A bizarre case of Life imitating Art

I came across a old comic book story that displayed an astounding amount of prescience and foresight. Let me share with you it's story!

Panel 1: A feller named "Jim" is participating in a rodeo, while his fiancee cheers on.

Panel 2: Whoops-a-daisy. Seems Jim has lost the fight and has been unceremoniously been bucked from his horse.
Panel 3: Things aren't looking too good for "Jim" here.
Panel 4: Turns out that poor "Jim" has been crippled for life, never again will he ride horses let alone marry Ms. Selwyn.
Okay, so it's not your a typical rock-em sock-em 1960's era comic book. Heck, judging by these four panels, it's not even a very interesting story - until you consider who "Jim" really is!

The above panels are from a book called Superman in the Sixties, which I did colour reconstruction work on back in my Digital Chameleon days. I remember quite a few of my fellow colourists being quite stunned when they came across the page that contained these images.

The story revolves around Superman, who for whatever reason, has lost his powers and memory, and now lives life as a normal man named "Jim". A normal man, who falls off of a horse, breaks his neck, and ends up in a wheelchair. Again, not the most exciting story written about Superman, until you consider the following.

Thirty years later, Christopher Reeve, the actor who played Superman in the eighties movie franchise, was to be involved in an eerily similar accident while involved in an equestrian tournament. (If you were unaware of this fact, then please tell me - How long was the flight from Mars, and how big was the rock there, under which you lived!).

It's unfortunate that the foreshadowing seen in the images above stopped where it did. Superman eventually got better (didn't see that one coming). Reeves was left him permanently paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of his life. Superman is a ridiculous fantasy character, while Reeves became an exemplary real-life hero, displaying a seemingly unlimited amount of courage and bravery after the accident.

Either way, the coincidences between fantasy and reality depicted in the pages mentioned above are pretty remarkable.

Currently playing - Kim Mitchell - All We Are
Now entering my two-hundred and thirty-fourth Cola free day!