Ok. Some of you may or may not know that I am a big Superman fan. I have been a fan since I was about 8yrs old and watched Superman II for the first time on UK TV.

As time went on, I read a few comics when I was at secondary school (or high school). This included Spider-Man and X-Men (they were the first comics I ever read). But it wasn’t until I read The Death of Superman that I realised just how much I wanted to read more about the character.

A kid I went to school with had lots of comics back then (he still collects them even now!). And he lent so many Superman comics I couldn’t thank him enough. Besides The Death Of Superman, other stories I read were Speeding Bullets, Kal (Superman in medieval times), an Elseworlds crossover starring Icon among others and a few other issues here and there.

I enjoyed reading Superman so much, that I even began drawing him myself. It didn’t last long. Lol. But I wish I still had the drawings from when I was 15-16yrs old!

Fast forward to 2005 and I realise how much I have missed reading comics. So I began to build up my collection from scratch. Started off reading some of the new Flash stuff that came out back then. Then moved onto Superman and Justice League. Batman soon followed. But I was itching to get back to the old stories I read from when I was a teen!

So I searched the interwebs and found my old favourites: Death Of Superman. World Without A Superman. The Return Of Superman. Batman Knightfall series. Batman Venom, the Elseworlds crossover starring Icon. These are some of the epic stories I grew up with.

But I didn’t stop there. I carried on buying on new comics that were of interest to me: Justice League, The Flash, Justice Society. Basically a lot of DC Comics. I had already established in my teens that Marvel and DC were two different entities and were aware of their characters. Not all. Just some!

By 2007, I had found a comic book shop in Newcastle Upon Tyne, where I live. The Travelling Man. Little did I know this shop even existed. So I started to buy comics there. At first on a monthly basis or when I had money to spend (job wise, I wasn’t earning enough lol).

It was at Travelling Man that I realised I would be pretty much at home with all their comics they had on offer. I didn’t even go to my first Free Comic Book Day until 2008!

But let’s track back a couple of years! 2006! Not only the year Superman Returns was released. But it was the year I discovered The Superman Homepage website. I had no idea such a site even existed! I must have stumbled upon it when I was looking for news on Smallville at the time (when I also found Kryptonsite).

Superman Homepage was like the bible for Superman fans! It had everything! News! Character bios! Reviews of movies and TV shows. Even the comics got epic coverage! If there was something you wanted to know about Superman, this site had it! And it’s all thanks to Steve Younis and his team! They have done and are continuing to do an amazing job!

If it wasn’t for the Superman Homepage, I would never have known about the Superman Celebration. Hell, I didn’t know there was a real town called Metropolis in the United States! When I saw some of the pics and videos they showed on the site, all I kept thinking was “How awesome would it be to be able to visit Metropolis and meet other fellow Superman fans for a few days?”

Well guess what? It happened! Yes! I was finally able to get myself across the Atlantic Ocean to the Mid-West of America in the State of Illinois for the 35th Annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis! And let me tell you, it was THE BEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE!

I arrived on Wednesday June 5th and didn’t leave until Monday June 10th. I was absolutely overwhelmed with what I saw and experienced! So many people had come together to this wonderful and vibrant little town to celebrate the life and times of an international superhero icon! And it’s all thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster!

I saw people in costumes! Not just Superman. But a wide range of other characters. And they were not all from comics either. People dressed up as characters from popular TV shows like Star Trek and movies like Star Wars. It was like being at a comic book convention but it was all about Superman.

People I met were so nice. Everyone asking me where I came from. They were very surprised when I told them that not only was it my first ever visit to Metropolis. It was also my first ever visit to the US. Period!

It was like being home from home! I met people who knew me from Twitter and YouTube. I got such an amazing buzz from the entire experience! Their Super Museum which is located inside the Superman Gift Store is just unbelievable! They have so much rare stuff, it is incredible! If they don’t have it, it hasn’t been made!

I got meet some awesome celebrities as well. The big two being Michael Rosenbaum of Smallville and Margot Kidder who played Lois Lane in the Superman movies with Christopher Reeve! I even got to ask Michael a question! And you will see what his answer was in a video very soon!

If you are a Superman fan or a comic book fan of any variation. I implore you to go to Metropolis the first chance you get! You will not regret it one bit!

I met that many awesome people, I got myself back onto Facebook because many of them use it! I have upload a ton of pictures so far but there is still more to come. And I have lots of video footage which will also be uploaded!

I plan on re-visiting Metropolis in 5yrs time in 2018! That way I will be there for the 40th Celebration and Superman’s BIG 8-0!!

Hope you enjoyed reading this! I can now safely say that I have been there. Done that. BOUGHT FOUR T-SHIRTS!! :D