How to Find Vintage Superman Comics
Determine your reason(s) for collecting Superman comics., Know the titles Superman has appeared in., Look for early appearances of major characters in the Superman myths., Look for classic Superman stories., Find a favorite Superman artist.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Determine your reason(s) for collecting Superman comics.
There are 2 main reasons for collecting comics: for extrinsic value (money, profit) or for intrinsic value (the stories and art).
If you collect comic books with the hope of making money, you will want to find the earliest issues from the Golden Age (1933 to 1955) and Silver Age (1956 to 1969) that you can afford.
If you collect comics out of love for the medium, you have a broader selection of issues to choose from, including those from the Bronze Age (1970 to 1985) and early parts of the Iron Age (or Modern Age, 1986 to present) that have significance to fans in general or to you in particular.
To determine what you can afford, consult resources such as the Over Street Price Guide or websites such as <a href="http://www.comicspriceguide.com">www.comicspriceguide.com</a> or www.comicbookrealm.com to find out the going prices of issues you may be interested in. -
Step 2: Know the titles Superman has appeared in.
Over the course of his comic book career, Superman has appeared in a number of DC Comics titles, either as the star or as a supporting character.
Following is a list of titles where you can find the Man of Steel:
Action Comics.
Superman first appeared in Issue #1 of this comic in June, 1938, 5 years after his creators, Jerry Sigel and Joe Shuster, first tried to publish him.
He has appeared in each issue since and on the covers of most, except for a few early issues and for a brief period in the mid-to-late 1980s, when it was published weekly instead of monthly.
Action Comics ran for 904 issues, until August 2011, when DC rebooted its continuity and gave Superman a new costume.
Action started again with Issue #1 in September
2011. (This comic title may be what gave rise to one of Superman's nicknames, the Action Ace.) Superman.
Premiering in June 1939, this was the first comic book title to be named for the superhero character it starred.
Issue #1 reprinted the Superman story in Action #1; subsequent issues led with original stories.
Unlike Action Comics, Superman was renumbered twice.
The first renumbering happened when Superman was retitled "The Adventures of Superman" in January 1987 and a new Superman title was created to showcase the changes made to the character following the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
That new Superman ended with Issue #226 in 2006, as "The Adventures of Superman" reverted to the title "Superman." In August 2011, it ended with Issue #714 and was renumbered to Issue 1 the following month.
Superman:
The Man of Steel.
This title, using Superman's most famous nickname, was first a 6-issue miniseries covering Superman's revised origin following the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
It returned in 1991 as a monthly comic and ran for 134 issues before cancellation in
2003.
Superman:
The Man of Tomorrow.
This comic, using Superman's original nickname, started on a quarterly basis in 1995 but began to be published less frequently before being canceled in 1999 after 15 issues.
More Fun Comics/Adventure Comics.
Technically, it was not Superman who appeared here, but Super boy, who was the juvenile form of Superman. (The modern Super Boy, introduced in 1992, was a genetically engineered being, half of whose DNA was Superman's.) Super boy premiered in More Fun #101, January 1945, which was later renamed Adventure Comics.
A Super Boy title followed in 1950; the Boy of Steel appeared in both titles until the late 1960s and in his own title with the Legion of Super-Heroes thereafter.
Superman's Pal:
Jimmy Olsen.
The first of 2 titles to focus on 1 of Superman's friends, this title premiered in October 1954 and ran for 163 issues, ending in March
1974.
It centered on the escapades of Daily Planet cub (and later full-fledged) reporter Jimmy Olsen, who could, when things got hairy (or in some stories, he did), summon the Man of Might with his signal watch.
Early stories in this series often took a humorous bent, while later stories became more serious.
Jack Kirby's "Fourth World," including the Forever People, the New Gods, and the villainous Darkseid, were first introduced in this comic book.
Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane.
Following a tryout in Showcase, this title, premiering in March 1958, gave Lois Lane her own comic book.
