THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS...



Aurora '74/'75 Batman model - with added owl.  Built & painted by me



Here's another 'Rambling Reminiscence' which hopefully you'll all find at least vaguely interesting.

One day back in early 1983, a former colleague told me that a model shop in Glasgow had an AURORA BATMAN model going for the paltry amount of £1.50.  If I wanted it, he'd pick it up the next time he was in town.  Having had this kit back when I was a young boy, dang-tootin' I wanted it.  I duly gave him the dosh and sat back to wish my life away 'til I got my grubby hands on the model.

When I did, I was surprised to see that the box was different to the one I had as a kid, and when I opened it, I was slightly disappointed to note that there had been a few changes made; namely, the owl had been omitted, and the name on the tree and the circular bat-emblem on the chest had been removed.  (An oval sticker was supplied in its place.)

Anyway, I overcame my disappointment and started to assemble and paint the kit, which was the 1974/'75 reissue.  I had to put my efforts on hold while we moved house, applying the finishing touches to the model in our new abode.  Over four years later, due to circumstances too long and boring to relate here, we decided to move back to our previous home - and Batman made the return journey with us.  

The U.S. version of the box.  U.K. kits didn't have the comic

However, that absent owl always bothered me - so imagine my delight when, 24 years after first acquiring the reissue, I eventually managed to obtain a spare '60s owl, finally allowing me to fully complete the model to my satisfaction.  I was only 24 when I started the kit and 48 when I gave it the final finishing touch - in the same house in which I'd begun it, half my life away almost to the very month.

Since then, I've done the same thing with comics - completing runs that I started in this house before we moved to the other one and then back again.  It's almost like time travel, plugging the gaps in runs of comics that I bought, say, in 1981, then completed in 2015 (to pluck two dates from thin air) - finishing them in the same house I lived when they first went on sale.  Is it just me, or is there an immensely satisfying level of ironic profundity in that little accomplishment?  

H'mm - just me then.  (Incidentally, in 1984 or '85, I managed to acquire the original '60s version of the model, though I didn't get around to building and painting it until sometime in the '90s.  I later managed to obtain an original box and instructions to complete the kit, so I'm well-chuffed.)