Vermont’s new cartoonist laureate talks the wonder of comics

The highest education Tillie Walden achieved is a “certificate of cartooning.” But on April 13, she can add cartoonist laureate to her resume.

Walden, 26, will become Vermont’s fifth and youngest cartoonist laureate at a statehouse ceremony in Montpelier. She takes over the role from 71-year-old Rick Veitch. This cartoonist laureate position is unique to the state, which prides itself in welcoming quirky counterculture. Walden said the role is a way of acknowledging an artform that is “a lost little sister” to other mainstream art.

“It’s so special for me that the state that I live in has decided to care about what I do,” Walden said on Boston Public Radio on Wednesday.

Walden began drawing cartoons after her father signed her up for a class with Scott McCloud. Her first comic was about a boy turning into an octopus (“It was terrible,” she recalled). But McCloud saw potential and told her so. His encouragement changed the course of Walden’s life.

Rather than going to college, she enrolled at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont. In 2018, Walden received the Eisner Award for her graphic novel "Spinning," a coming-of-age tale of becoming a competitive ice skater. And in 2021, she joined the faculty at the Center for Cartoon Studies.

In recent years, cartoons and graphic novels have emerged out of the nerdsphere and into the mainstream, even being added to literary curriculum. Along with respect, cartoonists are getting more money for their work, Walden said. She is currently working on a graphic novel trilogy called "Clementine" that follows a character from “The Walking Dead” universe, and she is illustrating a book for the pop duo Tegan and Sara.

Walden is also a member of a growing group of queer cartoonists. "Spinning" is a memoir that chronicles her own experience as a lesbian competitive figure skater, and many of Walden’s other stories feature queer protagonists.

“It’s amazing to talk about what queerness/gayness looks like in all these different facets of narrative,” said Walden. From ice skating to sci-fi, “queer stories of all kinds are being accepted.”

At the same time, graphic novels, including "Spinning," are being banned in some school districts. Walden said it’s surreal to have people read a book about her life and deem it inappropriate content. Partly in response to these book bans, Walden’s full color, sci-fi graphic novel "On a Sunbeam" is available online for free.

During her three-year tenure as cartoonist laureate, Walden hopes to bring cartooning to communities across Vermont. This first year she will hop in her Subaru and visit senior centers, queer book clubs, comic book shops and schools to talk about what comics are and what they mean to Vermonters.

“My goal in my tenure is to spread the word that comics are accessible, that comics are wonderful to read, to make, to think about — at any age or any ability,” she said.