Stories varied from humorous to serious; a number of stories had Superman as the object of a love triangle between Lois and his childhood sweetheart, Lana Lang, who had grown up to become a TV reporter.
The title ran for 137 issues, ending in October 1974, after which Lois' adventures were folded into Superman Family.
There were also 2 annuals.
Superman Family.
This title featured various members of the Superman myths who had either had their own titles or appeared as backup features in Action or Superman.
There were Superman stories, as well as stories featuring Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Super girl, Krypto, the Earth-2 Superman, and Kandorian superheroes Night wing and Flame Bird.
Some issues featured a single story that incorporated all members of the Superman family then featured in the book.
This title ran for 59 issues from May 1974 to September 1982, with its first issue numbered at 164, following the numbering of Superman's Pal:
Jimmy Olsen.
It became a giant-sized Dollar Comic in April
1977.
World's Finest Comics.
Introduced as World's Best Comics in the spring of 1941, this title originally featured Superman and Batman in separate stories, even though both were featured on the cover.
In Issue #71 in 1954, Superman and Batman started working together.
This partnership was interrupted in the early 1970s to let the Metropolis Marvel partner with other superheroes, then the team-ups with Batman resumed until the title's cancellation in 1986 after 323 issues.
The two heroes would pair again in Superman/Batman, although their post-Crisis partnership was often rougher than in their earlier years.
DC Comics Presents.
Introduced in July 1978, this title paired Superman with superheroes other than Batman, paralleling the successful teaming of the Caped Crusader with other superheroes in "The Brave and the Bold".
DC Comics Presents ran for 97 issues, ending in
1986.
Justice League of America.
The Silver Age counterpart to the Justice Society of America, the Justice League of America started as a feature in "The Brave and the Bold" (Issue #28, March 1960), before becoming its own title in
1960.
While Superman had been a reserve member of the Justice Society, he took part in only one JSA adventure and made a token appearance in another.
However, he was a charter member of the JLA, appearing in most of the issues of Justice League of America until that title's cancellation in
1986.
He did not appear in the first reconstitution of the Justice League after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, but he has appeared in most of the JLA membership rosters since.
Super Friends.
DC Comics' adaptation of the Hanna-Barbra cartoon series that featured Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Aqua Man, and their junior partners (originally Wendy and Marvin, then later Wonder twins Zayn and Jayna).
The comic was better grounded in the DC universe than the TV series and also introduced international superheroes such as the Jack O' lantern, the Seraph, and the Green Fury. (A more recent Super Friends title features chibi-style renderings of Justice League Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aqua man, Flash, and the John Stewart version of Green Lantern.
Superman Adventures.
Aimed at a younger audience, this title follows the continuity of the 1996 to 2000 "Superman:
The Animated Series" and features art drawn in the style of that series.
Superman also appears regularly in the DC animated titles "Justice League Adventures" and "Justice League Unlimited," based on the animated series with the same titles.
Superman has also appeared in a number of special issue comics over the years.
The earliest were the 1939 and 1940 New York World's Fair Comics, produced in conjunction with the 1939 World's Fair; there was also a 1953 3-D edition, complete with special glasses.
A number of annuals or 80-page giant issues were released to mark milestone anniversaries for the character, although some featured original stories, such as a 1977 special issue where the Man of Steel encountered an alien race who regarded him as a God after he had unknowingly bestowed the gift of eternal life on them as the result of saving Earth from destruction when time traveling into the primordial past. , If you collect comics for profit, first appearance issues are among those prized by collectors.
First appearance stories are also popular stories for reprint collections aimed at those collectors who want to have the story without having to shell out big bucks to own the original comic book.
Major characters in the Superman mythos are listed below, along with the comic issues in which they first appeared:
Some of the major characters have appeared since the early days of Superman's adventures.
Lois Lane first appeared with Superman in Action Comics #1, while his arch-enemy, Luthor, first appeared in Action #23, April 1940, albeit with a shock of red hair instead of the bald pate he would sport from his third appearance onward.
