I'm budgeting, and can't afford both. Which should I collect?

Actual comics or repeats?

Marvel is in print in soft-cover Masterworks, so I'd go that route. Superman would be reading-copy originals (GD-FN condition).

That's a tough one. Right now, I'm more in the mood for the Superman Family stuff.

Superman family should be a smaller run, plus you can segment it down if you have to.

Superman Titles:
Superman
Action (Supergirl)
World's Finest

Superman Friends:
Jimmy Olsen
Lois Lane

Superboy Titles:
Superboy
Adventure

Bonus:
Justice League of America

(Once you get towards the end of the Silver Age, Adventure becomes a Supergirl title.)

My childhood rankings:

Adventure
Superboy
Jimmy Olsen
World's Finest
Action
Lois Lane
Superman

A lot of the Superman stuff is collected in black and white showcase books, which if you don't mind no color is the cheapest way to go with those. I think Superman in the Weisinger era is a lot of fun. The one and done format lets you jump in and out anytime very easily, without having to remember anything that came before, or get invested into some long term storyline. While I'm a huge fan of SA Marvel, it's hard to dig into sometimes because it requires more time investment.

You could do both if you're willing to get Showcase volumes instead of the original issues. Personally -- and I do mean personally, as I'm sure Jeff and Swanderson will disagree and I'm basing my feelings more on the art than anything else -- I think the Weisinger era stuff gets good with Showcase Presents: Superman Vol. 3, Showcase Presents: World's Finest Vol. 3, and Legions of Super-Heroes Vol. 2.

I would save the money on the Legion stuff and pick up the odd 60s Marvel title and get a little of everything. I really dislike the Legion. Even though Superman writing then is hokey and contrived, it's silly fun, where I find the Legion is just too stupidly contrived to enjoy, most of the time.

Superboy isn't available in Showcase format. Or any other collected form, AFAIK.

I take back what I said about yer jib.

Wow, I'm surprised -- I think the LoSH is really fun, especially once Jim Shooter takes over the writing chores.

There is a "Greatest Superboy Stories Ever Told" paperback and a hardcover with Michael Cho cover, but yeah -- it hasn't been collected thoroughly like the others have.

But the volumes I listed above should have you reading for awhile, unless Superboy is an absolute must (and the character is one of the leads in the LoSH books).

Maybe if Rags Morales had been the artist I would like it more.

Then it would be the greatest thing ever done.

For Marvel's 75th anniversary, most of the Volume 1's of the Epic collections will be released.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_ ... g=imwan-20

The first 18 or so issues of each title.

I've already seen a couple Epic Collections in the discount section of BAM. I wonder how they're doing overall.

I went with Supes. Here's the order:

The Shooter/Swan era stories were very "Silver Age Marvel."

Of all of the Silver Age archives and Showcases, the Legion stories hold up the best for me.

These are all wonderful issues from a wonderful era. I hope you enjoy them, Trevor.

How so? The main difference that I got from the jump from Hamilton to Shooter was the move to focusing on smaller teams. I know there was the old theory that the Fatal Five were based on the Masters of Evil, but Shooter says Weisinger's instructions were to create a story based on the Dirty Dozen.

That's cool, Trevor!