Steve Bissette Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

My blog can drink legally in every state

Dustbury, ABC Wednesday, Forgotten Stars, AmeriNZ

My blog is so old that it can drink legally in every state. So I decided to credit (or blame) 21 people (more or less) who facilitated that. Some I’ve mentioned before.

Won – Rocco, my friend and fellow employee of the comic book store, ran into me in the autumn of 2004. He asked me, “Are you reading Fred’s blog?” I said, “I don’t read ANY blogs.”

Too – So I started reading the blog of Fred Hembeck, the somewhat famous cartoonist with Marvel, DC, FantaCo, et al., which had started in January 2003. He wrote every day, or nearly every day, and he wrote a LOT. Eventually, I started emailing him with ideas for his posts. I know he noted Herb Alpert’s 70th birthday at the end of March 2005, and he credited me.

Tree – Mark Evanier, the guy who was an assistant to Jack Kirby, wrote cartoon shows, and a bunch of other things, appeared on Fred’s extensive linkage page. ME wrote a LOT, though not nearly at the word count of FGH.

For – I don’t know if I came to Steve Gerber (d. 2008) via Hembeck or Evanier. In any case, his pledge to write every day, which he stuck to until he got sick, was the final push to get to start my own blog.

Fie! -When I first started blogging, I was also looking at a number of blogs from Fred’s roster. A fair number of the bloggers seemed to be somehow connected to one Chris (Lefty) Brown. I got involved with a mixed tape exchange, OK, mixed CDs. The group included Eddie Mitchell, SamuraiFrog, Thom Wade, Johnny Bacardi, Mike Sterling, and others, including…

Cease – Greg Burgas, who still writes about his current consumption of pop culture, as well as My Daughter Chronicles.

The game show

Sen – So what would I write about? One of the topics, I suppose, needed to be about JEOPARDY, the game show I appeared on in November 1998. Six and a half years later, I figured I had better write about it soon. So I’ll attribute this angle to Adenia Yates (1908-1966), my mother’s maternal aunt, whom I would see at lunchtime each weekday. She turned me onto the game. I suppose Merv Griffin and his then-wife, Julann, who designed the game’s format, Art Fleming, and Alex Trebek, should get a piece of the credit.

Ate – As I admitted repeatedly here, my wife and I got one or two of those baby books, in which one is SUPPOSED to write down all of those milestones (first step, first tooth, etc.) that the Daughter reached. Well, I SUCKED at this. So I vowed to write about her every month on the 26th. And I have.

Nein – Ken Levine was a writer on TV shows I used to watch, such as MASH, CHEERS, FRASIER, THE SIMPSONS, and DHARMA & GREG. He started his blog shortly after I did. He would solicit Friday questions. I’d ask some, and he answered most of them. He eventually started a podcast. At some point, he stopped blogging and limited his posts to podcasts. Those ended in 2023. You can find the blog – though not the audio for the podcasts – here.

The Times Onion

Tin – In the late 1990s, Mike Huber was involved with these community webpages, housed on the Times Union website. Then he was in charge of the community bloggers on the TU site. Since I was posting every day, he wanted me on the TU blog farm. I resisted for a couple of years, but in 2008, I relented. I wrote about that experience here; the TU community blogs died in 2021.

Leaven- One of the TU bloggers was Chuck Miller. He’s also an everyday writer. After he left the TU blog farms, he has lifted up other local (or local-adjacent) bloggers every Saturday

Too well – J. Eric Smith, once a TU blogger, is now in Arizona but still on Chuck’s roster. Among other topics, Eric writes a lot about music and film. He mentioned me kindly a couple of times.

Thirsty -Charles Hill, a/k/a Dustbury, was a legendary blogger from 1996(!) until he died in 2019. He commented on my blog almost daily, and I enjoyed the interaction. I’m extremely sad that his stuff wasn’t captured by the Internet Archive. I still follow my fellow Dustbury acolyte, fillyjonk.