Jimmy Olsen and Perry White were introduced on "The Adventures of Superman" radio show, but made their way into Superman comics by
1940.
Superman's parents, Jor-El and Lara, first appeared in the Superman newspaper strip in 1939 as "Jor-L" and "Lora," but did not appear in the comics until 1945, when they appeared in the first Super boy story in More Fun Comics #101 that January.
More Fun/Adventure also established the first names of Superman's foster parents, the Kents, as Jonathan and Martha.
The fifth dimension imp, Mr.
Mxyzptlk (then spelled "Mxyztplk"), made his first appearance in Superman #30, September
1944.
The 1950s expanded the Superman cast of characters and also began to flesh out the history of his home planet, Krypton.
A trio of Kryptonian villains appeared in Superman #65, August 1950, and again in Action #194, July 1954, followed by Krypto the Super dog in Adventure #210, March
1955.
Two super-gorillas from Krypton followed in the next few years.
Then the bottle city of Kandor made its first appearance in Action #242, July 1958, when Superman first fought Brainiac, the evil android who had shrunk it.
Ten months later, Superman's cousin Super Girl premiered in Action #252.
Other characters added to the Superman myths were his childhood sweetheart, Lana Lang, who appeared as a teenager in Super boy #10 in 1950 and as an adult several years later, and his imperfect clone, Bizarro, who appeared as a juvenile in Super boy #68, October 1958, and as an adult a year later in a 2-part story in Action #254 and #255.
The Arctic Fortress of Solitude was also introduced during this decade, as were the Legion of Super-Heroes, who premiered in Adventure Comics #247, April
1958.
The 1960s further expanded and refined the Superman myths.
Luthor acquired a first name, Lex, in Adventure Comics #271, April 1960, and his reason for hating Superman became a desire of revenge over the accidental destruction of his lab, the life form he created, and the loss of his hair.
The Phantom Zone appeared the following April in Adventure Comics #283, giving Superman a ready source of villains from his home world to battle and re-imprison.
Luthor would get a planet of his own to defend, Lexor; Bizarro also got his own planet, the Bizarro World (Htrae), in a 2-part story in Action #263 and #264.
The Kandorian version of Batman and Robin, Nightwing and Flame bird, were also introduced in this decade, as was the Superman Emergency Squad, also based in Kandor.
The 1970s and early 1980s added few new characters to the Superman family.
When Clark Kent moved from print to TV journalism, he acquired a new boss in the person of Morgan Edge of Galaxy Communications and a minor nemesis in the person of practical joking sportscaster Steve Lombard.
The enduring villain to come from this era came in 1980 in the person of the hulking, cruel Mongul, introduced in November of that year in DC Comics Presents #27, a villain powerful enough that Superman never faced him without the assistance of other superheroes.
The mid-1980s saw the revision of many characters in the Superman myths, such as Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and Super girl, and the elimination of others, such as Krypto, Nightwing and Flame bird, and the Superman Emergency Squad.
It was not until November 1992, however, that a major new villain was introduced, that being Doomsday, who premiered in Superman:
The Man of Steel #18.
Doomsday did what no other foe before had done � kill Superman, who was actually in a death-like coma during which a number of pretenders to the Superman mantle arose. , In his over 7 decades, Superman has been featured in a number of memorable stories that have proved popular with fans who seek out either the original comic book or one of many reprints that include those stories.
Stories from the late 1930s and early 1940s often showed a social bent reflecting Sigel and Shuster's vision of Superman as "champion of the oppressed." A story in Action Comics #3 shows the Man of Steel going undercover in a mining camp to expose a corrupt operation.
Another story from the 1940s shows him halting a war by abducting the leaders of the combatant countries and forcing them to fight it out with each other.
Social issues would return periodically over the years, including Superman's 1986 appearance in the "Heroes vs.
Hunger" special comic and a story from the 1990s where he dismantles the military of Middle Eastern country Qurac for their sponsoring of terror.
Stories from the 1950s and 1960s had Superman dealing with more powerful foes and bigger stories with science fiction elements such as radiation, time travel, and other dimensions.
