When did you get into Superheroes and DC Universe?

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

I've noticed a lot of adult comic fans have always been into these characters, but for myself I didn't get into any of it until my mid-twenties. It started with Smallville, a show I loved, flaws and all. I became fascinated with the Superman character, so sought out films, graphic novels, and books. From there it was Batman, The Flash, and the others. Through my son I have gotten into Marvel a little with X-Men and my friend Ronnie introduced me to Ghostrider. DC is the main for me, definitely my favorite. I've found the more I learn about characters, and the more of them I'm introduced to, the more I get into it.

What about everyone else?

[James]

I was a fan of both DC and Marvel by the time I was 5 or 6? There was the Batman TV series, The Super Friends and the Superman movie...

[James]

Your question reminded me of some Batman books/records that I had (which were awesome)...
I am pretty certain that I had this...
http://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/...

[Travis]

I always liked the TV shows and cartoons, but didn't get into comics as a collector until middle school.
And about ten minutes later, it was a lifelong obsession.

Since I had little cash, I tended to do team up comics and team books, as they gave you the most heroes for my 35 cents.
So, mostly Dc Comics Presents, Fantastic Four, Marvel two in one, Justice League and the Avengers.

[Jim]

When I was a kid, I loved Superfriend and, closely related, JLA.

But I stopped reading them, probably in elementary school.

But then a friend in college reintroduced me to Batman via Arkham Asylum, The Killing Joke, and The Dark Knight Returns.

It's been an obsession since then... :)

[Jeff]

Well, I guess I'm going to date myself here.
When I was little my first comics were DC issues. You might say that at that time, The big Marvel titles hadn't come out yet. So that should tell you how long I have been collecting and reading them.

I would read the ones I bought constantly. It was always DC for me, Superman, Batman, Detective comics, Challengers of the Unknown, The Flash and others.

My father was a barber and on a Saturday once a month he would go down into my box and grab a handful of comics and bring them to the barber shop for other kids to read.
I ahd no idea that he as doing it until one day when he took me to work so he could give me a hair cut I saw my issues in his stand, covers torn off pages ripped. I couldn't believe it. He said he needed something for the other kids. So I would try to secretly take a few of them back home. Some of them were beyond reading and totally damaged.
When I was finally able to go to local comic book conventions in halls, I always tried to find the ones I lost to the barber shop. I still have some of those today. But for me, it was mostly DC I liked.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

Jeff wrote: "Well, I guess I'm going to date myself here.
When I was little my first comics were DC issues. You might say that at that time, The big Marvel titles hadn't come out yet. So that should tell you ho..."

That's a cool memory/story - although not so cool about the ripped covers! Hopefully other kids were made into lifelong comic fans by reading them at least.

[Jeff]

not so sure that happened but I did go out of my way though to make sure I got as many of those books back that I could. heheh

[James]

There are some comics that I had as a kid that certain frames or whatever - I can remember as if it was yesterday - even though it has been 30+ years since last seeing the comic.
Was it the same for you Jeff?

[Jeff]

Totally James. Of course I went looking at conventions for the ones I remembered I had lost. But when I saw them again, it was the same. It was like yesterday. That's part of the collecting of them. When you do it for yourself it has more meaning. I collected because I loved reading the stories But a collection is a personal part of you.

[Ronyell]

I got into the DC universe when I was watching Batman the Animated Series when I was little. Ever since then, I was always interested in many superhero shows and I started to read up on DC comics after that and there were many comic books that I had enjoyed since then which included Batman: The Killing Joke, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Superman: Secret Identity.