Stephen R Bissette, Jim Rugg, and Chris Stevens on Tyrant

About this episode

The episode discusses the re-release of Stephen R Bissette's comic 'Tyrant' and features insights from Bissette, Jim Rugg, and Chris Stevens.

When observing comic books, the miracles come in big or small ways. This week on the podcast, we’re discussing a resurrection we previously thought unimaginable. Stephen R Bissette, who gained legendary status working on titles like Saga of the Swamp Thing, crafted his masterpiece in the mid-nineties. Tyrant was meant to run fifty issues or more, but only four saw print before disaster struck the industry, and Bissette pulled up stakes, leaving comics to focus on family and a more financially stable situation. We’ve spent years searching for Tyrant in the dollar bins, picking up an issue here and there. As much as we love Bissette’s work on Swamp Thing, Tyrant represents the artist at his purest, most thematically forward. Even at four issues, Tyrant is a masterpiece, expressing the agony and beauty of life, as we follow a Tyrannosaurus Rex from conception to birth. It’s easy to mourn the story we did not get, but we must also celebrate the story we did. It is enough, and thankfully, we’re not the only ones who thought so. Chris Stevens, of the newly formed Lighthouse Press, convinced Bissette that now was the time to re-release Tyrant in both a Complete Edition and a Deluxe…

People in this episode

Host: Brad Gullickson

Guests: Stephen R Bissette, Jim Rugg, Chris Stevens

Topics covered

• comic books
• Tyrant
• Stephen R Bissette
• Jim Rugg
• Chris Stevens

Keywords

• resurrection
• masterpiece
• Tyrannosaurus Rex
• Lighthouse Press

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Tyrant, a Complete Edition, a Deluxe Artist Edition, Stacks, Tyrant Complete Edition, Tyrant Deluxe Artist Edition

Books & works: Tyrant, Saga of the Swamp Thing, Swamp Thing, The Death of Superman, The Future is, The Brave, The Boys, Dollar Bin Bandits, My Boyfriend is a Bear, The Phantom at the Alamo Drafthouse

Places: Chester, England, Herndon, Virginia, Winchester

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