The History of Superman
Posted: Sunday, August 09, 2009
by Rick Brady
Superman was created in 1932 by Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster and American writer Jerry Siegel. They subsequently sold the publication rights to Detective Comics, Inc. The superhero appeared in public for the first time in the very first copy of Action Comics in 1938.
On January 16, 1939, Superman expanded into a newspaper comic strip that ran until May of 1966!. Also during 1939, four audition radio shows were produced in an attempt to sell the superhero as a radio show. On February 12, 1940, New York City audiences got to hear Superman on the radio for the first time and on August 31, 1942, the radio show went nationwide. It remained on the air for more than 1600 episodes over 8 1/2 years!
Just as the newspaper comics were ending in 1966, our superhero appeared as a Broadway musical titled, "It's a Bird ... It's a Plane ... It's Superman". There was also an album produced of the play and it was filmed for television. Unfortunately, it wasn't very successful and ended after a mere 128 shows.
That same year, an animated series titled, "The New Adventures of Superman" premiered on September 10, 1966. Sixty-eight six-minute long Superman stories were broadcast along with "The Adventures of Superboy" and other DC Comics superheroes.
Another animated Superman series titled, "Super Friends" aired from 1973 to 1984 co-starring Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Marvin the wonder dog.
In 1978, Christopher Reeve starred in a theatrical film, "Superman". It was so successful that three additional films were produced titled, "Superman II" (1980), "Superman III" (1983), and "Superman IV: The Quest For Peace" (1987).
In 1988, another animated series titled simply, "Superman" was born along with a new television series, "Superboy" that emphasized Superman's life as a teenager ran to 1988 for four seasons and 100 episodes!
The next television series was, "Lois and Clark" that highlighted the relationship between Superman and Lois Lane. It also lasted four seasons (1993-1997) but for only 87 episodes.
"Superman: The Animated Series" was broadcast from 1996-2000. It used big name stars for the characters' voices and even modeled the faces of characters after stars!
In 2001, "Smallville" helped the WB Network (now the CW Network) become a major player with the other big networks. As of this writing (in 2008), it's still on the air in its eighth season! Smallville investigates Clark's life as a teen and his relationships with family, friends, and foes like nothing else before!
After a 19 year lapse in Superman theatrical films, "Superman Returns" hit theaters in 2006! After finding his home planet, "Krypton" destroyed, Superman returned to Earth to once again stop Lex Luthor from his evil plans and, of course, reclaim the love of Lois Lane!
Without a doubt, there's no danger that the saga of Superman will be disappearing from media anytime in the near future! The honest, kind, caring, and heroic "Man of Steel" is just to appealing as a heroic icon to fail the test of time!
To learn more about Superman on the radio, visit this Superman Radio Show Page. For Superman on TV, visit this Superman TV Show Page.
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