The Superman

"The Most Astounding Fiction Character Of All Time!"

- Jerry Siegal The Superman is an early incarnation of one of the most popular superheroes of all time, Superman. The creators linked him to their later creation Slam Bradley. The comic book was destroyed in a fire by Joe Shuster, but luckily the cover was saved by Jerry Siegel.

The Character
This version of Superman was described as being simply a strong, crime-fighting hero, as opposed to the bald, telepathic villain Superman who appeared in Reign of the Superman, and the modern version of Superman who appeared in Action Comics. He can be considered an intermediate character. It is unknown what the occupation or other characters were like in this prototype. Unlike the modern version, this Superman was said to wear plain street clothes.

Development
After Humor Publishing published Detective Dan Secret Operative no. 48 in early 1933, Jerry Siegal and Joe Shuster modeled the cover very similar to the aforementioned comic. Humor Publishing took interest in the comic with an "encouraging" letter. Despite this, Humor Publishing ran out of business with comics thus not publishing their heroic character. It wouldn't be another five years before Detective Comics published their character in Action Comics.

Trivia

 * This version of Superman was not an alien, but rather a crime fighter like the later Batman.