[The Genesis of Superman] [1] (Action Comics #1) [2] Via the Duff Wire [3] comes a scan of Action Comics #1 [4]—the issue Superman was introduced. Very interesting material here. The entire backstory of Superman fit on one page (I think it took Bill Keane two pages to do the backstory of the Bat-Man) and if you really want to be pedantic about it, it's really the first three panels of page one [5].
A very quick introduction indeed.
Other differences, no mention of his parents (the implication of panel three being he was raised at an orphanage), he works for the Daily Star (not the Daily Planet) and no one really knows who he is (he has to force his way into the Governor's Mansion to save a woman from being electrocuted) and he can't fly—he can only leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Other stories [6] in that issue [7] include Zatara, Master Magician (“Uoy era won ni ym rewop!”—the magical incantation to hypnotize people) and Sticky-Mitt Stimson [8], among others.
I never heard of Zatara either.
Then again, it's hard to follow in the shadow of Superman.
I wonder how many kids made it to Scoop Scanlon [9] (Scanlon?) Good lord, Superman's alter-ego Clark Kent had a better name than Scoop Scanlon.
Scanlon?
What I found amazing though, was the lack of advertising in the comic. The only advertising to be found was on the back cover [10], advertising pretty much the same stuff you found up through the 70s.
Scanlon?
[1] /boston/2003/11/14/kal-el.jpg
[2] http://superman.ws/tales2/action1/?page=-1
[3] http://www.michaelduff.net/weblog.html
[4] http://superman.ws/tales2/action1/?page=-1
[5] http://superman.ws/tales2/action1/?page=1
[6] http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG02/yeung/actioncomics/page20.html
[7] http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG02/yeung/actioncomics/cover.html
[8] http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG02/yeung/actioncomics/page34.html
[9] http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG02/yeung/actioncomics/page46.html
[10] http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG02/yeung/actioncomics/backcover.html
![[1] /boston/2003/11/14/kal-el.jpg](/gemini.conman.org/boston/2003/11/14/kal-el.jpg){kind=link}