The Man of Steel in the Golden Age

Superman’s origin is perhaps one of the best-known stories in comic book history. Indeed, in All Star Superman no. 1 (2005), writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely expertly cover the salient points with just four panels and eight words. On the doomed planet Krypton, scientists Jor-El and Lara place their infant son Kal-El into a rocket bound for Earth. He is found by Martha and Jonathan Kent, a kindly couple from the mid-American town of Smallville. They name the boy Clark and raise him as their own. As a child, Clark exhibits a collection of superhuman powers—invulnerability, incredible strength, the ability to leap incredible distances, and super speed—that would later become the hallmarks of his alter ego, Superman, the “Man of Steel.”

That dual identity would provide an ongoing sense of tension for the saga. Upon reaching adulthood, the mild-mannered Clark Kent moves from Smallville to urban Metropolis, where he works as a reporter for the Daily Planet. There he develops a romantic interest in fellow reporter Lois Lane (a character modeled in part on Siegel’s future wife, Joanne). She, however, dazzled by the courageous crime-fighting exploits of Superman and unaware of his dual identity, continually rejects Kent’s overtures. The audience, privy to the secret that continually eluded Lois, identified with Clark as a downtrodden “everyman,” while Superman served as a beacon of hope during the depths of the Great Depression.

The success of Action Comics no. 1 spurred the creation of a new superhero industry, with a host of comic book publishers sprouting virtually overnight. For their part, Siegel and Shuster received $130 from DC Comics for the exclusive rights to Superman. The pair (and later their estates) would spend years in court trying to recoup some share of the royalties for their blockbuster creation. DC publisher Jack Liebowitz wasted no time in exploiting the character, and in January 1939 Siegel and Shuster were enlisted to produce a Superman newspaper strip. Distributed by the McClure Syndicate, the feature ran successfully through the 1940s. The Man of Steel was awarded his own comic title with Superman no. 1 (summer 1939) and began appearing in World’s Best Comics (later World’s Finest Comics). DC introduced a Supermen of America fan club and licensed the character’s likeness to manufacturers of toys, puzzles, novels, colouring books, and bubble gum. Superman debuted on radio in 1940, in the long-running The Adventures of Superman program, with actor Bud Collyer giving voice to the hero. Superman made his silver-screen debut in 1941, in a celebrated series of 17 animated shorts from Fleischer Studios.

Superman’s powers grew in response to his caped competition, primarily Fawcett Comics’s Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel could fly, and his popularity soon rivaled that of Superman. It was not long before the Man of Steel was soaring through the skies, and DC filed suit against Fawcett for infringing on its copyright of Superman. Although DC was ultimately successful in its claim, Fawcett’s whimsical Captain Marvel stories—most of them written by comics legend Otto Binder—would outsell Superman titles throughout the 1940s. Of course, not every threat to the Man of Steel would come from a competing publisher. Kryptonite, a radioactive substance from Superman’s home world, made its debut on the Superman radio show and soon entered the pop-culture lexicon as a synonym for Achilles’ heel. Superman also developed a rogues’ gallery that included villains such as Lex Luthor, the Ultra-Humanite, and the Prankster. Upon the advent of World War II, Superman was anointed as DC’s standard-bearer of patriotism, and on several occasions he was depicted taking on Axis forces.

During that period Superman’s allies primarily consisted of his coworkers at the Daily Planet. Lois Lane was joined by crusty managing editor Perry White, a cigar-chomping old-school newshound who would often respond to the antics of his staff with the exclamation “Great Caesar’s ghost!” Jimmy Olsen, a copy boy (and later cub reporter) whose enthusiasm frequently got him into trouble, became famous as Superman’s pal.

Sales of superhero titles withered in the post-World War II years as readers flocked to horror, true crime, and romance comics. The Man of Steel was not exempt from that trend, but he continued to experience success in other media. Actor Kirk Alyn brought Superman to life in a pair of live-action movie serials, Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950); the latter adapted archnemesis Lex Luthor to the big screen. George Reeves, who portrayed Superman in the live-action theatrical release Superman and the Mole Men (1951), starred in the movie’s syndicated television spin-off Adventures of Superman (1952–58).

With the publication of psychiatrist Frederic Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent (1954), a since-discredited broadside against the comic industry that accused it of corrupting a generation of young readers, the so-called “Golden Age” of comics came to a close. The industry adopted the Comics Code, a self-censorship pledge that ensured that only the tamest of stories would be published. No longer the menace to criminals that is depicted on the cover of Action Comics no. 1, Superman became a helpful scoutmaster, instilling virtues into the childish Lane and Olsen and, by extension, the readers.

Superman in the Silver Age

The shift to a more family-friendly tone played to the strengths of writer Otto Binder, who had moved from Fawcett to DC in 1948. Just as he had developed a robust and entertaining supporting cast for Captain Marvel, Binder fleshed out Superman’s “family” and roster of villains in such a way that it could be argued that only Siegel himself wielded a greater influence on the growth of the Superman mythos. Binder cocreated, with artist Al Plastino, Superman’s cousin, Supergirl; the intergalactic villain Brainiac; Kandor, a miniature Kryptonian city preserved in a bottle; and the Legion of Super-Heroes, a teenage super team from the 30th century. With artist Curt Swan, Binder cocreated Krypto the Superdog and Comet the Superhorse as well as Lois Lane’s sister Lucy, who would serve as a recurring romantic foil for Jimmy Olsen. Binder also offered the definitive takes on Bizarro, Superman’s imperfect duplicate, and the Phantom Zone, a Kryptonian prison whose inmates would plague Superman time and again. Perhaps Binder’s most-enduring contribution to the superhero genre as a whole, however, would be the “imaginary story,” a noncanonical interlude that depicted, for example, a world in which Lex Luthor had killed Superman. With his work on Action Comics, Superman, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (debuted 1954), and Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane (debuted 1958), Binder left an indelible mark on the Silver Age Superman.

Though civil unrest and opposition to the Vietnam War defined much of the 1960s in the United States, Superman largely turned a blind eye to the social scene. Traces of the real world occasionally crept into his comics—the assassination of U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy, for example, was too big for Superman editor Mort Weisinger to ignore—but Superman titles generally offered an escape from, not an exploration of, political issues of the day. Few readers seemed to mind, as Superman’s fame reached global status, and translations of his comic books spread worldwide.

By the mid-1960s Superman’s drawing power as DC’s marquee character had begun to fade. The success of the live-action Batman television series in 1966 had shifted attention to DC’s other flagship character. Superman’s adventures became increasingly outrageous, and his superpowers intensified to a ridiculous level, perhaps best exemplified by his use of superventriloquism. As Superman’s faculties increased, his enemies simply could not pose a credible threat, and his stories lost dramatic intensity. By the end of the decade, Superman’s adventures had grown stale, and his readership had dwindled. The Superman newspaper strip was canceled in 1967.