Like Batman or Spider-Man, Superman is a character familiar enough to get audiences to tune in but with a past that allows some exploration and surprising variations.

I’ve enjoyed the episodes I’ve seen so far of “My Adventures with Superman,” a fun series, squarely aimed at youngish viewers and longtime fans, airing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block.

The show can’t quite measure up to WB Animation’s classic Superman tales of going on 30 years ago – and I’m not sure how it’s even possible that that much time has passed – “Superman the Animated Series,” “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited.”

I loved those series, have them all on DVD – remember those? – and my fondest memories are introducing those to my son when he was old enough to not be bothered by the animated violence. (His first action animation experience, along with “The Incredibles.”)

So while I’ll always have a fond spot for those series, “My Adventures with Superman” is really cute. And I don’t mean that term to serve as a disservice, or “sweet” either. But those are the first two thoughts that come to mind.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, “My Adventures with Superman” starts out as Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen begin their journalism careers as interns at the Daily Planet. It’s enjoyable that Clark is the most uncertain of the three, much like the character in the Christopher Reeve live-action film.

Superman is a character that’s open for varying interpretations, from Reeve’s quietly confident hero but bumbling Clark to the racket-busting Clark and Superman of the 1950s “The Adventures of Superman” to the kind and admirable character of the animated series of the 1990s and 2000s.

In other words, Superman is everybody’s Superman, and as long as an animated series or live-action film gets right his innate goodness and his unflagging desire to do the right thing, that’s a good Superman tale in my book.

In late 1968, I was buying Marvel comics after getting an introduction to them from a neighbor.

The powerful images and what-seemed-to-me powerful storytelling made an impact on me, Not the least reason was that I loved – and still do – team stories. Avengers and Fantastic Four were my favorite comics.

So Avengers 57 (the final page of which can be seen above) wowed me.

Roy Thomas’ writing and John Buscema’s art were breathtaking in the next issue.

What we couldn’t know at the time was that the comics would influence, decades later, big-screen Marvel adaptions. The world that Captain America, Iron Man, Vision, Black Panther and even Spider-Man lived in was a shared one. Cap and Panther were friends. The Avengers clashed sometime, but they were Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

The team-ups had already been strong, of course, but only grew stronger after this.

Don’t ask me how this happened, but I’ve been watching a lot of zombie movies lately.

When I’m not watching movies or a TV series for an article I’m writing, my tastes in viewing are offbeat, but even I wasn’t prepared to watch so many zombie movies.

The other day, I watched “Zombies of Mora Tau,” a low-budget flick from 1957 whose only well-known star was Allison Hayes of “Attack of the 50-Foot Woman” fame.

Not long ago, I wrote about a pair of zombie movies, including “King of the Zombies,” from 1941, that basically told the same story as “Zombies of Mora Tau” – zombies arise on a remote island. (The difference was that in the two earlier films, a scientist was creating an army of zombies for the Nazis.)

Watching those old films made me think of later zombie/walking dead films, notably George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” from 1968 and “Dawn of the Dead” in 1978. Both genuinely great films.

But what I got to thinking was when zombies got fast. Make no mistake, zombies are still slow, shambling creatures in some films and TV series, notably “The Walking Dead.”

The big change from walkers to runners came in 2002, of course, with director Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later.” In the film, the zombies could run – run fast! – and were probably considered a bigger threat than the paunchy, stumbling and mostly old white guys from earlier films.

If you haven’t seen “Dawn of the Dead” and “28 Days Later,” I urge you to do so.

As for the earlier films … well, you don’t have to rush to see them. The zombies are in no hurry. In fact, they won’ be going anywhere.