How did you discover Superman?

[superduperman]

I too can't really remember a time when I didn't know about him. But probably my first real "exposure" to the character was either a lunchbox based on the movie, Superman peanut butter, or one of those Radio Shack comics.

[seismic-2]

From the comics. This was in the 1950s, when Superman and Action comics were in the spinner racks at every grocery store, drug store, and convenience store in even the smallest towns.

[Adekis]

The big discovery to me was when I started reading Batman comics (because of the Adam West TV show), I discovered that Batman existed in comic books, he wasn't just something they made up for a TV show, and he and Superman hung out in those comics. That was pretty weird that there were comic books where Superman had adventures with other costumed characters. I never thought that could be possible because Superman was such a big deal. That would be like Santa Claus having adventures with Jethro Bodine.

Jethro and Ellie May helping to save Christmas is such a charming image I immediately looked it up to see if the Beverly Hillbillies had ever actually met the Real Santa. No dice! Dang! Though I did find out that Diedrich "Batman" Bader played Jethro in the '90s; what is that?

Anyway, I missed out on the days when Superman himself was a bigger household name than Batman I'm afraid. Dang!

[Jon-El]

I believe the first time I saw Superman would be on an episode of Sesame Street. Letter S of course!! Around the same time, I caught an episode of the Superfriends where Superman was kidnapped and replaced with a robot. That grabbed me for some reason. Then my aunt bought me some comics to hold my attention & one just happened to be a reprint featuring Superman & Batman vs the Composite Superman. I guess the steady exposure to the character just wore me down. I was hooked after that.

Superman was pretty much everywhere when I was a kid in the 70’s. Coloring books, lunch boxes, shirts, toys. There wasn’t a ton of super hero stuff out there but what items I remember were either Superman or Batman. Superman clearly seemed to be the bigger character. I’m blown away when I go to a store and there aren’t any Superman coloring books or anything. It’s so much different! There were hardly any Marvel characters marketed except Spider-man.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IFd-nQ2GBzc

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[MRP]

When I was a wee lad in the early 70s I was already aware of Superman, not sure what came first-A Viewmaster reel, a Mego figure, Super Friends or reruns of The George Reeves Adventures of Superman on Sunday mornings on a local station.

I remember my first Superman comic I picked out for myself on the stands was in early 1975...



but my dad had gotten me this Superman Golden Record set before that...



And I got this for Christmas when I was 4 or 5 ('73 or '74)...



so it's hard to be sure what came first but Superman (and Batman and Spider-Man) were pretty ubiquitous in my life from an early age.

-M

[JAK]

I too can't really remember a time when I didn't know about him. But probably my first real "exposure" to the character was either a lunchbox based on the movie, Superman peanut butter, or one of those Radio Shack comics.

Wow, Superman Peanut Butter! I remember that - I still have two containers of it (one with a red top and one with a blue one) - empty and cleaned, of course, but still. lol

[Jim Kelly]

Jethro and Ellie May helping to save Christmas is such a charming image I immediately looked it up to see if the Beverly Hillbillies had ever actually met the Real Santa. No dice! Dang! Though I did find out that Diedrich "Batman" Bader played Jethro in the '90s; what is that?

Anyway, I missed out on the days when Superman himself was a bigger household name than Batman I'm afraid. Dang!

The one sitcom where I believed they had the genuine Santa Claus was BEWITCHED. That looked like the real Santa Claus to me and I could believe that Samantha knew him personally.

[Restingvoice]

He kinda always exists. I have consciousness one day and he's already plastered on the wall of some playland.

The first media I saw was either the black and white TV from the 50s or the World's Finest comics from the 60s. I remember the Donner Superman came later.

[babyblob]

Didnt know anything about Max Fleischer's Superman cartoons. I just looked them up on youtube. They were alot of fun.

[Sacred Knight]

Thinking it over, its also entirely possible Superfriends could have been my first introduction to him too. My older brother loved it, and as a baby brother basically I did whatever he was doing. I'll never know for sure but it has to be one of those two.

[kcekada]

The Filmation series in the late 1960s. I didn't even know comic book existed until I was in first grade and a classmate brought some in. That's also where I learned of Supergirl, who for some reason was not included in the Filmation franchise. Wonder Woman was also neglated, yet Wonder Girl made an appearance or two in Teen Titans episodes. And Batgirl was in most, if not all, Batman episodes.

[Ascended]

I'm pretty sure I was born knowing who Superman was. It was imprinted onto my DNA by virtue of being 'Merican!

Seriously though, in my earliest memories I already knew who Superman was. I imagine my first exposure was either the Super Friends of the Fleischer cartoons. Apparently he was my favorite thing when I was little.

Not much has changed, really.

[Astroman]

This question makes no sense to me. It's like asking when I discovered breathing or that the sky was blue.

When I was little, Superman was something every kid always knew existed like the tooth fairy, Santa Claus and little Miss Muffet. He always existed in our consciousness. That was something we'd play at as kids--especially in the summer, in swim trunks, you'd tie a towel around your neck and pretend to fly.

The big discovery to me was when I started reading Batman comics (because of the Adam West TV show), I discovered that Batman existed in comic books, he wasn't just something they made up for a TV show, and he and Superman hung out in those comics. That was pretty weird that there were comic books where Superman had adventures with other costumed characters. I never thought that could be possible because Superman was such a big deal. That would be like Santa Claus having adventures with Jethro Bodine.

Ditto. I was born in the late sixties and I really don't remember a time not knowing who Superman was.

[Mace Dolex]

A combination of both the Christopher Reeve films and the Super Friends cartoon, I was crazy about Superman I had pajamas, coloring books, stuffed dolls, lunch boxes, Underoos, I was even dressed one Halloween as Superman wearing those cheap Ben Cooper costumes. But then my interests lied elsewhere such as Star Wars and by 1984 I just thought Superman was a lame boyscout that I went onto Transformers and G.I.Joe.

In 1987 I started collecting Batman and was aware of Superman's reboot but wasn't interested in his adventures just yet but my interest piqued with Death of Superman and the Lois & Clark TV show brought me back into the fold by searching for Post-Crisis Superman back issues.

[exile001]

I was always aware of Superman, I liked Superman and Superman II as a kid and the 80's cartoon. Not sure if L&C:TNAoS was out yet, but I liked that, too. Anyway, I was a huge Batman fan and was reading British re-prints of Batman Adventures and 2000AD (and maybe a Spider-man reprint mag, too. That may have been later), when a friend introduced me to US comics proper, showing me Batman #497. It was awesome and I needed more!

Luckily, this was around the time DC printed two Knightfall TPBs (I'd already had TDK, Year One and Killing Joke for years somehow), so I snapped them up and still needed more! There wasn't any more Batman to read in that format, so I gave The Death of Superman TPB, World Without Superman and Return of Superman a go and was hooked.

This is when I consider my Superman fandom really kicked in!

Shortly thereafter, I joined my friend every month on the train to another town to buy all the Batman and Superman comics I could afford. I've been reading Superman ever since.