Superman Milestones

This month marks the 70^th birthday of an American icon. Happy Birthday Superman! It was June 1938 when Action #1 hit the news stands. A cultural phenomenon was born and the infant comic book industry was changed forever. Of course The Man of Steel was not born easily. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster actually created him as early as 1932! Their brain child was rejected by literally EVERYONE and only got a chance as an act of desperation because a lead feature of original material was needed to launch the, mostly reprint, Action #1!

And there was no going back!

In very short order the Last Son Of Krypton achieved a level of stardom equal to Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart and even (gasp) Mickey Mouse! Superman was syndicated across the country in hundreds of daily newspapers. He appeared in wonderful Max Fleisher cartoons! Movie Serials, Radio and then Television all fell to Superman! And of course The Man of Steel has starred in no less than five big screen, big budget (except Superman IV) films! He has appeared on products of all kinds, from toys to toilet paper! And THEN The Man of Tomorrow went global! Superman is published in almost every language all over the world. Quite literally EVERYONE knows who Superman is.

Superman has bested every foe from Luthor to Brainiac to changing times and tastes. After 70 years he is and remains the world’s greatest Superhero. Happy birthday big guy. Here’s to 70 more!

On another note, June 16^th marked the 49^th anniversary of George Reeves. For my generation Reeves WAS Superman. His charm and gentle good humor lent dignity to the often ridiculous scripts and he taught an entire generation that “Truth and Justice” were actually values to aspire. Just mention Reeves to someone who grew up on The Adventures of Superman and the immediate response will be a smile. Yes, he meant that much to us. Jack Larson once mentioned in an interview where George said he would like to know that he had even one adult fan. I wonder how he would feel if he knew that, today, his adult fans number in the millions. I like to think he does know and that somewhere he is smiling that crooked, charming smile of his.

That's 30!