In the 1930s, the
medium known as comic books first emerged. However, they weren’t quite how we
know them today. These early comics were predominantly reprinted collections of
newspaper strips folded into magazine form, with the first being Dell Publishing’s Famous Funnies: A Carnival
of Comics. It wasn’t until 1938 that the comic that would define a
medium, and a genre, would be born. In 1938, there was Superman.
 |
| A brief telling of Superman's origin. |
Born Kal-El on the
dying planet Krypton, he
was saved by his father Jor-El
by being sent to Earth. There, he was found and raised in Smallville, Kansas
by famers Jonathan and Martha Kent as Clark Kent.
His Kryptonian DNA had a strange interaction with Earth’s yellow sun, granting
him incredible powers: super strength, flight (originally super leaping),
invulnerability, super breath, heat vision and super hearing. Deciding to use
his powers for good, he became Superman and took a job as a newspaper reporter
in order to be quickly alerted of troubles that required his aid.
 |
| The original Superman. |
 |
| Often imitated, never duplicated. |
Siegel and Shuster
unsuccessful shopped the character around for six years. Frustrated, Shuster
burned all the pages they had created, but Siegel saved the cover. Siegel began
shopping around for a new collaborator but eventually reunited with Shuster.
The character began to evolve, with inspiration being adopted from mythological
characters and a costume developed based on characters from comic strips, pulps
and the traditional circus strong-man outfits. They shopped it around again as
a comic strip before it was eventually bought as the lead feature in National
Allied Publishing’s (the predecessor of today’s DC Comics) new title Action Comics. Revising the concept, the character appeared in
1938’s Action Comics #1.
 |
| A brief example of Superman's evolution over the years. |
The character became
a hit and launched a new genre of comic books: the superhero. Other publishers
began to rapidly churn out their own costumed adventurers; some with powers,
some without. Many of these characters
appeared for a single issue and their designs were recycled for another one-off
character, while others persevered for much of what was dubbed the Golden Age of
Comics. Beyond that, Superman was one of the few to endure the changing
comic climate to follow; being continually published to the present day.
 |
| Superman's friends, family and sometimes foes. |
Superman’s popularity
led to his own self-titled series and a newspaper strip in 1939, and gradually
a slew of spin-off titles featuring his younger self in flashback stories as Superboy, Lois Lane
and Daily Planet
photographer (and unofficial Superman sidekick) Jimmy Olsen. In 1940,
Superman was brought to life on The Adventures of Superman
radio show, which ran for eleven years. From 1941-43, Superman hit the big
screen for the first time as animated theatrical shorts by Fleischer Studios (later Famous Studios). These
shorts are still perceived today as the finest animated cartoons produced for
that time period. They were also responsible for giving Superman the ability to
fly. These were followed in 1948 and 1950 by two serials starring Kirk Alyn, and a third starring George Reeves in 1951, which led
to the character’s first television program also called The Adventures of Superman. Reeves also had an appearance on I Love Lucy and the
short film Stamp Day for Superman.
In 1966, Superman
finally moved faster than a speeding bullet to Saturday mornings…
No comments:
Post a Comment