The year was 1993. I had been an avid sports card collector, frequenting the local hobby shop with as much regularity an 8 year-old had the means to. On this day though, something strange happened. I was stunned by what I saw. It wasn't what I'd come for, and it certianly wasnt anything I would see on a hockey card. I don't even think I had noticed the shop had been primarily a comic book store until that very moment. It was Superman. Drenched in thick black blood, in the arms of a crying Lois Lane. His ripped and torn-up cape, a makeshift flag, flying half-mast in the wind over the cracked cement of downtown Metropolis. Superman was dead.
I'll never forget the first time I saw that issue, and the lasting impression it had on me as a child. The invincible superhero had been compromised to a permanent end. Up until that point, absolutely unthinkable, especially through the eyes of a young boy.
I can still recall the feelings of sadness and shock that came over me when I saw that comic book but over the years, I've become desensitized. Time has a way of doing that, I guess. I never thought I would feel that way again-that is, until one week ago.
Another "larger-than-life" character was dead. Machoman Randy Savage, dead at 58 due to injuries sustained in a car-wreck, caused by an untimely heart-attack. Even the cause of death sounds like something out of a comic book or action movie.
Now I know what you must be thinking. How was that washed-up, has-been, phony wrestler a superhero? Well, in my eyes, and the eyes of millions around the world, he was.
Machoman came to prominence in an era that although was not that long ago, was a very different time. There was no internet. No sleazy TMZ style paparazi. No twitter or google to get the latest on these familiar strangers. Our relationships with celebrities was very different. They were icons. Access to their personal lives was almost non-existent. We only knew the image, the celebrity, not the person who portrayed them.
We also didn't have the magic of CGI. To a young boy, wrestling was as close to live-action superheroes as it got, which may have been the reason it was as popular as it was at the time. And, during this golden age, the men at the forefront were Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. These men were more than just wrestlers. They transcended wrestling. They were heroes, characters straight out of a comic book- come to life!
While Hogan has tarnished his legacy in recent years, Savage had dropped out of sight after his wrestling career was over. His image remained in the hearts and minds of young boys, now men, all over the world even though we hadn't seen or heard from him in nearly a decade. Until his death last week. Randy Poffo, the man died, but so too did the character Randy "Machoman" Savage.
For a brief moment, I found myself back in that hobby shop, witnessing the death of an icon. But with it, thoughts of all the great memories I had as a child watching Randy Savage came back too, immediately eclipsing my sadness. We never knew Randy Poffo like how we know The Rock as Dwayne Johnson. His time-period would never allow that. That's why this outpouring of emotion and sympathy has come from Savage's death. We're mourning the loss of a real-life superhero.
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