What are your favorite Superman memories?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I have been a Superman fan for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I would throw on my blue pajamas with my red underoos on the outside and run around the neighborhood with a red towel as my cape.

Strangely enough, I was not a huge fan of the first Superman movie when I first saw it because it was the bloated extended cut they put on television as a two night event. I remember being so bored waiting for Superman to show up, but, when he did, I was utterly hooked. That helicopter sequence with Lois still works on me at such a primal level that only the trench run from the original Star Wars can match.

A short time later, I watched the old 1940s cartoons and they were like a bolt of lightning compared to the utter garbage that passed for animation during the 1970s and 80s. This was Superman unbound. There are a few moments from the 90s cartoon that come close to tapping into what made those early shorts great, but they were too few, unfortunately.

Likewise, the comics were rarely able to recapture that feeling for me, but the ones that nailed Superman, really crystallized my love of the character. John Byrne's Man of Steel #2, Morrison's JLA, All Star Superman, and Final Crisis are all timers in my book. And now, Superman Smashes The Klan has joined them.

What about you guys? What are the moments and stories that made you a Superman fan for life?

[manwhohaseverything]

I was more of a manga reader and anime guy growing up. Like you, I known of superman since i can remember . But, I became engaged in superman fan because of phantom. That might seem wierd but that's just it. They both wore underwear on the outside.So, superman tas got my eye .Especially, Fourth world stuff and silver surfer tas caught my eye and made me more intrigued in comics in general. Kirby's art just talks to me in general.

for the man who has everything
This and the final episode where superman is a pariah and asks whether he has a place on earth. He wonders how he is going to win back the trust of everyone. Lois saying "One person at a time". Granted, i am not much for clark chasing exceptance from people. But, i can get behind the hatred being directed at the character caused by just one out of control act by him, surprising him. But, still showcased a fickleness of people in mobs very aptly .Then i liked the for the man who has everything episode in jl.
I wasn't superman fan,yet. I used to watch smallville more for lois and lex than clark himself,growing up(i think i had crush on erica as lois. Lex just reminded me more of my own relationship with my birth parents ) .i would just be causal fan. Here and there i used to pick up superman comics preflashpoint . Then i really started with action comics new52 which made really regular reader. I got bored during some of new52 and rebirth(yeah! I tend to do that) . So, i started reading older stuff because of my love for old pulp heroes. Goldenage superman as an anarchist vigilante strongman who tore down structures for the little guy blew my mind even more.Espiecially, since i grew up with one piece. It wasn't much of a surprise it did. luffy was early similar, yet different. Moreover, i had never pictured superman as that guy. Ever.

Strangley, i like old pulp heroes. so, i picked up superman and superman lead me back to old pulp heroes. So, the cycle was complete.

But, i began relating to the character more when my aunt died last year or so. As an orphan kid who didn't have much like supes. New52 superman just spoke to me.ofcourse,for the man who has everything was awesome. It had attracted me prior to that.But, still this new52 moment became that much cathartic for me since. Like clark, it's been difficult for me. But, i have been pulling myself through it all.

[superduperman]

My earliest memories revolve around the movies. My first real exposure to it was a lunch box a kid had in daycare. Watching Superman 2 when I was about 8. I knew Zod was a bad guy when he threw the police siren at the kid on the bike. That was also the same year I got a giant DC characters coloring and activity book. It was my first exposure to things like Earth 2 and his cosmic zoo. Ruby Spears, of course. When he "died" was when I really got into the character. I bought a copy of Action comics from 1975 and that was my first real exposure to Kandor and the Fortress. I didn't know the ice castle thing from the movies was in the comics.

[Adekis]

Had a dream one time that Superman - not a hoax, not an imaginary story, but the real Superman! - bought me and my fiancee and a bunch of friends hot dogs. I think we were kids in the dream. Hard to say.

So simple. So pure. So happy.

[Jim Kelly]

My big brother reading a Superman comic to me before I could read (but I could look at the pictures).

The time our family took the train to Seattle for the World's Fair and the only thing I remember, besides riding the monorail, is that the T.V. in our hotel room had perfect reception for THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN (in syndication).

Running through the sprinkler, in summer, in my red trunks with a red towel around my neck, pretending I was flying.

Going to the elementary school's library, looking through the Encyclopedia Britannica, and finding an entry on Superman (with a picture--Wayne Boring's Superman)--proof to me that Superman was real.

Going to Mrs. Ryan's drugstore with my sister, on Saturdays, to spend our allowance money on candy and comic books--and reading a Superman comic on the way back home.

That time, when our family walked to the Kootney Loop to catch the bus home, after a day at the P.N.E (Pacific National Exhibition), in late August, and I found a Superman Giant at the newsstand by the Loop.

That time at the end of grade 7, after over a year of not reading a Superman comic, I bought two titles when the class took the ferry to Vancouver Island and I discovered the Swan and Anderson Superman in those comics and the world around me melted away.

[Sacred Knight]

Constantly watching Superman The Movie on an old VHS tape growing up, recorded on HBO I think. Getting The Death of Superman trade paperback.

[Vordan]

Reading my first comic book issue, a JLA issue with Electric Blue Superman. Totally blew my mind as a kid that Superman could look different than he usually did.

