 until 2020. Last year he was inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame, among the comic book industry’s most prestigious honors.

‘The Saga of the Swamp Thing’ art by Stephen R. Bissette Credit: courtesy

A 1978 graduate of New Jersey’s Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, Bissette helped write the Creator’s Bill of Rights, a 1988 document that articulated comic book artists’ ownership of and control over their work. Also in the ’80s, with writer Alan Moore and illustrator John Totleben, he revitalized the DC Comics series Swamp Thing into a critically acclaimed horror classic.

Bissette also edited and published Taboo, an anthology of edgy adult comics that serialized Lost Girls, by Moore and Melinda Gebbie, and From Hell, by Moore and Eddie Campbell. The latter was adapted into a 2001 feature film starring Johnny Depp.

An author of fiction, nonfiction and essays, Bissette has illustrated books by New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman; horror writers Douglas E. Winter, Rick Hautala and Joe R. Lansdale; and Vermont’s own Joseph A. Citro.

Late last year, Lighthouse Press announced plans to publish a deluxe reproduction of S.R. Bissette’s Tyrant, which failed to achieve much commercial success when it was originally published in the 1990s. The story of a Tyrannosaurus rex and his struggle to survive ran as four issues printed in black and white on newsprint. Nominated for an Eisner Award in 1995, the work featured “gloriously rendered Cretaceous period landscapes and epic storytelling that has earned it cult status,” Publishers Weekly said in a November article.

‘The Vermont Monster Guide,’ with art by Stephen R. Bissette Credit: courtesy

In addition to the reproduction, Lighthouse Press plans to publish an oversize original art edition with images shot from Bissette’s hand-drawn pages.

Vermont is the only state that regularly appoints a cartoonist laureate. Norwich cartoonist Tillie Walden currently holds the post. Past honorees include James Kochalka, Alison Bechdel, Rick Veitch and the late Ed Koren.

Springfield Cinemas 3 will host a public event to honor Bissette on Saturday, April 11, at 12:30 p.m. The cartoonist will introduce Constantine, a 2005 film starring Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, a character Bissette helped create. Tickets, available through the box office at 802-885-1009, cost $20, and proceeds will support the Center for Cartoon Studies’ new production lab.

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Mary Ann Lickteig is a feature writer at Seven Days. She has worked as a reporter for the Burlington Free Press, the Des Moines Register and the Associated Press’ San Francisco bureau. Reporting has taken her to Broadway; to the Vermont Sheep &...