[Nyororin]

Typical US "heroes" are fairly well known in Japan - at least in my experience. Everyone knows who Superman is (and he was even recently used in a series of Toyota commercials)... Along with Spiderman who is known largely through a tokusatsu series. Batman is also fairly well known, I`m not really sure how though.

As for the rest, I really don`t think anyone knows who they are unless they are an American comic fan. (A very rare breed)

For those who are known, it`s all in image - as a character alone. No knowledge of the back story, or wide recognition of the comics - which really aren`t and weren`t read in Japan. There seems to be a general recognition that a character is a US comic book hero simply by looking at it (as the design of a character generally makes it pretty obvious). Other than that, not really any incorporation into culture here.

I would still say that more people would be able to recognize a display of US comic book heroes in Japan that a group recognizing Japanese heroes in the US. I mean, how many people know the Time Bokan series characters at a glance in the US?