Superman (comic book) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Superman is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the DC Comics superhero of the same name. The Superman character Superman began as one of several anthology features in the National Periodical Publications comic book Action Comics #1 in June 1938. The strip proved so popular that National launched Superman into his own self­titled comic book, the first for any superhero, premiering with the cover date Summer 1939. Between 1986 and 2006 it was retitled The Adventures of Superman while a new series used the title Superman. In May 2006, it was returned to its original title and numbering. The title was canceled with issue #714 in 2011, and was relaunched with issue #1 the following month which ended its ran in 2016. In June 2016, a fourth series was launched with new issue #1. Contents 1 Publication history 1.1 1986 revamp 1.1.1 Adventures of Superman Volume Cover of Superman #1 (Summer 1939). Art by Joe Shuster. 2 1.2 Return to original title Publication information 1.3 Superman Volume 3 Publisher DC Comics 1.4 Superman Volume 4 2 Annuals Schedule List 3 Collected editions Format Ongoing series 3.1 Superman Genre Superhero 3.2 The Adventures of Superman 3.3 The New 52 Publication date List 4 See also Number of issues List 5 References 6 External links Main character(s) Superman Lois Lane Jimmy Olsen Publication history Lex Luthor Creative team Due to the Superman character's popularity after his Writer(s) List premiere in Action Comics #1, National Allied Publications decided to launch an entirely new magazine featuring a Penciller(s) List single character, which at that time was unprecedented.[1] Inker(s) List Superman #1 appeared on the shelves in the summer of Creator(s) Jerry Siegel 1939. Superman now also had the distinction of being the Joe Shuster first ever hero­character featured in more than one comic magazine. By issue #7, Superman was being hailed on the covers as the "World's Greatest Adventure Strip Character". Perry White, a supporting character who had originated on the Superman radio program was introduced into the comic book in issue #7 (October 1940).[2] Editor Mort Weisinger began his long association with the title with issue #11 (July–August 1941).[3] Jimmy Olsen first appeared as a named character in the story "Superman versus The Archer" in Superman #13 (Nov.–Dec. 1941).[4][5] In the early 1940s, Superman was selling over a million copies per month.[6] By 1942, artist Wayne Boring, who had previously been one of Shuster's assistants, had become a major artist on Superman.[7] Superman #23 (July–August 1943) featured the first Superman comic book story written by someone other than Jerry Siegel.[8] The story "America's Secret Weapon!" was written by Don Cameron despite bearing Siegel's signature.[9] Siegel introduced Mister Mxyzptlk in issue #30 (September 1944).[10] A more detailed origin story for Superman was presented in issue #53 (July 1948) to mark the character's tenth anniversary.[11] Another part of the Superman mythos which had originated on the radio program made its way into the comic books when kryptonite was featured in a story by Bill Finger and Al Plastino.[12] Superman was the first DC title with a letters column as a regular feature beginning with issue #124 (September 1958).[13] In the view of comics historian Les Daniels, artist Curt Swan became the definitive artist of Superman in the early 1960s with a "new look" to the character that replaced Wayne Boring's version.[14] Writer Jim Shooter and Swan crafted the story "Superman's Race With the Flash!" in Superman #199 (Aug. 1967) which featured the first race between the Flash and Superman, two characters known for their super­speed powers.[15] Julius Schwartz became the title's editor with issue #233 (January 1971)[16] and together with writer Denny O'Neil and artist Curt Swan streamlined the Superman mythos, starting with the elimination of Kryptonite.[17] Elliot S. Maggin began his long association with the title with the story "Must There Be a Superman?" in issue #247 (Jan. 1972).[18][19] Writer Cary Bates, in collaboration with Swan, introduced such characters as the supervillain Terra­ Man in issue #249 (March 1972)[20] and the superhero Vartox in issue #281 (Nov. 1974).[21] Issues #272 (Feb. 1974), #278 (Aug. 1974), and #284 (Feb. 1975) of the series were in the 100 Page Super Spectacular format.[22] Superman #300 (June 1976) featured an out­of­continuity story by Bates and Maggin which imagined the infant Superman landing on Earth in 1976 and becoming a superhero in 2001. The tale was an inspiration for Mark Millar's Superman: Red Son limited series published in 2003.