I’ve made no secret of my love for all things Superman, but attempting to collect Superman memorabilia can be a tremendous can of worms. Between the comic books, films, TV series, cartoon series, and never-ending line of merchandising, I feel fortunate that I’ve only attempted to collect the DVD media and autographs of the major players in the films and TV series. Even this though can be daunting. Since there have been so many versions and interpretations, even this limited silo of collecting can be far-reaching.
Case in point: the syndicated TV series Superboy, the optimal word being syndicated, which often means sub-par quality. To this day, I have seen very few episodes of the series, but I can already tell you that the special effects are as cheesy as the day that George Reeves first punched a robot.
That does not mean that this series does not have some entertainment value. The episodes that I saw were quite entertaining and stuck pretty close to the Superman comic book lore. I have been very pleased that Warner Archives have begun to put out the seasons that followed the first (and has been out on DVD for quite some time).
I had Bob pick me up an autographed photo of Superboy as played by Gerard Christopher sometime in the early 2000’s. He however was not in the first season of the series; Superboy in that case was played by John Haymes Newton.
It took quite a while before I was able to meet him face to face at the Hollywood Show on August 4, 2012. I didn’t need an autograph since I already had one, but I did want a photo with him. He charged me $10 for that. Despite that and the fact that I am certain that he previously sold my friend Dean some forged autographs of other Superman players, he was extremely friendly. We chatted about the Superman Celebration in Metropolis that I was sorry that I had missed that year (he had attended).
Standing next to him was the extremely attractive Stacy Haiduk, who had played Lana Lang in all four seasons of Superboy. There was a very nice color shot of the two of them, so I couldn’t resist giving them both $20 to sign it. She didn’t charge me anything additional for a photo op (although her sign indicated it would be $10). In fact, they both posed for a very nice photo with me.
Superboy may not be the highest quality series in the Superman canon, but it was an encounter I just simply couldn’t resist to add to my collection of Superman related autographs and encounters.
Celebrity encounters from the Summer 2012 Hollywood Show will continue…
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