Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
This is why it's possible to both remember you once owned a comic and to simultaneously not remember you once owned that comic.
The third edition of DC's 1st Issue Special is a perfect example of that. For decades, I was aware I'd first encountered the word, "Daguerreotype," in the pages of a comic which starred Metamorpho the element man.
And, yet, it somehow never struck me that that meant I must have once owned a comic which starred Metamorpho the element man.
It's a paradox to make Schrödinger himself quail.
Regardless, mere weeks ago, in my internettings, I stumbled across this very comic book cover and realised, more-or-less at once, that I'd seen it before.
That was because I'd once owned it but had, by some means, completely expunged it from my memory until then.
From what I recall, our hero has a challenge on his hands as he tries to hunt down a French phantom that's showing up in various parts of Washington, doing criminal damage and trying to get the government to buy its inventions.
It all has something to do with the American War of Independence and the US government's foolish refusal to buy the phantom's innovative contraptions, back when it was still a living man.
And, now, that phantom seeks revenge.
Beyond that, I could say nothing of the book's contents, other than an ancient daguerreotype photo of the Capitol Building proves to be the clue that allows Metamorpho to wrap up the case and get back to his primary job of canoodling with his girlfriend.
However, it would appear to feature the artwork of Ramona Fradon, an artist whose work I was previously convinced I'd never encountered during my youth.
But what other comics lie out there, in the wilds of reality, that I still have no recollection of ever having owned?
And will I ever stumble across them?