Superman was brought to life by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in the mid 1930s. He made his first public appearance in Action Comics Number 0ne dated June of 1938.
Superman was born as Kal El on the planet Krypton to Jor El and Lara. Jor El was one of Krypton’s leading scientists and as such was an important member of the Science Council, the body of people who ruled the planet.
Though no one is sure of the timing, Jor El discovered that the core of the planet had become unstable and he believed that the planet was soon to be destroyed. The planet had been experiencing a series of quakes and tremors which Jor El felt proved his theory.
In order to be ready for the destruction of his world the brilliant scientist built a working prototype of a space ship that could move faster than light speed. His model was very small, but in his mind he knew bigger ones could be built and thus rescue the entire population of the planet.
Being ready with his theory Jor El addressed the Science Council. He told them that his findings had shown that the planet was doomed and the constant quakes were a sign of the impending planet wide disaster. He also showed them his prototype of a ship that could help them escape the end.
The council did nothing but laugh at the scientist. They told him the tremors and the quakes were just a matter of the planet settling or readjusting itself and were of no real danger. They even suggested that Jor El’s great intelligence had driven him insane.
Jor El left the council feeling both frustrated and angry at the council’s refusal to see what was happening before their eyes. He took his prototype with him. Just as the Jor El stepped out of the Council Chamber one of the biggest quakes that had ever hit the planet struck. Buildings crashed to the ground, mountains erupted into volcanoes and streams of water became streams or molten lava.
Jor El realized immediately that he had been too late. He raced home and set the prototype spaceship on its launching device. Jor El thought if he could only act quickly enough he could at least save his wife and child. He told Lara to prepare herself and the child for travel.
The ship was soon ready and so far the home of Jor El and his family had been spared. Lara had returned quickly with Kal El wrapped in red blue and yellow blankets. Jor El angrily asked Lara why she was not ready to travel. Lara told him that her place was by his side and that the baby would have a better chance if she was not on the ship. There was no time to argue. In fact there were only a few precious moments left. Jor El quickly placed his infant son into the ship making sure the babe was secure and that the blankets were bundled tightly around his child.
Jor El had found a possible planet to send his son, the planet Earth. He had done research and knew there was at least a form of human beings on the planet. With faith that baby would be found and taken care of Jor El set the coordinates for Earth. Each parent loving kissed their child and then Jor El secured the ships opening and sent ship on its journey. It was a miracle of timing, as soon as the ship made it past the planets gravitational pull and had jumped into light speed; the planet Krypton exploded throwing chunks of itself across the galaxy.
The ship traveled quickly through the vast reaches of space, finally crash landing on Earth, in the United States, and in Kansas.
Jonathan and Martha Kent were a middle aged couple. Jonathan had a nice sized farm and Martha was a farmer’s wife, cooking, cleaning making preserves and handling the smaller livestock. The couple were very much in love, but they were also sad because no matter how much they desired it, they were unable to conceive children.
On a cold day in the winter while the couple was nearing their home after having been in the nearby town of Smallville, they were startled to see a strange shaped object that was hurtling down from the sky. Jonathan stopped the pickup truck he was driving and they both watched the object crash into one of their own back fields.
Without hesitation Jonathan restrated his truck and drove down the dirt road to the field. The couple leapt from the vehicle and ran to the spot the object had hit. Several rows of corn were burning and a crater had formed where the object had made an impact. They slowly approached the crater and were startled to hear the cry of a baby.
With no thought to her own safety Martha ran toward the object. The opening of what looked like some type craft was had come undone and Martha could see the baby lying inside. Martha carefully touched the metal and found that it was cool. She then gently took the baby and its blankets into her arms.
Jonathan quickly followed behind her and saw the woman he loved hold a child in her arms. Without speaking they knew what they would do. Jonathan quickly made sure the fire was contained and that it would burn itself out on its own. Then, while Martha still held the child, he quickly lifted the craft into his truck. They both got in and drove as fast as possible to the barn where Jonathan unloaded the craft and hid it as best he could.
Martha had taken the baby into the house. Just then the worst snowstorm in the history of the state of Kansas hit. Smallville and its surrounding districts were buried in deep snow for almost three months. The Kent’s had decided that they would keep the child, which they quickly found out was a boy. They concocted a story where Martha’s sister had died and left a child behind. They had gotten the child right before the storm hit. No one questioned the story and no one ever wondered why Martha had never mentioned having a sister. The couple named the child Clark and Kal El found a home on Earth.
Years went by and the boy began to grow. Slowly he began to do extraordinary things. He found that his strength and speed were amazing. He could lift a tractor and out run a train without breaking a sweat. As he matured he found that his eyes could see over amazing distances and his ears could pick up conversations from miles away. Much of this he had to learn to control as the amount of noise he could hear would become unbearable. He had to learn how to focus his sight so he was paying attention to what was in front of him. This became even more of an issue when he found he could also see through things.
Then one day when Clark Kent was in his late teens he was walking home from school he decided, as an exercise, to climb to the top of an old corn silo on his father’s property. As he reached the summit his foot slipped and he found himself falling. For a few seconds the young man panicked and then with a thought his body stopped falling and began to rise into the air. Quickly Clark found he could control direction and speed. Yes, the boy could fly.
Clark graduated High School and attended Metropolis University majoring in Journalism. He soon got his degree and began to look for work. His desire was to become a reporter so he would be able to keep tabs on the events of the world in order to go and help where he was needed.
Jonathan and Martha Kent had raised Clark well. Clark understood the value of hard work and the importance of helping your neighbor in any way he could. Though the Kent family hid Clark’s developing powers, he was frequently able to help people in need without revealing himself.
It was while he was living in Metropolis that Clark was revealed. An Aircraft carrying several important people as well as the well known journalist Lois Lane had begun to fall from the sky. Without a thought Clark flew into the sky took hold of the plane and brought it gently down to the ground.
As soon as the plane touched down Clark found himself surrounded by people all wanting something from him. He was being pulled and pushed and shouted at. Lois Lane had quickly disembarked for the aircraft and tried to push thru crowd but there were too many. Soon the noise and the crowds began to aggravate Clark, he leapt into the sky and headed as fast as he could back to his parents farm.
Clark and his parents quickly discussed the problem. They knew a disguise was needed now that Clark had come to the public’s attention. Jonathan got an old pair of eye glasses and fashioned lenses for them out of plain glass. These Clark could use when he was living his normal life. His mother took the blankets that he arrived in and made them into a costume. On one of the panels in the ship Clark had landed in, was a strange symbol, a shield with the shape of an S. Martha used that as the center of the shirt. Clark felt foolish when he first put the costume but he also remembered that back in the 1940s there were several mystery men that wore colorful costumes as the fought crime and helped others.
Clark returned to Metropolis to discover that he was already famous. Lois Lane had published a story about her rescue from the falling aircraft. The whole city, in fact, the whole world was talking about the man Lois Lane had named Superman.
Lois Lane worked for Metropolis’s best selling news source, The Daily Planet. Clark realized with his journalism degree he could possibly make use of Lois’s story. He quickly typed an article interviewing himself and brought it to Perry White one of the top executives of The Planet’s staff. Clark told Perry that he had an exclusive interview with Superman and would allow the Daily Planet to have it if Perry would hire Clark as a reporter. Clark was even smart enough to take self portrait photograph in his new costume as proof.
The next day The Daily Planet published its first interview with this powerful human being. Clark Kent became the newest reporter on the staff of the Daily Planet and Superman was born.
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