Tuesday, April 26, 2016

In memoriam: Dale Roberts

Dale Roberts, a devoted DC comics fan and longtime reader and commenter here at the Absorbascon, passed away this week after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.  

Dale was a huge fan of obscure, even one-time characters from the Golden and Silver Ages of DC, a love he often expressed through his sterling work making custom Heroclix figures.  Even if you just look at the work he's done for me over the last ten years, it's amazing.

Joe Coyne the Penny Plunder


The Rainbow Raider



Dr. Domino and his Dominominions





Silken Spider, Tiger Moth, and Dragon Fly


Jimmy Olsen


Prof Radium




Vibe (regular AND breakdance fighting versions)



The Human Flying Fish and Sardine


Argus


Cal Durham


Hal Jordan with Space Owl Head-Hitting Action



The Sportsmaster and Huntress/Tigress


The Human Flame

 plus Sonar; the Blue Snowman; Paula Von Gunther; Dr. Poison; Eviless; Hypnota; Queen Clea; Zara, Priestess of the Crimson Flame; the Ocean Master, Max Mercury; Black Hand; Dr. Polaris; Angle Man; Etta Candy and the Holliday Girls, Golden Age Two-Face, Ace The Bathound, the Cavalier, Golden Age Clayface, Joker goons, Penguin goons, Two-Face goons, Catwoman goons, Riddler goons, King Tut goons, Hugo Strange, the Weeper,  Aquagirl; Koryak; the Fadeaway Man; the Crime Doctor; Rocky Grimes; the Prankster; the Octopus, Admiral Trafalgo, Seawolf, Nereus, Mephisto the Sea Satan, Scavenger, The Fisherman, the Sea Devils, the Shark, the Eel, Blackjack the Pirate, Vulko, Storm and Imp, Neptune Perkins; Black Condor; Northwind; Torpedo, Magneto, and Claw; Bullseye the Clown; Giant Turtle Boy, Iris West; and probably about 30 more that I can't even remember off the top of my head.  And that was just for me; Dale had many other loyal customers, too.

Dale's dedication to helping OTHERS enjoy comics as much as he did was unflagging and unstinting and his joy in doing so was effusive and palpable.  Dale's life was about making others happy and his spirit will be missed.

4 comments:

SallyP said...

What a terrible shame.

Bryan L said...

I'm very sorry to hear this. I've really enjoyed your posts on Dale's Heroclix.

Steve Mitchell said...

I had been in touch with Dale over the last few months as his cancer developed, all too fast, and beyond the point of treatment. Elizabeth let me know yesterday that he had passed. I never met him (our respective residences in Delaware and Texas did not encourage casual visits), but I always considered him a good friend.

And I'm one of his other customers, for whom he did literally scores of conversions: Prince Ra-Man, Ibis the Invincible, Spy Smasher, Amazing Man (Centaur and DC), Tarzan, Sheena, the Blue Beetle (Fox and the pre-Ditko Charlton), the Phantom Lady (Fox), the Red Panzer, Oom the Mighty, Mr. Who, Wotan, Ian Karkull, Captain Midnight, Doctor Mystic, Yarko the Great, Ace the Bat-Hound, the Fiddler, the Gambler, Captain Nazi, the Black Hood, the Shield, Inferno the Flame-Breather, the Durango Kid, Tomahawk, and many more (and yes, even some Timely and Marvel characters).

It was always such a treat to open up a new package of conversions from Dale and see what he had done with these characters--and then get them into play in my next HeroClix game.

Very sad news, but I'm glad you posted this tribute, Scipio.

John said...

Wow. I never knew him more than superficially, here, but he seemed like a good person. Very sorry to hear of Dale's passing, which I'm sure is just a drop in the bucket.