What was your first experience of Marvel characters?

[Golden_Guardian]

I think for me a combination of old cartoons and the Super Top Trumps card game. My older brother had both the heroes and villains decks which we'd cut together for an uber-game.

After that, the late '90's/early 2000's wave of films (though at the the time the first Blade was released, I'd no idea that it was a Marvel property - my knowledge was that lacking).

An old work colleague of mine introduced me to the Punisher at around the same time that the first TPB of Ennis' seminal MAX run hit the shelves, so serendipity there.

My ex-girlfriend triggered my interest in the main 616 universe back in 2006 when she introduced me to the first ever Sentry series on a hunch that I'd appreciate it. I pretty much followed the character from there, from team to team. My interest in Marvel comics immediately wanes during the years that the character is inactive. I feel a certain kinship with Mr. Reynolds, having suffered similar afflictions.

[Triniking1234]

The cartoons of the late '70s and early '80s. Three in particular: Spider-Woman, Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, and The Incredible Hulk.

Same but I've never seen the Spider-Woman cartoon. It's on D+ so I should try it.

[K7P5V]

Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends.

Definitely, an all-time favorite (IMHO):

[K7P5V]

After school, reruns of the Spider-Man cartoon from the 60s.
Attachment 123504

Definitely, an all-time classic (IMHO):

[Phoenixx9]

Definitely, an all-time classic (IMHO):

Lol, such a long and dramatic theme song, one knows it is old! Also, it mentions "in color", lol, which is evident to those with color-tv sets but which not everyone had back then.

[Digifiend]

Yeah, channel idents would often mention colour in the 60s and 70s too, to push viewers into buying or renting a colour TV in the days when a lot of people still watched in black and white.

Our long time next door neighbor had some Marvel comics for the kids and I remember reading this Fantastic Four that they had. I think my younger brother and I traded another comic for this...

It took us a while to get the next issue. After that we had our Dad get the comics from the local Rexall drugs store but it took a while to find FF #40! IIRC Marvel started a reprint comic called Marvel's Greatest Comics that featured the older stories so that readers could catch up.

A Blind Man Shall Lead Them? That story is a classic, they adapted it for the 90s cartoon.

I probably started with the X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons in the 90s. I can remember watching those on Sky One, whose lineup also included the Marvel Action Hour and Power Rangers. In 1996, the shows all moved to the newly launched Fox Kids Network, which of course would also air Incredible Hulk.

[Shadowcat]

It was either Uncanny X-Men 176, or Fantastic Four 260. My older cousins had a ton of comics, and they gave them to me when they started liking girls lol.

[K7P5V]

A Blind Man Shall Lead Them? That story is a classic, they adapted it for the 90s cartoon.

Correct! Along with improved animation, to boot...