Acclaimed artist, writer, critic, educator, comic book creator — and so much more — Stephen R. Bissette, has been a friend to Wow Cool since our very earliest days in the late 1980s. He was there at our very first comic convention in 1989. After he asked me if we had any old Russ Manning Robot Fighter comics, we quickly renewed our acquaintance, which goes back even further. A few months later I was working with Steve as assistant, and then main, art director on his Taboo anthology and on other projects, including shepherding the comic book depiction of the true-life alien abduction story of the Allagash Incident — written and illustrated by two of the abductees — to the comic book market. Soon, we were regularly seeing that one on TV. Can’t believe it ever made it through, honestly.
Frequent visitors to WowCool.com the last couple of years are probably aware that we have arranged with Stephen to directly stock many of his publications, including the last few remaining copies of Taboo 4, S. R. Bissette’s Spider Baby Comix (featuring a slightly dubious logo designed by myself, that originally appeared on the 24-hour comic in some editions of Taboo #7), and — most importantly — the four issues of Tyrant. We have just restocked all of these. But, for many of these titles, this may be the last time. They are running out fast. We are lucky to have them at all, and most are essentially deep warehouse finds, as Stephen was reorganizing his vast trove of books and other obscure ephemera when a few more boxes turned up.
You may also have noticed that several original 1980s Swamp Thing comics from the classic Alan Moore/Bissette/John Totleben and friends run have appeared on the site. We have multiple copies of each issue, but in many cases, there are very few. About a dozen more issues we have only one copy of. These will be added randomly to the site, along with a number of other one-offs, oddities and obscurities during the takeover.
Ah, yes!? There’s the question! What is this takeover business? It is what you see, with more to come. Lots of Bissette. Not just books, but images and stories and more. Wow Cool has been light on the editorial content lately, but this little online event will hopefully rectify some of that. We’ve also bumped up two Bissette-penned reviews to the front of the news spinner. His takes on Suehiro Maruo’s The Strange Tale of Panorama Island and Eric Powell’s Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? I see these as examples of what can be done with a review format that raises the bar very high. They add insight, content and context usually unavailable in such shooting galleries.
These last few years — especially since Stephen retired from teaching at The Center for Cartoon Studies, and with the time benefits of a locked-down world — he seems to be everywhere in interviews, profiles, conferences, commentary tracks on video releases, seminars and more.
Here’s a handful more: The Beat | Palmer’s Picks | Cartoonist Kayfabe | Chat with Noah Van Sciver
Stephen has also self-published many books of drawings and writing, including the sketch collections Thoughtful Creatures and Brooding Creatures; and Teen Angels & New Mutants, the Blur series and Cryptid Cinema™. You can find these and more on his Amazon author’s page.
The SR Bissette Wow Cool site takeover has ended, but we still have many of his books and comics for you.
Stephen R. Bissette Books & Comics on Wow Cool
