0:08

Fireheart originals. This is

0:11

an iHeart original.

0:18

Everyone has a place they retreat

0:20

to when they need to recharge.

0:22

It could be your bedroom, your library,

0:25

your porch. For Superman,

0:28

it's his fortress of solitude,

0:30

the retreat carved out of ice in

0:32

the Arctic. For Mike Meyer,

0:35

it's the basement of his home in

0:37

the small town of Granite City,

0:39

Illinois. Mike

0:42

is in his late forties, and for

0:44

as long as he can remember, he

0:47

has loved Superman. He

0:49

bought his first comic as a ten year

0:51

old when they were just twenty cents.

0:54

He loves the nobility of Superman,

0:57

his desire to do good things.

1:00

He buys as many comics, toys,

1:02

and other collectibles as he can.

1:05

It's not easy. Not a

1:07

wealthy collector. Mike has

1:09

been collecting Social Security for

1:11

an intellectual disability since

1:13

he was in his twenties. He works

1:15

part time at a McDonald's in nearby

1:18

Collinsville, but over time

1:20

he's still amassed a pretty cool

1:23

collection, over eighteen

1:25

hundred items. There's stuff

1:27

everywhere, but a lot of it

1:30

fills the basement of his home. He

1:32

doesn't get down here as often as he'd

1:35

like. Mike's knees give him problems,

1:37

and navigating the stairs is hard,

1:40

but it's worth it so he can be near

1:42

his friend, his favorite

1:44

fictional character. But

1:47

today isn't like other days.

1:49

Today, when Mike turns on the light,

1:52

he's astonished to see the shelves

1:55

are practically bare. The

1:57

comics, the toys, the decades

1:59

of collecting gone.

2:03

Someone didn't just rob Mike of

2:05

his stuff. They robbed

2:07

him of the one thing that

2:09

brought him most of his happiness.

2:12

Thinking of Mike in that moment, you

2:15

wish you could tell him what happens next,

2:18

tell him that something amazing

2:21

is going to come out of this. But

2:24

right now, all Mike can do is

2:27

wonder what happens when you

2:29

lose everything that matters. Welcome

2:32

to Very Special Episodes and iHeart

2:35

original podcast. I'm your host

2:37

Danish Sports and this is

2:40

Up, Up and Away.

2:51

Hey, everybody, it's Jason English

2:53

here. We've got something a little different

2:55

this week. A couple of years ago,

2:58

a lot of the people who work on this podcast

3:01

Very Special Episodes made another

3:03

podcast called Stealing Superman.

3:05

Dana hosted that one. It was

3:08

written by Jake Rosson, Josh

3:10

Fisher, John Washington, Beheid

3:12

Frasier, All the greats who work here behind

3:15

the scenes worked on that as well. Stealing

3:17

Superman is about a comic book heist

3:19

that takes place at Nicholas Cage's

3:22

bel Air mansion and

3:24

follows the decade long odyssey to

3:26

get his comics back. During

3:28

that show, we made a bonus episode about a

3:31

different Superman heist that, frankly,

3:33

not a lot of people listen to. You put

3:35

bonus in the title, and I

3:38

guess people feel it's safe to skip.

3:40

But it is a wonderful

3:42

story, a great standalone

3:44

episode, and now that we're

3:47

getting a nice audience for what we're doing

3:49

over here, I wanted to re up that

3:51

as a very special episode.

3:53

If you haven't gotten around to Stealing

3:56

Superman yet, that's okay. There's no

3:58

spoilers. It's truly

4:01

its own story, and I hope

4:03

you enjoy it.

4:04

Over to you, Dana,

4:10

There's no doubting a Superman was

4:13

Mike Meyer's favorite pop

4:15

culture character. His parents

4:17

took him to see the first Christopher Reeve

4:19

movie in nineteen seventy eight.

