S.R. BISSETTE'S TYRANT #3, SpiderBaby Grafix, January/February 1995
Steve Bissette made a name for himself drawing Alan Moore's groundbreaking Swamp Thing, where he creeped us out with his beautifully detailed nightmares. By the mid-90s, he attempted to write his own ticket with Tyrant, an ambitious documentary about the life and death of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It turned out to be too ambitious, unfortunately, and baby Tyrant didn't last long once out of his egg.
Issues 1 and 2 detailed the Cretaceous world and started with Tyrant's egg being laid, but he isn't born until the last page of issue 3. The entire life of the Earth's most famous killer beast was supposed to be chronicled in these pages, but the series ended with #4, which I was never even able to find. Allegedly, more was scripted and drawn, but never saw printing. I guess the market wasn't ready for a black and white docu-epic starring an animal. Phooey on the market, I say!
Tyrant was quite brilliant, mixing hard science with flights of poetry. This isn't your dad's silent dinosaur comics*, this has narration as moody and complex as the artwork. I've chosen to talk about issue 3 because it is the most balls-to-the-wall ambitious of the lot. The entire thing takes place inside Tyrant's egg.
And even as a fetus, this thing looks like a killer (take THAT Paranex!).
Check out this prosaic mix: "What will be its spine is a notochord. Its nervous system is an elongated furrow. That terrible skull a mere fold." Just as he's losing me with notochords and albumen, he gets me back with "In a vast sea of food and blood, the secret swimmer grows." Love it. Steve Bissette turns what is essentially a chick growing inside an egg into an epic struggle for survival. Just look at the egg-cracking scene:
These comics were also worth it just for the wealth of dinosaur features in the back pages. Critiques of dinosaur movies (this issue has The Land Before Time II right next to Carnosaur!), paleontology articles, dinosaur-related comic strips, and Bissette's research notes for the issue at hand. Some great added value right there, on par with Dave Sim's Cerebus. Speaking of Dave Sim, now that Cerebus is done, couldn't he publish Steve's remaining issues of Tyrant? Just a suggestion.
*Bet you didn't know your dad was into Age of Reptiles, eh?
Steve Bissette made a name for himself drawing Alan Moore's groundbreaking Swamp Thing, where he creeped us out with his beautifully detailed nightmares. By the mid-90s, he attempted to write his own ticket with Tyrant, an ambitious documentary about the life and death of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It turned out to be too ambitious, unfortunately, and baby Tyrant didn't last long once out of his egg.Issues 1 and 2 detailed the Cretaceous world and started with Tyrant's egg being laid, but he isn't born until the last page of issue 3. The entire life of the Earth's most famous killer beast was supposed to be chronicled in these pages, but the series ended with #4, which I was never even able to find. Allegedly, more was scripted and drawn, but never saw printing. I guess the market wasn't ready for a black and white docu-epic starring an animal. Phooey on the market, I say!
Tyrant was quite brilliant, mixing hard science with flights of poetry. This isn't your dad's silent dinosaur comics*, this has narration as moody and complex as the artwork. I've chosen to talk about issue 3 because it is the most balls-to-the-wall ambitious of the lot. The entire thing takes place inside Tyrant's egg.
And even as a fetus, this thing looks like a killer (take THAT Paranex!).
Check out this prosaic mix: "What will be its spine is a notochord. Its nervous system is an elongated furrow. That terrible skull a mere fold." Just as he's losing me with notochords and albumen, he gets me back with "In a vast sea of food and blood, the secret swimmer grows." Love it. Steve Bissette turns what is essentially a chick growing inside an egg into an epic struggle for survival. Just look at the egg-cracking scene:
These comics were also worth it just for the wealth of dinosaur features in the back pages. Critiques of dinosaur movies (this issue has The Land Before Time II right next to Carnosaur!), paleontology articles, dinosaur-related comic strips, and Bissette's research notes for the issue at hand. Some great added value right there, on par with Dave Sim's Cerebus. Speaking of Dave Sim, now that Cerebus is done, couldn't he publish Steve's remaining issues of Tyrant? Just a suggestion.
*Bet you didn't know your dad was into Age of Reptiles, eh?
Comments
And talk about missed potential! I was asking my LCS if they had #5 for years.