When did you become a Superman fan?

When did you become a Superman fan? When did you realize you truly enjoyed his stories?

I think I've always liked him. It seems he has always been part of my life since I can remember. George Reeves TV show reruns, Superfriends (never missed an episode), but I think it was until Superman the Movie when I fell completely in love and have been a big fan since then.

sorry if we've had other threads like this but I wanted to know how you guys felt. :p

Since I was a small child so pretty much for as long as I can remember. I often enjoyed pretending I could fly in my Superman pajamas, good memories. :o

Edit - As for actual material the original movies.

I think Superman III and IV were my first exposure to him and I remember being really freaked out by the robot lady in III, but loved IV as a kid.

For comics, it was Death, Reign, and Return. But kinda after the fact. I was given Superman 75 and all the Reign issues by a relative, but didn't really read them at the time. Adventures of Superman 505 was the first Superman comic I bought on my own, and from there I went back and got the whole storyline and then it was off the the races for the post-Crisis Bryne and then the triangle era.

Been hooked since more or less. Stopped reading the comics around Grounded, picked it up for the first 12 or so issues of New 52, but dropped them again until the Lois & Clark series.

I can't remember a time when I wasn't. My earliest memories include me knowing of Superman I and II and I was a fan through and through. I have some fainter memories of Superfriends but I was mostly all about the movies. I didn't get into the comics until 1992-93, and that took it to new levels, but I've always been a fan.

It was difinitely the Christopher Reeve films and the Super Friends cartoon, then for a brief period I thought he was getting dull as my friends and I were getting into other things like G.I.Joe and Transformers that it wasn't until my interest piqued again with the Death Of Superman hype and I went on a hunt for back issues starting with John Byrne's 1986 reboot that I regained my faith in Big Blue again.

When I saw a volume of Grant Morrison’s JLA at the local library with Electric Blue Superman on the cover. I thought that was the coolest thing ever and checked it out. The cartoons definitely helped there as well but it was that volume I saw as a kid that got me started.

Its cool to hear stories about how more obscure ideas turned some onto Superman. The Reeve movies, Death of Superman, stuff like that is commonplace reasons given. You're probably the first I've heard who was drawn in via Electric Supes. I don't mean that as a bad thing by any stretch, I think its awesome.

When a few years ago, I starting read DC comics and choose to start with superman related comics.

I got into DC super-heroes in 1966, because of Batman. But once I realized that Batman and Superman were best friends, I started to read just as many Superman comics as Batman comics. However, when you're a kid, people always make it their business to tell you the things you should like and you shouldn't like. So I was convinced that reading comic books and especially super-hero comics was not a good thing to do with my time and money. So for a couple years I rarely ever bought a super-hero comic book and I saved my allowance to buy things like a microscope and a chemistry set--expecting I would become a scientist in the future. But then one day on a class trip, I bought a couple of Superman comic books and I realized that this is who I was, a Superman fan. It's too bad that I let anyone teach me different.

2005. Superman 220.
Was never into comics. Was a huge dragonball fan.
I was 18 at the time. Stationed in Japan. I was figuring out this whole “adult” thing and having a real tough time adjusting. One day after I got a pack of Newport’s I noticed a comic rack. I knew who Superman was but who was the kid in the black shirt. Read the issue and connected with Superboy because he was going through it as well at the time. The pressures of becoming who you are eventually going to be I call it.

You can’t change established characters ( Superman , Ironman , etc. ) all that much but the journey of their progenies( Superboy, Tim Drake, Kaine Parker, war machine) has always been appealing to me.

Always thought he was cool. My earliest memory of Superman would be WPIX running the movies and having the four blend together in my head. That was around 1992. I know that I already liked Ninja Turtles and Batman from their films and film sequels at the time. Robot Vera was one of the few things that scared me.