Every week

Fortran – I came across one of those groups, an abecedarian meme called ABC Wednesday, where one participates with others, literally from around the world, in sharing a picture, a poem, an essay, SOMETHING with the various letters of the alphabet. It was run by Denise Nesbitt. My first post there was in October 2008 in Round 3, letter K. By the end of Round 5, I was assisting her. And from July 2012 to July 2017, I ran the thing, assisted ably by Leslie from British Columbia and others. Then, from that date until the end of 2019, I helped Melody.

Iffy- Arthur Schenck. I found AmeriNZ, a blog and podcast by a US expat now in New Zealand, via the demographically similar Nik Dirga. (How I found Nik, I have no idea.) Anyway, I’d comment on Arthur’s platform and steal, er, borrow ideas.

Cistern – I didn’t even know what a Byzantium Shores was, but I started following Kelly Sedinger regularly. Even my wife, who doesn’t read these things, knows that Kelly is the overalls guy from the Buffalo area. He moved the site to Forgotten Stars about five years ago. He’s a real writer who’s published books! HE’s a budding photographer! But he STILL hasn’t done a pie to the face in far too long.

Severed teen -Alan David Doane was one of those FantaCo kids whom I really got to know when he was an adult. Among many things, he convinced me that I could write about comic books on a now-defunct platform. It was challenging and fun!

Irwin Corey’s brother-in-law (really)

Ate teen – Arnold Berman was a kind of relative. Charlotte, one of his sisters, married my maternal grandmother’s brother, Ernie. Arnold’s fascination with his genealogy has made me more interested in mine, which has become a recurring theme on my blog. He died a couple of years ago.

Nein teen -Ken Screven – The legendary CBS 6 (WRBG-TV) newsman was a TU blogger after he retired. He turned out to be more pointed than he was on the air, which probably influenced me to be a little more direct in my opinions. He died in 2022, and I miss him.

Too Auntie – Steve Bissette, the great artist of Swamp Thing and a whole lot of other stuff, met at FantaCo in 1987, I believe. He was doing some horror art, and I did, among other things, the mail order and shipped out items he helped create. We fell out of touch, but reconnected when I found his blog in 2008, which I wrote about here.

Too Auntie One – Amy Barlow Liberatore is Sharp Little Pencil, a blogger from near my hometown of Binghamton, NY.

Paradox of tolerance

Wikipedia

My friend Steve Bissette posted on Facebook a link to the Wikipedia post on the paradox of tolerance. It is “a philosophical concept suggesting that if a society extends tolerance to those who are intolerant, it risks enabling the eventual dominance of intolerance, thereby undermining the very principle of tolerance.”

Philosopher Karl Popper articulated this paradox in The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945), where he argued that “a truly tolerant society must retain the right to deny tolerance to those who promote intolerance. Popper posited that if intolerant ideologies are allowed unchecked expression, they could exploit open society values to erode or destroy tolerance itself through authoritarian or oppressive practices.”

It’s an interesting conversation. “Philosopher John Rawls concludes differently in his 1971 A Theory of Justice, stating that a just society must tolerate the intolerant, for otherwise, the society would then itself be intolerant, and thus unjust.” This is a valid point. Allowing the Ku Klux Klan to march in Skokie, IL in the 1970s, which which was upheld by the Supreme Court, rightly in my view.

“However, Rawls qualifies this assertion, conceding that under extraordinary circumstances, if constitutional safeguards do not suffice to ensure the security of the tolerant and the institutions of liberty, a tolerant society has a reasonable right to self-preservation to act against intolerance if it would limit the liberty of others under a just constitution.”

Turning point

I feel we are there. When we in the United States no longer have checks and balances because Congress, and especially the House of Representatives, has abdicated its constitutional responsibilities, it is our duty to protest. It is the government itself that has become intolerant.