Major stories from this era included Superman's time travel back to Krypton before its explosion, as well as the imaginary stories where Luthor kills Superman and where Superman solves all the world's problems by splitting into Superman Red and Superman Blue.
Superman #76, August 1952, featured the first comic book adventure Superman shared with Batman, and Superman #199, August 1967, featured his first race with the Flash.
This was also the period when Superman was first plagued by Red Kryptonite, which had bizarre physical and mental effects on him for limited periods of time.
Story forms included 3-part "novels" and "Imaginary Tales" that diverged from the regular continuity.
Stories from the early 1970s saw a return to social relevance, such as the story in Superman #247 from 1972 where the Guardians of the Universe implant the notion in Superman's mind that he may be doing too much for mankind, a notion renewed several years later by the being Destiny in Superman #352.
This was also the era when Clark Kent went from being a newspaper reporter to a TV anchorman; by the end of the decade, he was working for both the Daily Planet and station WGBS.
Multi-issue story arcs became more commonplace during this era, such as a 4-part series in Superman #296 to 299 where an alien causes Superman to lose his powers when dressed as Clark Kent, forcing the Man of Steel to re-examine his dual identity.
The late 1970s-to-mid 1980s saw the introduction of limited-run series such as the 3-issue "World of Krypton" in 1979 and "The Krypton Chronicles" in 1981, which wove stories first told in the backup feature "The Fabulous World of Krypton" into stories of Jor-El's life and career and of Superman's family history.
The 4-issue Phantom Zone miniseries, published in 1982, featured a bold attempt by the Phantom Zone criminals to escape the Zone and also revealed the Zone's nature as an interface between 2 dimensions.
After the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1986, storylines and story arcs became, if not grander in fact, grander by being given names, such as "World Without a Superman" and "Reign of the Supermen," the results of Superman's apparent death after battling Doomsday.
Another major story arc hearkened back to the Superman Red and Blue imaginary story from the 1960s by having Superman changed from being a physical powerhouse to an energy being given form by his containment suit and eventually being split into a Superman Red and a Superman Blue.
Most of these story arcs were reprinted as graphic anthologies shortly after their original publication, and the entire saga with Doomsday and its aftermath were also published in novel form. , Superman has been drawn by a number of comic artists over the years.
Several of these artists have become associated with the character; a partial list is given below.
Joe Shuster, who co-created Superman, was the first artist to draw Superman, which he did from the character's premiere into the early 1940s.
His Superman lacked the detail associated with later artists, although he did show the Man of Tomorrow's enjoyment of his super-abilities through subtle facial detail and depicted Superman's cape billowing behind him as he soared through the air.
Shuster initially showed the "S" shield as a triangle (with an indistinct "S"), gradually evolving it into the more-familiar pentagon shape.
Wayne Boring first drew Superman as an assistant to Joe Shuster for the Superman newspaper strip, which he took over in
1940.
His first comic book work appeared in 1942, and by the end of the decade, he was the principal artist for Action Comics and Superman.
He was again the principal artist for Action during the mid-1960s and returned to draw one of the last of the Red Kryptonite stories in the early 1980s.
He established the towering, muscular look associated with the Man of Steel, although with a thicker waist than drawn by other artists, and also defined the futuristic appearance of the planet Krypton.
Curt Swan first drew Superman in Superman #51, April 1948, and Super boy in Issue 5 of that comic the following year, as well as doing some of Superman's early team-ups with Batman in World's Finest.
He was the primary artist for Superman's Pal:
Jimmy Olsen and ended up drawing the Man of Steel in most of his non-team appearances from the 1950s through the mid-1980s.
Swan added a dimension of realism to Superman's facial expression even as he exaggerated the Man of Steel's musculature.
John Byrne wrote and drew Superman for the first few years after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, starting with the 6-issue revision of the character's origin, Superman:
The Man of Steel.