I bought comics at convenient stores and supermarkets throughout that decade. Superman sometimes, but I more often read Superboy and Steel because their issues came in more consistently. So Superman, the real deal, became more intriguing over time. I couldn't really get into Superman Blue or Red and didn't have the money to buy consecutive issues until Chuck Austen started on Action during my high school years. My first was the Silver Banshee issue. But it was with Geoff Johns doing the Legion that I resolved to stop missing issues and also get into pre crisis back issues. By the New 52 I had started jumping into stories throughout his whole history.

Aside from comics I'm pretty casual. I had the Kenner action figures as a kid and I have some cups, shirts and random memorabilia now.

When I was a small kid I loved the first Christopher Reeve movie, but it was really Byrne who made me a fan.

The Challenge of the Superfriends! :D

No memories of not being a Superman fan but it started with this man

[video=youtube_share;Caq8MjC1KUs]https://youtu.be/Caq8MjC1KUs[/video]

When I watched Superman Animated Series for the first time. He immediately became my favorite Superhero. I thought the quality of the show was much more consistent than Batman:TAS

I never really cared for Superman for most of my life, to be honest. I didn't really start to appreciate the character more until very recently. Rebirth was my reintroduction to DC comics after I had gotten fed up with the way it was, a few years prior, and quit just about everything but Batman/Batfamily books. When I got back on, I heard that Superman was gonna be written by Tomasi (whose Batman run made him one my favorite writers) so I figured this would be the time to give his books a fair chance. That was honestly one of the best decisions I've made as a comic fan, while also being one that I deeply regret because of how much I miss that run lol

In my earliest memory of Superman, I already knew who he was. My grandpa had got me a Fleischer cartoons tape for my third or fourth birthday. It had "The Magnetic Telescope," "Japoteurs," and "Jungle Drums" on it, and the fact that two out of three of those cartoons featured racial caricatures was utterly lost on me until years later... regardless, I loved the character. Still, I don't know if I'd say I was a "fan" in the more developed sense. I liked Superman, Batman, but so what, most little boys like Superman and Batman. I read comics here and there, but he was never my biggest interest. I mean, I liked Batman more, for example.

When I was around twelve, which really means any time from 11 to 15 and I don't remember very clearly, I started really getting into Superman. I had a cycle at the time where I'd get really into something for a while, and think about it non-stop, but with time the interest would, temporarily, fade. I mean, you never really stop liking Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, the Legend of Zelda, or Batman, but it's stops being your current hyperobsession or whatever.

And I remember being somewhat surprised that my interest in Superman just... didn't fade, after a while. I think it was really the start of my more adult fandom. I was still into Superman after months. I'd get back into thinking about Zelda or Doctor Who or whatever and that would become the top thing I thought about, but Superman occupied that spot more often than anything else, and was never further back than third place in my interest tiers. And by now I liked him more than Batman as well, which came as something of a shock to me when I realized it.

Over time my opinions on Superman changed a lot. Early on my ideal Superman was the Loeb and Kelly era. Not sure why. I hadn't read a lot of it or anything. But I knew it had (a version) or the post-Crisis Superman, but with a lot more of the sort of scale and playfulness you'd find in the Silver Age at times, and I appreciated that. Then I discovered the Legion cartoon and loved that. Then I fell in love with the Golden Age Superman after buying [i]Superman the Dailies 1939-1942[/i], which I still regard as formative for my experience of the character.

It's been a lot of fun being a Superman fan. I'll enjoy it for many years to come, even with hell or high water.

He's always been a part of my life. Earliest memories is probably Superfriends and seeing Superman III on TV. My mom made me a Superman cape at 4 years old. My comic fandom didn't begin in earnest until around 1992,but I've probably been a fan since before I can remember.

The DCAU cartoons of the early 90's was a huge influence on little kid me. Plus there was the Lois and Clark TV show and the first two Christopher Reeve movies still came on TV every now and then. So yeah, it was pretty well established by like first or second grade if not sooner.

[QUOTE=Kuwagaton;4469766]Always thought he was cool. My earliest memory of Superman would be WPIX running the movies and having the four blend together in my head. That was around 1992. I know that I already liked Ninja Turtles and Batman from their films and film sequels at the time. [B]Robot Vera was one of the few things that scared me.[/B] [/quote]

HA! I wasn't the only one! I agree, Robot Vera traumatized me for years!