[23] DC's parent company Warner Communications reinstated the byline for Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster which had been dropped decades earlier[24][25][26] and the first issue with the restored credit was Superman #302 (August 1976).[27] Martin Pasko and Swan created the Master Jailer character in issue #331(January 1979).[28] The bottle city of Kandor, which had been introduced in 1958, was restored to normal size in a story by Len Wein and Swan in Superman #338 (August 1979).[29] The series reached issue #400 in October 1984. That issue featured work by several popular comics artists including the only major DC work by Jim Steranko as well as an introduction by noted science­fiction author Ray Bradbury.[30][31] Superman ran uninterrupted until the mid­1980s, when DC Comics instituted a line­wide relaunch with the 1985 event maxi­series Crisis on Infinite Earths. Folding their vast multiverse into a single shared universe, Superman and his supporting cast would receive a massive overhaul at the hands of writer/artist John Byrne. One last story, which also marked the end of Schwartz' tenure as editor of the series,[16] was published to give a send­off to the former status quo: Alan Moore's Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?.[32] The story's first part saw publication in Superman #423, which would be the last issue before the title was relaunched with its legacy numbering as The Adventures of Superman.[33] Superman was relaunched with a new #1 issue in a second volume in 1986,[34] and was published concurrently with The Adventures of Superman. 1986 revamp The Adventures of Superman was numbered from issue The Adventures of Superman #424 (January 1987) to issue #649 (April 2006), for a total of 228 monthly issues including issue #0 (October 1994) published between issues #516 and #517 as a tie­in to the Zero Hour limited series and issue #1,000,000 (November 1998) as a tie­in to the DC One Million limited series[35] and nine Annuals published between 1987 and 1997.[36] When the series was relaunched in late 1986 under its new title, the creative team initially was writer Marv Wolfman and artist Jerry Ordway.[37] John Byrne replaced Wolfman with issue #436 (January 1988)[38] and Ordway became both writer and artist with issue #445 (October 1988).[39] Writer/artist Dan Jurgens worked on the title from 1989– 1991. Hank Henshaw, a character who would later become the Cyborg Superman, first appeared in issue #466 (May 1990).[40] By the late 1980s, the plots of the Superman books were often linked. To coordinate the storyline and sequence of event, from January 1991 to January 2002, "triangle numbers" (or "shield numbers") appeared on the cover of each Superman comic book. During these years, the Superman storylines ran with the story continuing Cover of The Adventures of Superman #649 (April 2006), by Ivan through the titles Superman, Action Comics and later in two Reis, the "final" issue of the series under that title. further series, Superman: The Man of Steel and Superman: Publication information The Man of Tomorrow. Publisher DC Comics Jerry Ordway returned as writer of the title with issue #480 Schedule Monthly [41] (July 1991). Tom Grummett drew part of #480 and Format Ongoing series became the main artist on the series with the following Genre Superhero issue.[42] The series participated in the crossover storyline Publication date January 1987 – April 2006 "Panic in the Sky" in 1992.[43] During their run on The Adventures of Superman, Grummett and Ordway (along Number of issues 228 (#424–649, plus issues with editor Mike Carlin and others) were the architects of numbered 0 and 1,000,000)[35] "The Death of Superman" storyline, in which Superman and 9 Annuals died and was resurrected. It was during that storyline, that Grummett and writer Karl Kesel, created the new Superboy Main character(s) Superman in The Adventures of Superman #500 (June 1993).[44] Other Creative team crossovers the series participated in included Zero Hour: Writer(s) List Crisis in Time,[45] The Final Night,[46] and Infinite Crisis.[47] Artist(s) List As of the start of 2002, the integration between the Superman titles became less frequent, and the remaining issues of The Adventures of Superman commonly carried self­contained stories. Issue #600 (March 2002) was a double­sized special featuring Superman combating Lex Luthor.[48] The final issue (#649) was part of a three­part crossover with Superman and Action Comics, an homage to the Earth­2 Superman in the wake of events in the limited series Infinite Crisis. For its last two years, The Adventures of Superman was written by Greg Rucka.[49] His stories included the villain Ruin, the attempted assassination of Lois Lane and a number of Mister Mxyzptlk appearances.