A dime at our neighborhood corner store created lessons in choice.

A nickel candy bar and penny candy? A bag of Squirrels (Squirrel Nut Zippers), Mary Janes, Bazooka bubble gum (with Bazooka Joe comic), and candy necklace? I’d consider options on our walk around the corner and up Squirrel Road.

My brother had no such quandary. Straight to the comic book spinner rack he went with his dime for a Superman comic book.

We read those cover to cover—the excitement of Superman outsmarting Lex Luthor, saving Jimmy Olson and Lois Lane, ripping open his suit to show his Superman costume, dealing with kryptonite.

And from the back covers, we wondered whether to waste money on sea monkeys (brine shrimp). Ads inside the comics included muscle-building products, money-making opportunities, and my favorite, X-Ray Vision glasses.

Of course, we bought and read other comics—Wendy the Good Little Witch, Caspar the Friendly Ghost, Archie, Richie Rich, Batman, Little Lulu...

But Superman was our favorite.

Ah, the Golden Age of Comic Books, from about 1938 with the first Action Comic Superman issue (thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster), through 1956 officially, but far longer than that for us and our corner store.

Siegel and Shuster tried to sell the Superman idea for newspaper comic strips, but were turned down until the comic book became popular. Their comic strip ran from 1939 to 1966.

Comic books were popular in WWII because they were cheap, portable, and patriotic. The same was true for us. Interesting note, in the 1940s, Captain Marvel outsold Superman.

We knew Felix the Cat and Little Lulu from the TV shows, and could sing the theme songs—“Felix the Cat, the wonderful, wonderful cat. Whenever he gets in a fix, he reaches into his bag of tricks…” and “Little Lulu, Little Lulu, with freckles on her chin, always in and out of trouble, but mostly always in…”

And of course, the other version of our hero—Adventures of Superman TV show from the 1950s.

George Reeves was Superman for us. He was hesitant about agreeing to the TV role since, like many actors of the time, thought that few would watch the show. Bill Kennedy, a local Detroit celebrity, narrated the famous lines:

“Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound! (Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!)”

“Yes, it's Superman ... strange visitor from another planet, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men! Superman ... who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way! And now, another exciting episode in the Adventures of Superman!”

With the final scene of our hero standing before the waving American flag. Patriotic and exciting, made us proud to be American.

And our thank you to Kellogg’s who sponsored the program.

Superman was our hero. Heroes were honest, ethical, compassionate, incorruptible, and fought evil.

Seems we could use Superman again.

“Look! Up in the sky…”