Happy 77th Birthday , Superman!

[daBronzeBomma]

Today , April 18th , is Superman's birthday despite the June cover date on ACTION COMICS #1.

Selected from the hyper-linked article posted by www.bleedingcool.com's Mark Seifert :

As I type this, it’s turning April 18 in the U.S., and I’ve been surprised and pleased to see that — as we first started to mention back when the Scott Snyder / Jim Lee Superman comic rumors began to surface — many fans have noticed that this is probably the best day to celebrate the 77th* anniversary of the release of Action Comics #1, with the first appearance of Superman in a 13 page story by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Lois Lane first appeared in this story as well (Perry White and Jimmy Olsen came along a bit later).

What’s the deal? The cover says June 1938, right? Well, yes, but that was an indication for newsdealers as to when unsold copies of the publication were to be removed from the newsstands. The comic arrived at newsstands prior to that. A monthly publication might arrive on the newsstand roughly a month before its cover date. A debut issue might arrive even earlier to attempt to give it a slightly longer sales window.

If you’re a history-minded BC reader, you may have noticed our posts about some recent Marvel 50th anniversaries such as Fantastic Four #1 and Incredible Hulk #1, where we looked at a bunch of copies with penciled or stamped arrival dates to determine the true or best-fit release dates of those books.

We can’t really do the same thing with Action Comics #1, as arrival dates are quite a bit less common during the Golden Age of the late 1930s-1940s then they were in the Silver Age of the 1960s. Fortunately, we have something even better in this case: sworn court testimony regarding the release date of Action Comics #1.

In 1939, DC brought a copyright infringement suit against Fox Publications over Fox character Wonder Man’s similarities to Superman. During the trial, DC publisher Harry Donenfeld‘s business manager / partner Jack Liebowitz testified on the the stand as follows:

I can explain that first issue. We put that out April 18 and we left it on sale for about 6 weeks. The next on-sale date was about May 25, and thereafter it was published about that time so there was only a month’s difference after that time.

And while the arrival date would have varied a bit from location to location around the country (I know of one copy with a penciled arrival date of April 26), it’s hard to beat court testimony for marking this as the official day.

Liebowitz’s testimony gives us quite a bit of other info about the publication details of this momentous release, perhaps most notably that it actually sold 130,000 copies out of a total print run of 202,000. There’s a great deal to be learned from perusing those court transcripts, so be sure to check out the excellent Comics Detective blog.

And because of a contest that appeared in this first issue of Action Comics (and whose winners were named along with their state of residence in Action Comics #4), we also know that it appears to have had surprisingly good distribution around the U.S. and into Canada. It’s said that Harry Donenfeld was particularly diligent in striking deals with various distributors throughout the country, and that this was one thing that helped give early DC an edge.

But if you’d like to spend a little time imagining the wonder of picking up a comic book off of a newsstand one day 77* years ago, and for the first time seeing the saga of “Superman! Champion of the oppressed, the physical marvel who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need!” (and I understand Lois Lane fans are going to commemorate the occasion tonight as well), today is a very good day to do it.*

* - changed where it originally said 75 or 75th to 77 or 77th

So, Happy Birthday, Big Guy! Thanks for being my favorite fictional character ever!

[scottsiform]

Today , April 18th , is Superman's birthday despite the June cover date on ACTION COMICS #1.

Selected from the hyper-linked article posted by www.bleedingcool.com's Mark Seifert :

As I type this, it’s turning April 18 in the U.S., and I’ve been surprised and pleased to see that — as we first started to mention back when the Scott Snyder / Jim Lee Superman comic rumors began to surface — many fans have noticed that this is probably the best day to celebrate the 77th* anniversary of the release of Action Comics #1, with the first appearance of Superman in a 13 page story by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Lois Lane first appeared in this story as well (Perry White and Jimmy Olsen came along a bit later).

What’s the deal? The cover says June 1938, right? Well, yes, but that was an indication for newsdealers as to when unsold copies of the publication were to be removed from the newsstands. The comic arrived at newsstands prior to that. A monthly publication might arrive on the newsstand roughly a month before its cover date. A debut issue might arrive even earlier to attempt to give it a slightly longer sales window.

