Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman Page #2

and bouncing busiest off his chest.

By 1935, Jerry and Joe managed

to find steady work...

...in the new medium of comic books...

... which expanded on many

of the characters and situations found...

...in the shorter daily newspaper strips.

They churned out hundreds of routine

tales featuring swashbucklers...

... vampire-hunters, and private eyes.

All for a fledging company

called National Allied publishing...

...later to be known simply as DC...

...after one of its early successes,

Detective comics.

By 1938, DC was preparing

a new anthology comic book...

... that needed a lead feature.

Fortunately for Jerry and Joe...

... the company decided to take

a chance on Superman.

That spring, Action comics #1

hit the newsstand.

It featured a full-color cover. . .

...boasted 68 pages of content

and sold for a dime.

At a time when an average American

worker made less than $ 25 a week.

In that first issue,

Superman didn't fly.

Instead, he leaped

from skyscraper to skyscraper.

He was also not as strong

as he would later become.

But what he lacked in powers,

he more than made up for in attitude.

Tackling problems ripped from

Depression-era headlines.

In 1938, we're a nation

on the verge of war. . .

. . .we are a nation that is new to this

concept of urbanization and urban crime. . .

. . .and Superman was originally

a social crusader.

He was beating up mine owners

who were mistreating their employees.

He was razing

defective buildings in Metropolis.

Action comics was a success.

And over the next years, Superman

developed a large and loyal following.

But as much as he resonated

with the public, so did his alter ego...

. . .the timid reporter, Clark Kent.

It's not the Ubermensch (German translation of Superman).

It's not the Germanic idea of the

Superman, the superior man of Nietzsche.

This is the greatness

of the meek, the miId.

Superman estabIished

the idea of somebody. . .

. . .who seems to be a meek, ordinary,

average person. . .

. . .and is really a superhero.

And it was a formula that virtually every

superhero owes a debt to even today.

In January, 1939...

...Superman made the leap from comic

book to newspaper comic strip.

And soon 20 million Americans

thrilled to his adventures every day.

That summer, DC took an even bolder

marketing strategy with the character...

...by featuring their superhero

in his very own comic book.

Superman became so popular

that they said:

''Why don't we create a comic book

just about that character?''

Which back then was very unusual.

Superman #1 one sold more

than a million copies.

And by the end of the year,

the Man of Steel was everywhere.

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