As for me, I can't really pinpoint when I became a Superman fan. I remember watching the 1988 cartoon on Saturday mornings, the 1950s series on Nicklelodeon, and playing with toys during the late 80s and early 90s. Of course, there were also the Christopher Reeves movies that showed up on TV. Those planted the seed.

Throughout the 90s, I'd come to appreciate Superman more. Amazingly, BJ's had the entire "Death of Superman" storyline in packaged bundle. I read that a lot. Superman: TAS was a staple of my Saturday morning and that introduced me to elements of the DCU that I wasn't aware of before. Lobo, Darkseid, and the New Gods weren't in Batman. Over the years, I still kept my interest in Superman with other comics and TPB's. I think I became a fan at that time, but not on the level of Spider-Man or the Avengers.

I've really become a fan in the last couple of years. I feel that today there's been a on of anger, pessimissm, and conflict in society. People don't want to get along, but just shout at and insult the other side. They suck and let me leave a sarcastic comment about them in the process. Heroes like Spider-Man and Batman, yes, they keep hope alive and all, but still there is that sense of complication and question. Now, questioning everything is necessary, but sometimes you need to be grounded. Superman grounds me. He represents hope. He represents that the other is not the enemy, but just a person that has a different opinion. We're all worthwhile. Someday we'll all be one. And someday, things will get better.

Yeah I know, it's a little lofty and dopey. But that kind of hope, it's worthwhile :) .

There was a comic shop nearby where I grew up that had a small Superman neon logo in the window, and I always thought it was a snake- but a cool snake. I must have eventually wandered in because my first ever memory of Superman was in a comic book, and I've kind of always read comic books.

I also think I called him Snake Guy, and somebody must have corrected me on that. The guy who worked there would put $1 Snake Guy issues aside for me.

I also would watch Lois and Clark on tv, and the old reruns of Adventures of Superman with George Reeves (which really captivated me). He was stern and honest and yet really sweet and kind. I remember watching Batman '89 on VHS a LOT but I don't remember Superman '78 until I was into high school and Smallville had been on. Smallville also started at the perfect time for me.

He's always been a part of my life. A positive, although fictional, energy.

Robot Vera... oh man.... first time I was like O_O!!!!

Second time I wished she'd have kept the cybernetics and used them to fight Supes in a sequel. Like a female Metallo or something.

You know, I'm a charter member of the Superman Fan Club--the one that was started by DC Comics, Inc., around 1980. They sent me my fan club stuff, some of which was like what's shown in this photo I found on the internet:

[img]https://img0.etsystatic.com/100/0/5952177/il_fullxfull.829311560_s38r.jpg[/img]

There was also a decal which I stuck on my file cabinet and it's still there.

Unfortunately, not much else happened with the fan club. There were supposed to be several chapters (for Batman, Wonder Woman, et al) and I intended to join all of them, but DC pulled the plug on the fan club almost as soon as it had begun.

Still, I think you could consider me an "official" Superman fan, given I've got the documents to prove it. :)

haha Jim.

Very interesting how people became a Superman fan through different versions. Personally, I find it weird when people say they never liked him until the Man of Steel film. They say he was boring before, one-dimensional and not relatable. I just don't get that. To me he has been relatable before in comics and more, and a lot of joy to watch and read.

[QUOTE=manofsteel1979;4480982]He's always been a part of my life[/QUOTE]

Same. Perhaps my earliest memory is a car ride, playing with a Superman and Spider-Man action figure. And I already knew who he was. Superman has pretty much always been m'favrit.

Around the time the Ninja Turtles and GI Joe got big, my superhero fandom died. Then years later when I heard on the news that Superman was going to die I decided to check it out. Must've been around 11 or 12 maybe. Didn't find anything until Reign; my cousin had all four debut issues for the fake Supermen, let me borrow them and that was it, I was back. Been a hardcore Super-fan ever since (though I'll drop the books when I'm not enjoying them).

