Monday, March 30, 2009

S. R. Bissette

I remember sometime in the late 70’s there was a magazine called Weird Worlds that I used to order through my grade school Book Club. Not to be confused with all the other “Weird Worlds” comics and mags, this was more like a collection of all things strange with articles on fantasy films and music, short stories; Ripley’s Believe it or Not type odd facts, and monsters monster monsters!! But for me the real highlight of these issues was always the terrifyingly fun, pre-code horror-esque comic stories illustrated by S. R. Bissette. I was 10 years old and this guy’s art just blew me away.

THOIA is proud to present 4 Bissette stories for our “Flash Forward Day,” all of which originally appeared in various issues of Weird Worlds, but scanned here for you today (and in color) from the April 1986 issue of Fear Book #1 (which also collects some of his fabulous work for Bananas, another childhood fave.) And for more about the great S. R. Bissette be sure to visit his official site HERE!

Return of the Swamp Beast!
From the October 1979 issue of Weird Worlds #3





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Egyptian Graffiti
From the March 1979 issue of Weird Worlds #2





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A Dead Ringer
From the September 1980 issue of Weird Worlds #6





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Business as Usual
From the September 1981 issue of Weird Worlds #8





TOMORROW: The last THOIA post?!!
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13 comments:

  1. Phantom of Pulp3/30/2009

    These are wonderful. Thanks so much for posting them.

    I am a big fan of Mr. Bissette's fine, evocative work.

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  2. Anonymous3/30/2009

    HELL YEAH!! BISSETTE IS GREAT......... THIS IS A REALLY GOOD SAMPLING OF HIS STUFF. THE ONE STORY BY HIM THAT I NEVER FORGET IS ABOUT A GUY TRAPPED IN A GIANT BEE HIVE. ITS REALLY CREEPY. EXCELLENT FLASH FORWARD DAY THANKS. I JUST BARELY REMEMBER WEIRD WORLDS TOO, I HAD ONE WITH A VAMPIRE COVER.

    SO KARS WHATS WITH THIS LAST POST TOMORROW NEWS????

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  3. Anonymous3/30/2009

    These stories themselves are about what you would expect from Goosebumps creator, R. L. Stine, but Bissette makes them look so much better than they are. A true talent -- sadly wasted now that he's left comics -- and a really nice guy.

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  4. goblin3/30/2009

    Bissette's art is truly amazing. I especially enjoyed the final story (despite the insane twist ending) with its creative page layouts and medieval-inspired illustrations of angels and demons.

    Thanks a lot for sharing, Karswell.

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  5. AndyDecker3/30/2009

    Great art. Always interesting to see early samples of an artist. The stories themselves are more ideas than satisfying stories.

    And "Egyptian Graffiti" owes an awful lot to a Robert Bloch story :-)

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  6. Mike H3/30/2009

    What a great foursome of stories! Bissette is great! Thanks for the treat!

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  7. Robert McKinney3/30/2009

    I remember Weird Worlds as well! Those were wonderful magazines! I first discovered the works of H.P. Lovecraft when they printed 'The Outsider' in one issue. Great stuff!

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  8. Horror Pirahna3/30/2009

    I love how Billy is scared about being late while going back home; yet his dad is able to get the sheriff to organize a search party for a legendary creature dating back to the '20's just on his word; " But my boy saw it!".

    Hilarious.

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  9. sfdoomed3/30/2009

    These four tales were a nice treat. I wish I had come across those Weird Worlds back in the '70s; instead, we only had Dynamite (or something like that).

    Thanks for the excellent blog, Karswell. I hope those nasty thoughts you mentioned the other day don't come true.

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  10. Mr. Karswell3/30/2009

    >I first discovered the works of H.P. Lovecraft

    Now that you mention it it's possible that I did too Robert! Weird Worlds turned me onto a lot of non-mainstream stuff of the time. It's kind of odd too how just searching for anything about this mag series online turns up practically nothing, unless you really dig around deep.

    So okay, we wrap up March with a nice tale tomorrow from Ace, and yes, a lil more info on the state of all things THOIA in April. It's not all bad though... thanks again everyone. See ya in the morn.

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  11. Eric4/02/2009

    Ye gods, "Anonymous" #2! I thought you were joking about these being R.L. Stine pieces, but indeed these are "Bob" Stine and his wife Jane--and you're also right that Bissette makes them much more awesome than they ought to be. Bissette's work really is beautiful.

    But Stine... somebody exposed me to one of his "adult" novels, something about a leprechaun, I think; there was a sex scene that was Bulwer-Lytton-award-worthy, so godawfully written that you could pee yourself laughing. Imagine softcore porn written in English aimed at a third-grader and maybe you get the idea.

    Karswell: thank you for sharing these, though. Whatever is lacking in the writing, the artwork is gorgeous. Good call on these (again).

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  12. Unknown11/07/2014

    Thank you so much for posting this. More specifically, A Dead Ringer. I read this story many a year ago and it never left my memory although I could not remember in which horror comic it came from.
    I've spent the past several years looking through all issues of Creepy and Eerie and even Skywald's stuff like Psycho but to no avail. NOW I finally know the magazine it came from!!!! THANKS!

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  13. Bill the Butcher4/17/2020

    What happens if a non vampire falls for Ms Android and nibbles her neck in foreplay?

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