4:22

His most prized possession, a

4:24

twelve inch tall Captain action doll

4:26

with Superman's costume, was acquired

4:29

not long before Mike likes

4:31

to draw too, and Superman

4:34

was always taking shape on paper, his

4:36

pencil forming a cape and

4:39

the s. One of his dogs

4:41

was named Crypto, after Superman's

4:43

pets. If you knew Mike,

4:46

you knew he loved Superman

4:49

as much as he did when he was a

4:51

boy, and eventually

4:54

that turned out to be a problem.

4:58

Before Mike started working at McDonald's,

5:01

he held a job at another fast food

5:03

chain, Hearty's, in the nineteen nineties.

5:07

While he worked there, he struck up a conversation

5:09

with a coworker named Jerry,

5:12

and naturally, the talk turned

5:14

to Superman. Mike

5:17

and Jerry lost touch for a

5:19

long time. Then in August

5:21

of twenty eleven, Mike ran

5:23

into Jerry at a comic book shop in Granite

5:26

City. Jerry remembered Mike

5:28

and his collection. He asked

5:30

if he could come over and see it. Mike

5:33

wasn't sure. It's not that Jerry

5:35

was a bad guy, It's just that they weren't

5:38

really friends, and maybe

5:40

something about Jerry didn't seem right.

5:43

So Mike said he was busy, sorry,

5:45

maybe another time, But

5:50

Jerry wasn't taking no for an

5:52

answer. He got Mike's number

5:54

and called him. Couldn't he please

5:57

please come over and take a look. He

6:00

was in the neighborhood, he could come right

6:02

over. Mike said, okay,

6:05

and a few moments later Jay showed

6:07

up. He wanted the tour, so

6:10

Mike showed him everything. The

6:12

comics of which he had hundreds,

6:15

all the way back to issue number ninety

6:17

nine, the toys, the

6:19

action figures tacked to his wall,

6:22

the lunch boxes and posters and shirts,

6:25

even the handsown Superman costume

6:27

Mike had tucked in his closet. Jerry

6:30

was impressed. He left, and

6:33

Mike thought that was the end of it. Maybe

6:35

he even felt some pride in showing

6:38

off his collection. The next

6:40

night, Jerry was back, this

6:42

time with his girlfriend. He

6:45

wondered if Mike would like to watch a movie

6:47

all three of them, and Mike,

6:50

being a non confrontational kind

6:52

of person, said fine.

6:55

He noticed Jerry got up and left

6:57

during the movie, leaving Mike and

6:59

his girlfriend alone, but he

7:01

didn't think much of it. And

7:04

then two days later, Mike

7:06

went into his basement expecting to find

7:08

everything the way it always was, everything

7:11

arranged, everything in its place,

7:14

but it was all almost gone,

7:17

and it was obvious who had done it Jerry,

7:21

his supposed friend. He

7:24

reported the theft to police, but

7:27

he didn't really know much about Jerry,

7:30

just that they had worked at Harty's years ago,

7:33

and that he drove a silver car When

7:35

he apparently filled up with thousands

7:38

of dollars worth of Mike's

7:40

Superman collection. Someone

7:42

tipped off local reporters, and

7:45

pretty soon Mike was giving interviews,

7:48

expressing regret that he had ever

7:50

let Jerry into his house, his

7:53

fortress, that the things

7:55

Jerry had taken had meant a lot

7:57

to him.

8:04

Keith Howard was one of the people who

8:06

read about Mica. The story

8:08

had been picked up by local newspapers

8:10

in and around Granite City and

8:12

in nearby Saint Louis, Missouri,

8:14

and already people were trying to contact

8:17

Mike to send him things. Keith

8:20

was a nurse and a fellow Superman fan.

8:22

In fact, he had taken to making personal

8:25

appearances in costume at

8:27

the Saint Louis Children's Hospital with

8:29

a costume tailored after his favorite

8:31

Superman, George Reeves. Keith

8:34

saw the story on the super Friends of

8:36

Metropolis Facebook group, which

8:38

keeps Superman fans in touch with

8:40

each other before, during, and after

8:43

the annual celebration in Metropolis,

8:45

Illinois, every year. One

8:48

of the group's members, Don Janie,

8:50

posted the story here's Keith.

