Tales from the 25¢ Bin! Superman Edition!

I've talked about my life-long distaste for Superman several times here on the blog, and I've also gone into how over the past year or two, that distaste has somewhat dissipated. I think it has something to do with getting older. I've noticed that as I age, my dislikes have lost a lot of their venom and a small voice has begun to whisper out from the back of my mind things like, "But why don't you like it? Have you given it another chance recently? What could it hurt?"

I've done the same thing with shrimp and NFL football. Getting older is weird.

Anyway, I've dipped my toe into the world of Superman a little in the past year and my latest trip to the 25¢ bin seemed to me like a message from the comic book gods that it is time again to go a little deeper into the pool when I spotted these vintage Superman books. And since I do my best to pay close attention to what the comic book gods are telling me, I snapped them up.

First up is this issue of Superman Family from 1976. I love this issue because it reminds me of the era and style of the few Superman comics I remember having as a kid (often procured in batches from garage sales). Also, I was always a fan of these "family" books, especially the Batman Family ones, since you got several stories, often starring one of the more obscure characters.

Next up, we have a copy of a Superman comic from the time period when I really started hating the character. This came out when I was in 8th grade and by then I was a full blown Batman fanatic and as you know, when you're an 8th grader, everything is all or nothing. So I got it in my head that if I was a Batman fan, I had to hate Superman. Weird. But I will say one thing, I love the heck out of John Byrne, so this issue shows promise.

Next up is probably one of the greatest Superman covers I have ever seen. What romance! What elegant art! I'm gonna read the heck out of this one!

Here we see Supergirl being a douche. Whatever.

Now we're talking! This next comic has one of my favorite villains ever, Bizarro! I always thought that the concept that there is a twisted, backwards, evil doppelganger out there for everyone captured my imagination as a kid. I always want to read (and I have a vague memory of this) a comic where every DC superhero had a Bizarro of their very own. Imagine a Bizarro Batman! I wonder if I have a Bizarro me out there somewhere.

Ummm... I don't have much to say about this one. It was a quarter.

And finally, I grabbed this issue of Superboy. Can you believe that this is 100 pages of comic book for 50¢? Now we get, what? 22 pages? For $3.99? What a joke.

I never really understood Superboy. Is he just Clark Kent when he was younger? Then when did he start being super? I mean, there's a story here where he's a baby in a red cape, for cryin' out loud. Wouldn't people all over the world know about this Super Baby? And wouldn't they know he lived with the Kents in Smallville? It completely destroys his whole alter ego. And for that matter, when he was a boy, he didn't wear glasses. So he just had the same face whether he was Superboy or not. I'm so confused.

Anyway, that's it for this edition of Tales from the 25¢ Bin! Now I'm gonna curl up in my reading chair and catch up on some serious Superman action!