Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Bill Sienkiewicz, fbi, trump

That Time The FBI Visited Bill Sienkiewicz, And He Flashed Them

Published Fri, 08 Jan 2021 06:30:44 -0600

Last updated Tue, 19 Jan 2021 12:21:04 -0600

This may not have been the first time Bill Sienkiewicz popped up on the US Secret Services monitoring list. After all, Sienkiewicz is the co-creator of the Brought To Light graphic novel with Alan Moore, which told the hidden history of the CIA alongside the story of the Christie Institute's attempts to hold them responsible. As a result, CIA operative spied upon Alan Moore, something Moore discovered when the family of the people whose house opposite they were hiring went and told Alan. Which was nice of them.

Anyway, Bill Sienkiewicz has a more recent experience with the FBI to share. He posted on Facebook,

Four years ago I was awakened at 8 AM by the US Secret Service's versions of Mulder and Scully, & questioned for nearly 90 minutes about a posting I had made on FB offering a free drawing to anyone who would shake Trump's hand the same way he did to any world leader or alpha male he came in contact with.

For those who don't remember, Trump had a habit of yanking the arm of the person he was greeting, thuggishly and sadistically pulling them off balance; his "I'm just getting started w this bully shit" gambit.

For this affront I was considered a threat worthy of investigation. I'm sure a few of my right wing followers on FB at the time alerted the SS in an attempt to get me in hot water and own a lib. To them I want to state (and I'm pretty sure I know who you are): you failed spectacularly as in Not Winning.

Long story short; that weird interview turned into a fascinating discussion about what makes a society function. I ended up actually thanking the agents for coming for whatever or whichever reason; for me, it was proof the system works, flaws and all. They were on the job.

They quickly gleaned I wasn't a threat. However In the interest of full disclosure, I should note I was wearing sweatpants and a tee shirt, and while moving chairs in my studio for the agents to sit, my sweatpants fell to my ankles. Of course, I wasn't wearing underwear. I inadvertently mooned Secret Service agents. As one does. It happens. I dropped the chair and pulled up my sweats, turned to face them in time to see both struggling to wipe smiles off their faces and return to serious investigator mode. Whether this was a factor in their determination that I was not a threat, I do not know. But I digress.

They graciously allowed my questions and answered and discussed- as much as they could given the circumstances- what they were dealing with under the new Trump regime. They admitted things were actually worse and more divided under Trump than they initially anticipated, which explained why they were at my place so early; with yet a full day's docket of leads and potential threats ahead of them.

We discussed the first amendment , the second, my toaster collection, comic books, etc, and when they asked if I had ever been institutionalized for mental illness, I told them for crying out loud I draw comic books so make of that what you will.

So we shook hands and they left. For me it was a strange interlude, an eye-opener, and definite sign that we as a nation weren't in proverbial Kansas anymore. We'd turned a corner.

That was then.

TODAY I stared in utter disbelief at the anarchy and mayhem that unfolded at the Capitol.

I don't know quite how to describe the sense of disconnect I felt , the blend of surrealism and absurdity. My memory bounced between what feels almost laughably quaint in retrospect to the currently outright nightmarishly unfathomable; from goofy handshakes and stupid drawings to nigh-all-out civil war and all the WTF that shitty shift entails.

Four years.

Addendum, not that anyone asked: I actually still owe France's Macron and Canada's Trudeau free drawings.