He revised the look as well as the origin of Lex Luthor and the appearances of Jor-El and Lara, among others, made Clark Kent more outgoing, and also did away with Super boy. -
Step 3: Look for early appearances of major characters in the Superman myths.
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Step 4: Look for classic Superman stories.
-
Step 5: Find a favorite Superman artist.
Detailed Guide
There are 2 main reasons for collecting comics: for extrinsic value (money, profit) or for intrinsic value (the stories and art).
If you collect comic books with the hope of making money, you will want to find the earliest issues from the Golden Age (1933 to 1955) and Silver Age (1956 to 1969) that you can afford.
If you collect comics out of love for the medium, you have a broader selection of issues to choose from, including those from the Bronze Age (1970 to 1985) and early parts of the Iron Age (or Modern Age, 1986 to present) that have significance to fans in general or to you in particular.
To determine what you can afford, consult resources such as the Over Street Price Guide or websites such as <a href="http://www.comicspriceguide.com">www.comicspriceguide.com</a> or www.comicbookrealm.com to find out the going prices of issues you may be interested in.
Over the course of his comic book career, Superman has appeared in a number of DC Comics titles, either as the star or as a supporting character.
Following is a list of titles where you can find the Man of Steel:
Action Comics.
Superman first appeared in Issue #1 of this comic in June, 1938, 5 years after his creators, Jerry Sigel and Joe Shuster, first tried to publish him.
He has appeared in each issue since and on the covers of most, except for a few early issues and for a brief period in the mid-to-late 1980s, when it was published weekly instead of monthly.
Action Comics ran for 904 issues, until August 2011, when DC rebooted its continuity and gave Superman a new costume.
Action started again with Issue #1 in September
2011. (This comic title may be what gave rise to one of Superman's nicknames, the Action Ace.) Superman.
Premiering in June 1939, this was the first comic book title to be named for the superhero character it starred.
Issue #1 reprinted the Superman story in Action #1; subsequent issues led with original stories.
Unlike Action Comics, Superman was renumbered twice.
The first renumbering happened when Superman was retitled "The Adventures of Superman" in January 1987 and a new Superman title was created to showcase the changes made to the character following the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
That new Superman ended with Issue #226 in 2006, as "The Adventures of Superman" reverted to the title "Superman." In August 2011, it ended with Issue #714 and was renumbered to Issue 1 the following month.
Superman:
The Man of Steel.
This title, using Superman's most famous nickname, was first a 6-issue miniseries covering Superman's revised origin following the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
It returned in 1991 as a monthly comic and ran for 134 issues before cancellation in
2003.
Superman:
The Man of Tomorrow.
This comic, using Superman's original nickname, started on a quarterly basis in 1995 but began to be published less frequently before being canceled in 1999 after 15 issues.
More Fun Comics/Adventure Comics.
Technically, it was not Superman who appeared here, but Super boy, who was the juvenile form of Superman. (The modern Super Boy, introduced in 1992, was a genetically engineered being, half of whose DNA was Superman's.) Super boy premiered in More Fun #101, January 1945, which was later renamed Adventure Comics.
A Super Boy title followed in 1950; the Boy of Steel appeared in both titles until the late 1960s and in his own title with the Legion of Super-Heroes thereafter.
Superman's Pal:
Jimmy Olsen.
The first of 2 titles to focus on 1 of Superman's friends, this title premiered in October 1954 and ran for 163 issues, ending in March
1974.
It centered on the escapades of Daily Planet cub (and later full-fledged) reporter Jimmy Olsen, who could, when things got hairy (or in some stories, he did), summon the Man of Might with his signal watch.
Early stories in this series often took a humorous bent, while later stories became more serious.
Jack Kirby's "Fourth World," including the Forever People, the New Gods, and the villainous Darkseid, were first introduced in this comic book.
Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane.
Following a tryout in Showcase, this title, premiering in March 1958, gave Lois Lane her own comic book.
Stories varied from humorous to serious; a number of stories had Superman as the object of a love triangle between Lois and his childhood sweetheart, Lana Lang, who had grown up to become a TV reporter.
