A Belated Farewell to Steve Steffler

Anyone know Steve Steffler - friendbear.com?

Tonight I did my shopping, hauling reusable bags four-an-arm into the house. I made myself an instant half caff (the dry year continues), and while looking through some old files, was reminded of the early web comics I used to read - Leisure Town, Achewood, etc.

Well, those were the professional ones. Or at least, professional-ish. In those weird and in many ways very amateur days, there were people doing weird shit with MS Paint et al, and of these people was Steve Steffler, the man behind a comic called Friend Bear.

A sample comic

Friend Bear was weird and badly drawn. Friend Bear's art style seemed to owe a lot to Pokey the Penguin, but no matter. We checked it irregularly. It was a part of our lives for a while. Eventually, we moved on.

I found a mention in my files of Friend Bear, and tried to find it via Google. Did I mean Friend Bear, the Care Bear? Here are links to purchase Friend Bear, the Care Bear!

But there was a Reddit link. And it turns out that the creator of Friend Bear, Steve Steffler, was a fellow Canadian, from Edmonton, and that he died in 2016, of carbon monoxide exposure.

Clearly not just into experimental comics, he was also an experimental musician, ran a small indie label, handled bookings at a local cafe, gave a lot of local musicians their start.

He was only 36. RIP, Steve.

gemlog