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Superman strip January 16 1939

The first Superman strip, January 16, 1939

Superman comic strips ran in newspapers from the 1930s through the 1960s, under the title Superman. Printed daily, they were the first stories to go into detail about the planet Krypton, expounding on Jor-L and Lara.

The first strip was published on January 16, 1939 with a separate Sunday strip added on November 5, 1939, running continuously until May 1966. At its peak, the strip appeared in over 300 daily newspapers and 90 Sunday papers, with a readership of over 20 million.

Ownership[]

McClure Newspaper Syndicate Superman in Four Colors white and red costume for Superman

McClure Syndicate trade ad

The Superman strips were published by McClure Syndicate over its 27 year run. During the National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications court case, the District Court ruled that McClure Syndicate failed to post the copyright notice on some strips, placing those strips in the public domain.

Storylines[]

The daily strip was host to many storylines, unique from the regular Superman comic book titles. The strips contained the first appearance of a bald Lex Luthor, the first appearance of Mister Mxyzptlk and the first telephone booth costume change in comics. Other stories of note include Superman saving Santa Claus from the Nazis, WWII-era stories of Superman protecting the American home front and Clark Kent marrying Lois Lane (where they lived together for years without her figuring out that he's Superman).

Later Newspaper Strips[]

Lois Lane, Girl Reporter was a newspaper comic strip and topper to the Superman comic strip, featuring Superman's supporting character Lois Lane. The strip accompanied the Superman Sunday strip in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and originally ran irregular between October 24, 1943 and February 27, 1944. A total of twelve comic strips were produced.

Superman appeared in newspapers again in 1978 with the strip, The World's Greatest Superheroes, syndicated by the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate. Each story spanned two to six months and featured other top DC characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash. But over the course of its nearly seven-year run the focus of the strip switched primarily to Superman and the title changed to reflect this: The World's Greatest Superheroes Present Superman.

In 1982 the first story was republished in paperback before the newspaper strip underwent its second name change: simply, Superman. When the strip came to an end in 1985 it was being published only on Sundays under its third and final banner: The Superman Sunday Special.

Collections[]

Beginning in 2006, Sterling Publishing began reprinting the original strips in book bound volumes.

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