Mike Sterling's Progressive RuinAlone, unmourned, and unloved since 1969

And that spot is right in my skull.

§ June 19th, 2017 § Filed under buttons, miraclemarvelman § 2 Comments

So longtime readers remember how I love buttons. Hoo boy, do I love gathering pinbacks of all kinds to admire and display. Of late, my button acquisition has slowed down a bit, as I haven’t had the time to properly maintain the collection, though a few here and there still end up in my hands just as a matter of course.

I bring this up because I recently purchased a run of the British Warrior magazine, famous of course for being the initial home for the Marvelman revival and V for Vendetta, early and important works by writer Alan Moore (with artists Garry Leach and David Lloyd, respectively). Included in the batch was a copy of the Marvelman Special, which I’d previously discussed on this site at length several years ago (though honestly it feels like I just did so…time flies, and all that).

I didn’t mention it at the time, but was reminded of it again looking at this other copy of the magazine that appeared in this collection…there is a great ad for buttons (or “badges,” if you prefer) on the back cover:

…featuring several of the properties that have been appearing in Warrior. My eyes of course immediately went to the swell batch of Marvelman pins that I would love to get my greedy mitts on, down there in the bottom row. I went looking on the eBays and found nothing, though I did find this pic via Google image search, and I hope the person who posted it on this message board doesn’t mind me using part of his (or her, I don’t know!) pic here:

Those are some snazzy pins, and would look great on my blazer or my beanie. Alas, all I have is this ad to remember them by (though pal Dave suggested I make them into pogs, and I don’t know if I should thank him or hate him for even bringing that up).

I also found the Axel Pressbutton badges to be amusing, particularly since they come in “clean” and “blood-splattered” variations:

I’m going to guess that anyone who actually wore one of these was poked right in the pinback several times a day. Probably had a good bruise beneath by the time the poor sap got home.

This Bojeffries Saga pin with Ginda is amazing:

And if you haven’t thought about Zirk in a while, don’t you think it’s time you have?

Speaking of Marvelman pins, like I was just a moment ago if you remember, I was reminded of the button released by Eclipse Comics back in 1986, back when they were handling the character (under the Marvel Comics-enforced name of Miracleman). Under the thrall of Mr. Moore and of Miracleman as I was, combined with my long-existent love of pin collecting, I of course had to have this item, which I wore on my jacket and/or backpack to high school, to such admiring calls of my classmates as “who the hell is that?” and “hey, get a load of the dork!” Anyway, 31 years on, I still have the button in my possession, and though I featured a tiny little scan of it on this very site quite a while ago, I thought I’d rescan it and give you some big ol’ pics. To wit:

A little wear and tear on the button, to be sure, but still a beloved item in the collection just the same. Hopefully I can track down some of those other Marvelman pins at some point…I recently told a pal that I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of knick knack-y detritus in my home, but I have a soft spot for Marvel/Miracleman, and for pinbacks, and especially for the two combined.