8:54

I just kind

8:56

of got a gut feeling that,

8:59

you know, this is our wrong thing to happen, and

9:01

the fact that he had this metal

9:04

challenge made just that much more

9:06

despicable.

9:09

Like most people who heard the story, Keith

9:11

felt it in his bones. Burglarizing

9:14

someone is one thing, but someone

9:16

as trusting as Mike and

9:19

sealing a collection of Superman

9:21

stuff it was ugly. Keith

9:24

had never met Mike, never heard

9:26

of him until the story, but he decided

9:29

something ought to be done about it, so

9:31

he made a post of his own in the group.

9:35

I said, how would you guys feel

9:37

if we took up a collection and

9:39

people could just give what they want

9:41

to get? Maybe send a card, send a note,

9:44

if you have a Superman

9:46

Action figure that you've got land around

9:48

that you wouldn't mind donating,

9:51

or just anything, you know. Just kind

9:53

of threw that out there.

9:55

Just getting some unwanted comics

9:57

or inexpensive toys would

9:59

have been plenty generous, but

10:01

that's not what happened. The first

10:04

thing Keith got took him by surprise.

10:07

So we set up a time and

10:10

I then posted to everybody

10:12

that here's my address, and posted

10:14

on our page. That address

10:17

got out to people that

10:19

I have no way of knowing how they got it, and

10:22

all of a sudden, within three four

10:24

days, I got my first

10:27

delivery. And it was an envelope like

10:30

they had an eight x ten in it, and

10:32

it was from Noel Neil. She

10:34

was the Lois Lane from the TV

10:37

show Adventures of Superman and she

10:39

was still alive. She was like eighty nine back

10:41

then, and it was

10:43

a autographed picture of her with

10:46

George Reeves in costume, and

10:48

she signed it Noel Neil, Lois

10:50

Lane or Lois I think it quotes to

10:53

Mike. And I was like, oh

10:56

my gosh, I don't even have one of those.

10:58

And I was just like, oh

11:01

man, this is we we just I mean,

11:03

they came out swinging already. This is such a

11:05

cool first gifts.

11:07

And if that's the only gift that he gets, I'm

11:09

sure he would treasure it forever.

11:12

But that was far from the only gift.

11:15

And so then the next day there

11:17

was like three boxes, and

11:19

then the next day there'd be three or

11:21

four more boxes, and every

11:23

day I'd come home, there would be boxes

11:26

and boxes laid up outside my door.

11:29

It wasn't just fans sending in stuff

11:31

either.

11:32

DC Headquarters has

11:35

sent me two big, heavy boxes.

11:38

One of them was a run like

11:40

a series of comics that

11:43

was run from like I

11:45

don't know. This box had to be maybe

11:47

twenty four long and

11:52

sixteen wide and

11:54

sixteen tall. Maybe it was

11:57

full of comics. And

11:59

they said those were all the comics in that

12:01

run of stories. They

12:03

were all brand new. They were all wrapped in

12:06

the the plastic that you wrapped comics

12:09

in. And then the other one was

12:11

a bunch of like collectibles,

12:13

figurines and plush dolls and

12:16

the little bubble heads.

12:18

I mean, there were some really expensive stuff

12:21

in that other box too, that

12:23

came from DC Headquarters. How'd they find

12:25

out, I don't know.

12:27

Something about Mike's story resonated

12:30

with people the way it had resonated

12:32

with Keith. More than eighty

12:34

boxes of stuff poured in from

12:37

everywhere.

12:40

Things were coming from all over the world.

12:45

Am I mean When I say all over the world, I mean

12:48

pictures painting, Like people

12:50

were painting pictures of Mike because

12:52

they saw an image of Mike in the newspaper,

12:55

and they were coming from like China and

12:59

Brazil and Chile and the

13:01

Netherlands, and I'm like, oh

13:03

my gosh, this isn't just local.

