Over the years, pinbacks could be found with just about any imagery imaginable: politics, pop culture (Little Orphan Annie, Beatles, Alfred E Neuman), advertisements, you name it. But the little round 'billboards' seemed to explode in popularity during the first half of the 80's. New wave fashion often made use of the pins, and in the process gave us some very cool graphics. Bands were a frequent sight on pins. And the pins were a frequent sight on the fans. Some kids had jackets covered with so many pins they looked like chain mail armor. I wore quite a few, but not so many as to clank as I walked...
And now, a plethora of pinback pictures from my personal pile for you to ponder and peruse...
On the left, some advertising-themed buttons. Before you ask, I have no idea what Tony's "Astronaut Breakfast Game" was. On the right, some miscellaneous ones:
Here we have a selection of musically themed buttons. Note the preponderance of 80's New wave here...
As comic fans, how could we not include some appropriately comic buttons? Note the "Shmoo" pin on the right: wonderful creatures from Al Capp's "Lil' Abner" strip. And yes, I was one who ordered a Howard the Duck presidential pin from Steve Gerber in '76 (the fact that I was too young to vote was irrelevant).
And here is a special collector's set of Batman pins, released coincidentally with the 1989 movie. These have art by some familiar names, and the artists are profiled on the back...
So, any pinback collectors among us? Did you wear a few, many, or none? Any memories of particular pins? Or memories of painful pinpricks? Pop on a few and express yourself!
13 comments:
Quick comment to start the day -
I have a "Send Bat-Man to Vietnam" button, of course from the height of Bat-mania in the latter half of the 1960s. I've no idea what it's worth, but is one of the artifacts that has managed to stay in my downsized collection.
Doug
For a period in the early 80's(maybe a year or so?) I clanked when I walked. Almost entirely Beatles pinbacks.
Then in the later 80's, super-hero pinbacks hit BIG. So big, that they kinda flooded the market, and quickly found their way into the Big Lots/discount type outlets. . . so I picked up a zillion of them over the course of a couple of years as well. When HBSon was just a toddler and then a tyke, we would wear matching Spidey or Captain America (etc) buttons when we went out on our rounds of "away mission" errands. It sounds impossibly corny, doesn't it? And yet, he's the first to remember that practice with a deep, warm nostalgic glow. Heh.
And of course I do still have ALL of those buttons in a couple of tin containers in our bedroom. Hmm-- wonder if I'd be the coolest guy at rehearsal if I were to start sporting them again?
HB
In January 1975 Marvel UK advertised a set of buttons (we call them badges) and each one featured a different Marvel character - Spidey, the Thing, Conan, Sub-Mariner, Hulk, Black Widow etc which you could buy via mail order. But I'd only discovered Marvel comics two months earlier and I was still only reading Planet Of The Apes so I didn't know who most of the characters on the badges were. In my little village there were three sisters who were Catholic and I remember one of them wearing a badge with Pope John-Paul II on it. I'm sure I owned some badges/buttons too but I can't recall any of them.
Here is a link to an image of the Batman button I mentioned above. I had my hyphen in the wrong place, as you'll see.
I also have this Superman Club button, from 1966.
Doug
Yes, I've worn a pinback badge or two in my time. The only ones I can remember, however, are a Dead Kennedys pin, a Mega City Four (the band) pin and a couple of Arsenal FC pins that I used to wear at the ground on matchdays.
An aside on the word 'badge.' A friend of mine played in a beat combo called 'The Badges'. They played one public show but unfortunately the publicity for that show came back declaring the 'The Badgers' were playing at so-and-so venue. So all his mementoes tell him he played in an obscure prog rock band rather than the sharp mod combo he was aiming for.
I had two of the badges/buttons that Colin J's mentioned; The Thing and The Sub-Mariner. They were quite sizeable and, for some reason, Subby was red. I'm not sure what had happened there.
Tucked away in a drawer somewhere, I have a John Romita drawn Spider-Man badge from the early 1980s.
I had a few other badges in the 1970s but they were non-comic related. All I can remember was one in the shape of a thumbs-up gesture and another that related to Sheffield United, a local soccer team.
Badges? We don't need no stinking badges! (Oh come on, someone had to say it!)
I have a few of these (not nearly as many as you) mostly from the late 70s/early 80s. Nothing spectacular, mostly advertising and assorted goofy stuff. I do have a few of the really small ones that belonged to my mom, again nothing that jumps out as rare, just regular stuff (though I think one of them is a Colt 45 beer pin; I have no idea where she got that).
Mike, I was actually thinking, "Is that a pledge pin?!? On your uniform?!?"
Doug
Hello! I do have a variety of pins that I display on a wall in my "I love me "room. As far as comics go, I have a handful of pep cereal buttons of characters like dick Tracy and superman from the 1940s. I also have a variety of political buttons starting with Franklin Roosevelt before World War II. During this most recent election I wore my "I like Ike" buttons on my jackets. Numerous strangers told me, "I wish Ike was running!"
Doug- thanks for sharing the links to your badges! Both are cool, but that Batman one is quite novel.
HB- I can imagine what you sounded like clanking. My roommate at college had a jacket encased in those pinbacks. It probably added five pounds to it. And good recall on those 80's Marvel buttons. They were nice: great artwork, but the only one I actually bought was the Kitty Pryde/Lockheed pin in the photo above...
Colin J- the pinbacks are occasionally referred to as 'badges' here as well. They have quite a few names, actually. Wasn't sure which one to use heading this post to ensure everyone would recognize what I was talking about!
Colin B- love your story about your unfortunate friend! "Badgers"...
Mike W- THANK YOU! I hoped someone would use that line!
Charlie- great idea, wearing your "Ike" buttons. Some of those old political badges were remarkable: huge ones, flowery ones, obscure ones. Was it Alf Landon who had sunflowers on his buttons (he was from the Sunflower State of Kansas)?
Hi Red,
I do indeed have the Alf Landon button from 1936 with the cloth sunflower. Also got a "Wings for Wilkie" who ran in 40 against Roosevelt. But as I look at the display, I don't have a "Dewey" who ran in 44.
I do have a "Sonia Henie Ice Revue 1943" and a few "Victory Loan" buttons. I also dig the WWII comics with the "Support the # Victory Loan" emblems on their cover. Kind of nice to think of the nation having a common goal.
The Pep Cereal buttons are from the WWII era, I believe. My dad tells me how all the kids would buy that stuff, dump the cereal, to get the button. Just like your "cereal prize" blog a week or two ago, lol. That was a good blog b.t.w!
I like the square Police button. I thought it was a Predator's self-destruct countdown 'til I saw the faces in the shapes.
Back in the "80's, in highschool, I had several buttons featuring rock bands, including a "Who Maximum R & B" which I wore with pride.
Unfortunately I also had this semi-mullet thing going which kind of offsetted the cool factor.
M.P.
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