I can't remember when I became a fan. Had to be before kindergarten. The barbershop my dad went to had comics and I recall reading Superman stories when I went with him when he got haircuts. I recall reruns of the George Reeves show on UHF channels from around the same time. And getting comics at the corner store in these 2 for 25 cent sealed bags (bought tons of Superman and Superboy & the Legion issues that way).

And I too was a member of that short lived DC Superman club Jim mentioned. I remember spending hours in the downtown bookstore while my parents shopped in the mall reading a copy of [I]Superman: from the 30's to the 70's[/I] (which I eventually earned the money to buy a copy of) and [I]The Great Superman Book[/I] (which I didn't buy until I was an adult and tracked it down online). I also had a Superman Quiz book which introduced me to tons of continuity from before I was born.

I think my parents are the only thing I've known longer than Superman.

[QUOTE=Jim Kelly;4481609]You know, I'm a charter member of the Superman Fan Club--the one that was started by DC Comics, Inc., around 1980. They sent me my fan club stuff, some of which was like what's shown in this photo I found on the internet:

[img]https://img0.etsystatic.com/100/0/5952177/il_fullxfull.829311560_s38r.jpg[/img]

There was also a decal which I stuck on my file cabinet and it's still there.

Unfortunately, not much else happened with the fan club. There were supposed to be several chapters (for Batman, Wonder Woman, et al) and I intended to join all of them, but DC pulled the plug on the fan club almost as soon as it had begun.

Still, I think you could consider me an "official" Superman fan, given I've got the documents to prove it. :)[/QUOTE]

I got an Avengers card in my wallet from the 90's. :D

I think that Jon Clark and I have had a lot of the same experiences--and own the same books. If I didn't know any better, I would think we are the same person--I do suspect I'm a few years older. I have THE OFFICIAL SUPERMAN QUIZ BOOK, too. It's sitting on my bookshelf next to MIRACLE MONDAY. I got THE GREAT SUPERMAN BOOK when it came out new, but I put it away in a box (the paper doesn't age well) once I got all the new editions of the Michael L. Fleisher encyclopediae which are all sitting together on my bookshelf. And I still have SUPERMAN FROM THE '30S TO THE '70S on my bookshelf--that and a bunch of other books about comics were sold at the Cole's in the mall, in their remainder bin, so they didn't cost me that much money at the time, in the early 1970s.

I wish the corner store had sold comics, but they didn't--not even in bags. When I was a kid in the 1960s/early 1970s, I usually walked over the highway into Burnaby to Mrs. Ryan's drugstore (and later on the Mini-Mart) to get the comics there. That was about five blocks from our house--and just across the street from there was a second hand bookstore that sold used comics for 5 cents. Or else I'd walk, in the other direction, down to the Keller's drugstore, just past the elementary school, where they had comics in the spinner rack. To get the comics in the bags, we had to go to the Sears store by bus (and later by car when my father finally got one), so that was a rare thing.

Superman #233 was on the rack at the drug store I bought comics, so I bought it. I was 10 years old and it's funny how there are things that you remember vividly. This was one of those memories for me. I was familiar with the character from my brother's comics collection, but this is the first issue I actually bought myself and read. That first year's worth of Denny O'Neil stories are still among my favorites. To me this is when the Bronze Age Started.

I became a Superman fan, and by extension a DC fan, in the late 1970's. In 1979 to be exact.

In January 1979 my Dad took me to see the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie. I was 4 years old. A lot of the film went over my head but I still loved it. Also that year I got my first Superman comic. It was Superman #341 cover dated November 1979. The late Bronze Age Superman comics and the Christopher Reeve film series were major touchstones of my youth.

And I've never looked back.

New 52 Grant Morrison Superman was the first time I enjoy Superman (I didn't read or watch much before that and the ones I pick randomly in the 80s wasn't really interesting, including Donner's Superman)
Then I read Golden Age Superman and enjoy that one too
Haven't actually read Rebirth Superman front to back, but from what I saw I love his personality and the Superfamily dynamic.