13:06

This story has got international.

13:08

And as it piled up, Keith

13:10

began thinking about what he was going to

13:12

do with all of it. He'd give it all

13:14

to Mike, of course, but how.

13:18

So I just kind of broached the idea, you

13:20

know, how cool would it

13:22

be if this guy

13:24

got a visit from quote Superman

13:27

bearing some gifts of some sort. And I

13:29

said, and says, I lived so close, I

13:32

can show up as Superman. I'll

13:34

do all the legwork here locally, I'll find where

13:36

he is at, and I'll deliver

13:38

these gifts.

13:39

Keith reached out to Bill Smith, a

13:42

friend of Mike's, and told him what

13:44

he had planned to do.

13:46

Bill told me that Mike worked as a

13:49

I think the title ist porter for

13:51

the McDonald's in Collinsville, which

13:53

was literally like fifteen minutes from my house.

13:56

And I thought, oh, how cool

13:58

would it be to make this delivery

14:01

at his work? So I called

14:03

them, and I talked to his manager, this

14:06

young lady, and explained again who

14:08

I was. Everybody's kind of always you know,

14:10

apprehensive to talk to you first. But the minute

14:12

they heard what our intent was,

14:15

everybody just overwhelmingly was like, oh

14:17

my gosh, this is so cool. So she

14:19

broke down crying. She was in tears the whole

14:21

conversation, and I said,

14:23

I'm anxious to meet Mike. You know, I've

14:26

talked to his friend Bill and

14:29

this story. You know, it was ugly. Bill even

14:32

told me, you know, Mike just feels so depressed.

14:34

Bill's hoping that this kind of brings him out of

14:36

that depression.

14:38

And Keith wasn't alone.

14:41

In the meantime, I've got a couple of people

14:43

on my page, this Facebook

14:46

Superfrins page that had volunteered

14:49

to dress up in costume and

14:51

be there to make the delivery as well, including

14:53

Don Chance, the guy who shared

14:55

the post. So I

14:59

said, okay, let's go ahead, and

15:00

you guys. One of the guys was

15:03

taking pictures of everything. And

15:05

there are about five of us, including

15:07

my daughter who dressed out a

15:09

Supergirl, that went to

15:12

make this delivery.

15:15

This will be the first time I've ever met Mike. They're

15:18

expecting us. He doesn't have any idea

15:20

that we're coming. Thank goodness, you didn't

15:23

stumble the process on the internet.

15:25

Just a couple weeks after the darkest

15:28

day in Mike's life, Keith

15:30

pulled up to the McDonald's.

15:33

And we get there and there's some news

15:35

media there, and the

15:37

store people are just all like,

15:40

oh my gosh, that's so cool. And we

15:42

take pictures at the front counter with Mike

15:45

and he's I

15:47

don't know him well enough to know how to read

15:50

his reaction. Later he would tell me

15:52

that it was just like

15:55

the greatest thing that he'd ever experienced,

15:57

and how depressed he was prior to that, and

15:59

then for him to see Superman,

16:02

you know, he kept calling me Superman standing

16:04

right there in his store and

16:07

telling him that he was there to make delivery was

16:09

just more than he could process.

16:11

You know.

16:12

Keith showed up with everything,

16:15

the dozens of boxes they

16:17

were all for him, a bunch

16:20

of awesome things given to him by

16:22

complete strangers. Mike

16:24

was overwhelmed. Keith helped

16:26

him take it all back to his house with multiple

16:29

cars full of Superman items,

16:31

a caravan of generosity, and

16:35

little by little, Keith got

16:37

to know more about Mike that

16:39

deep down he identified more

16:41

with another pop culture character.

