The 2008 SPRING THAW TOUR features the debut of several new comics by members of Trees & Hills and a chance to meet with local comic fans and other creators.

   Trees & Hills members will appear at two conventions in New Hampshire in May before trekking out to New York City for the MoCCA festival in June.

   First up is the Granite State Comicon in Manchester, N.H. on May 18. Trees & Hills co-founders Barlow and Colin Tedford will be on hand for the event while Mimi’s Doughnuts creator Marek Bennett leads the crowd in a massive comics jam!

   That convention also features the debut of $ELL OUTS #1 written by Barlow and Keith Moriarty, with interior art by Tim Hulsizer and a cover by Greg Giordano, the Burlington, Vt. artist who turned heads with last year’s Trees & Hills’ NEW STARS anthology cover. Tedford will also unveil his new comic, FOUR DAYS.

   Up next is Broke: An Affordable Arts Fair in Peterborough, N.H. on May 31. In addition to scores of comics by local creators, Trees & Hills will also be giving away copies of the first two installments of TWIG, a new monthly comics flyer that debuted in April.

   Finally, Trees & Hills will return to the MoCCA Arts Festival for a second year in a row. The group will debut its latest anthology – SWINGIN’ HITS – a new book that features comics about music by creators from across the three states. The comic will also come with a free CD of songs by local creators!

   Also debuting at that show will be MIMI’S DOUGHNUTS #15 by Bennett, BOOTY #21 by Anne Thalheimer and SQUARE DANCE #3 by Tedford.

On Saturday, May 17 at 2pm, the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge MA will host a screening & panel discussion of Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist. The Museum has some video clips on YouTube: click here and check out the clips labeled “Comic Arts Festival” (including four clips of Howard Cruse discussing his work), “Will Eisner Documentary”, and “Peter Kuper meets Norman Rockwell”. This is yet another event in conjunction with the stunning “Litgraphic” exhibit of comics art, closing May 26.

The Center for Cartoon Studies Commencement Ceremony takes place on Saturday, May 17 at 11am at Northern Stage in White River Junction, Vermont. This year’s commencement speaker is Alison Bechdel, critically acclaimed author of graphic memoir, Fun Home.

Thesis Exhibition: Opening Reception is Saturday, May 17, immediately following the Commencement Ceremony. The exhibition will run Saturday, May 17 thru Saturday June 21; it will be open to the public Monday thru Saturday, 10am - 4pm. Graduating seniors will be exhibiting their thesis projects, including preview pages of completed and to-be-completed graphic novels, short stories, visual narratives, and mini comic series. The Center for Cartoon Studies Gallery is located at 94 South Main Street, in the Colodny building.

Right-click here and download the PDF to print, copy & distribute in your area. If you do, drop us a line (treesandhills@gmail.com) to let us know where you’re putting them so we can know how cool you are! This month: bring some to your local comic shop for Free Comic Book Day (Saturday, May 3)!

On to the comics! Click to enlarge.

To submit material, send your 300dpi comics to treesandhills@gmail.com (should be suitable for “general audience”).

On to the comics! Click to enlarge.

TWIG #1 contains comics by Colin Tedford, Marek Bennett, Morgan Pielli, and Keith Moriarty. Send your 300dpi submissions to treesandhills@gmail.com!

Goodbye, Blogger - Hello, WordPress!

New features!
- A Store Finder listing shops that have been known to carry our work.
- Comments - Post reviews of the minicomics!
- Artist List in menu, so you can see who we stock & what we have by them more easily.
- Individual product pages so you can link to a specific item you want to tell someone about instead of hoping they find it on the site.
- Bigger cover images! Well, actually they’re still pretty small, but as I scan and upload new comics, you’ll be able to click the thumbnail for a larger view.

The distro’s website has lagged behind what we actually have in stock for some time, but now those items are finally finding their way to the site. The first “new” items in stock are Booty #20 by Anne Thalheimer and A Taste Of Paradise by Megan Baehr. Yay! More comics will be joining the online stock in the weeks to come.

You may notice that some items are marked “out of stock” - why the heck did I bother posting them? Well, after I got the site back up, Hub Comics in Somerville, MA (”the comics shop for NPR listeners”) ordered a bunch of minis! Which caused some things to run out, and made me realize some thing were already gone (whoops!). Anyway, if you live near Somerville, definitely check out Hub Comics, because they clearly love good comics. Thanks, Hub!

The main site here is next up for an overhaul. I’m planning to take a single day to do most of the work, though, so it shouldn’t be a lingering process.

Cat Garza of White River Junction, Vt. works on the latest installment of his “Year of the Rat” comic as he snacks.

Here’s a view of the main teaching room at the Center for Cartoon Studies.

Megan Baehr of Putney, Vt. colors one of her comics.

Cartooning Party at CCS
with Trees & Hills Comics Group

Saturday February 23rd, 1-5pm

Join the Trees & Hills comics group and students from the Center for Cartoon Studies for a social cartooning party at the White River Junction, Vt. school. Bring your art supplies and come ready to draw!

This event is co-hosted by the Trees and Hills Comics Group, a collective of cartoonists and other comic creators from New Hampshire, Vermont, and Western Massachusetts. CCS is a two-year college dedicated to the study of comics and visual narrative.

The event is open to the public, although we ask that you be over 18 years of age and RSVP. The school can be found at 94 South Main Street in WRJ, Vt. Please contact Roby Chapman at chapman@cartoonstudies.org or (802) 295-3319 to RSVP.

Light snakes and refreshments will be served at the party and we ask that you help out our hungry bellies by bringing something tasty to share too.

For more information on Trees & Hills, visit www.treesandhills.org