Happy 75th Birthday, Superman

Action Comics #1 was released on this day in 1938, seventy-five years ago.  From being the superhero everyone most identified with comics to the one everyone said was too powerful to take seriously; from the pioneer in radio, serials, animation, television, and movies to the guy once again poised to make history with this summer's Man of Steel; from Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster to Scott Snyder and Jim Lee...Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!  Look, in the sky!  It's a bird!  It's a plane!  It's Superman!  Fighting for truth, justice, and the American way!

My personal experience with the icon of all comic book characters in his original medium began shortly before the infamous "Doomsday" event of 1992.  From there I was able to track his adventures for the rest of the decade, when Action Comics was joined by The Adventures of Superman, Superman, and Superman: The Man of Steel with the shield sequencing keeping his activities conveniently in order each month.  Dan Jurgens was the definitive creator of that period, having handled the chores on Superman #75, in which he died, and Superman #82, in which he came back.  He was surrounded by giants, though, Roger Stern and Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett and Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove, just to name the ones I personally fondly remember.  By the end of the decade Stuart Immonen had more than ably joined those ranks.  Superman survived a lot of things, including a reprise of the classic Superman Red and Superman Blue arc that was a spinoff of the rare cosmetic change-up known as Electric Superman.  Metropolis had a crisis.  Clark Kent had a crisis.  And Superman finally married Lois Lane.

I grew up with the Christopher Reeve movies, and then enjoyed Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and then Smallville.  I lost track of reading comics in the early years of the new millennium, but caught up with them again to witness creators like Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns work their magic on Superman.

2006 was a particularly memorable year.  Superman Returns was released (I'm one of its few unabashed fans), and so was Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (as memorable as the original version is, this one's better), as well as Hollywoodland (part of Ben Affleck's road to cinematic redemption, playing out the mystery of classic Superman actor George Reeves' unsolved death).  Morrison's All Star Superman was in publication.  Geoff Johns was working on Superman.  This year isn't so bad, either.  Man of Steel, obviously, is coming out.  Morrison's Action Comics run has concluded.  Snyder and Lee's collaboration, Superman Unchained, is coming up, too.

What do you get for the man who has everything?  A day off would be nice

(By sheer coincidence, this was my 75th post at Comics Reader this year.)