As the Godpodcast explained, while the “military kills unidentified fishermen with missiles with the goal of ‘ending drug trafficking,’ he pardoned Juan Orlando Hernandez, an actual criminal ex-president convicted of money laundering and tied to drug-running networks.” The hypocracy and scapegoating with these ones are great.

One of the boldest recent pushback occurred when six Democratic lawmakers, all with military or national security backgrounds, reminded military personnel they had the right – the obligation, even – to disobey “unlawful orders”.

Public Citizen notes the regime is “prosecuting and seeking to imprison opponents. They are deploying thousands of masked agents to abduct ‘immigrants’ (and people they think look or sound like certain kinds of immigrants). They are putting heavily armed military personnel on our nation’s streets to intimidate American citizens. And they are in effect extorting the media, major law firms, and universities.” All while enriching themselves.

Protests against these and other incursions, such as the anti-DEI bs that sideline women and “other” groups are required. As a philosophy site indicated, “For the average person, it’s about knowing where to draw the line between standing up for free speech and saying, ‘That’s not right’ when someone crosses the line into being hurtful.”

I’ve noticed that my local Indivisible group is having periodic gatherings. It is so important that we don’t feel alone in trying to create change. Here are some resistance strategies.

Freedom to read (local event)

From the NYCLU Capital Region

Please help us encourage Governor Hochul to sign the Freedom to Read Act that was adopted by the NYS Legislature this year.

Join us on Monday, December 8, at noon in the War Room of the New York State Capitol to hear local people read from their favorite banned books and call upon the Governor to act.

The New York State Legislature adopted the “Freedom to Read Act” (S01099) in 2025 to protect the availability of diverse, age-appropriate materials in school and public libraries. The act requires the Commissioner of Education to develop policies ensuring school libraries are empowered to curate a wide array of materials, reinforcing the legal obligation for school districts to provide access to diverse collections and to prevent materials from being removed based on viewpoint. The bill is intended to counter censorship efforts and uphold students’ right to read freely.

Purpose: To protect the freedom to read and to ensure access to a wide range of books and library materials in schools and public libraries across the state.
Key provisions:
- Empowers school librarians to curate diverse and inclusive collections.
- Requires the Commissioner of Education to develop statewide policies for library collections.
- Makes it clear that school districts have a legal obligation to provide access to diverse materials.
- Aims to prevent the removal of books based on disagreement with their content, viewpoint, or ideas.
Link to the bill: The New York State Senate bill S01099.

THE WAR ROOM IS ON THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE CAPITOL BUILDING ON THE EAST SIDE. WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Immigration (local event)

As we approach the seventy-seventh anniversary of the United Nations proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we have been witness to the shocking disregard of those fundamental human rights in our immigrant communities. People are being targeted and detained by masked thugs because of the color of their skin, denied due process, subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment, deported to countries not their own, left forgotten and unaccounted for in the appalling conditions of foreign prisons. Children are being separated from their parents.

THIS MUST STOP.

Join CAPITAL DISTRICT BORDER WATCH on International Human Rights Day.

Wednesday, December 10, from 12:30 – 1:30 PM at the Leo W. O’Brien Building, corner of Pearl and Clinton, Albany

Please stand with us and with our immigrant neighbors, and let our community know that the treatment of immigrants by the Trump administration is cruel and unjust and will not be tolerated. Bring a sign. Bring your commitment and your solidarity. Please join us for a Sign-Making Party for this event on Tuesday, December 9, from 4:00 – 5:30 pm at the Albany Friends Meeting, 727 Madison Avenue.

For more info. contact: kuehlcarrie@gmail.com

Writer/artist Steve Bissette is 70

more than Swamp Thing

I first met writer/artist Steve Bissette in the backroom at FantaCo Enterprises, 21 Central Ave., in Albany, NY, probably in 1987. Steve had come from Vermont to talk with Tom about contributing to the comic book Gore Shriek. I worked primarily on shipping the publications and mail orders.