The title ran for 137 issues, ending in October 1974, after which Lois' adventures were folded into Superman Family.
There were also 2 annuals.
Superman Family.
This title featured various members of the Superman myths who had either had their own titles or appeared as backup features in Action or Superman.
There were Superman stories, as well as stories featuring Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Super girl, Krypto, the Earth-2 Superman, and Kandorian superheroes Night wing and Flame Bird.
Some issues featured a single story that incorporated all members of the Superman family then featured in the book.
This title ran for 59 issues from May 1974 to September 1982, with its first issue numbered at 164, following the numbering of Superman's Pal:
Jimmy Olsen.
It became a giant-sized Dollar Comic in April
1977.
World's Finest Comics.
Introduced as World's Best Comics in the spring of 1941, this title originally featured Superman and Batman in separate stories, even though both were featured on the cover.
In Issue #71 in 1954, Superman and Batman started working together.
This partnership was interrupted in the early 1970s to let the Metropolis Marvel partner with other superheroes, then the team-ups with Batman resumed until the title's cancellation in 1986 after 323 issues.
The two heroes would pair again in Superman/Batman, although their post-Crisis partnership was often rougher than in their earlier years.
DC Comics Presents.
Introduced in July 1978, this title paired Superman with superheroes other than Batman, paralleling the successful teaming of the Caped Crusader with other superheroes in "The Brave and the Bold".
DC Comics Presents ran for 97 issues, ending in
1986.
Justice League of America.
The Silver Age counterpart to the Justice Society of America, the Justice League of America started as a feature in "The Brave and the Bold" (Issue #28, March 1960), before becoming its own title in
1960.
While Superman had been a reserve member of the Justice Society, he took part in only one JSA adventure and made a token appearance in another.
However, he was a charter member of the JLA, appearing in most of the issues of Justice League of America until that title's cancellation in
1986.
He did not appear in the first reconstitution of the Justice League after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, but he has appeared in most of the JLA membership rosters since.
Super Friends.
DC Comics' adaptation of the Hanna-Barbra cartoon series that featured Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Aqua Man, and their junior partners (originally Wendy and Marvin, then later Wonder twins Zayn and Jayna).
The comic was better grounded in the DC universe than the TV series and also introduced international superheroes such as the Jack O' lantern, the Seraph, and the Green Fury. (A more recent Super Friends title features chibi-style renderings of Justice League Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aqua man, Flash, and the John Stewart version of Green Lantern.
Superman Adventures.
Aimed at a younger audience, this title follows the continuity of the 1996 to 2000 "Superman:
The Animated Series" and features art drawn in the style of that series.
Superman also appears regularly in the DC animated titles "Justice League Adventures" and "Justice League Unlimited," based on the animated series with the same titles.
Superman has also appeared in a number of special issue comics over the years.
The earliest were the 1939 and 1940 New York World's Fair Comics, produced in conjunction with the 1939 World's Fair; there was also a 1953 3-D edition, complete with special glasses.
A number of annuals or 80-page giant issues were released to mark milestone anniversaries for the character, although some featured original stories, such as a 1977 special issue where the Man of Steel encountered an alien race who regarded him as a God after he had unknowingly bestowed the gift of eternal life on them as the result of saving Earth from destruction when time traveling into the primordial past. , If you collect comics for profit, first appearance issues are among those prized by collectors.
First appearance stories are also popular stories for reprint collections aimed at those collectors who want to have the story without having to shell out big bucks to own the original comic book.
Major characters in the Superman mythos are listed below, along with the comic issues in which they first appeared:
Some of the major characters have appeared since the early days of Superman's adventures.
Lois Lane first appeared with Superman in Action Comics #1, while his arch-enemy, Luthor, first appeared in Action #23, April 1940, albeit with a shock of red hair instead of the bald pate he would sport from his third appearance onward.
Jimmy Olsen and Perry White were introduced on "The Adventures of Superman" radio show, but made their way into Superman comics by
1940.
