Super Man

uperman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics.
The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and
debuted in the comic book Action Comics #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and published
April 18, 1938).[1] Superman has been adapted to a number of other media, which
includes radio serials, novels, films, television shows, theater, and video games.
Superman was born on the fictional planet Krypton with the birth name of Kal-El. As
a baby, his parents sent him to Earth in a small spaceship shortly before Krypton
was destroyed in a natural cataclysm. His ship landed in the American countryside
near the fictional town of Smallville. He was found and adopted by farmers Jonathan
and Martha Kent, who named him Clark Kent. Clark began developing various
superhuman abilities, such as incredible strength and impervious skin. His adoptive
parents advised him to use his powers for the benefit of humanity, and he decided
to fight crime as a vigilante. To protect his personal life, he changes into a
colorful costume and uses the alias "Superman" when fighting crime. Clark resides
in the fictional American city of Metropolis, where he works as a journalist for
the Daily Planet. Superman's supporting characters include his love interest and
fellow journalist Lois Lane, Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen, and editor-in-
chief Perry White, and his enemies include Brainiac, General Zod, Darkseid, and his
archenemy, Lex Luthor.
Superman is the archetype of the superhero: he wears an outlandish costume, uses a

codename, and fights evil with the aid of extraordinary abilities. Although there
are earlier characters who arguably fit this definition, it was Superman who
popularized the superhero genre and established its conventions. He was the best-
selling superhero in American comic books up until the 1980s.[2]
Development
Jerry Siegel, writer
Joe Shuster, illustrator
"The Reign of the Superman", a short story by Jerry Siegel (January 1933)
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster met in 1932 while attending Glenville High School in
Cleveland and bonded over their admiration of fiction. Siegel aspired to become a
writer and Shuster aspired to become an illustrator. Siegel wrote amateur science
fiction stories, which he self-published as a magazine called Science Fiction: The
Advance Guard of Future Civilization. His friend Shuster often provided
illustrations for his work.[3] In January 1933, Siegel published a short story in
his magazine titled "The Reign of the Superman". The titular character is a
homeless man named Bill Dunn who is tricked by an evil scientist into consuming an
experimental drug. The drug gives Dunn the powers of mind-reading, mind-control,
and clairvoyance. He uses these powers maliciously for profit and amusement, but
then the drug wears off, leaving him a powerless vagrant again. Shuster provided
illustrations, depicting Dunn as a bald man.[4]
Siegel and Shuster shifted to making comic strips, with a focus on adventure and
comedy. They wanted to become syndicated newspaper strip authors, so they showed
their ideas to various newspaper editors. However, the newspaper editors told them
that their ideas were insufficiently sensational. If they wanted to make a
successful comic strip, it had to be something more sensational than anything else
on the market. This prompted Siegel to revisit Superman as a comic strip character.
[5][6] Siegel modified Superman's powers to make him even more sensational: Like
Bill Dunn, the second prototype of Superman is given powers against his will by an
unscrupulous scientist, but instead of psychic abilities, he acquires superhuman
strength and bullet-proof skin.[7][8] Additionally, this new Superman was a crime-
fighting hero instead of a villain, because Siegel noted that comic strips with
heroic protagonists tended to be more successful.[9] In later years, Siegel once
recalled that this Superman wore a "bat-like" cape in some panels, but typically he
and Shuster agreed there was no costume yet, and there is none apparent in the
surviving artwork.[10][11]
Siegel and Shuster showed this second concept of Superman to Consolidated Book
Publishers, based in Chicago.[12][a] In May 1933, Consolidated had published a
proto-comic book titled Detective Dan: Secret Operative 48.[13] It contained all-
original stories as opposed to reprints of newspaper strips, which was a novelty at
the time.[14] Siegel and Shuster put together a comic book in a similar format
called The Superman. A delegation from Consolidated visited Cleveland that summer
on a business trip and Siegel and Shuster took the opportunity to present their
work in person.[15][16] Although Consolidated expressed interest, they later pulled
out of the comics business without ever offering a book deal because the sales of
Detective Dan were disappointing.[17][18]

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uperman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics.

Superman is the archetype of the superhero: he wears an outlandish costume, uses a

Jerry Siegel, writer

Joe Shuster, illustrator

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