# Stephen R Bissette, Jim Rugg, and Chris Stevens on Tyrant

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/comic-book-couples-counseling-podcast-76639/stephen-r-bissette-jim-rugg-and-chris-stevens-on-tyrant
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/comic-book-couples-counseling-podcast-76639/stephen-r-bissette-jim-rugg-and-chris-stevens-on-tyrant.md
Podcast: [Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/comic-book-couples-counseling-podcast-76639)
Published: 2026-03-11T16:02:18+00:00
Episode link: https://cbccpodcast.podbean.com/e/stephen-r-bissette-jim-rugg-and-chris-stevens-on-tyrant/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/tzzxyntng2g2i74r/Tyrant_Stephen_Bissette_Jim_Rugg_Chris_Stevens_Comic_Book_Couples_Counseling_Main_Feed_Final_-_3_10_26_722_PM9zgjh.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/comic-book-couples-counseling-podcast-76639/episodes/stephen-r-bissette-jim-rugg-and-chris-stevens-on-tyrant
Duration seconds: 5171

## Resource

When observing comic books, the miracles come in big or small ways. This week on the podcast, we’re discussing a resurrection we previously thought unimaginable. Stephen R Bissette, who gained legendary status working on titles like Saga of the Swamp Thing, crafted his masterpiece in the mid-nineties. Tyrant was meant to run fifty issues or more, but only four saw print before disaster struck the industry, and Bissette pulled up stakes, leaving comics to focus on family and a more financially stable situation. We’ve spent years searching for Tyrant in the dollar bins, picking up an issue here and there. As much as we love Bissette’s work on Swamp Thing, Tyrant represents the artist at his purest, most thematically forward. Even at four issues, Tyrant is a masterpiece, expressing the agony and beauty of life, as we follow a Tyrannosaurus Rex from conception to birth. It’s easy to mourn the story we did not get, but we must also celebrate the story we did. It is enough, and thankfully, we’re not the only ones who thought so. Chris Stevens, of the newly formed Lighthouse Press, convinced Bissette that now was the time to re-release Tyrant in both a Complete Edition and a Deluxe Artist Edition. Stevens also hired cartoonist Jim Rugg (who recently shot a Stacks video with us) to oversee the production of these new additions. Together, they’ll hopefully bring a massive new readership to Tyrant and give this lost masterpiece the recognition it never got. We’re extremely happy to have Stephen R Bissette, Jim Rugg, and Chris Stevens on the podcast this week. Together, we place Tyrant in the context of its creation and explore why now is the time for its resurrection. We discuss the themes Bissette excavates in Tyrant and where the story was going before he had to pull the plug.…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/comic-book-couples-counseling-podcast-76639/episodes/stephen-r-bissette-jim-rugg-and-chris-stevens-on-tyrant/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/comic-book-couples-counseling-podcast-76639/stephen-r-bissette-jim-rugg-and-chris-stevens-on-tyrant.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.