16:46

We got to be decent friends after all

16:49

of that, and he would

16:52

open up to me and he would share some

16:54

thoughts that he had about himself and

16:56

his life and who he was. And

16:59

Mike was a kind of a sad person. Unfortunately,

17:03

Mike, he always wanted a girlfriend. He

17:05

had had a girlfriend, you years ago. The things

17:07

didn't work out, and he

17:10

was he was lonely, and

17:12

he shared that with me. And Mike

17:15

sort of lived in the fifties and sixties. Still

17:18

in his house were all

17:20

sorts of DVDs of

17:23

Popeye and the Monsters

17:26

and you know those old

17:29

TV shows, obviously Superman and

17:32

Batman, and

17:34

he said he would just watch that over and over

17:36

all the time. He said, you know, you

17:39

know who I really connected with

17:41

and who I feel like I

17:43

am most like. He said, I feel

17:46

like I'm like Herman Muster, just

17:49

kind of big and clumsy

17:51

and misunderstood, and

17:53

that he would do the laugh, you know, Herman Muster

17:56

had a kind of a unique laugh and

17:58

he imitated very well.

18:00

Keith left thinking that would be the end

18:02

of it, but it wasn't. There

18:05

was another twist coming. Mike's

18:14

friend turned foe, Jerry, turned

18:16

out to be a serial offender, just

18:19

a month or so after stealing Mike's collection,

18:21

he was accused of robbing an elderly

18:24

man he was supposed to be doing renovations

18:26

for. That led to the police,

18:29

which led to their discovery of Mike's

18:31

stolen Superman items. Authorities

18:34

were able to return virtually everything

18:36

Jerry stole from him. Now

18:39

Mike had a problem, although for

18:41

a Superman fan it was the

18:43

best kind of problem to have.

18:46

So you got eighty five gifts from us,

18:48

this many gifts from Cleveland,

18:51

you know. So now he's got like extras

18:54

of everything. And he

18:56

calls me up one day and he says, Keith,

18:59

I am starting

19:01

to feel guilty. You know, I got all my stuff

19:03

back, and you guys all gave

19:05

me stuff, and some people didn't

19:07

know what the others were given. I got two or three in the

19:09

same thing, and I just have so

19:12

much. Now I just feel guilty.

19:15

And I said Mike, first, please don't

19:17

feel guilty. Those people gave because

19:20

they wanted to give. It made them feel

19:22

good to give. They didn't realize they

19:24

were giving you duplicates. So if you

19:26

want to sell those or give them away, by

19:28

all means, do what you want with them, and

19:30

don't feel guilty about them, and

19:32

he said, yeah, yeah, I don't know. I don't

19:35

know, I don't know.

19:38

Nobody who donated to Mike wanted

19:40

any of it back, even after his collection

19:42

had been returned to him. They were

19:45

happy to see him with all the Superman

19:47

stuff he could fit in his house. So

19:49

Keith made a suggestion.

19:51

And I said, well, let me tell you what I

19:54

do. I said, I go over to Saint Louis Children's

19:56

Hospital because I work at Barnes as a nurse

19:59

in the operating room. Every Wednesday,

20:03

it's every two weeks or every month, they

20:05

have bingo for these kids. And

20:07

I've been going over there like twice a month,

20:11

sometimes twice a month, mostly at least once a

20:13

month, and I dressed up as Superman and

20:15

I call bingo and

20:18

it's so cool, I said. You know, they have a camera

20:21

and kids will be in therapy or

20:23

they'll be in their room because they're too sick to come

20:25

down to the big playroom where we're

20:27

at doing the bigo day. So

20:29

they're watching me call off the

20:31

bingo and then they'll call the room and

20:33

they'll say I got bingo, and so

20:36

then we'll run the board and yeah, yeah, that's bingo.

20:38

And so then the camera pans over to this

20:40

table that's got three tiers to it, and

20:43

on every tier there's all these donated

20:45

gifts. And I said, Mike,

20:49

I thought just came to me, and this

20:51

is just an idea. I said,

20:54

I can talk to these guys and ask them if they'd

20:56

be okay with it. But maybe you could

20:58

come with me to one of these bingo

21:00

days and you could bring a couple of those things

21:02

that you got as extra. And

21:04

so if you've got like extra comics that are new

21:06

went nice, and maybe like you've got

21:08

like two or three of the same

21:11

action figure and you want to donate that to

21:13

these kids. How did you feel about

21:15

that? He said, Oh, it's a wonderful idea.

