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.

2 Responses to “And that spot is right in my skull.”

  • ScienceGiant says:

    GAH! Why must you poke me in the eyes with Miracleman? WHY? After all these years of waiting?! We will never have these buttons again! Because we will never have Miracleman again! We will NEVER EVER have those solicited “Silver Age” issues by Gaiman and Buckingham! NEVER!!! We are a world of Burgess Merediths stumbling amongst the ruins of Miracleman merch and graphic novels crying out “That’s not fair. That’s not fair at all. There was time now. There was—was all the time I needed…! It’s not fair! It’s not fair!”

  • BobH says:

    Apparently the buttons were made from printing up extra copies of the covers that had those ads, cutting them up as needed and pasting them in blank buttons. So technically, you already to have the buttons if you have the back covers. Or you effectively could if you get some blanks of the right size and can bring yourself to cut up a copy.