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Up, up, and away.
Next month, Superman turns 70.
The intergalactic traveller from the planet Krypton has starred in comic books, TV and radio shows, movies, newspaper strips and video games.
His likeness appears on toys, statues, posters and all types of memorabilia.
But Superman had humble beginnings. In April 1938, the fledgling National Periodical Publications (now DC Comics) took a leap of faith and introduced the world to a character unlike anything anyone had ever seen.
On the cover of Action Comics No. 1 was a circus-like strongman in blue tights, lifting a car over his head. The pictures inside the book were just as astonishing, showing a man bouncing bullets off his chest and leaping over buildings.
That comic went on to become iconic, and copies of Action Comics No. 1 sell for more than $500,000 US today.
“When Superman came along, he became one of the seminal characters because it was a radical departure from the norm. It wasn’t a humour thing, he wasn’t a detective. All of a sudden you had this alien Man of Steel who could do anything,” said Richard Olsen, professor emeritus of the University of New Orleans and a rabid comic book fan who regularly contributes articles to the annual comic industry valuation book the Overstreet Price Guide. “People were just captivated by it.”
Still. Forever. Always. (via)
Next month, Superman turns 70.
Oh…I’d so rather have Superman than McCain in the race.
As all true-blue Superman fans know, there is a yearly celebration in Metropolis, Illinois every June to honor the Big Blue Boy Scout. This June, with the 70th anniversary, it will be bigger than ever, with lots of celebrity guests and Superman book authors. As the author of “Superman on Film, Television, Radio & Broadway,” I can’t wait to go there and meet the Superman fans who fly in from all around the globe to celebrate this all-American character who has universal appeal. For more information, go to http://www.brucescivally.com or http://www.supermancelebration.net.
“This is an imaginary story (which may never happen, but then again may) about a perfect man who came from the sky and did only good. It tells of his twilight, when the great battles were over and the great miracles long since performed; of how his enemies conspired against him and of that final war in the snowblind wastes beneath the Northern lights; of the women he loved and the choice he made between them; of how he broke his most sacred oath, and how finally all the things he had were taken from him save for one. It ends with a wink. It begins in a quiet midwestern town, one summer afternoon in the quiet, midwestern future. Away in the big city, people still sometimes glance up hopefully from the sidewalks, glimpsing a distant speck in the sky… but no: it’s only a bird, only a plane. Superman died ten years ago. This is an Imaginary story…
Aren’t they all?”
DC should get Alan Moore to write another Superman for the Anniversary.
Mp>But Superman had humble beginnings. In April 1938, the fledgling National Periodical Publications (now DC Comics) took a leap of faith and introduced the world to a character unlike anything anyone had ever seen.
While Superman may well lay claim to being the first comic book superhero, his original powers and background were near identical to that of Hugo Danner, the protagonist of Philip Gordon Wylie’s “Gladiator”, arguably the first superhero in fiction.
Read the wikipedia article for more on the Gladiator – Superman link.