I belong to a lost generation. I remembered books that no one has seen. I encountered comics now extinct. Such as the EPIC range of superior crafted comics.
EPIC: Only for the brave. I once held such copies in my hands, titles that I don't remember, authors that I have forgotten. I look now at my empty hands and still feel the chill of loss. I am talking about those painted comics with surreal stories that bring you to places you normally would not venture. I didn't start to collect then. Even when I started buying, the EPIC line was long gone. What was I thinking then?
I have seen stray copies of the EPIC print. The unmistakable covers with matt colors and mind-blowing intro page were hard to miss then. Now, you can't miss EPIC because you can only see a vol 2. That’s all. Nothing else. It is beyond impossible to find Vol 3, 4 or 7. Vol 1 does not exist. And no one heard of Vol. 5. And Vol.6? Sigh... Such was my loss that i passed Millar's & Colan's Dracula series. Such was my loss that I passed Moebius Airtight Garage. Such was my loss that I passed Starlin's Dreadstar. Such was my loss that I abandoned my search for EPIC.
Every once in a while the heavens opened and a stray light shines on these darkened land. Such was a day that I bought Stan Lee Silver Surfer with Moebius art. To say more would be embarrassing. It's like touching the Holy Grail and claiming to see the imprint of Christ!
Then, the epiphany of picking up McKeever's Plastic Forks. Complete! On that day I do really believe the heavens were overwhelmingly generous. I mean complete! Vol 1-5! I plead insanity and refuse to recover.
The EPIC anguish that has yet to be extinguished would be Meltdown. Not found in a comic shop. Not even in a 2nd hand bookshop. But retrieved… from a flea market, at the other end of the island. I mean what are the chances of being right there in a steaming crowd with suburban junks of all kind, being jostled and pushed and actually seeing in mint condition all 4 volumes of Meltdown? Unreal. That day will never exist for me. I deny all knowledge of such an existence! Alas that day stabs me still for I ran all the way home in Cthulu fear, holding to my chest the Kent Williams and Jon J Muth masterpiece. That was EPIC to me!
No thanks to a certain word pressing ignoramus, my EPIC remembrance will forever be tarnished by the fact that my original Epic: Meltdown was actually traded for bread!!! It is the height of humanity uselessness that acts of stupidity are nowadays rationalized by intentional side talk and avoidance after a crime has been committed.
EPIC: The imprint that will forever be remembered by the lost generation.