I tried to be cool because I didn’t want to appear like a fanboy. “Oh, I love your Swamp Thing!” even though I did love his Swamp Thing. He also does some great dinosaurs.

We developed an easy rapport, partly because of his genial nature and because I was impressed by his intellect. He has a historian’s and librarian’s mind.

Steve showed up at FantaCo maybe a half dozen times before I left the company in November 1988. He also worked on a horror magazine called Deep Red, founded by the late Chas Balun (d. 2009), who was as wonderful as Steve said.

I lost track of Steve for a bit, but I started regularly commenting on his blog around 2008. Then, I would link to posts Steve wrote in my blog. I found over 100 references to Bissette, some of which were comments on his Facebook pages.

“If you work in a brick-and-mortar retail establishment, and if you tell me when I ask if you have something that I can only get it online, then you have lost me forever as a customer at said brick-and-mortar retail establishment.” I quoted that verbatim because I agreed with the sentiment.

“I always thought Bob Marley HAD to have seen or heard the BANANA SPLITS theme. Compare Bob’s ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ riff; —c’mon, don’tcha think so, mon?” I had never given any thought before, but he may be right.

IP

His thoughts on intellectual property tended to align with mine.: digital music; Disney/Marvel, SONY, and copyright overreach; can you defend public libraries and oppose file sharing?

Likewise, “As my buddy, Steve Bissette ranted – I think it regarded a policy by Adobe or Microsoft: ‘We can afford them once, and that’s what we can afford. We want to own almost all the things we buy. With few exceptions, we don’t wish to buy or support those things that do not wish to be purchased outright. We do not need more monthly bills. We do not wish to interact with you regularly for permission to be permitted to use what we purchase to use.”

His comments on boycotting Marvel/Disney movies, such as The Avengers, because of the treatment of Jack Kirby, HERE and HERE, informed my thoughts, which is why I didn’t see the Marvel movies from 2012 to 2019.

Stephen Bissette‘s open letter to DC on Facebook about NBC’s Constantine.
“My friend Steve’s dissection of DC is so deliciously understated and addresses the issue of common courtesy.”

He solved a movie mystery for me!

FantaCo

Our overlap with FantaCo is important. Even though Steve stopped working with Tom in the early 1990s, Steve and I need to ensure the record is straight. We spent some time trying to fix the FantaCo Wikipedia page, which contained much egregious misinformation, some of which has been rectified.

When I wrote about FantaCo, Steve would link to me, and vice versa, such as here.

Steve drew the cover of a book called Xerox Ferox, which debuted at the FantaCon 2013 in Albany. I got him, Tom, and several others to sign the book. Maybe I am a fanboy.

Bio

You can read his frankly meager Wikipedia page, but he worked on much more than is noted, some of which I own.

Steve attended the Kubert School and wrote the lovely To Joe, With Love: A Sad Farewell to the Man Who Opened All the Doors. He taught at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, VT, for about a decade and a half.

There are several Steve Bissette interviews I linked to:

You can NOW hear him blather [his word] with Robin at Inkstuds: PART 1 and PART 2.

Stephen R. Bissette: comics pioneer & evangelist from Radio New Zealand

Deconstructing Comics Podcast: #500 – Stephen Bissette: Comics, Movies, and Creator Credits.

The Stephen Bissette Shoot Interview! A Career-Spanning Chronicle!

Interview with Swamp Thing Comic Artist Stephen Bissette.

Stephen R Bissette – CCS instructor, monster-maker for Next Up Vermont.

Steve is one of 21 individuals selected to be inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame for 2025.

He’s written a LOT of pieces, particularly in the past several years, some of which are catalogued here. However, this Facebook page is a better source of his recent work.

On his Facebook page, he’s mentioned life difficulties, such as the devastation caused by the Vermont flooding in 2011, HERE, HERE, and HERE, and other stuff, which I won’t go into.