Renting Superman/Batman: Public Enemies from a Blockbuster (I’m the only Gen Zer to remember those in my family lol). Seeing Supes and Batman kick ass was what made me love their broship.

Flying around Metropolis in Superman Returns. Loved doing that as a kid. It was incredibly shallow but so few games to this day let you fly, so having a game that let you do that was special to me.

[witchboy]

Some of my earliest memories are the Superfriend cartoons. I was reading comics before I was in kindergarten. I was in a rural area with no comic shop so I had to buy comics at the drug store. The highlights of the year was when I got to go a couple of times a year to he big comic shop The Great Escape in Nashville, where I saved birthday money, and as I got older, money from my summer and weekend job, to buy back issues. Even though I was a Bronze Age boy, the Silver Age was pretty equally a part of my growing up due to all those back issues.
The first three movies and Supergirl I have really fond memories of. I do think all that influence from Superman, and other heroes, helped give me a strong sense of right and wrong, and to value helping others.

[Johnny Thunders!]

I also bought comics off the drugstore comic spinner and I would wait there as they cut the bundle of floppies loose and put them on the spinner. A cousin gave me a cardboard box with a ton of different comics. Of course I took to Superman because there was a promotional magazine that included a preview of the Superman movie with Christopher Reeve. I know the effects and some of the dialogue has aged but seeing Superman on the big screen,,, I felt like I willed that movie up onto the screen. In that box was this crazy comic with Superman fighting Father Time.

[Restingvoice]

I guess it would have to be reading New 52 Action Comics #1 for the first time. It's the most fun and hype I got from reading comics in a long time, like I'm a kid again.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Can’t get much better than the first 2 Donner movies particularly Chris Reeve’s performance. Also lots of fond memories of the Smallville show and on the comics side, the works of Morrison, Jurgens and Mark Miller.

[Ascended]

Wow. There's so many wonderful memories.

The first thing that came to my mind was watching Man of Steel with my son. My daughter had just been born a few days earlier and my son had never been to the theaters. So after all the hype and all the waiting for the movie, after working hard to avoid spoilers, exhausted from having a new born and still riding that "I got a new kid" high, my boy and I went to watch Superman. And the look on his face; just wide-eyed, jaw hanging open the whole time.

But the thing about that trip to the movies that sticks out in my mind the most is my son's reaction to Clark killing Zod. There's the snap, and I'm thinking "How awful, Clark just had to kill the only remaining member of his entire species, what a soul-wrenching moment!" and my kid, who was old enough to not be bothered by such violence but still young enough to not think about the deeper meaning behind stuff, jump out of his seat and, in the utter silence of the theater, screams out "YEAH!"

Then there's Morrison's Action #1 which was, like, for a Golden Age fan like me, Action #1 was like the gods coming down from on high to bless me, personally, with a Superman designed to make me happy. I walked around for like, a week, with a big stupid grin on my face. I had almost taken the reboot as a chance to walk away from comics but figured I'd give some #1's a shot and....that single issue was enough for me to stick around.

Watching the old 40's cartoons as a kid in the 80's. Mechanical Menace was always my favorite episode.

[witchboy]

Wow. There's so many wonderful memories.

The first thing that came to my mind was watching Man of Steel with my son. My daughter had just been born a few days earlier and my son had never been to the theaters. So after all the hype and all the waiting for the movie, after working hard to avoid spoilers, exhausted from having a new born and still riding that "I got a new kid" high, my boy and I went to watch Superman. And the look on his face; just wide-eyed, jaw hanging open the whole time.

But the thing about that trip to the movies that sticks out in my mind the most is my son's reaction to Clark killing Zod. There's the snap, and I'm thinking "How awful, Clark just had to kill the only remaining member of his entire species, what a soul-wrenching moment!" and my kid, who was old enough to not be bothered by such violence but still young enough to not think about the deeper meaning behind stuff, jump out of his seat and, in the utter silence of the theater, screams out "YEAH!"

Then there's Morrison's Action #1 which was, like, for a Golden Age fan like me, Action #1 was like the gods coming down from on high to bless me, personally, with a Superman designed to make me happy. I walked around for like, a week, with a big stupid grin on my face. I had almost taken the reboot as a chance to walk away from comics but figured I'd give some #1's a shot and....that single issue was enough for me to stick around.

Watching the old 40's cartoons as a kid in the 80's. Mechanical Menace was always my favorite episode.

Taking your little boy to see Man of Steel in the theater for his first movie, that must be a priceless moment.
His reaction to Zod's death is hilarious. Kids can be ruthless. That reminds me of showing the Bride of Frankenstein to my five year old niece, and having a discussion on the morality of the monster killing the Bride, who had nothing but be brought to life and reject the monster, and my niece was certain that she deserved to die just because she was a monster, no moral ambiguity at all.
All Star Superman is brilliant, I wish we could get more of that, even though it's connection to DC One Million pretty well wraps it up. Maybe a story of what Lois and the rest of the supporting cast did after A. S. S.

[Laufeyson]

I guess it would be reading All-Star Superman for the first time and really amazed at how awesome he is, especially that last page where Superman fixing the sun.

[Sacred Knight]

I agree with those who mentioned reading Action Vol 2 #1 for the first time. I was thinking more child memories at first. But that was an adult memory that made me feel like a kid again too.