When I was a much younger man and just starting to sell short stories and dreaming of selling comic scripts and novels, I was lucky enough to get one of my stories through to Steve Bissette who was then editing TABOO, his version of the horror comic. It was nice to be able to deal with an editor who wasn't playing games of professional nepotism. Steve was then, and remains, just about the most honest person I've met. Not just in publishing, but in general terms as well.
After sending a few things Steve's way, he accepted my short story "Wet", and thus I soon got my first fully professional sale under my belt. Until that time, all of my sales had been to small press outfits for rather pitiful sums. It took some time for my story to see print (in issue #2) due to the hideous problems Steve was having getting his anthology comic published (which is a true horror story unto itself).
Steve is one of the more intelligent fellows who worked in comics, and it was a shame to see him leave the format for so many years. But the Internet has brought him partially back to those of us who enjoyed his company in the day, and apparently he's creating comics again. I look forward to these new projects, as Steve Bissette was always one of the more talented folk working in the field of comic art.
One thing that I find strange about Steve is that he claims to enjoy every single film that he has ever seen. Since I am personally a monster of a curmudgeon when it comes to films (I loathe about 90% of every film I've ever seen), I always think of Steve when I listen to the Statler Brothers, who made a singing career out of nostalgia and movies.
So, my hat's off to Steve Bissette, who likes all movies, and without whom I may never have made not only my first professional fiction sale, but everything that soon followed it.
Thanks, Steve!
2 comments:
Yow -- the STATLER Brothers?? Did they ever sing about Joe D'Amato movies, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST or BEGOTTEN? I reckon not.
Actually, I loathe Julia Roberts movies and most romantic comedies, though I go to see 'em with my wife when she goes. Usually.
I also still owe a handful of people sketches, and still have (somewhere) a stack of rare valuable comics Don Simpson loaned me in 1995 -- so I'm on some shitlists, sorry to say. It's taken me literally years to work through the sketch orders I accepted for four months in 1998; it's why I DON'T do sketches to order anymore (ten years of whittling down orders, and I've still got a dozen to go).
Oh, and my daughter's boyfriends all seem to hate me. Well, the last two, anyway. I don't know why, never did or said anything to them to wrong anyone.
Still, thanks for the kinds words, Bob, and I only wish I could have published more of your work. Bring on THE FLOCK 2!
Not sure about FLOCK2, but HISSMELINA is probably a a go very soon. You'll love it. My first pure horror novel.
I liked one Julia Roberts movie...the one about the chick investigating a polluting multi-national. I forget the title, but it was quite good.
You're on some shitlists due to misunderstandings. I remain on many a shitlist because I hold fast to so many unpopular positions. Plus, I'm an admitted misanthrope. Alas! But it's folk such as Steve Bissette that remind me that all is not lost.
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