This month marks the 79th anniversary of Action Comics #1, and the Man of Steel Henry Cavill takes to Instagram to suit up as Superman to mark the occassion.
Henry Cavill adds to his post:
Hi Everyone! I’ve been doing some Super Ruminations because this month is the 79th anniversary of Superman in Action Comics and thought it fitting to pass on this little fact. Who knew eh?? In January 1933, Jerry Siegel wrote a short story titled “The Reign of the Superman”, which was illustrated by his friend Joe Shuster and self-published in a science fiction magazine. It told the story of a bald villain with telepathic powers. Trying to create a character they could sell to newspaper syndicates,Siegel re-conceived the “superman” character as a powerful hero, sent to our world from a more advanced society. He and Shuster developed the idea into a comic strip, which they pitched unsuccessfully.
National Publications was looking for a hit to accompany their success with Detective Comics, and did not have time to solicit new material. Because of the tight deadline, editor Vin Sullivan was forced to make it out of inventory and stockpile pages. Sullivan asked former coworker Sheldon Mayer if he could help. Mayer found the rejected Superman comic strips, and Sullivan told Siegel and Shuster that if they could paste them into 13 comic book pages, he would buy them.
Henry Cavill returns as Superman this November for Justice League, with Man of Steel 2 also in development.
