Superman
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Action Comics #1 (June 1938)
Created by Jerry Siegel
Joe Shuster
In-story information
Alter ego Kal-El (birth name)
Clark Kent (adopted name)
Species Kryptonian
Place of origin Krypton
Superman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, high school students living in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1933. They sold Superman to Detective Comics, the future DC Comics, in 1938. Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 (cover-dated June 1938) and subsequently appeared in various radio serials, newspaper strips, television programs, films, and video games. With this success, Superman helped to create the superhero archetype and establish its primacy within the American comic book. The character is also referred to by such epithets as the Man of Steel, the Man of Tomorrow, and The Last Son of Krypton.
The origin story of Superman relates that he was born Kal-El on the planet Krypton, before being rocketed to Earth as an infant by his scientist father Jor-El, moments before Krypton’s destruction. Discovered and adopted by a Kansas farm couple, the child is raised as Clark Kent and imbued with a strong moral compass. Very early on he started to display various superhuman abilities, which, upon reaching maturity, he resolved to use for the benefit of humanity through a secret “Superman” identity.
Superman resides and operates in the fictional American city of Metropolis. As Clark Kent, he is a journalist for the Daily Planet, a Metropolis newspaper. Superman’s love interest is generally Lois Lane, and his archenemy is supervillain Lex Luthor. He is typically a member of the Justice League and close ally of Batman and Wonder Woman. Like other characters in the DC Universe, several alternate versions of Superman have been depicted over the years.
Superman’s appearance is distinctive and iconic; he usually wears a blue costume with a red-and-yellow emblem on the chest, consisting of the letter S in a shield shape, and a red cape. This shield is used in many media to symbolize the character. Superman is widely considered an American cultural icon. He has fascinated scholars, with cultural theorists, commentators, and critics alike exploring the character’s impact and role in the United States and worldwide. The character’s ownership has often been the subject of dispute, with Siegel and Shuster twice suing for the return of rights. The character has been adapted extensively and portrayed in other forms of media as well, including films, television series, and video games. Several actors have portrayed Superman in motion pictures and TV series including Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, Brandon Routh, Henry Cavill, and Tyler Hoechlin.
Artwork for the cover of Superman Forever vol. 1, 1 (June, 1998 DC Comics). Art by Alex Ross
In January 1933, Cleveland high school student Jerry Siegel wrote a short story, illustrated by his friend and classmate Joe Shuster, titled “The Reign of the Superman”, which Siegel self-published in his fanzine, Science Fiction. The titular character is a vagrant who gains vast psychic powers from an experimental drug and uses them maliciously for profit and amusement, only to lose them and become a vagrant again, ashamed that he will be remembered only as a villain. Siegel’s fanzine did not sell well. Siegel and Shuster shifted to making comic strips, which they self-published in a book they called Popular Comics. The pair dreamed of becoming professional authors and believed that syndicated newspaper strips offered more lucrative and stable work than pulp magazines. The art quality standards were also lower, making them more accessible to the inexperienced Shuster.
In early 1933 or in 1934, Siegel developed a new character, also named Superman, but now a heroic character, which Siegel felt would be more marketable. This first prototype of Superman had no fantastic abilities and wore casual clothing. Siegel and Shuster often compared this version to Slam Bradley, a comics character they created in 1936.
Siegel shared his idea with Shuster and they decided to turn it into a comic strip. The first publisher they solicited was Humor Publishing in Chicago, after having read one of their comic books, Detective Dan.A representative of Humor Publishing was due to visit Cleveland on a business trip and so Siegel and Shuster hastily put together a comic story titled “The Superman” and presented it to the publisher. Although Humor showed interest, it pulled out of the comics business before any book deal could be made.
Siegel believed publishers kept rejecting them because he and Shuster were young and unknown, so he looked for an established artist to replace Shuster. When Siegel told Shuster what he was doing, Shuster reacted by burning their rejected Superman comic, sparing only the cover.
Siegel solicited multiple artists and in 1934 Russell Keaton, strips Keaton produced based on Siegel’s treatment, the Superman character further evolves: In the distant future, when Earth is on the verge of exploding due to “giant cataclysms”, the last surviving man sends his child back in time to the year 1935, where he is adopted by Sam and Molly Kent. The boy exhibits superhuman strength and bulletproof skin, and the Kents teach the child, whom they name Clark, to use his powers for good. However, the newspaper syndicates rejected their work and Keaton abandoned the project.
Above: An apparently ordinary Clark Kent, transforming into the powerful Superman. Artwork for the cover of Superman Forever vol. 1, 1 (June, 1998 DC Comics). Art by Alex Ross.
Siegel and Shuster reconciled and resumed developing Superman. The character became an alien from the planet Krypton with the now-familiar costume: tights with an “S” on the chest, over-shorts, and a cape. They made Clark Kent a journalist who pretends to be timid, and introduced his colleague Lois Lane, who is attracted to the bold and mighty Superman, but does not realize he and Kent are the same person.
Siegel and Shuster entered the comics field professionally in 1935, producing detective and adventure stories for the New York-based comic-book publisher National Allied Publications. Although National expressed interest in Superman, Siegel and Shuster wanted to sell Superman as a syndicated comic strip, but the newspaper syndicates all turned them down. Max Gaines, who worked at McClure Newspaper Syndicate, suggested they show their work to Detective Comics (which had recently bought out National Allied). Siegel recalled, In March 1938, Siegel and Shuster sold all rights to the character to Detective Comics, Inc. for $130 (the equivalent of $2,200 when adjusted for inflation). It was the company’s policy to buy the full rights to the characters it published. By this time, they had resigned themselves that Superman would never be a success, and with this deal they would at least see their character finally published
Superman has also appeared as a regular or semi-regular character in a number of superhero team series, such as Justice League of America and World’s Finest Comics, and in spin-off series such as Supergirl. Sales of Action Comics and Superman declined steadily from the 1950s, but rose again starting in 1987. Superman #75 (Nov 1992) sold over 6 million copies, making it the best-selling issue of a comic book of all time, thanks to a media sensation over the possibly permanent death of the character in that issue. Sales declined from that point on. In February 2016, Action Comics sold just over 31,000 copies. The comic books are today considered a niche aspect of the Superman franchise due to low readership.
Beginning in January 1939, a Superman daily comic strip appeared in newspapers, syndicated through the McClure Syndicate. A color Sunday version was added that November. The Sunday strips had a narrative continuity separate from the daily strips, possibly because Siegel had to delegate the Sunday strips to ghostwriters. By 1941, the newspaper strips had an estimated readership of 20 million. Shuster drew the early strips, then passed the job to Wayne Boring. From 1949 to 1956, the newspaper strips were drawn by Win Mortimer. The strip ended in May 1966, but was revived from 1977 to 1983 to coincide with a series of movies released by Warner Bros.
After Shuster left National, Boring also succeeded him as the principal artist on Superman comic books. He redrew Superman taller and more detailed. Around 1955, Curt Swan in turn succeeded Boring.
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