If you’re a history-minded BC reader, you may have noticed our posts about some recent Marvel 50th anniversaries such as Fantastic Four #1 and Incredible Hulk #1, where we looked at a bunch of copies with penciled or stamped arrival dates to determine the true or best-fit release dates of those books.

We can’t really do the same thing with Action Comics #1, as arrival dates are quite a bit less common during the Golden Age of the late 1930s-1940s then they were in the Silver Age of the 1960s. Fortunately, we have something even better in this case: sworn court testimony regarding the release date of Action Comics #1.

In 1939, DC brought a copyright infringement suit against Fox Publications over Fox character Wonder Man’s similarities to Superman. During the trial, DC publisher Harry Donenfeld‘s business manager / partner Jack Liebowitz testified on the the stand as follows:

I can explain that first issue. We put that out April 18 and we left it on sale for about 6 weeks. The next on-sale date was about May 25, and thereafter it was published about that time so there was only a month’s difference after that time.

And while the arrival date would have varied a bit from location to location around the country (I know of one copy with a penciled arrival date of April 26), it’s hard to beat court testimony for marking this as the official day.

Liebowitz’s testimony gives us quite a bit of other info about the publication details of this momentous release, perhaps most notably that it actually sold 130,000 copies out of a total print run of 202,000. There’s a great deal to be learned from perusing those court transcripts, so be sure to check out the excellent Comics Detective blog.

And because of a contest that appeared in this first issue of Action Comics (and whose winners were named along with their state of residence in Action Comics #4), we also know that it appears to have had surprisingly good distribution around the U.S. and into Canada. It’s said that Harry Donenfeld was particularly diligent in striking deals with various distributors throughout the country, and that this was one thing that helped give early DC an edge.

But if you’d like to spend a little time imagining the wonder of picking up a comic book off of a newsstand one day 77* years ago, and for the first time seeing the saga of “Superman! Champion of the oppressed, the physical marvel who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need!” (and I understand Lois Lane fans are going to commemorate the occasion tonight as well), today is a very good day to do it.*

* - changed where it originally said 75 or 75th to 77 or 77th

So, Happy Birthday, Big Guy! Thanks for being my favorite fictional character ever!

Thankyou Very Much Happy Birthday Superman awesome character.

[dumbduck]

What do we need to do to have writers and artists come here and talk to us?

I ask this with full awareness that I went to far in my comments about writers and artists. Instead of criticising their plot and characterization choices, I offended a few of them personally. (Winces) I think I offended anyone who I could think to offend. John Byrne, Frank Miller, Bruce Timm, Azzarello... I'm sorry to the posters of this sub-forum for some sad posts I made.

I also made some drama and was agressive to some posters. Blacksun, Lexrules, I'm sorry.

This is one of the best forums I've lurked/posted in. I think agressive shticks like I did were pathetic and toxic to this place. You people do an excellent job of keeping politics and religion out of the discussions. My agressive denial and ridiculing of anything post-crisis related was also pathetic.

Dispenser of thruth, Ascended, Misslane, Adekis, Hellacre, Auguste Dupin, Docha Docha, Jim Kelly, Sacred Knight, Vanguard, friendly fire press, Bbally, daBronze, Blacksun, Tra-el, etc, etc. I'm sorry.

If there is any forum that deserves active writers to come here and discuss character and plot, it's this one.

Is it still possible? Twitter is nice and all, but a centralized place for discussion of the character and world would help. I know that writers shouldn't give fans what they want, but some ground rules, like respecting Morrisons basics for the character, like his intellect, resistance to kryptonite, etc, could help.

[daBronzeBomma]

What do we need to do to have writers and artists come here and talk to us?

I ask this with full awareness that I went to far in my comments about writers and artists. Instead of criticising their plot and characterization choices, I offended a few of them personally. (Winces) I think I offended anyone who I could think to offend. John Byrne, Frank Miller, Bruce Timm, Azzarello... I'm sorry to the posters of this sub-forum for some sad posts I made.

