In "When We First Met," we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, "Avengers Assemble!" or the first appearance of Batman's giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that.

Reader Michael S. wrote in to ask, "Ever since I began reading Superman comics, there’s always been this running joke that when the Man of Steel gets electrocuted, he says “it tickles.” Where did this come from?"

Good question, Michael. The answer is pretty straightforward, but I figure that I'll take a different approach to it (as otherwise, the column would be over right now) and show the evolution of Superman's reaction to electricity in general.

In Action Comics #14 (by Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster and Paul Cassidy), Superman first meets the Ultra-Humanite and is shocked when the Man of Steel is knocked out by a burst of electricity!

Later in that same story, Superman also notes that he almost died because the cabin that they are in catches fire later on and Superman was still unconscious. Isn't that fascinating? That according to Siegel, at that point in time, more than a year into Superman's comic book career, he still felt that Superman could burn to death in a cabin fire. Weird. It is also interesting to see how Shuster and Cassidy chose to depict electricity. It is weird to think about now, but back in 1939, electricity was still...if not a NEW thing, it definitely wasn't something that people are used to their whole lives like it is today. The country was probably only a decade removed from still using gas lamps in most apartment buildings (I did a Toy Legends Revealed about how Play-Doh was invented after its original purpose became useless, as it was originally designed to clean people's wallpapers from the soot from gas lamps!).

In Superman #4 (by Siegel, Shuster and Cassidy), Superman survives an electrical shock...

In Action Comics #42, though (by Siegel and Leo Nowak), Superman is paralyzed by electricity! It is part of a cool story where Luthor disguises himself as basically the head of a cult.

In Superman #14 (by Siegel, Shuster and Cassidy), Superman first makes it a point to say that he shrugs off a million volts of electricity...

We are almost to the point where Superman first gets hit by literal lightning. This is an important bit because it also introduces the catch phrase that Michael is specifically looking for!

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In 1942's Action Comics #52 (by Jerry Siegel and John Sikela), Superman is struck by lightning for the first time and he make a point that it is a good thing that he is not ticklish, because the lightning would only tickle him...

Good bit, right?

That is likely why, two years later, Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye duplicated that concept on the cover to Superman #32 in an iconic image that has been homaged many times in the years since...

Most recently by Adam Hughes on a variant cover of the current volume of Superman....

There ya go, Michael! If anyone else has a suggestion for a comic book first, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!