Happy 85th Birthday, Superman!

[daBronzeBomma]

85 years ago today, the greatest (IMO) fictional character of all time was born*.

85 years is a legitimate human lifespan.

What do you think is his greatest moment?

Your personal favorite memory of Superman?

What does he mean to you today?

Happy Birthday Clark!



* - yes, I'm aware the original copies of Action Comics #1 didn't hit newsstands across the country until about two weeks after today. But this is the recognized date, and there was a copy in existence just not yet fully mass produced. Close enough for me.

[The Frog Bros]

Happy 85th Superman!

My most recent notable memory was this time last year when I had Covid and reading Up in the Sky buoyed my spirits instantly like no other story could have.

That’s an extreme example of course but for me, reading a Superman comic will always lighten my mood. And it’s always the first comic I read on New Comic day. Although these days it does get challenging when there are multiple great Supes books that come out on the same day. A nice problem to have!

[Kuwagaton]

Greatest moment in our world, probably taking on the KKK. In comics, I dunno haha. I mean maybe the end of Space Age or something like that. For favorite moments it's even worse because I'm picking from a million.

July 4th ten years ago though, I was about as happy as I can remember. 2013 I'd just moved to my current area, started work and school. Of course that was when Morrison wrapped up and MoS came out. That holiday I sat home with apple pie. I had my (new) trades of Past and Future, Birthright, and For Tomorrow. I also had some of the bicentennial comics (Superman #302, Action #461-464) and just sat home enjoying the day between reading some of my favorite stories. Superman, I guess he's not my oldest friend but the most familiar and even if I get too busy with life sometimes it's never hard to catch up with him.

Not for nothing though, that 85th anniversary trade also looks really substantial.

[CosmeticSkull]

Happy 85th anniversary Superman. This page from Mysteries of Love in Space sums up why I love you.

RCO069_1548898093.jpg

[Thor-Ul]

85 and the guy still can move planets.

[Lucas 35]

It's not only the Superman's birthday, but Lois Lane's too! The most important couple in comics and one of the most important in fiction!

[bat39]

Happy 85th Superman!

I think Superman's legacy as a character is ultimately that he spawned a new genre of fiction and pop-culture, one that is a multi-billion dollar behemoth today. He may not be the world's most popular superhero, or the most valuable superhero IP, but he is THE numero uno superhero - the one that started it all.

In terms of my personal favorite memory, its hard to pick one. I do actually remember watching 'The Last Son of Krypton', the Superman TAS pilot, as a kid and being really moved by the plight of baby Kal-El being rocketed off his planet alone. A more fun memory, again from TAS, is from the episode where Clark sarcastically 'confesses' to Lois that he's Superman. These are among my earliest memories of the character.

[Frontier]

Happy 85th to the Man of Steel!

[Stanlos]

He's definitely still got it!!

[Robotman]

Happy 85th Superman!

So many amazing stories and memories.

Favorite memory/scenes that mean a lot to me? Just off the top of my head I would say the baby sun-eater scenes from All Star Superman.

Superman explaining that, the sun-eater has the potential to be deadly but it was lost and it needed his help. So of course he brought it back to the fortress and cared for it by feeding it miniature suns.

Superman’s humanity on full display mixed with over the top comic book greatness.

Totally teared up when he released it back into space and they shared a wordless thank you moment.



The baby sun-eater heroically sacrificing itself to repay Superman’s kindness was heartbreaking.

Just a very memorable part of my favorite comic of all time.

[Johnny Thunders!]

When I was a kid, my cousin gave me all of his Superman comics and he was sharing his copies of Fangoria or whatever movie mag there was back in the 70s.There was buzz about a Superman movie coming out. When the movie came out, I couldn't believe they made it happen. It felt like they summoned Superman into the real world. When I "Grew Up", I ended up selling a bunch of old 20 cent Superman comics. Now that I've grown old, I am still trying to track them all down. Hands down the most relatable, idiosyncratic, misunderstood, and aspirational superhero ever.

[Mantis-Ray]

Happy birthday to the big man in blue.

Couple years ago I wasn't a big Superman fan, but now I really love the guy. Kudos to him and hope he has another 85 years ahead of him.

[Frontier]

[Kuwagaton]

When I was a kid, my cousin gave me all of his Superman comics and he was sharing his copies of Fangoria or whatever movie mag there was back in the 70s.There was buzz about a Superman movie coming out. When the movie came out, I couldn't believe they made it happen. It felt like they summoned Superman into the real world. When I "Grew Up", I ended up selling a bunch of old 20 cent Superman comics. Now that I've grown old, I am still trying to track them all down. Hands down the most relatable, idiosyncratic, misunderstood, and aspirational superhero ever.

That happened to my X-Men comics. I'm not gonna say it was a tragedy or anything, but it will always bug me because I know that with the overall worth and sheer number of issues, I can't build that collection back in a regular lifetime.

But anyway yeah, Superman is my favorite because of any single character all of the time I spend pouring and pondering builds an understanding that is its own reward. It makes me happy to have been born when I was, with all I can enjoy from the past and all that should be ahead.

[Johnny Thunders!]

That happened to my X-Men comics. I'm not gonna say it was a tragedy or anything, but it will always bug me because I know that with the overall worth and sheer number of issues, I can't build that collection back in a regular lifetime.

But anyway yeah, Superman is my favorite because of any single character all of the time I spend pouring and pondering builds an understanding that is its own reward. It makes me happy to have been born when I was, with all I can enjoy from the past and all that should be ahead.

That’s funny I remember at the time thinking, “I’ll keep my X Men because those are grown up comics, but I’ll trade my Superman because those are for kids”.