• Jarad Greene | Rev. Diane Sullivan

Variants of the adage "A picture is worth a thousand words" have existed for centuries, but modern usage of the phrase reportedly can be traced back to an advertising trade journal in the 1920s. Adjusting for inflation, a picture in 2020 is worth roughly 14,000 words — about the length of four typical Seven Days cover stories.

In our annual Cartoon Issue, pictures take on even more value. Every year since 2013, we've paired a handful of writers with talented artists to create stories in a visual format. It's a challenge for writers to use fewer — far fewer — words, but the process is a whole lotta fun.

For example, Dan Bolles and Vermont cartoonist laureate Rick Veitch teamed up to tell the tale of a Monkton man who builds giant robots that he can climb into and operate. The robots are in kind of a beta stage; there are kinks to work out. But they're still pretty cool — as are the photos by James Buck and coloring by Veitch's son, Ezra Veitch.

Ken Picard and Emily Rhain Andrews recount the story of Burlington's beloved Hot Dog Lady, Lois Bodoky. Years after her death, her Church Street cart recently resurfaced in the Northeast Kingdom, which has inspired fond memories from locals.

Chelsea Edgar and Julianna Brazill explore the peculiar intricacies of dating in the time of COVID-19. As it turns out, finding love is just as challenging in a pandemic as it always is.

Speaking of the coronavirus, Sally Pollak and Elisa Järnefelt riff on the body contortions that have become part of our daily routines in this new age of social distancing.