Sunday, October 17, 2010

A Probably Bootleg Superman Shirt


I like to show you some of the stuff in my collection, not in the interest of, "Hey everybody, look at the stuff I've got!" but because I rarely encounter people in real life who appreciate some of the things, so I figure who but comic blog readers can I share it with? Otherwise it's just me which seems like kind of a waste.

Anyway, I am proud of this beauty, which I bought when I was sixteen which means the shirt is now legal to drink in most states. I got it at a store called Records on Wheels in the unfortunately-named city of Regina. It jumped out at me when I was just beginning to admit my lingering love of Superman to myself and everyone around me. I'd gone through a bit of a phase of Superman denial for approximately ages 12-15, when suddenly X-Men was the taste du jour and all else pretty much was considered too far fetched, or something. Not that I really stopped liking Supes. My sister and I watched the Reeve movies about every weekend, it's just that I didn't start getting public about liking Superman until around this time, a phase which has lasted right until the present day.

I guess I chose to begin the era of Superman glasnost by buying an undoubtedly unlicenced shirt, but I definitely thought and still think it's pretty groovy-looking. Over the years it's gotten pretty worn and delicate, so if I wore it around I'd have to be wary of random muscle flexes and stray breezes, but hopefully I'll find some good permanent way to display it.

While the graphic, at first glance, might seem to be Kal contemplating the explosion of Krypton, perhaps in memory, a closer look reveals the continents of the planet Earth, and so this is more like some jaded punk rock thing about how there is no hope, or something. I dunno. I like it cuz it has Superman on it, what can I tell ya?

I apologize for the sporadic post schedule this past week but I've had to put in extra hours at my day job. Mind you, I've also managed to squeeze in watching a lot of Brave and the Bold episodes, having purchased the DVD of Season One, Part One - and oh I hope I do not get burned by not finding a part two and instead having to purchase the entire season if I want to watch the rest. Though I guess it would serve me right for buying bootleg shirts. I do rationalize the occasional bootleg purchase with my certainty of having put thousands of dollars in DC coffers over the years, but who am I kidding? The guilt's killing me.

By the way a school chum once told me that there was a version of this shirt where Supes is saying "Oh $#it". Except with the actual word, but this was a guy who had a tendency to be full of same. Anyway I prefer this one.

6 comments:

IADW said...

Nice - love the line on Superman Denial. It was pretty much the same deal here when the X-Men cartoon was on the tube. Those folks will grow out of it :D

Cool shirt!

Aaron said...

Thanks! Yes, one of the biggest diehard X-Men fans I knew at the time is now a guy I discuss Smallville with, and who asks to borrow my Super Friends DVD's. Life is full of surprises. I mean, X-Men rocks as well - though strangely now I think Wolvie suffers from the some of the same over exposure that once hurt Supes.

Diabolu Frank said...

Choice image! I like!

rob! said...

I do like the look of indifference on Kal's face. "Oh well, I guess I'll set up shop on another planet with people who can't see through glasses."

Aaron said...

Plenty of yellow suns in the galaxy!

LissBirds said...

Oooo, lovely image. I like pictures that say something without words. I wonder who the artist is?

I didn't read comics as a kid, so it's interesting from an outsider's perspetive to see how people went through phases as to which hero was their favorite while they were a certain age.