Superman's parents, Jor-El and Lara, first appeared in the Superman newspaper strip in 1939 as "Jor-L" and "Lora," but did not appear in the comics until 1945, when they appeared in the first Super boy story in More Fun Comics #101 that January.
More Fun/Adventure also established the first names of Superman's foster parents, the Kents, as Jonathan and Martha.
The fifth dimension imp, Mr.
Mxyzptlk (then spelled "Mxyztplk"), made his first appearance in Superman #30, September
1944.
The 1950s expanded the Superman cast of characters and also began to flesh out the history of his home planet, Krypton.
A trio of Kryptonian villains appeared in Superman #65, August 1950, and again in Action #194, July 1954, followed by Krypto the Super dog in Adventure #210, March
1955.
Two super-gorillas from Krypton followed in the next few years.
Then the bottle city of Kandor made its first appearance in Action #242, July 1958, when Superman first fought Brainiac, the evil android who had shrunk it.
Ten months later, Superman's cousin Super Girl premiered in Action #252.
Other characters added to the Superman myths were his childhood sweetheart, Lana Lang, who appeared as a teenager in Super boy #10 in 1950 and as an adult several years later, and his imperfect clone, Bizarro, who appeared as a juvenile in Super boy #68, October 1958, and as an adult a year later in a 2-part story in Action #254 and #255.
The Arctic Fortress of Solitude was also introduced during this decade, as were the Legion of Super-Heroes, who premiered in Adventure Comics #247, April
1958.
The 1960s further expanded and refined the Superman myths.
Luthor acquired a first name, Lex, in Adventure Comics #271, April 1960, and his reason for hating Superman became a desire of revenge over the accidental destruction of his lab, the life form he created, and the loss of his hair.
The Phantom Zone appeared the following April in Adventure Comics #283, giving Superman a ready source of villains from his home world to battle and re-imprison.
Luthor would get a planet of his own to defend, Lexor; Bizarro also got his own planet, the Bizarro World (Htrae), in a 2-part story in Action #263 and #264.
The Kandorian version of Batman and Robin, Nightwing and Flame bird, were also introduced in this decade, as was the Superman Emergency Squad, also based in Kandor.
The 1970s and early 1980s added few new characters to the Superman family.
When Clark Kent moved from print to TV journalism, he acquired a new boss in the person of Morgan Edge of Galaxy Communications and a minor nemesis in the person of practical joking sportscaster Steve Lombard.
The enduring villain to come from this era came in 1980 in the person of the hulking, cruel Mongul, introduced in November of that year in DC Comics Presents #27, a villain powerful enough that Superman never faced him without the assistance of other superheroes.
The mid-1980s saw the revision of many characters in the Superman myths, such as Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and Super girl, and the elimination of others, such as Krypto, Nightwing and Flame bird, and the Superman Emergency Squad.
It was not until November 1992, however, that a major new villain was introduced, that being Doomsday, who premiered in Superman:
The Man of Steel #18.
Doomsday did what no other foe before had done � kill Superman, who was actually in a death-like coma during which a number of pretenders to the Superman mantle arose. , In his over 7 decades, Superman has been featured in a number of memorable stories that have proved popular with fans who seek out either the original comic book or one of many reprints that include those stories.
Stories from the late 1930s and early 1940s often showed a social bent reflecting Sigel and Shuster's vision of Superman as "champion of the oppressed." A story in Action Comics #3 shows the Man of Steel going undercover in a mining camp to expose a corrupt operation.
Another story from the 1940s shows him halting a war by abducting the leaders of the combatant countries and forcing them to fight it out with each other.
Social issues would return periodically over the years, including Superman's 1986 appearance in the "Heroes vs.
Hunger" special comic and a story from the 1990s where he dismantles the military of Middle Eastern country Qurac for their sponsoring of terror.
Stories from the 1950s and 1960s had Superman dealing with more powerful foes and bigger stories with science fiction elements such as radiation, time travel, and other dimensions.
