When I was a
kid, about 10 years old there was this TV show that had just started called
"Batman." And I thought it was cool. I watched it for a while, wondering
just where Gotham City was on a map, when I found out about Superman Comics.
Now, I had been watching Superman on TV since about 1961 and loved the character. But one day, a man gave me a big box of this really neat little magazines called "Comic Books."
He worked on a barge on the Mississippi, and when he would come into a town somewhere he would hit the drug stores and such buying novels and magazines for the crew to read when they were not working.
So, one day he just up and gives me this box of books. As I thumbed through them, I marveled at the titles and the art on each cover. I finally stopped at one book, a Superman #153 and yes, I remember it. The cover made it hard to forget.
But, I laid it down and picked up a Spider Man #17 and read it first. I often wonder how my life would have been different if I just read the Superman first? Oh well. As I grew older my family figured I would 'grow out' of my hero worship. They were wrong; if anything it grew stronger.
I wanted to know all there was about The Man of Steel, so I tried to find all the Comics and that was where I discovered the joy of .25 cent 80 Page Giants. That helped me to fill in my back story collection quite well.
When I played "Superhero" with other kids I always wanted to be Superman but usually wound up as Kingpin or Lex Luthor. Which probably served to shape me in ways I don't feel like discussing.
But I still would dream of discovering that Superman was real, that he was really in a city somewhere looking out for mankind. Of course he had to hide his true identity, or everyone would be after him.
I would imagine what it must be like to just be Jimmy Olsen and have that cool watch! Then whenever I would get in trouble, just push a button and WOOSH!! He would come to save me.
And his friends and family; Kara El, one of the two prettiest blondes in Comics, Betty Cooper being the other one. She was just like Superman, only a girl. I liked that, a lot. Ok, a whole lot. I mean, if I couldn't be Superman Best Friend, I would be her friend in a flash.
Ma and Pa Kent seemed like the best parents in the whole world. I always hated it when they would star in some imaginary story where they were evil or criminals or something. And years later, when I read the story where Jonathon Kent comes to visit Clark in the future, I actually
teared
up. The Legion of Super-Heroes, a group of teens from the future, inspired by
Superboy and later Superman to form a league to protect innocent life across
the galaxy thousands of years in the future. And Krypto; you know, there was something that just seemed right about a Man of Steel having a Dog of Steel. A dog that could fly, was smarter than most people, could not die or get sick. I think it resonated with a lot of kids, especially little boys.
About 12 years pass, and I am in Wilmington, North Carolina on a rainy, cold night just lying around in a motel, wasting time. I used to do that a lot. Bored out of my mind, I decided to go watch a movie.
As it happened, "Superman" had just opened a few days before and I had seen a promo for earlier in the evening. So, I tracked down the local theater and bought myself a ticket and actually found a film that really did make me believe "A Man Can Fly."
It was by far, the best film I had ever seen.
I watched it three times that first night. I came back a couple of days later and watched it twice more, and after I left Wilmington, I watched it a few more times across the country.
The film seemed new and fresh each time I watched it, each scene just as honest and intense as they were the times before.
No, I was not crazy about the choice for Lois Lane. I felt then and still feel that Margot Kidder was not right for the role.
In the years
since, there have been a lot of changes in my life. But Superman has never changed
in my mind. I still want to believe he is out there, watching over us. Superman
has always been a part of my life and I don't plan on changing that. During the mid 1980's when DC decided to change Superman and brought in John Byrne I tried to stay loyal. I bought the books, even though under Byrne they seemed to have lost their fun, their innocence. And I understand that was the
point of the "Crisis", to bring Comic Book reality closer to the real world and the problems we face today.
Who cares? I wanted Superman back. Instead we got a guy who was no-where near as strong, fast, or as smart. That was sad. Then they killed him off. No, this was not the first time the Man of Steel had been killed by DC.There were a handful of stories that were imaginary where he would die, some that were in continuity where he would return, some where he just went away. The best and
greatest one was "Whatever Happened to the Man of Steel"; and if you are a Superman fan and can read that story without getting a tear in your eye you are a stronger man than I am.
And
yes, I had to wait until 2006 to see Superman on the big screen again, but I
still think it was worth it. Brandon Routh did a great job in a role that had
to be tough. I think that Christopher Reeve would have been proud of what Routh
did. Will he be typecast as Superman? I can think of worse characters to be
thought of as. 
