This month the artist showcase at the Humboldt & District Museum & Gallery is a bit different than in months past.
Landscape paintings and pencils drawings of animals and sunsets have been replaced by two-and-a-half inch figures of Marvel Comics characters, from Spider-Man to Wolverine. In fact, there are over 900 of these figures, called Marvel Minimates, on display. They are mounted on the wall in black plastic display cases and are the property of Jeff Burton, who's been collecting them for the past decade and who will be showing them off to the public until early January.
"I like them because they're small," Burton said. "I used to have more of the big figures but there was only so much room for them."
With his green Incredible Hulk t-shirt Burton looks like a stereotypical comic book geek and he wears that label, much like his shirt, with nothing but pride.
He's been going to the same comic book store in Saskatoon for almost 20 years and seemingly knows the story behind every figure on display at the museum.
"These were my first two," he said, pointing to the top left corner of the exhibit. One figure was a man in a white lab coat, the other, a green monster. "Bruce Banner and the Incredible Hulk," Burton explained. "My wife gave them to me for Christmas."
As a teacher and father to five children, Burton has plenty of opportunity to pass his love of all things comics on to a younger generation. That's one of the reasons why the museum puts his stuff on display so often (this is the third time); it's an irresistible draw for kids.
"The kids at school know all about it," Burton said. "All of my ties have superheroes on them, so I always get questions about it."
A pack of two Minimates costs between seven and 10 dollars and some of Burton's collection might be worth something, but he's not in it for the money. As contrived as it might sound, all he cares about are the characters and their stories.
As if to prove the point, his favourite comic book character is Starman (real name Jack Knight), a relatively obscure hero who debuted in 1994.
"The thing I like about Starman is that he disappeared once his story had been told," Burton said.
That brief run contrasts with better-known superheroes like Superman and Batman, who debuted in the 1930s and are part of a never-ending universe. With superhero movies routinely grossing hundreds of millions of dollars, Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
Burton's Minimates collection includes both famous and unknown characters, but, believe it or not, it's not a complete collection. Only a few days after Burton put up his display at the museum a new collection of Wolverine Minimates were released.
"I thought to myself, 'Oh no, it's not complete!'" Burton said with a laugh.
No matter how hard Burton tries, he'll always be a step behind as new figures get released. Still, staring at a dizzying collection of nearly a thousand figures, calling it incomplete seems just a bit harsh.
