My 90's and Early 2000's Experience: My Childhood Superman Comic Book Collection (1994-2004)

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. I've got some great blog posts for you this week all of them either comic book or novel related. The schedule is going to be a bit different this week as well. Because I have an appointment on Wednesday, this week's Star Wars post will be coming out tomorrow instead. But my other two posts are coming out on their usual days, including this one obviously. Today I'm gonna be taking a look at my childhood Superman comic book collection. Just five comics that I got between 1994 and 2004. So let's get into it.

I didn't really grow up with Superman. Even though Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Superman: The Animated Series both aired in the 90's, neither show was an important part of my childhood, and I didn't see the Christopher Reeve Superman movies until I was well into my teenage years. I did have the Super Powers Collection Superman figure that my dad picked up for me somewhere while we were in Los Angeles in January 1993, but Superman wasn't as big of a character in my life like Batman was. So the first Superman comic I ever got was Action Comics #0 from 1994. This was part of the Zero Month event that retold the origin stories of all of DC's major characters following the Zero Hour miniseries, which came out earlier in 1994. My mom bought this issue for me at the CHEO gift shop when she and I were at the hospital for one of my appointments. There weren't any Batman or Star Trek comics or any Berenstain Bears books (that I didn't already have) in the gift shop that day. One thing that stood out to me about this issue is this scene where Clark calls Martha on the phone. It stood out to me, because I had seen an episode or two of the first season of Lois & Clark and I thought it was cool that Jonathan and Martha Kent were such a big part of Clark's (and Superman's) life. So to see it in the comic, not understanding, or knowing anything about Superman's publication history, was interesting. I still have my original copy of this issue in my collection.

The next Superman comic I got was The Adventures of Superman #523. Because Superman stories were consistently serialized, and being told across all of the Superman comics at the time, getting into the comics was a weird thing. This issue has Clark on the run with Jonathan and Martha, following the destruction of the Kent farm by the villain, Conduit and his stooges, Neutron, Plasmus, and Warp, because Conduit, a.k.a. Kenny Braverman hates Clark and decides that to get revenge on Clark, he has to go after Jonathan and Martha. This was another gift shop buy. I don't remember what I was at the hospital for. I think it was just for an appointment, possibly for bloodwork, which was something I needed done regularly. Even though I got rid of my original copy of this issue, I got another copy a couple of years ago.

The next issue I got was The Adventures of Superman #525. In this issue, Lois finally catches up with the Kents and Clark, forgetting that Clark Kent protects Superman from the constant barrage of people wanting him to do things for them, simply because he's Superman, decides to abandon his Clark Kent persona entirely because it was Clark's connection to Jonathan and Martha that nearly got them killed in the first place. I liked it, but I didn't really understand what was going on in this issue. Remember, I didn't know that Superman was from Krypton or that his name was actually Kal-El, nor did I know what was happening in the comics since I wasn't getting them regularly. Mom actually bought this issue along with Spider-Man #60 from the gift shop while I was in the hospital for something in 1995. Of course, this was the year that Batman Forever was coming out, so there was an ad for the trading cards in both this issue, and the Spider-Man comic, as well as an ad for the movie itself on the back cover of this issue. Like the previous issue, I still have this one in my collection, though it's not my original copy.

This next issue is kind of a weird one for me. I think my brother got it for Easter or something from my grandparents. It's a one shot, where Superman, who was in his electric blue phase during this period, got split into a Red version as well as his blue form. Yeah, I have no idea what was going on in the Superman comics at this point.This issue came out in 1997, though my brother got it in 1998  after Lois and Clark got married, finally, after nearly a decade, but I didn't know that at the time because Superman wasn't a character that I followed much as a kid. It's not that I disliked Superman, it's just, with the movies having ended in 1987, and me having missed the Death and Return of Superman storyline, Superman wasn't as relevant to me, whereas Batman was all over the place between the movies, reruns of the 1966 TV series, the shows that were airing new episodes in the 90's, and all the merchandise like toys, backpacks, pencil cases, and other things that tied into the movies and TV shows. I still liked the comics that I got though. I don't have this issue anymore, and I also haven't seen it at conventions or sales.

 The last Superman comic I got growing up was Superman (Vol. 2) #200 from 2004. I picked this up at a convenience store near my high school. By this point I had gained a new appreciation for Superman because I'd begun watching Smallville in 2001, and had started to see Clark as someone like me, instead of just this larger than life superhero. Plus Superman Returns was already in production in 2004 as well, and was two years away from coming out in theatres by then too. So Superman was already becoming more relevant to me, though Batman was, is, and always will be, my favourite of all the DC characters. Even though I've gotten some more Superman comics in single issues over the years, I still have more Superman comics in trade paperback collected editions.I don't have this issue in my collection anymore either. 

That's all I've got for you for today. I just wanted to talk about the five Superman comics that I had growing up because I don't talk about Superman much on this blog. Or any of my blogs really. Like I said, he wasn't that important of a character in my life, because he didn't have the same presence in the 90's that Batman did. Tomorrow I'll be talking about the five Star Wars novels that made me a Star Wars fan. So until then have a great rest of the day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.