21:18

At the end of twenty eleven,

21:21

Mike and Keith went to Saint

21:23

Louis Children's Hospital bearing

21:25

gifts, a lot of gifts.

21:28

Keith was in costume, but Mike was the

21:30

hero, wearing a Superman T shirt

21:32

and a big smile. They played

21:35

bingo with the patients, handing out prizes.

21:38

That something so good had come out

21:40

of what happened was indescribable.

21:43

Maybe Mike saw flashes of himself

21:45

in those kids. Maybe he turned

21:47

some of them into lifelong Superman

21:49

fans that day.

21:51

So I called them and they said, sure, yeah,

21:53

come on. So one Wednesday

21:56

we went up to Sales Children's Hospital

21:58

and we called Bigo and I introduced

22:00

the group there to Mike, who was

22:02

the reason why all that Superman stuff

22:05

was there, and he was given that to them, and

22:07

they just showered Mike with love,

22:10

and Mike felt like the king of the

22:12

world that day. And I just loved it

22:14

because here's a guy who

22:17

just stood a couple of months earlier, was

22:19

depressed, felt big and clumsy

22:21

and unloved and

22:24

everything was going wrong for him. To

22:26

now people are making

22:28

a fuss over just being around him. They

22:30

have special events and people

22:33

come and turn up for it to meet him.

22:36

Around the same time, Mike had

22:38

gotten an invitation to visit Cleveland,

22:41

Ohio, the home of Jerry Siegel

22:43

and Joe Schuster, the co creators

22:46

of Superman. A comic book

22:48

store owner named John Dudas offered

22:50

to pay for the trip.

22:52

And I was like, oh my gosh, you guys

22:54

can't be serious, and

22:57

he said yeah, and we've included

22:59

airfare for two all expenses

23:01

paid. Three days We've got your hotel,

23:04

we've got your meals, we've got your transferation.

23:08

And whilst Mike gets here, I have six

23:10

other comic bookstores in the area.

23:13

All have donated a fifty dollars gift certificate

23:16

that Mike can go, and we will take you to

23:18

all six of these comic stores and he can

23:21

spend that gift certificate in every comic

23:23

bookstore that donated.

23:26

Mike was excited. He really wanted

23:28

to go, but Mike worried his close

23:31

friend Bill Smith might not be able to accompany

23:33

him.

23:34

At one point, I pulled Mike aside and I said,

23:37

Mike, I want you to know that in one of these

23:40

boxes there are airline tickets

23:42

for two to go to

23:44

Cleveland. And he said,

23:47

I've never flown before and

23:50

I said I wondered about that. Yeah,

23:52

I said are you

23:55

Are you still interested in going? And

23:57

he said, well, yeah,

24:01

who am I going to take. I

24:03

said, well, I talk to your friend Bill Smith. I

24:05

know you're good friends with Bill. Maybe Bill kids and get

24:07

some time off work and he

24:10

go with you. He kind

24:12

of paused and he said, you're

24:14

like George Reeves to me, and

24:17

I said, well, that is the costume I'm were

24:19

and he said, yeah, I recognize that costume. He

24:22

said, I never got to meet George

24:24

Reeves, obviously, but he said, in a

24:27

weird way, I feel like I'm talking to him standing

24:29

here talking to you. And

24:31

I said, I don't know what to say to that.

24:34

Mike. I mean, that's it's flattering

24:36

that that you know, you would think that I look enough

24:38

like him, and and but I get it, I

24:40

know what you mean. And I

24:42

said I did. I've had a number of people tell

24:44

me that I sort of have

24:46

brought that childhood character back

24:49

to life for them. He

24:51

said, what about you? And

24:53

I said, what do you mean? He said, well,

24:57

you know that remember that episode where Superman

24:59

takes that girl and he flies her around and

25:03

he gives her like a tour from the air. And

25:05

he said, I know you can't live, but if

25:08

you flew with me to Cleveland, it would be kind of like that

25:10

episode with that girl. And

25:13

I said, Mike,

25:15

if Bill can't go, I'd be

25:17

honored. I'd be honored to go. And he said,

25:20

I think I'd like you to go. And

25:22

I was like, wow, I just met

25:24

Mike.