I also made some drama and was agressive to some posters. Blacksun, Lexrules, I'm sorry.

This is one of the best forums I've lurked/posted in. I think agressive shticks like I did were pathetic and toxic to this place. You people do an excellent job of keeping politics and religion out of the discussions. My agressive denial and ridiculing of anything post-crisis related was also pathetic.

Dispenser of thruth, Ascended, Misslane, Adekis, Hellacre, Auguste Dupin, Docha Docha, Jim Kelly, Sacred Knight, Vanguard, friendly fire press, Bbally, daBronze, Blacksun, Tra-el, etc, etc. I'm sorry.

If there is any forum that deserves active writers to come here and discuss character and plot, it's this one.

Is it still possible? Twitter is nice and all, but a centralized place for discussion of the character and world would help. I know that writers shouldn't give fans what they want, but some ground rules, like respecting Morrisons basics for the character, like his intellect, resistance to kryptonite, etc, could help.

Only because I was personally name-checked in the above: Dude, I don't even remember anything "beef" or even disagreement with you. But, since you apparently do, that apology was a good one, and is appreciated.

There are some genuine CB professionals who post on here from time to time. I've never address them directly, mainly b/c I don't know what I'd want to ask them.

Moving on ...

We're now 2 years past the 75th anniversary of Superman. That's a decent amount of time. In hindsight, what did y'all think of the year-long 75th birthday celebration in 2013? What were some of your favorite items marking the milestone?

I'll start with my favorite item of Superman's 75th anniversary:



This was such a good Warner Animation collaboration between Zack Snyder and Bruce Timm.

This gets a solid A grade from me. I would have swapped out Superman Red/Blue for anything LOIS & CLARK. And, as much as I have a love/hate relationship with SMALLVILLE, that show deserved more than a fleeting water tower image. Also, I'd have lost the Superman video game in favor of the SUPERBOY live-action series.

But these are all just me being nitpicky. I love this clip. It does a really good job of being collecting 3/4 of a century of greatness.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

I don't recall you ever attacking me, at least, but I think we all appreciate your honesty and effort here.

[dumbduck]

Only because I was personally name-checked in the above: Dude, I don't even remember anything "beef" or even disagreement with you. But, since you apparently do, that apology was a good one, and is appreciated.

There are some genuine CB professionals who post on here from time to time. I've never address them directly, mainly b/c I don't know what I'd want to ask them.

I don't recall you ever attacking me, at least, but I think we all appreciate your honesty and effort here.

I was making appologies for my general posting manners, to the forum folks as a whole, not any personal attacks. I did create drama with Blacksun, however. I know I'm not the only one to get agressive with writers, I've read other people do it. I guess it's this kind of behavior that keeps them away.

A 'Writers and artists corner' thread with very strict rules of conduct could make things happen (?).

[manofsteel1979]

What do we need to do to have writers and artists come here and talk to us?

I ask this with full awareness that I went to far in my comments about writers and artists. Instead of criticising their plot and characterization choices, I offended a few of them personally. (Winces) I think I offended anyone who I could think to offend. John Byrne, Frank Miller, Bruce Timm, Azzarello... I'm sorry to the posters of this sub-forum for some sad posts I made.

I also made some drama and was agressive to some posters. Blacksun, Lexrules, I'm sorry.

This is one of the best forums I've lurked/posted in. I think agressive shticks like I did were pathetic and toxic to this place. You people do an excellent job of keeping politics and religion out of the discussions. My agressive denial and ridiculing of anything post-crisis related was also pathetic.

Dispenser of thruth, Ascended, Misslane, Adekis, Hellacre, Auguste Dupin, Docha Docha, Jim Kelly, Sacred Knight, Vanguard, friendly fire press, Bbally, daBronze, Blacksun, Tra-el, etc, etc. I'm sorry.

If there is any forum that deserves active writers to come here and discuss character and plot, it's this one.

