Before it happened, it probably seemed like just another dime-mag debut. But while National Allied Publications might not have realized it, when they released Action Comics #1 on April 18, 1938—seventy-five years ago today—they changed the world. Because right at the top, before stories about Zatara the Master Magician, Pep’ Morgan, and Tex Thompson (among many others) was the first story about a crimefighting adventurer in red and blue tights: SUPERMAN.
Yup, it’s the big guy’s birthday. And while the Last Son of Krypton has seen more than his share of ups and downs in the years since two Cleveland kids named Jerry and Joe dreamt him up, two things are indisputable:
1) While there are other costumed crimefighters who could legitimately be described as “iconic”—Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man and Captain America leap to mind—none has become as integral a part of the fabric of American Culture as Superman.
2) None of those other characters, nor any of the countless heroes that followed, could have come about—at least, not as we know them—without the Man of Steel making that historic debut.
So we here at the Podwits tip our hats to the original, the one and only SUPERMAN! Happy birthday, Supes!