25:27

Mike and Keith went to Cleveland and

25:29

got the full tour, They saw the

25:31

boyhood home of Jerry, saw

25:33

the tributes to Superman. Mike

25:35

even sat down at the same table

25:38

where Joe Schuster used to draw Superman,

25:41

and the community's affection for Mike

25:43

didn't stop there, not even close.

25:46

Brandon Ralth from Superman

25:49

returns back in two thousand

25:51

and six. He finds out about

25:54

this Mike story and

25:57

he is somehow he

25:59

finds Mike's phone number and

26:01

calls Mike on the telephone and

26:04

for thirty minutes Brandon Ralph

26:06

talks to Mike Meyer on the phone.

26:09

He told me, oh my gosh, Keeeth, I can't tell

26:11

you how cool that was. I got to

26:13

talk to Superman for

26:16

a half hour, and I said,

26:18

oh my gosh, Mike, that is amazing.

26:22

And then a few weeks after we came

26:24

back from Cleveland, Mike gets a letter

26:26

from or call from Warner

26:28

Brothers. They're making a Man

26:31

of Steel movie with Henry Cavill and

26:33

they tell Mike that they heard about his story

26:35

and they would love to fly him and

26:38

the person of his choice to Georgia

26:41

Air Force Base or Edwards, one of those out in California

26:43

where they were filming this tarmac scene and

26:46

They said, bring whoever

26:49

you want. We would like to have you on the

26:51

set that day and you'll

26:53

get to meet Henry in costume. And

26:56

sure enough, Mike goes out there. He

26:59

is sitting in like one of those director's chairs,

27:01

and he gets to meet Henry Cavill.

27:04

It was well, it was perfect.

27:07

It's how you want all stories like

27:09

this to end. Mike became something

27:11

of a celebrity. Jerry was

27:13

sentenced to six years in prison for

27:15

his theft of Mike's stuff as well as

27:18

the other incident, and Mike and

27:20

Keith stayed friends.

27:22

Things kind of died down after

27:24

all that. Obviously, Mike got his stuff

27:26

back and goes back to life as normal.

27:28

But Mike's normal as a new normal now.

27:31

He starts going to Metropolis every year.

27:33

He asked me to help him make a Superman costume,

27:36

which I did. It was very meager, but

27:39

he had to wear Superman out to

27:41

Metropolis. One year, he dressed up as Jimmy Olsen.

27:43

In a few years, people in Metropolis

27:45

made a big fuss over Mike like he had been

27:48

everywhere else. All those friends of Metropolis

27:50

that donated and got to meet Mike in person.

27:53

In twenty twenty two, Keith got

27:55

a call from Mike.

27:57

That his health started going and he reached out

27:59

to me a few months ago. He asked me questions

28:02

about his kidneys. He knew I was a nurse

28:04

and just wanted to

28:06

get advice, and

28:07

I told him

28:09

what I felt, but had no idea he was

28:11

so far gone because

28:15

after a few more calls of you

28:17

know, just yeah, not

28:19

Fianna Rouell, and

28:22

then all of a sudden, I hear the news that he's gone.

28:25

I thought, man, the stings,

28:27

you know, I got robbed of my chance to at least see

28:29

him and say goodbye. And

28:32

he just he just was not

28:34

there anymore.

