FLIGHT PATH

LOOK! UP IN THE SKY! AS SUPERMAN SOARS BACK TO THE BIG SCREEN, SFX EXPLORES THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE MAN OF STEEL

- WORDS: NICK SETCHFIELD

TRUTH? JUSTICE? THE American way? No, this dude in blue tights surely stands for just one thing: trouble.

There he is on the cover of Action Comics issue one, his cape fluttering as he hoists a car above his head and smashes it into a desert outcrop, shattering glass, buckling bodywork and sending a tyre flying. Around him ordinary Joes flee in bulging-eyed panic or stare in mute incomprehension. And who can blame them? Frankly, he looks like a maniac.

Who is this public menace and why is he dressed like a fugitive from a carnival sideshow? There are no words on the cover to introduce him, no overheated blurb to vouch for his heroic credentials. No hint of his name. The roughly sketched “S” on his chest could just as easily be the rearing head of a cobra.

Nearly 90 years on from that explosive first appearance the whole world knows his name. The comic that once cost a slim dime on the newsstand now commands millions of dollars if it comes up at auction. And that scowling strongman on the front didn't just upend an automobile but an entire industry.

NEW BEGINNING

“Superman is the quintessential comic book character,” says Dave Gibbons, artist of acclaimed 1985 tale “For The Man Who Has Everything” and writer of 1990's World's Finest, a mini-series that teamed the Man of Steel with the Dark Knight. “He's tailor-made for cheap four-colour printing. He's red, blue, yellow and black, and so he looks really good in crudely printed comics.

“He's also a figure of action. He flies through the air, with his cape billowing out behind him, which always adds to the sense of movement - although it's probably quite an impractical thing to be dragging around with you, in truth! But it meant Superman on those cheap pulp paper pages looked really, really exciting.”