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Mars Will Send No More

~ Comic books, art, poetry, and other obsessions

Mars Will Send No More

Tag Archives: Steve Bissette

indie box: Terrorsaurs!

06 Tuesday Apr 2021

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in dinosaur, indie

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black and white, commandosaur, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, indie box, Indie Comics, Mirage Studios, Peter Laird, Steve Bissette, terrorsaur

Today’s entry in the Indie Box is one I have never owned nor even seen in the flesh. But with insane, sci-fi dinosaur art from Steve “Tyrant” Bissette and Peter “Ninja Turtles” Laird, who could resist? These pages come from the Mirage Mini Comics Boxed Set, a treasure so long out-of-print that I don’t mind if you post a link to buy it in the comments!

Now behold the legend of the Terrorsaurs!

amazing heroes 58: alan moore interview

19 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in superhero

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Alan Moore, Amazing Heroes, Fantagraphics, kim thompson, Steve Bissette

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This 1984 interview with Alan Moore comes from Amazing Heroes #58. It features an introduction by Kim Thompson and a portrait of Moore by Steve Bissette.

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Martin Pasko’s Saga of the Swamp Thing

23 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in occult

≈ 4 Comments

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DC Comics, John Totleben, Martin Pasko, Saga of the Swamp Thing, Steve Bissette, Swamp Thing, Tom Yeates

Swamp Thing 1-17 Pasko Collection (2)

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Somebody got this set from us on eBay already, but wow was it fun to assemble. Writer Martin Pasko, author of more than one minor classic for DC Comics, would leave the series to pursue opportunities in his television writing career. Before he left, though, he set the stage for the team of Moore, Bissette, and Totleben to take over.

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The run feels, in many ways, like a television series. With a movie still from the Swamp Thing movie adorning the cover of issue two, it’s likely DC had an eye out for the transition to television success. Pasko gave readers a large supporting cast and many subplots that evolve at different paces.

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With demons from hell and evil sea monsters with huge brains, Pasko keeps Swamp Thing largely in the realm of monster-based horror as Wein & Wrightson did in the beginning. A back-up series of Phantom Stranger stories adds to the spooky vibe.

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The cover of #6 is our favorite, hands-down. Or, tentacles down. We dug the entire story as Swamp Thing gets stuck on the cruise from hell. A demonic squid brain takes over the ship and turns a masquerade party into a cyclops circus. #6 and #7 are just too much fun!

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Judging from the letters pages, readers really loved issue #8, too. Swampy ends up on an island where fantasy and reality become indistinguishable for a group of war vets. Behold the cover, with its skull mountain, jungle foliage, and long-haired lady with her clothes shredded and slipping off. This is pure Hollywood pulp, but delightfully executed.

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At the beginning of the series, we found Tom Yeates’ art merely serviceable, but by this point in the series he seems to have really hit a groove. The covers and interior art have become memorable and dynamic.

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More damnable demons spring up from the Stygian depths to confront Swamp Thing as Yeates keeps the volume cranked on madness and the macabre.

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A sombre interlude with a freakish crystal antagonist begins perhaps like any silly superhero story, but the moody artwork and utter tragedy of the participants makes it a surprisingly moving tale. These two issues feature a different creative team, and Tom Yeates would not return to the interior art. But, dude, crystal alligator. Check it out.

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And then, something magical happens. Steve Bissette and John Totleben come aboard and revolutionize the atmospheric, horrifying visual style of the book. While we often sing the praises of the Moore run, these few issues with the same art team demonstrate how much the intensity of that run came solely from the pictures. We lack the words to depict the scope of how stunning these pages are for us, so let us simply leave you with a few to enjoy!

Like we said, we sold our set on eBay recently, but you can almost always get a great deal on these Martin Pasko issues of Saga of the Swamp Thing. The last couple rarely come into stock, but good luck!

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Ninja Turtles Gallery: Steve Bissette and Peter Laird

30 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in indie

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Indie Comics, Mirage Studios, Peter Laird, Steve Bissette, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Turtle Soup

Steve Bissette and Ninja Turtles co-creator Peter Laird pay tribute to vintage monster movies in this city-smashing Turtles pin-up.

Collector’s Guide: From Turtle Soup #1; Mirage Studios, 1987.