Major stories from this era included Superman's time travel back to Krypton before its explosion, as well as the imaginary stories where Luthor kills Superman and where Superman solves all the world's problems by splitting into Superman Red and Superman Blue.
Superman #76, August 1952, featured the first comic book adventure Superman shared with Batman, and Superman #199, August 1967, featured his first race with the Flash.
This was also the period when Superman was first plagued by Red Kryptonite, which had bizarre physical and mental effects on him for limited periods of time.
Story forms included 3-part "novels" and "Imaginary Tales" that diverged from the regular continuity.
Stories from the early 1970s saw a return to social relevance, such as the story in Superman #247 from 1972 where the Guardians of the Universe implant the notion in Superman's mind that he may be doing too much for mankind, a notion renewed several years later by the being Destiny in Superman #352.
This was also the era when Clark Kent went from being a newspaper reporter to a TV anchorman; by the end of the decade, he was working for both the Daily Planet and station WGBS.
Multi-issue story arcs became more commonplace during this era, such as a 4-part series in Superman #296 to 299 where an alien causes Superman to lose his powers when dressed as Clark Kent, forcing the Man of Steel to re-examine his dual identity.
The late 1970s-to-mid 1980s saw the introduction of limited-run series such as the 3-issue "World of Krypton" in 1979 and "The Krypton Chronicles" in 1981, which wove stories first told in the backup feature "The Fabulous World of Krypton" into stories of Jor-El's life and career and of Superman's family history.
The 4-issue Phantom Zone miniseries, published in 1982, featured a bold attempt by the Phantom Zone criminals to escape the Zone and also revealed the Zone's nature as an interface between 2 dimensions.
After the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1986, storylines and story arcs became, if not grander in fact, grander by being given names, such as "World Without a Superman" and "Reign of the Supermen," the results of Superman's apparent death after battling Doomsday.
Another major story arc hearkened back to the Superman Red and Blue imaginary story from the 1960s by having Superman changed from being a physical powerhouse to an energy being given form by his containment suit and eventually being split into a Superman Red and a Superman Blue.
Most of these story arcs were reprinted as graphic anthologies shortly after their original publication, and the entire saga with Doomsday and its aftermath were also published in novel form. , Superman has been drawn by a number of comic artists over the years.
Several of these artists have become associated with the character; a partial list is given below.
Joe Shuster, who co-created Superman, was the first artist to draw Superman, which he did from the character's premiere into the early 1940s.
His Superman lacked the detail associated with later artists, although he did show the Man of Tomorrow's enjoyment of his super-abilities through subtle facial detail and depicted Superman's cape billowing behind him as he soared through the air.
Shuster initially showed the "S" shield as a triangle (with an indistinct "S"), gradually evolving it into the more-familiar pentagon shape.
Wayne Boring first drew Superman as an assistant to Joe Shuster for the Superman newspaper strip, which he took over in
1940.
His first comic book work appeared in 1942, and by the end of the decade, he was the principal artist for Action Comics and Superman.
He was again the principal artist for Action during the mid-1960s and returned to draw one of the last of the Red Kryptonite stories in the early 1980s.
He established the towering, muscular look associated with the Man of Steel, although with a thicker waist than drawn by other artists, and also defined the futuristic appearance of the planet Krypton.
Curt Swan first drew Superman in Superman #51, April 1948, and Super boy in Issue 5 of that comic the following year, as well as doing some of Superman's early team-ups with Batman in World's Finest.
He was the primary artist for Superman's Pal:
Jimmy Olsen and ended up drawing the Man of Steel in most of his non-team appearances from the 1950s through the mid-1980s.
Swan added a dimension of realism to Superman's facial expression even as he exaggerated the Man of Steel's musculature.
John Byrne wrote and drew Superman for the first few years after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, starting with the 6-issue revision of the character's origin, Superman:
The Man of Steel.
He revised the look as well as the origin of Lex Luthor and the appearances of Jor-El and Lara, among others, made Clark Kent more outgoing, and also did away with Super boy.
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