How did you discover Superman?

[9th.]

The animated series

[Jim Kelly]

In order of which official Superman I saw first, my memory isn't clear.

It could have been in the comics. I have a memory of my big brother reading me a Superman comic when I was small--and there were plenty of comics that family and friends had, which I might have seen. I looked at the pictures in SUGAR & SPIKE and BOB HOPE as a tot and Superman would have been in the ads.

The George Reeves Superman was in syndication, as was I LOVE LUCY--so it's likely he was my first Superman. The signal wasn't clear on our TV, but the whole family went by train to the Seattle World's Fair, when I was only four, where I remember watching Superman on TV in our hotel room and I was so happy to get such a clear picture.

And I might have seen the Fleischer Superman cartoons on TV, as well--among all the cartoons I watched every day, but I remember better the Fleischer Popeye, which was probably my favourite.

Once I was at school, I checked the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA in our library, which had an entry for Superman with a picture--that confirmed in my mind Superman was real.

The next iteration of Superman I saw had to be on the 1966 Filmation cartoon--which introduced me to a lot of Superman mythology and his adventures as Superboy. But at about the same time I was getting comic book Foldees in the Topp's gum packs--that had Superman also.

This is all before I actually bought any Superman comics with my own money. The first such comic I bought was ACTION COMICS 344 (December 1966), because it had a cover that appealed to all Batman fans.

[Odd Rödney]

I can't remember not knowing about Superman. I had Superman toys as a kid and I definitely saw the Christopher Reeves movies and the Max Fleischer cartoons but I honestly can't recall my first exposure to the character.

[daBronzeBomma]

I don't remember not knowing Superman, but for certain, my first personal exposure had to have been from this:



Most likely the one right AFTER the Challenge of the Superfriends version.

[Spiderboy12]

I have no "earliest memory" of Superman. As like with many others, I can't recall not knowing about him.

My first real exposure might have been reruns of Adventures of Superman, or a mid-1960s cartoon. From a time not long after I was able to read, I was reading Superman comics, either solo or as part of the Justice League. Whether or not a Superman comic was my first comic, I can't recall. Given my devotion to the character in the years afterwards, it probably was. Certainly Superman and Superboy, with the Legion, were the comics I read consistently throughout my childhood and adolescence, with Action Comics, Justice League, Justice Society (as JLA guest-stars or in All Star Comics), and Batman comics bought more irregularly.