What was your first experience of Marvel characters?

[Ascended]

I don't remember when I was first introduced to Spider-Man. Some of my earliest memories involve playing with superhero action figures, and Spidey was one of them. Likewise I have no idea when I became aware of Captain America, Iron Man, or Thor. Maybe they were among those old toys, or I saw some old cartoon/s when I was super little. But I've kind of always been aware of them, even if I didn't know squat about them.

I vaguely recall seeing the old Lou-Hulk show on reruns, but not enough to recall any specifics.

Pretty sure my first exposure to the X-Men was the 90's cartoons. Pizza Hut had a thing where if you bought such-and-such, you got a VHS tape with the first....few?....episodes of the show. Fell in love with the mutants right there, and they were among the first Marvel heroes I began following when I got into comics. No idea what my first X comic was, at all, though I think X-Treme X-Men was the first mutant series I seriously followed. Or maybe eXiles?

Actually, I think my first exposure to a lot of Marvel characters was Wizard magazine in the 90's. I got into comics with DC, my entry into Marvel was a lot more stop and go so I probably saw the likes of Clint Barton in Wizard before I saw him in comics.

First Iron Man comic I bought was a random issue (maybe #4?) of the Heroes Reborn run with the Image-y art. First Cap comic I ever bought was, I think, the Winter Soldier trade that came out shortly before the movie. First Thor comic was JMS' first issue. First Avengers was some random issue from Busiek's run, but I had no idea what the hell was going on or who half the roster was, and didn't continue reading (now I'm older, wiser, and trying to hunt down the trades, which is a pain in the ass). No idea what my first FF or Spidey issues were, but the first Spidey I *enjoyed* was volume 1 of Bendis' Ultimate run, and I've yet to meet a FF story I've truly liked, though some have come close and I enjoy the characters on their own or with other heroes.

[Gaastra]

Spider-man and his amazing friends & hulk cartoon on saturday mornings and the live action hulk series.

60s spidey reruns as well as i remember watching it in the early 80s.

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[danielsan52]

I think cartoons and this activity book which had Spider-Woman in it. Have been a fan of her since.

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[Iron Maiden]

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.

[Dreaded Porcupine]

The 1966 Marvel animation and the 67 Spider-Man reruns after school when I was a kid. Those had the biggest impact.

[Mike]

After school, reruns of the Spider-Man cartoon from the 60s.
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[Bryan]

It's hard for me to remember exact issues, but I bought FF for the first time in one of those Whitman 3 packs from 1977, so probably FF #185, 186, but I do seem to recall #177 standing out as well. My Uncle had FF #165 so that was probably the first issue I had looked through. Before 1977 I was strictly a DC fan so the FF were what turned me on to Marvel. My first experience with reading the older Silver Age (in # order) was when I got those wonderful Pocket Books...FF, Spider-Man, CA & Hulk.

[Tofali]

Thanos. It wasn't an issue of any comic book but it was a rerun of marvel animated shows and this particular one was the silver surfer animated show around the time I was made aware that I had an accent and I was trying hard to get rid of it. I got so fascinated with his speeches that I started mimicking how he spoke. Then I got fascinated even more with Storm and Apocalypse and I was done and I forever became a Marvel fan.

[jackolover]

When the comics first came out in the 60s. Iron Man, FF, and Avengers in particular. I learned to read just as FF came out, so most of the comics I found were DC, but they were in there.

This is my experience as well. But I think my first comic was Amazing Spider-Man #8. It felt very creepy.

[Odd Rödney]

Thanks for all the responses folks. This is fascinating to me. Seems a lot of us got our start with Marvel through the TV shows, which makes a lot of sense. I'm envious of those of you who were there in the 60's when Marvel first got off the ground with this stuff. That's super cool.

[Sandy Hausler]

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

I think I go back to the 1960s cartoons. I didn't buy a Marvel Comic book until Daredevil #77 (which had Spider-Man and Submariner in it). Funny, at the time, I knew who Spider-Man and Submariner were, but I'd never heard of Daredevil.

[Darkshadow]

I guess ultimately the first was with the `70's Hulk TV show. My Dad liked when he was younger so when it became syndicated as re-runs, he would watch it occasionally. I never cared for it though.

A show I truly, truly enjoyed and would go out of my way to watch was when Cartoon Network used to have Super Chunk on Saturdays where they would take one show and run it for 3 hours straight. They would do that with the `60's Fantastic Four cartoon, and I couldn't get enough. I recorded and probably still have that VHS somewhere.

Anyway, what finally reeled me in hook, line, and sinker was the `90's Spiderman show. I didn't even know there was a Spiderman comic until we went to the grocery store. I passed by a magazine rack and saw Amazing Spiderman 427 and thought "Oh wow, they made a magazine about my show"...

I followed Spiderman for a bit, but when Spiderman appeared in FF Vol 3 #9 and I discovered the FF...I never looked back. FF was my jam again once I realized how accurate the `60's show was to the books.

[Odd Rödney]

A show I truly, truly enjoyed and would go out of my way to watch was when Cartoon Network used to have Super Chunk on Saturdays where they would take one show and run it for 3 hours straight. They would do that with the `60's Fantastic Four cartoon, and I couldn't get enough. I recorded and probably still have that VHS somewhere.

That is truly awesome! I wish I had some of the old tapes I recorded off of TV back in the day. I guess I'd need a VHS too but those aren't completely impossible to find. Yet. All my tapes though? Those are definitely in a dump someplace.

[williamtheday]

My mom bought me some comics at a yard sale in 1965 or 66 when I was around 7. Tales of Suspense with the first appearence of the Three Sleepers and Iron Man's last battle with the evil Black Knight, Tales To Astonish where The Leader sent The Hulk to steal The Watcher's Ultimate Machine , X-Men with first appearence of The Sentinels, and
Fantastic Four with Frightful Four. I wish I still had the .

[ComicNoobie]

The 90's X-Men cartoon I believe was my first real exposure to Marvel. I didn't know about Marvel and DC brands when I was really young so I remember waiting for a Batman/X-Men crossover that would never come, lol.