For some birthday of mine, I swiped this from Steve’s Facebook page at least a decade ago – he’s a fellow March Piscean, of course – and I thought it both appropriate and true, though I’ve never seen the film:

“You think grown-ups have it all figured out? That’s just a hustle, kid. Grown-ups are making it up as they go along, just like you. You remember that, and you’ll do fine.”
– Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman), MATINEE (1993)

Peace and joy and love to my friend Steve Bissette.

April rambling: Carol Burnett turns 90

Finnish happiness

The Doomsday Clock at 90 Seconds to Midnight

Why fascism? Why now?

“U.S.A. Number One!” in Mass Shooting Murders

The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), a Florida-based “think tank,” is a driving force behind the campaign to roll back child labor protections in state legislatures.

Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools and Book bans in US public schools increase by 28% in six months, Pen report finds

Oklahoma’s Top Prosecutor Doesn’t Want to Execute a Likely Innocent Man, but a court is forcing him to do it anyway.

‘Kids Can’t Read,’ and the Education Establishment Faces a Revolt

“School choice” is the latest front in Christian nationalists’ battle to undermine the separation of church and state.

Impact of Weather Emergencies on Child Development

Missing Medicaid Data on Race/Ethnicity May Bias Health Research

Farmworkers: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

The Discord Leaker Was a Narcissist, Not an Ideologue. Comparisons between Jack Teixeira and self-declared whistleblowers are misplaced.

Retirement and Its Impact on Labor Supply

Reflections on driving across America

India’s population will pass China’s soon if it hasn’t already

What’s the Finnish secret to happiness?

The DeSantis Endorsement-ghazi Blame Game

Blame Rupert Murdock and Fox for Iraq, Brexit, Trump, and The Big Lie

Tucker Carlson is Out at Fox News; Don Lemon Terminated by CNN

Jordan Klepper and the most memorable moment from his “Man on the Street” interviews of MAGA types

djt Quit SAG-AFTRA Two Years Ago — But Still Collects 6-Figure Pension

How Technology Is Making it Possible to Build the Largest Dataset in History About the United States and the People Who Live There

Not to mention…

How to Research Charities 101

An April anniversary

Small Change: Let’s Put Pennies and Nickels to Rest

Sugar Pill Nation: Even when we know they’re “fake,” placebos can tame our emotional distress.

How to Get Energy Without Caffeine

Harry Belafonte, Singer, Actor, Producer, and Activist, Dies at 96. I wrote about him just before he turned 90 and linked it to what I wrote when he turned 85.

Edward Koren, the cartoonist who drew his shaggier alter-ego, dies at 87. His cartoons were an unmistakable fixture in the New Yorker and other magazines for more than 60 years

Len Goodman, Former Dancing With the Stars Judge, Dies at 78. I used to watch DWTS with my wife begrudgingly.

Barry Humphries, aka Dame Edna, Dies at 89. Goodbye, Possums.

“My Imperative Was To Get My Family Through This”: Catching up with Stephen R. Bissette

The Comics Journal interview of Chuck Rozanski/Bettie Pages, President – Mile High Comics, Inc.

James Gunn’s Guardians: How Chris Pratt and His Marvel Castmates Rescued Their Director’s Career

Mary Calvi on young Theodore Roosevelt’s love

Carol Burnett at 90, Like Her Comedy, Is Still Timeless

Nielsen Regains Accreditation for National TV Ratings. I didn’t know they had lost it.

Netflix to Shutter Legacy DVD Business

Abbott Elementary’s Long-suffering Servants

Oscars: Film Academy and ABC Announce Date for 2024 Ceremony, related events

The Honest Government Ads– as profane as they are informative

Now I Know: Why “It’s Time to Change Your Password” May Be a Bad Idea and All Your BS is… Vegan and Why Soda Cans in Hawaii Look So Weird and The Birds Who Fly First Class and This Restaurant Doesn’t Exist

MUSIC

Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff, played by Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello) and his sister Isati (piano)

A tribute to composer Henry Mancini. Former colleagues, including John Williams and Quincy Jones, recreate the Peter Gunn theme.

