- Joined
- Jul 3, 2025
- Messages
- 26
- Reaction score
- 20
Back In 1991 when I was 17 a new comic book shop opened in my city. I went along to see. There were dozens of comic titles. I had never read any of these comic titles before: I had only read 200AD so I had no prior knowledge of them. I wandered around the large shop for a few minutes. Not opening any comic I saw. Then a comic called to me. It had a robot's face on the front. It was DOOM PATROL issue 49. The cover gave me no clue as to what was inside. I opened it and there was a character with the name Bobby Carmichael. My first name is Robert. This guy lived in my city, Hull. Let me tell you; nobody uses Hull in a comic book. It hasn't happened before -as far as I know- and it hasn't happened since. The city is a joke. A few years ago it won a competition for being the worst place in Britain to live. Like Bobby in the comic I was on the dole and pretty depressed. He even likes the same music a me: 90's Indie.
The chances of finding this character amongst all those comic books was amazing. I bought the comic book and read it. Turns out this character has a dream about a tree with gloves on it. He plucks one and puts it on. It is THE LOVE GLOVE and gives him access to his dreams while awake. He awakens from the dream and finds his arms gone. In their place is the love glove which acts as his right hand. It just so happens that I have something wrong with my arms. I just woke up one day and they were messed up. I cannot even wear t-shirts.
Anyway, this glove allows him into the dream world where the glove tree is. All the other gloves on the tree are left handed. And when he picks one and puts it on they give him abilities, like fighting, painting, mechanical skills in the real world.
I used to be a good painter but then one day the skill just left me. I couldn't do it anymore. The same with dancing. I used to love it. Then one day I lost the ability. Like Bobby, after he takes off whatever glove he was using.
The first thing Bobby does is to travel to Venice where he meets more strange members of The Brotherhood of Dada. My first girlfriend was called Venetia.
This guy is basically me. There are several similarities. He's the same age, wears mainly black, wants to be a painter. He even likes the same indie music I liked. This guy isn't a good or bad guy, like me. The group he belongs to , THE BROTHERHOOD OF DADA go around doing weird stuff. But they do come up against the Doom Patrol team. The aim of the Brotherhood is to put the world into a magic painting. Not a bad thing really.
Turns out this comic is ideal for me. It was plain weird. I always liked surrealism and Dada. I ended up buying all the back issues and followed it until it ended years later. The issue I picked up was the current issue in the series and the first time we encounter Bobby Carmichael. So my timing was spot on. And funnily the writer, GRANT MORRISON, is a practicing mage. I wonder if he somehow picked up on me and I inspired the comic character. Weirder things have happened...mainly to me.
If it weren't for the fact that I'm nobody I could begin to think I was being sent a message.
Also, the name Carmichael means 'fort of Michael.' My second name is Leslie. This name has a couple of meanings if you look. One is 'grey fort.' The name Michael means 'who is like God?' If you look on the Wikipedia page for the name Robert you will see it can mean 'Godlike shining.'
Bobby isn't the first guy who I've come across losing his arms in a dream. A few years before I found the DOOM PATROL comic I read a novel called INCARNATE by the excellent horror writer Ramsey Campbell. There's a guy called Danny Swain in that who also loses his arms in a dream. Swain means 'young lover.' Very similar to Bobby's hero/villain name Love Glove. He's also not totally bad or good, like Bobby.
Incarnate and issue 49 of Doom Patrol have strange connections with each other and the film A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.
You can read about them here in the comment section...
The chances of finding this character amongst all those comic books was amazing. I bought the comic book and read it. Turns out this character has a dream about a tree with gloves on it. He plucks one and puts it on. It is THE LOVE GLOVE and gives him access to his dreams while awake. He awakens from the dream and finds his arms gone. In their place is the love glove which acts as his right hand. It just so happens that I have something wrong with my arms. I just woke up one day and they were messed up. I cannot even wear t-shirts.
Anyway, this glove allows him into the dream world where the glove tree is. All the other gloves on the tree are left handed. And when he picks one and puts it on they give him abilities, like fighting, painting, mechanical skills in the real world.
I used to be a good painter but then one day the skill just left me. I couldn't do it anymore. The same with dancing. I used to love it. Then one day I lost the ability. Like Bobby, after he takes off whatever glove he was using.
The first thing Bobby does is to travel to Venice where he meets more strange members of The Brotherhood of Dada. My first girlfriend was called Venetia.
This guy is basically me. There are several similarities. He's the same age, wears mainly black, wants to be a painter. He even likes the same indie music I liked. This guy isn't a good or bad guy, like me. The group he belongs to , THE BROTHERHOOD OF DADA go around doing weird stuff. But they do come up against the Doom Patrol team. The aim of the Brotherhood is to put the world into a magic painting. Not a bad thing really.
Turns out this comic is ideal for me. It was plain weird. I always liked surrealism and Dada. I ended up buying all the back issues and followed it until it ended years later. The issue I picked up was the current issue in the series and the first time we encounter Bobby Carmichael. So my timing was spot on. And funnily the writer, GRANT MORRISON, is a practicing mage. I wonder if he somehow picked up on me and I inspired the comic character. Weirder things have happened...mainly to me.
If it weren't for the fact that I'm nobody I could begin to think I was being sent a message.
Also, the name Carmichael means 'fort of Michael.' My second name is Leslie. This name has a couple of meanings if you look. One is 'grey fort.' The name Michael means 'who is like God?' If you look on the Wikipedia page for the name Robert you will see it can mean 'Godlike shining.'
Bobby isn't the first guy who I've come across losing his arms in a dream. A few years before I found the DOOM PATROL comic I read a novel called INCARNATE by the excellent horror writer Ramsey Campbell. There's a guy called Danny Swain in that who also loses his arms in a dream. Swain means 'young lover.' Very similar to Bobby's hero/villain name Love Glove. He's also not totally bad or good, like Bobby.
Incarnate and issue 49 of Doom Patrol have strange connections with each other and the film A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.
You can read about them here in the comment section...