Rutland Halloween Parade

 Rutland Vermont has an annual Halloween Parade, the longest running annual Halloween Parade in America.  It started in 1960.  It was founded by Tom Fagen.  While in the past it had a very strong superhero theme, this year's parade seemed to focus more on Ghostbusters and The Nightmare Before Christmas.  

The parade was very well known and popular among comic creators in the 1970s and 1980s who would travel from New York City to attend the parade.  They would feature the parade in their stories, for both Marvel and DC, and usually show people in costumes from their competitors in those stories, as well as putting themselves and their friends in the stories.  Tom Fagen would often appear in the stories as well.  Tom usually dressed as Batman in the parades, but in Marvel Comics he would be drawn dressed at Nighthawk.  

The first appearance of the parade was in Avengers # 83, December 1970. In 1972, it appeared in a three part story that took place in both DC and Marvel comics.  

From Wikipedia, here is a complete list of comics appearances:

Chronological list of appearances

[edit]

note: Not all of these appearances feature the Halloween Parade. Some feature Tom Fagan and some simply the town of Rutland.

• Avengers #83 — "Come On In, The Revolution's Fine!" by Roy Thomas, John Buscema, and Tom Palmer (Marvel, Dec. 1970)
• Batman #237 — "Night of the Reaper!" by Dennis O'Neil, Neal Adams, and Dick Giordano (DC, Dec. 1971)
• Marvel Feature #2 — "Nightmare on Bald Mountain!" by Roy Thomas, Ross Andru, and Sal Buscema (Marvel, Mar. 1972)
• Thor #206 — "Rebirth!" by Gerry Conway, John Buscema, and Vince Colletta (Marvel, Dec. 1972)
• Justice League of America #103 — "A Stranger Walks among Us!" by Len Wein, Dick Dillin, and Dick Giordano (DC, Dec. 1972)
• Amazing Adventures #16 — "...And the Juggernaut Will Get You ... If You Don't Watch Out!" by Steve Englehart, Marie Severin, Bob Brown, and Frank McLaughlin (Marvel, Jan. 1973)
• Thor #207 — "Firesword!" by Gerry Conway, John Buscema, and Vince Colletta (Marvel, Jan. 1973)
• Avengers #119 — "Night of The Collector," by Steve Englehart, Bob Brown, and Don Heck (Marvel, Jan. 1974)
• Thor #232 — "Lo, the Raging Battle!" by Gerry Conway, John Buscema, Dick Giordano, and Terry Austin (Marvel, Feb. 1975)
• Occult Files of Dr. Spektor #18 — "Masque Macabre," by Donald F. Glut and Jesse Santos (Gold Key, Dec. 1975)
• Freedom Fighters #6 — "Witching Hour for the Warrior Wizards!" by Bob Rozakis, Ramona Fradon, and Bob Smith (DC, Jan./Feb. 1977)
• Justice League of America #145 — "The Carnival of Souls!" by Steve Englehart, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin (DC, Aug. 1977)
• DC Super Stars #18 — "The Gargoyles," by Martin Pasko, Romeo Tanghal, and Dick Giordano (DC, Jan./Feb. 1978)
• Ghosts #95 — "All the Stage Is a Haunt," by Paul Kupperberg, Michael R. Adams, and Tex Blaisdell (DC, Dec. 1980)
• Defenders #100 — by J. M. DeMatteis, Don Perlin, and Joe Sinnott (Marvel, Oct. 1981)
• Thunderbunny #5 "Moonlight Miss," by Martin L. Greim and Brian Buniak (WaRP Graphics, Feb. 1986)
• Animal Man #50 — "Journal of a Plague Year," by Tom Veitch and Steve Dillon (DC, Aug. 1992)
• Generation X #22 — "All Hallows Eve," by Scott Lobdell, Chris Bachalo, Al Vey, and Scott Hanna (Marvel, Dec. 1996)
• Superboy and the Ravers #16 — "Half-Life of the Party," by Steve Mattsson, Karl Kesel, Josh Hood, and Dan Davis (DC, Dec. 1997)

An upcoming novel from Wild Hunt Press, Halloween Horrors vol 2, is also set around the parade.








In 2021, TVCU crewsies Ivan, Chris and myself tried to attend the parade, but it was during COVID and Vermont told us we weren't welcome. How rude. This year, we made it to the parade. It was a blast. We also took the time to see everything that was to see in Rutland, except we didn't have time to visit Rutland's famed free public library!