Isle of the Dead by Rachmaninoff

Coverville 1437: The 60th Anniversary of Please Please Me and 1438: Cover Stories for Pharrell Williams, The Eels and Vangelis and 1439: Midnight Oil Cover Story and 40th Anniversary of Bowie’s Let’s Dance, and 1440: Fun on Two Wheels

Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony

Poet and Peasant by Franz von Suppe!

Rachamaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor.

Bridge Over Troubled Water -Julien Neel

Opus 9, No. 2 in E-flat Major by Chopin, played by Sergei Rachmaninoff

The Ed Sullivan Show…March 30, 1969: the cast of Hair performs “The Age of Aquarius” and “Let the Sunshine In.”

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Six Romances, op. 38 by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Happier Now Sunday Stealing

Hembeck, ADD, AmeriNZ, Forgotten Stars

The Happier Now Sunday Stealing questions this week are all over the place.

What flavor Popsicle is the best?

I haven’t had Popsicles in years. But I remember that I favored grape, lime, cherry, and orange, in approximately that order.

Do you have a DVR feature with your cable?

Yes, and increasingly it’s the ONLY way I can watch television. It’s not only much faster – JEOPARDY! in 18 minutes – but I also get to avoid the plethora of advertisements for prescription drugs that are ubiquitous on American television. I’ve been told, and someone can correct me, that the ads are banned everywhere except in the US and New Zealand.

How many drawers does your dresser have?

Five. Or not nearly enough.

Is your closet a mess?

Actually, I have an armoire. After our daughter was born, the room with a large closet became her bedroom for a time. Now it’s my wife’s office. So no.

Have you ever solved a Rubik’s Cube?

No, but I haven’t tried in decades.

Describe your favorite pair of pajama pants:

They’re blue and have moose on them.

What color is your wallet?

The brown color of probably faux leather.

Do you find flea markets and thrift shops enjoyable?

Not really. The cost (of time)/benefit (the find) is too unbalanced. Sorry, Eddie.

AMAZING

Have you met amazing people online?

Yes. I could write a whole blog post on this topic. When I first started blogging in 2005, I followed my friend Fred Hembeck’s now-defunct but still extant blog. I met a slew of great folks there, including Lefty, Gordon, the aforementioned Eddie, and even Greg.

I discovered the late Dustbury, who died in 2019. So I know fillyjonk because I knew Charles Hill.

I stumbled upon Denise Nesbitt’s ABC Wednesday, which I participated in for about a decade. I met Leslie and many other fine folks.

The local newspaper, the Times Union, used to have a blog platform. I still follow folks such as Chuck Miller and J. Eric Smith, the latter of whom is no longer in the area.

Then there are people for whom I have NO idea how I “met” them, such as Arthur and Kelly.

This doesn’t count all of the people I’ve become reacquainted with, including Steve Bissette, Alan David Doane, and a bunch of folks on Facebook.

Between the lines

Would you be happy if I colored a picture for you?

Only if it’s better than I would draw for myself, which is almost certainly going to be true.

What show do you think ‘made’ the 90’s?

Law and Order, The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, NYPD Blue… I think I’m supposed to say Seinfeld or Friends.

Are you happier now than you were last year?

Yes, because 2021 was too COVIDy. An odd observation, I suppose, since I actually GOT COVID in August 2022. But I’ve gone to a few movies, attended plays, eaten at a few restaurants, and participated in the church choir in 2022.

What are you currently drinking?

Not alcohol, and that’s about calories, not any other consideration. Arnold Palmer.

Do you trust people easily?

Not especially. I don’t DISTRUST people out of hand, but when they’ve betrayed me, I always remember. I can forgive, but I seldom forget.

What are you looking forward to in the next three months?

My daughter will be home from her first semester of college.