Sgt Rock 346: Detour by Steve Bissette!

04 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in war

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Detour, Sgt Rock, Steve Bissette, war, war comics

Before taking on Swamp Thing and moving on to careers producing their own works, artists Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch drew stories for DC’s Sgt. Rock. This week we’ll look at a few of their back-ups for DC’s once-popular war comic.

Collector’s Guide: From Sgt. Rock #346



Sgt Rock 343: Crabs by Steve Bissette!

25 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in war

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Crabs, giant crab, Sgt Rock, Steve Bissette, war, war comics

Before taking on Swamp Thing and moving on to careers producing their own works, artists Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch drew stories for DC’s Sgt. Rock. This week we’ll look at a few of their back-ups for DC’s once-popular war comic.

Collector’s Guide: From Sgt. Rock #343; DC Comics, 1980.



Steve Bissette’s Ninja Turtles: Turtle Dreams!

06 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in first issue, indie

≈ 2 Comments

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dreams, first issue, Indie Comics, Mirage Studios, Steve Bissette, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TMNT, Turtle Dreams, Turtle Soup

Turtle Soup #1 brought together a ton of indie comic artists to do short stories about everybody’s favorite teenage mutants. Steve Bissette contributed a horrifying turtle nightmare which only the meditative skills of Master Splinter can turn to a healing dream.

Collector’s Guide: From Turtle Soup #1; Mirage Studios, 1987.




Swamp Thing: Anatomy Lesson!

30 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in occult, science fiction

≈ 4 Comments

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Alan Moore, Anatomy Lesson, John Totleben, Steve Bissette, Swamp Thing

Alan Moore’s run on Swamp Thing may be the most-reviewed comic book series on the web. So we’re not going to discuss how it’s one of the greatest things written in comics — or anywhere else. We’ll just let the story speak for itself!

Here is the complete “Anatomy Lesson” story that started it all. Well, issue 20 gave Moore a chance to wrap up the story lines started by Marty Pasko, but this is the issue that pulled the rug out from under all that to launch an exciting new direction.

Steve Bissette’s MyRant discusses more of the creation of the first few issues of Moore’s Swamp Thing, including original script pages from Moore, examples of John Totleben’s incredible contribution as inker, and credit to Rick Veitch on the interior shots of Sunderland’s office building in “Anatomy Lesson.”

These scans come from a reprint DC/Vertigo created when the Watchmen movie came out. Branded “What’s Next,” the $1 reprints aimed to take the momentum of the movie and create some new fans for more Vertigo titles beyond Watchmen. The “Anatomy Lesson” reprint of Saga of the Swamp Thing #21 proved especially awesome: Never before (not even in the TPBs) has the art appeared so crisp and perfect, and Tatjana Wood’s coloring of this issue came to life like never before on the high-quality paper.

Enough exposition! Let’s get to the heart of what makes our favorite muck-encrusted mockery of a man really tick!









Swamp Thing: Rite of Spring!

25 Sunday Sep 2011

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in occult

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Abigail Arcane, Alan Moore, John Totleben, Rite of Spring, Steve Bissette, Swamp Thing

“Rite of Spring” is one of our top ten favorite comic books of all time, easily. Psychedelic love in the swamp, baby! Yes! Where do we sign up?!

Abigail “Abby” Arcane and Swamp Thing declare their love for each other and find a unique way to consumate that love on the transcendent, spiritual level. This story also has some historical significance. It often receives credit for “launching the entire Vertigo line” at DC by boldly going off the Comics Code Authority label.

Collector’s Guide: These black-and-white scans come from Essential Swamp Thing #15, which reprints the Saga of the Swamp Thing #34. The full-color version was reprinted in the Swamp Thing TPB #2.







Hers! Steve Bissette’s Tyrant

12 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in dinosaur, indie

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dinosaur, Indie Comics, Steve Bissette, tyrannosaurus rex, Tyrant

Tyrannosaurus Rex, meticulously researched and rendered in Steve Bissette’s Tyrant. Learn more about Steve Bissette and his work on the history of dinosaur comic books at our earlier post.

We recently purchased the Bissette-illustrated Vermont Monster Guide. It’s chock full of completely creepy fantastic freaks rendered in the inimitable Bissette style.

