Superman took off like a wild fire! -- Not only was he the first superhero character as the term is popularly defined, but in 1939 he became the first superhero to have his own newspaper comic strip, the first superhero to headline a comic featuring only his adventures, the first superhero to have a retconned origin and the first superhero written about in TIME Magazine!!!
On January 16, 1939, Superman made his debut as a newspaper comic strip. Which was appropriate, finally, as that was how Siegel and Shuster had originally envisioned him. The strip ran Monday-Saturday until November, when a Sunday color strip was added and continued until 1966.
Here's one of the first Superman Sunday strips:
Links:
The Speeding Bullet: An Archive of Superman Newspaper Strips
Superman (comic strip) @ Wikipedia
With a cover date of Summer 1939, SUPERMAN #1 made it's debut. It featured mostly reprinted stories from ACTION COMICS #1-4, adding pages to the beginning of his first appearance in ACTION COMICS #1.
This issue also featured the first superhero retcon. In the origin story told in ACTION COMICS #1, the baby from the doomed planet was found by "a passing motorist" and taken to an orphanage. One year later, in SUPERMAN #1, the baby from Krypton (first named in this issue) was found by "an elderly couple, the Kents," who took him to an orphan asylum, then proceeded to adopt him.
Since most of the material from this issue is reprinted from ACTION, there's not much need to list reprint sources. Basically, anywhere you find reprints for ACTION #1-4, now you have a reprint for SUPERMAN #1.
But here are a couple places where SUPERMAN #1 was reprinted in it's entirety.
In the September 11, 1939 issue of TIME Magazine, they took notice of Superman, explaining how he could easily end the war:
Available at Amazon.com:
On January 16, 1939, Superman made his debut as a newspaper comic strip. Which was appropriate, finally, as that was how Siegel and Shuster had originally envisioned him. The strip ran Monday-Saturday until November, when a Sunday color strip was added and continued until 1966.
Here's one of the first Superman Sunday strips:
Links:The Speeding Bullet: An Archive of Superman Newspaper Strips
Superman (comic strip) @ Wikipedia
With a cover date of Summer 1939, SUPERMAN #1 made it's debut. It featured mostly reprinted stories from ACTION COMICS #1-4, adding pages to the beginning of his first appearance in ACTION COMICS #1.This issue also featured the first superhero retcon. In the origin story told in ACTION COMICS #1, the baby from the doomed planet was found by "a passing motorist" and taken to an orphanage. One year later, in SUPERMAN #1, the baby from Krypton (first named in this issue) was found by "an elderly couple, the Kents," who took him to an orphan asylum, then proceeded to adopt him.
Since most of the material from this issue is reprinted from ACTION, there's not much need to list reprint sources. Basically, anywhere you find reprints for ACTION #1-4, now you have a reprint for SUPERMAN #1.
But here are a couple places where SUPERMAN #1 was reprinted in it's entirety.
 FAMOUS 1ST EDITION #C-61 (1979) |  MILLENIUM EDITION: SUPERMAN #1 (2000) |
In the September 11, 1939 issue of TIME Magazine, they took notice of Superman, explaining how he could easily end the war:
How to end the war quickly seemed ridiculously simple to readers of the comic strips last week: send Superman to clean up Hitler. One reader wrote to the Philadelphia Inquirer suggesting precisely that solution.You can finish reading the article over @ TIME.com.
Last word in adventure comics, Superman is rapidly becoming the No. 1 juvenile vogue in the U. S. A happy combination of Flash Gordon and Popeye the Sailor, Superman is an individual with the speed of an airplane, the strength of a locomotive, the leap of a cricket and the hide of a man of war...
Available at Amazon.com:
 Superman: The Dailies 1939-1942  |  Superman: Sunday Classics 1939-1943  |
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