When Brian Wood was finishing up Local, a comic-book series featuring a young female protagonist and her adventures around the country, he couldn’t help but include something about his home state in the final issue.

Wood, born and raised in Essex Junction, currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. There he writes comic books and graphic novels, some of the violent, action-packed variety and others focusing on character development. The 12-part series Local, illustrated in dramatic black-and-white by his friend Ryan Kelly, is one of the latter.... Read more

As the creamy, dark chocolate dripped into soft clumps before their eyes, the two boys watching the chocolate-dipping demonstration at Laughing Moon Chocolates could hardly take their eyes off the gooey delicacy. It was almost like a scene out of Willy Wonka — except instead of the mass-produced Wonka Bars, these boys were drooling over locally produced artisan truffles.... Read more