So I was going to post about the new comics that came out this week, like I usually do on Thursdays, but…forget it! After this post yesterday, I’d rather talk about buttons!
Now, that button for the first Batman movie is from ’88, and it’s my recollection that there was a huge demand for this particular pin. It was given away at a monthly Los Angeles convention, and I think by the next month dealers at that same convention were selling it for $5 to $10. Also, that particular image by Bob Kane…um, evoked the art style of Todd McFarlane, to say the least.
On the right is a promo button for the always a bridesmaid, never a bride Sgt. Rock movie, back when it was going to star Arnold Schwarzenegger, but before it was going to star Bruce Willis. (I think I have those actors in the right order.) It does have a Warner Brothers copyright notice (from 1988), so I’m fairly certain this was an official product.
This pin is advertising the graphic novel A Conversation Between Two Guys in A Bar, Or A New Model of the Universe by Neal Adams, and gives me an excuse to finally link to this interesting interview with the man at the Comic Foundry (part one, part two). Anyway, has that graphic novel ever even been released? I swear Adams has been talking about it for years. Oh, and did you know Neal Adams has challenged every geologist on Earth? He certainly did.
Pins from three of my favorite indie comics series: the 1986 Miracleman pin (art by Chuck Austen, formerly Chuck Beckum), the 1983 Nexus pin (Steve Rude, natch), and an ’86 Zot! pin (art by a certain Mr. McCloud).
Pins especially for retailers to wear around the store are a lot of fun, too. I like the expression on that gal’s face on the Femforce pin…did they really intend for her to look embarrassed? The center pin was for Marvel’s shortlived attempt at getting another Merry Marvel Marching Society or Friends of ‘Ol Marvel club going…yes, I was an Official Recruitment Officer, like it says there. That third pin advertised Marvel’s 99-cent line…which I thought was a pretty good idea, although (with the possible exception of Untold Tales of Spider-Man) the 99-cent books weren’t really all that good. (For a laugh, at least look at the first page of Fantastic Four Unplugged #1…a splash page of the Thing’s angry face, shouting “Ya freakin’ crud! I’m gonna rip you a new one!” Beautiful.)
No, please don’t.
