Thursday, December 22, 2011

This looks like a job for Superman…fans

In August 2011, a crime was committed in Illinois, home state of Metropolis. (Metropolis? True story.)

Not only did Superman not stop it, he was the cause of it.

Mike Meyer, a 48-year-old part-time McDonald’s employee described as having a mental disability, let a new acquaintance into his home. While the acquaintance’s girlfriend distracted Mike, the acquaintance switched to his secret identity: a thief.

He stole from a collection of at-times rare Superman memorabilia that Mike had been amassing for decades.

Though I read a few articles about this (it was all over the news), I don’t recall learning how word of this reached the fan community. In any case, people connected to Superman around the world took a page from his playbook and lent a hand in the form of sending all sorts of Superman merchandise to Mike to help him rebuild his collection.

But even before I read of this, I was honored to be asked to send a copy of Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, and promptly did. Then I was tickled to read the following in one of the articles:

A California fan group has contacted actress Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane opposite George Reeves in the original TV series, for an autograph. Neill in fact met Meyer once, Howard said. When Meyer attended the Metropolis Festival several years ago, he got to meet her and stand in Superman’s place beside her for a few minutes.

Other celebrities, including Tracy Lewis of the Superboy series and Mark Tyler Nobleman, author of Boys of Steel, are sending autographed items.

Obviously, and not just because of the “k,” they’re not talking about me.

And, of course, they caught the jerk
as all classic superhero stories end.

2 comments:

  1. yeah it sucks when something like this happens, because even if homeowner's or renter's insurance reimburses the money, it still doesn't mean u can go buy all that stuff back. You may have heard a gentleman in Omaha had his copy of the 1st Spiderman issue stolen last month, and it also had to be someone he knew. He has no idea who it was.

    By the way, the cast of the Superboy show (season one) will be making an appearance in L.A. Jan 15th. You probably have these articles written a year ahead of time, but if u haven't already done the Superboy series, that may be an idea. Gerard Christopher makes con appearances all the time and he's super nice.

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  2. Thanks Mel. Someone else (or was it you?) suggested I cover the SUPERBOY series, but it wasn't one I watched regularly so I don't have the required passion. Also, as you said, the cast is fairly public still and I like to find out about the ones who have drifted far from the spotlight. I appreciate the suggestion.

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