Posted in: Comics | Tagged:

When Brian Hibbs Was the Boy Wonder

Published Thu, 24 Jan 2019 16:30:49 -0600

Last updated Sun, 09 Jun 2019 11:16:49 -0500

So lots of people have been posting photos of themselves ten years ago, compared to today. And maybe accidentally helping Chinese facial recognition software in the process.

But Brian Hibbs of San Francisco's Comix Experience has gone far further back. With far more disturbing results. He posts this photo.

And then tries to explain…

This is, by far, the single most embarrassing pictures of me that could POSSIBLY be posted, so better to get ahead of it, I think. I was, let's say, 14 or so, and this might be 1981 or 82? This is, I was told, the original costume from the 1943 serial. It certainly was old, musty, heavy, and fraying at the time, so it seemed like a plausible story to me then.

The owner was a super creepy pedo dude who lived in a SRO at the corner of Powell and Market. He had, as I vaguely recall, like a 4 strand combover and about an equal amount of teeth. THESE pictures were clearly taken in my parent's house (I recognize the curtains and end table… they're still there!), and I don't recall creepy pedo dude coming there, so somehow I borrowed the costume for a few hours? I am positive I took pictures in his SRO as well. F-ck if I remember all these years gone…. or even how I met creepy pedo dude in the first place (local comic con maybe?). I do remember that as creepy as he was, it was just creepy, and not actually pedo, but still… ew! I was just interested in the archival costume?

Another super creepy human posted this to facebook recently. Lord knows why on earth he would have these pictures some 40 years later– I sure didn't have copies myself! — but for sure here's a moment in time that I may as well own as occurred.

My 15 year old son said "Those look like pictures discovered AFTER the child was kidnapped and worse…."

Anyway, go ahead, you get one free one: mock away!

Here's a more recent photograph for that facial recognition software…