Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938, and the Man of Steel’s first comic book story is markedly different from his image in contemporary times. Superman has consistently been acknowledged as the progenitor of the modern superhero, emerging from the minds of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster from another character of the same name the pair dreamed up. Initially conceived as a telepathic villain in the duo’s 1933 short story “The Reign of the Superman”, Siegel and Shuster later re-worked their character to be a heroic visitor from another planet with superhuman strength and other abilities, sworn to protect the people of his new world. Eventually, Siegel and Shuster’s new conception of Superman made his grand debut in the pages of Action Comics #1 in the story “Superman: Champion of the Oppressed”.
Certain elements of Superman’s mythology are established in “Champion of the Oppressed”, such as the Last Son of Krypton’s physical strength, dual identity as Clark Kent, and origin from the doomed planet Krypton. However, for as cherished a character as Superman is around the world, modern readers would be surprised by how different the Superman of Action Comics #1 is from what he has evolved into.
When the name “Superman” comes to mind, one immediately sees an image of the most powerful and invulnerable being imaginable. Few superheroes comes anywhere near Superman’s level of superhuman strength and near-total imperviousness to physical harm, while flight is also an ability immediately associated with the Man of Steel and the concept of superheroes generally. By contrast, the Superman that comic book readers met in the pages of Action Comics #1, while an incredibly strong and durable hero, was a far cry from the power level he would eventually rise to embody.
To begin with, flight is not among Superman’s powers in Action Comics #1, with the Man of Steel instead capable of making huge leaps up to one-eighth of a mile – hence the phrase “able to leap tall buildings in a single bound”, a gargantuan feat, to be sure, but one that isn’t terribly impressive when one has the ability to fly (which Superman gradually took on in his subsequent comic book stories and appearances in the Max Fleischer animated serials.) Additionally, while the Superman of Action Comics #1 is far stronger than the average human, his physical strength pales in comparison to the immense degree of strength exhibited by Superman and other Kryptonians under Earth’s yellow sun.
Superman’s durability is also enough to deflect bullets, but still far less than what it would eventually become, while his super-speed is enough to outrun a train (hence the phrase “more powerful than a locomotive”), but still quite a long way off from being just step or two below The Flash’s super-speed that Superman would eventually rise to. With the idea of superheroes as we know them beginning with Superman, it is understandable that Siegel and Shuster’s conception of Kal-El doesn’t display the same nigh-unfathomable level of power as his contemporary counterpart. However, this can easily be contextualized as the modern conception of Superman being built on the shoulders of the foundation laid by Siegel and Shuster.
What makes Superman’s comic book debut into a retroactively surprising read is that a good deal of the origin material and backstory associated with Superman is either not present at all in Action Comics #1, or only scratches the surface of the role it would eventually play in the Superman mythology. The infant Kal-El’s arrival on Earth after being placed aboard a rocket to escape a dying planet is still present, but the circumstances of his home world’s destruction are attributed simply to Krypton’s “old age.” Nor, for that matter, are Superman’s Kryptonian parents Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van or his adoptive parents on Earth, Jonathan and Martha Kent, identified by name, Jor-El himself only referred to as “a scientist”, while the infant Kal-El is placed in an orphanage after his initial discovery in a Kansas field.
Superman’s vulnerability to Kryptonite is also not featured in Action Comics #1, with his famed weakness being introduced years later on The Adventures of Superman radio serial in 1943. Despite most members of the Superman family being either absent or not overtly featured in Action Comics #1, there is one important character who does make her comic book debut alongside the Man of Steel – none other than Lois Lane, though she is a fellow journalist of Clark Kent’s at the Daily Star, rather than DC Comics’ most famed journalistic publication the Daily Planet.
While Superman is often seen battling large scale threats initiated by villains like Lex Luthor, General Zod, or Darkseid, the Last Son of Krypton’s acts of heroism in Action Comics #1 are relatively quiet but nonetheless very significant affairs, beginning with Superman rescuing a wrongfully convicted woman named Evelyn Curry from execution for murder, even delivering the real murderer to the governor’s mansion. Clark also acts on a tip to stop an abusive husband from killing his wife, and subsequently asks Lois on a date, only for a man named Butch to step in as the two dance. This would also begin the tradition of Superman adopting the bumbling, clumsy Clark Kent persona to throw off suspicion of his secret identity, while the unimpressed Lois storms out after slapping Butch.
Unfortunately, Butch doesn’t take Lois’ rejection well and kidnaps Lois with the help of his gang. Superman catches up to them and rescues Lois while destroying their getaway car (thus the image of Superman doing exactly that on the cover of Action Comics #1.) Later, Superman intervenes in the plot of Congressional lobbyist Alex Greer to persuade a U.S. senator for the country to enter a military conflict with the European continent. Superman swiftly shows Greer the errors of his ways with his aggressive approach to uncovering Greer’s employer. This ends Action Comics #1 on a cliffhanger, with Action Comics #2 picking up on Superman’s confrontation with Greer.
Clearly, Action Comics #1 presented a very different Superman than the one the world knows and loves both in what includes from the Superman mythos, what it doesn’t include, and with Superman’s decidedly harsh methods of intimidated bullies and crime bosses. It also starts Clark Kent’s relationship with Lois Lane on somewhat acrimonious terms, with Lois looking down on Clark after he seemingly allowed Butch to push him around. Moreover, Superman’s deeds are not so much those of a metahuman immigrant protecting his adoptive world as those of a kind of super-powered Robin Hood standing up for the downtrodden, a theme that undoubtedly resonated with many Americans as the nation was just emerging from the Great Depression, and showing a Superman who very much embodied the story’s title “Superman: Champion of the Oppressed”. While Superman has grown into a vastly more powerful superhero battling threats capable of destroying Earth, the heroism, power, and selflessness of Superman is still fully on display in Siegel and Shuster’s first story with their character. However much Superman has grown as the king of all superheroes, everything began humbly for him with his adventures in Action Comics #1.
Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938, and the Man of Steel’s first comic book story is markedly different from his image in contemporary times. Superman has consistently been acknowledged as the progenitor of the modern superhero, emerging from the minds of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster from another character of the same name Read More