28:35

In September of twenty twenty two, Mike

28:38

Meyer passed away at the age of

28:40

fifty eight. The tribute

28:42

came pouring in, with people filling

28:44

his Facebook feed with photos of Mike

28:47

at conventions, photos of Mike's

28:49

artwork, or just sentiments from

28:51

people who miss Superman's biggest

28:54

fan. There's an element

28:56

of this story that makes it easy to see why

28:58

people pulled for Mike. He had

29:00

certain limitations in life, but

29:03

that's not the whole story. Superman

29:06

is just a fiction character, sure, but

29:08

there's an aspirational quality to him.

29:11

It's hard to be a fan of Superman and

29:13

not want to emulate what he stands for.

29:16

Honesty, justice. People

29:19

would have helped Mike no matter what. But

29:21

would it have been the same if he collected punish

29:23

our comics or baseball cards

29:26

or horror movies? Or

29:28

did Superman bring something deeper

29:30

out of the people who heard Mike's

29:33

story, something that led people

29:35

from around the world to write

29:37

to him and try to help replace what

29:39

he had lost.

29:41

I got many calls from other

29:43

news reporters and radio

29:45

celebrities wanted to interview me online.

29:48

The story just got so big, and finally

29:50

asked somebody, I said, what is it? I

29:54

mean, I'm thrilled that you guys are interested

29:56

in this story. I'm just curious,

30:00

how is this a story for you? What

30:03

makes this a story for you? And

30:06

on more than one they said, we

30:08

write about horrible

30:10

events daily, and

30:13

we do year after year, and it

30:15

is so rare to

30:18

have a feel good story. And

30:20

what you guys are doing is

30:23

just like, when have you ever heard about

30:25

anything like this? When have you seen a

30:27

story similar to what you guys are living on? And

30:30

I said, I don't remember reading

30:32

a story like that, and they said, that's

30:34

what it is. It's rare, it never

30:37

happens. And so what you

30:40

guys have done has

30:42

spread like wildfire because you've

30:45

turned this out of a situation into something beautiful.

30:48

And the fact that I had this connection to Superman

30:51

and how Superman in

30:54

portraying that character made

30:57

me want to do better

30:59

and be better and exemplify

31:03

everything that Superman is

31:07

the driving force as much

31:09

as anything.

31:11

When Mike's family organized his memorial,

31:14

they told friends and family to come

31:16

wearing casual clothing or

31:18

if they wanted their favorite

31:21

superhero costume.

31:29

That was a very special episode.

31:32

At the end of these we usually

31:34

like to name a very special character.

31:37

Dana and Zaren are better at

31:39

this than me, but this time,

31:42

almost everyone in this story could be nominated.

31:45

Mike, Keith, all

31:47

the people who send stuff to Mike and Keith,

31:50

the staff at the Saint Louis Children's Hospital,

31:54

Henry Cavill, not Jerry.

31:57

Jerry would not be in

31:59

the running for this particular

32:01

honor, but there's a lot of people doing

32:04

a lot of good here. I will name

32:07

Mike my very special

32:09

character. And if

32:11

this was the first time you've heard of the

32:13

Stealing Superman podcast. The

32:16

rest of the show tells a very different story

32:18

about a different Superman heist.

32:20

That one involves Nicholas Cage

32:23

and his comic books, and

32:25

you can go and binge that one

32:27

from the beginning, and we will see

32:29

you here next week. Very

32:33

Special Episodes is made by some very

32:35

special people. This episode

32:37

was written by Jake Rawson. Our

32:39

producer and sound designer is Josh Fisher.

32:42

Additional editing by John Washington,

32:45

mixing and mastering by Beheid Fraser.

32:47

Original music by Alis McCoy. Show

32:50

logo by Nick Turbo Benson. Your

32:53

hosts are Danish Swartz, Zaron Burnett,

32:55

and me Jason English. I'm

32:58

your executive producer, and we'll meet you back

33:00

here with something special next week. If

33:02

you're enjoying Very Special Episodes, leave

33:05

us a rating, give us a good you. Tell

33:08

your friends text them right now,

33:10

tell them listen to this. You'll enjoy

33:12

it. Then go check out the back catalog.

33:15

Very Special Episodes is a production of

33:17

iHeart Podcasts.