The idea behind this blog post is to talk about my love for Batman and how much he means to me. If you’re new to my blog, feel free to look at my other posts for more information about me and my interests (click here to go back).
I have always been a big fan of Batman and had the pleasure of meeting him in person a couple of times. I even got to join him for dinner and a movie one Saturday night. I highly recommend meeting these giants of comic books in person!
A Love Letter To One Of The Most Influential Comics Characters
At the end of September, I went on a trip with my family to San Francisco for a little over a week. While there, I was able to visit my favorite store in the city, Golden Gate Comics. It was actually closed on Sundays, but they were kind enough to give me a walk-in discount, so I could still get my comics fix.
While browsing the aisles, I came across something that caught my attention…a statue of Batman. It was sitting in the corner by itself, so I figured someone must have abandoned it. I walked over to it and saw a small placard with some information about the piece. As I flipped it over to read it, the piece fell off the statue.
The person who made the statue must have tripped over it while carrying something heavy because it was completely dented in the middle. The statue was in desperate need of repair, so I decided right there and then to have it fixed. A few days later, I went back and paid for the privilege of having it repaired. Now, the statue represents a unique piece of artwork by the masters at Chaney Art Enterprises. I love how the statue not only holds a pose, but its arms are also spread wide in a classic “I WANT” pose. It is definitely a fitting tribute to the iconic comic book character.
Why Does Batman Mean So Much To Me?
I grew up watching the old Adam West Batman TV show and playing with the action figures as a child. I have been a fan of the dark knight since then and always look forward to a new episode of the show whenever it comes on TV. I even made the mistake of going into Wal-Mart when it was on a repeat and buying the entire collection just so I could have them all.
That may have been a bit of a mistake because, as you may have guessed, having the entire set didn’t fix the pacing problems. The repeated episodes eventually started to drag, so I ended up burning through most of their value. Even now, I have most of the Bat-family collected and it’s still not complete. I try to watch an episode every few months just so I can maintain my collection.
Having Batman in my life has always been a great source of comfort and inspiration to me. I never really thought much about it until I was in my 20s and started having my own health problems. Then, in 2015, my doctor told me that my prostate cancer was back and that I needed to start treating it with a lot of care and attention. I started doing research on the disease and found plenty of articles with terrifying statistics about how many men die from it every year.
Seeing as how I already love Batman so much, I decided to use my love for the dark knight as a form of self-therapy. I started treating myself with a mixture of professional help and healing crystals that I bought online. It wasn’t long before my health started to improve and I was able to get back on my feet physically. During that same period, I started seeing the world through a new, positive lens and recognized that I needed to make a change in my life.
A Love Letter To One Of The Most Influential Comic Books Characters
As I stood in front of the statue, I remembered the old adage about happy endings and how comics don’t always have to end perfectly. While I was hoping that this was just a one-time thing and that the statue would be repaired soon, I was also realizing that it wouldn’t be. That’s when it hit me…why not try and see if I could spark some interest in having the statue repaired? I decided to put up a blog article about it and, even when nothing else turned up, someone from the community had actually chimed in and said they would help out!
Sure enough, a day or two later, I got a message from the manager of Golden Gate Comics, Sarah, asking if they could help me out with my statue.
“Hi, Steve!” she wrote. “Just wanted to let you know that we’ve received your message and we’re actually pretty interested in getting your statue back on display. Unfortunately, it’s on the larger side and, as you know, our storage space is rather limited. But, if you’re still interested, please give me a call.”
Her words gave me a big boost of confidence that someone else actually wanted to help out and that I was on the right track. I called her back straight away and we set up a time to meet at the store, so she could take a look at it first-hand.
I wasn’t sure what to expect and was a little nervous about returning to the store once more, after being so bold and asking for help. I made my way there and was relieved to see that the same manager who had initially showed some interest was waiting for me outside the door. She looked at my statue and said, “No offense, but I don’t think this is something that we can fix.” I responded by saying, “Well, you’re probably right. It is, perhaps, a little too big for our storage space. But, you never know…maybe something else in the store will light up.”
I was hoping for a little more than that, but I was starting to see that appearances could be deceiving. She then asked if she could help me find a smaller one that I could display, in the meantime.
I felt devastated. Not only had I hoped to have my statue fixed, but I had also gotten really attached to the piece in the brief time that I had it. It was clear that she didn’t see its value and neither did anyone else in the store.
I left feeling like a total loser. It was clear to me now that my only option was to find a smaller statue, somewhere else. I would have to start completely over again and hope that this time, someone would see the value that I saw in my original creation. It was a real blow to my ego. Once again, I felt that I had failed as a man and as a husband. My wife had a fit when she heard about my latest setback, but I still felt bad. I knew that I had gone a little overboard and was willing to pay for the mistake.
The truth is that meeting Batman isn’t for everyone. I would not recommend that you do so unless you’re a huge fan of the character and/or are interested in art. However, if you’re looking for an extraordinary, one-of-a-kind piece that is truly representative of the character, there’s little evidence to suggest that you’ll find anything other than what you’re looking for in a brick and mortar store.