Is it still possible? Twitter is nice and all, but a centralized place for discussion of the character and world would help. I know that writers shouldn't give fans what they want, but some ground rules, like respecting Morrisons basics for the character, like his intellect, resistance to kryptonite, etc, could help.

Hey! I'm offended I wasn't named checked!!!!!

Yeah It's all cool. I think all of us from one time or another let our passion of this medium and these characters cloud our judgement. I know I've said stuff I've later regretted. I wasn't aware of any issue with you dumbduck, but I accept your apology anyway.


Now...back on topic. 77 years. Wow. It seems like only recently it was the 50th and 60th anniversaries. Time flies.


The new movie for the 75th was nice. SUPERMAN UNCHAINED was alright.... but the highlight was easily the animated short. A great summary of the first 75 years. People like to bash Snyder...but he did alright with it.

Still, I feel like Warners Made a bigger deal out of BATMAN'S 75th last year, at least as far as how it was reflected in comics and publishing material to mark the occasion.

[daBronzeBomma]

Still, I feel like Warners Made a bigger deal out of BATMAN'S 75th last year, at least as far as how it was reflected in comics and publishing material to mark the occasion.

Really? I dunno. I kinda felt that the Batman 75th b-day animated short was just a callback to the golden age. Much prefer Superman's 75th bit.

I will say that since Superman's 25th anniversary issue (1963) featured a silver Superman statuette on its cover (by Curt Swan?),


and since Superman's 50th anniversary issue (1988) featured a golden Superman statuette on its cover (by John Byrne),


then Superman's 75th anniversary issue (2013) should have featured a diamond Superman statuette on its cover (probably by Jim Lee),

... only was there even a 75th anniversary issue in 2013? Or was SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #1 supposed to be it?

[Ascended]

What do we need to do to have writers and artists come here and talk to us?

I ask this with full awareness that I went to far in my comments about writers and artists. Instead of criticising their plot and characterization choices, I offended a few of them personally. (Winces) I think I offended anyone who I could think to offend. John Byrne, Frank Miller, Bruce Timm, Azzarello... I'm sorry to the posters of this sub-forum for some sad posts I made.

I also made some drama and was agressive to some posters. Blacksun, Lexrules, I'm sorry.

This is one of the best forums I've lurked/posted in. I think agressive shticks like I did were pathetic and toxic to this place. You people do an excellent job of keeping politics and religion out of the discussions. My agressive denial and ridiculing of anything post-crisis related was also pathetic.

Dispenser of thruth, Ascended, Misslane, Adekis, Hellacre, Auguste Dupin, Docha Docha, Jim Kelly, Sacred Knight, Vanguard, friendly fire press, Bbally, daBronze, Blacksun, Tra-el, etc, etc. I'm sorry.

If there is any forum that deserves active writers to come here and discuss character and plot, it's this one.

Is it still possible? Twitter is nice and all, but a centralized place for discussion of the character and world would help. I know that writers shouldn't give fans what they want, but some ground rules, like respecting Morrisons basics for the character, like his intellect, resistance to kryptonite, etc, could help.

Dude, it takes some serious balls to own up to a mistake. My respect. And I dont even remember any drama, so it is most certainly all good. We've all said some dumb things we regret here, gods know I have.

Anyway, best part of the 75th? The movie. I do feel like DC dropped the ball with this anniversary, though to be honest the overall rise in quality in the titles (from my subjective standpoint) since 2011 was anniversary present enough for me. Wait, was that the year (2013, not 2011 of course) Pak came on Action? Like, late in the year? If so, then that, that's the best part. Love me some Pak'tion Comics.

[Blacksun]

I don't remember april 2013 DC doing things to remember it was 75th superman anniversary. well they couldn't even do the right month for Flash too

[daBronzeBomma]

I definitely bought this issue of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY magazine when I saw the cover in June 2013:

[daBronzeBomma]

As far as regular magazines celebrating Superman's 75th anniversary back in 2013, this one was the best, most comprehensive magazine out there:

[Liquid]

Supes is almost 100. That's amazing.

[manofsteel1979]

Supes is almost 100. That's amazing.

23 more years. I'll only be 58!!!