Norm Breyfogle. R.I.P.

A friend told me of Norm Breyfogle’s passing recently. I hadn’t yet heard, so it blew me away, of course. Such a grand soul, such a terrible loss.

I only met him in person once, at a comic show in Dearborn. This was in the early 90’s. He was very cool, I can’t claim to have had a great conversation with him, I am not good at that at shows. And I only brought one thing to have him sign. (I never bring more than one or two things.)

It was the little shelf from the Prime standee in the photo. :) I didn’t buy it, but my friend, whose comic shop I belonged to, gave it to me when he was done using it (I always got used ad posters from him, didn’t care about condition, just wanted the art).

While I loved, absolutely loved (and still do) his work on Batman, I had to bring this little cardboard shelf with me.

So when it was my turn in line, I walked up to him, said my piece (whatever it was), and presented this odd...thing I brought.... He laughed, and said while he had never signed one before, he knew what it was. We both laughed then. He said if they had told him what it was for, he would have designed it so Prime was actually holding the comics instead of looking like he was kind of tucking them in his pocket. We laughed again, and I’ve had this treasure ever since.

It has moved from room to room, and it holds a couple comics, most importantly my coverless Batman 336 that started my love of comics.

I did friend him on Facebook, a few years ago. I’ve since dropped almost entirely off Facebook, and I regret that now. As I missed a lot of what he had to say, I am sure. He and I were kindred spirits, especially in our real world dislike of Trump. I really enjoyed his writings there. His wisdom, his poetry, his anger, his passion. I think I’ll spend some time, these coming days and weeks, reading what I missed and re-reading from the past. Try to rejoin my friends on Facebook...life is short after all.

It is hard, as we get older, to face the truth of more funerals and fewer weddings among our friends and family. But that is life...and death.

Rest in peace, Norm. You will never be forgotten.