Steve was kind enough to include an autographed & personalized copy of Tyrant #4 in the package. We were thrilled! Thank you, Steve, for mutating our brains in hideous, reptilian ways!

Treasure Chest Vol 16 No 9: The World of Long Ago

15 Friday Jul 2011

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in dinosaur, educational, golden age

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dinosaur, dinosaur comics, golden age, prehistoric mammals, Steve Bissette, The Grandeur of God, The World of Long Ago, Treasure Chest, Treasure Chest Vol 16 No 9

Treasure Chest Vol. 16 No. 9 is a golden-age comic we first discovered in Steve Bissette‘s Complete History of Dinosaur Comic Books. Bissette remarked in his sixth column that he would love to see that book again even though three decades of searching for it had proved fruitless at the time of writing. This mournful tale of lost dinosaur comics moved us to go searching for it.

Much less than thrity years later we found scans on the glorious web, and cleaned them up a bit for you to enjoy. Billed on the awesome cover as The World of Long Ago, the five-page story is called The Grandeur of God on the inside. It was published by a religious organization proposing that dinosaurs and evolution proved that… jehovah was a frickin’ genius. At least, that’s what we got from it.

Good luck finding this issue of Treasure Chest in print! We didn’t find it in any of our favorite online shops or eBay, but at last we got a VG+ copy from Newkadia for just $12.98 delivered. There’s hope for you yet!

So, without further ado, here is the tale that caught the young Bissette’s imagination!



Spurs: Steve Bissette Meets Alex Niño!

11 Saturday Jun 2011

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in crime, indie, occult, western

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Alex Nino, Asylum, Indie Comics, New Comics Group, Spurs, Steve Bissette

In 1989, New Comics Group published two issues of Asylum. The first issue featured two of our favorite artists on the same story: Steve Bissette and Alex Niño. Whoa — We must be dreaming! Feast your eyes on the furious western horror of their nine-page epic, Spurs.

Collector’s Guide: From Asylum #1.





Faceless Contours Merge Over the Large Forebrain!

25 Tuesday Jan 2011

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in dinosaur, educational, indie

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

birth, brains, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, Steve Bissette, tyrannosaurus rex, Tyrant

Feast your eyes on the development of a fetal Tyrannosaurus, meticulously researched and rendered by Steve Bissette in Tyrant. You will also enjoy Steve’s history of dinosaur comic books!

Collector’s Guide: From Tyrant; 1994, SpiderBaby Grafix. Reprinted in Tyrant second printing.



Complete History of Dinosaur Comic Books!

25 Tuesday Jan 2011

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in dinosaur

≈ 6 Comments

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dinosaur, dinosaur comics, History of Dinosaur Comics, Indie Comics, Steve Bissette, Tyrant

Artist Steve Bissette guest-authored a series on Palaeoblog about the history of dinosaur comic books. They come from the introduction he crafted for Jim Lawson’s Paleo: Tales of the Late Cretaceous. The only drawback: you can’t ever find them in the right order on Palaeoblog! As a public service to dinosaur comic book fans across the glode, Mars Will Send No More offers a comprehensive set of links to these mind-expanding articles in sequential order:

Steve Bissette’s 10-part guest column on Palaeoblog: “The Paleo-Path.”

Part 1: Unearthing Origins
Part 2: From Alley Oop to The Ancient Great Plains
Part 3: Jesse Marsh and TARZAN
Part 4: Turok, Part 1
Part 5: Turok, Part 2
Part 6: “Classics” Illustrated
Part 7: Gorgo’s Mash O’Monsters
Part 8: Up From The Underground
Part 9: Jim Lawson’s Paleo!
Part 10: Interview with Steve Bissette

Just in case you’ve been trapped on an alien spaceship for the last few decades and haven’t discovered Steve Bissette, dig the Steve Bissette website. He even gives free drawing lessons on his site. You can see how a master of black and white artwork creates a comic book masterpiece from the ground up!

Steve Bissette is also the creative mastermind behind the four-issue series Tyrant. It explores the life cycle, the behavior, and the environment of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and her babies. Bissette devotes an entire issue to the development of the fetal Tyrannosaur. This biology lesson will absolutely blow your mind!

Collector’s Guide: If you can’t find the complete first printing of Tyrant in stock, try the second printing.

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