"Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!" - Casablanca

I'm turning 56 this fall. Big deal - Superman's 70! Krypton's most famous son burst onto the cultural landscape in issue #1 of Action Comics, June 1938. Some fans even prefer to assign his date of birth five years earlier, when Cleveland's young Jerry Siegel first tapped his muses to imagine a pulp fictional, graphically realized character with larger than life powers. Either way, the Man of Tomorrow was already a teenager - in publisher's years - when I came along in the early 1950s.

1933: Jerry Siegel first conceives of a super-human character named The Superman, envisioning him at first as a Bad Guy. I can claim very little connection here. Like Siegel, my parents were teenagers and had yet to meet. Unlike Siegel, no one from my mother's family - on a cultural basis - would have considered reading a comic book, and no one from my dad's family - on a financial basis - would have considered buying one.

1938: Superman makes his first published appearance, Action Comics #1.Copies today sell for six figures. I am still 14 years out of pocket (copies of my birth certificate go for $25 at City Hall).

1943: The Man of Steel is five, busy helping the cause in WW2, and my family's first Superman fan, big brother William is born. I was unable to interview him for this column, as he relocated to heaven last year, where I suspect the entire DC Comics archive comes loaded on everyone's personal laptop.

1952: The Adventures of Superman debuts on TV nationwide; I debut at St. Luke's Hospital in Richmond. My brother catches TAOS eps on a neighbor's set, that being highly preferable to watching me. Mort Weisinger serves as story editor on the show: he will figure prominently in the lives of both Supe and me in the years to come.

1954: The Superman Theatrical Features hit the matinee houses. My brother, in an intense Q&A conducted by me several years ago, claims he saw these on his regular Saturday morning visits to the Brooklyn Theatre. Peppered about the red-hot topic of bridging dialogue, he offers no memory of the same. He says it was obvious to the kids that they were watching TV eps, and just as apparent that it represented no particular problem.

1956: My family scores a TV! As a young man pushing four, this is one of my earliest memories. TAOS is headed for its first-run finish line, but it makes a strong impression - along with The Mickey Mouse Club.

1958: Likely the year I first held a Superman-related comic in my hands. A very early recollection is working through the first ever Bizarro story, which appeared in Superboy #68, the October issue. The mags always hit the stands a couple of months ahead of their cover dates, syncing with a recollection of reading this one in the family wagon on a long summer vacation drive.

1959: George Reeves crosses over. It is not spoken of in our house - my brother may have been warned - and I go blissfully unaware. From a classmate, perhaps a year later, I hear of him jumping out of a window.

1961: Cooking with gas, harmonic convergence, a perfect storm - pick your cliché. I'm in 4th grade and reading up a blue (and red) streak. Weisinger has begun weaving the Silver Age Mythos that will thread through all the Superman related comic titles for years to come. The July issue of Superman features an up-to-date origin tale "The Story of Superman's Life". A great time to start a career as a young comic book reader! (The year does conclude, however, with "The Death of Superman", a Jerry Siegel-penned Imaginary Tale. It's a story I dislike to this day, to the point of not allowing my young sons to flip through any of my anthologies that contain a reprint.)

1962: Mythos-building in full force, and I am trying to figure out how to keep up with the seven titles that feature Superman on a weekly allowance of 25 cents. How else to follow the exploits of Lois, Jimmy, Perry, Lana, Lori, Lucy, Pete, Supergirl, Krypto, Luthor, Braniac, Mr. Mxyzptlk, and the Legion of Super-Heroes? And there SHOULD have been a story where Krypton welcomes Superman back for his 1,000,000th visit!

1963: Our family vacation includes a visit to friends in Morristown, New Jersey, - within the NYC viewing area. I discover TAOS - which I at that point considered long-lost - broadcast twice a day!

1965: The (Dare)devil made me do it!. On a slow day at the spinner rack, I am drawn to Wally Wood's strikingly rendered cover of Daredevil #7. After long moments of painful internal debate on fidelity vs. change, I purchase the book, and begin a slow but steady migration from the DC Universe to the Merry Marvel Marching Society.

1967: The cover date on a Superboy comic I found in a box of old stuff not so long ago. It was in pretty good shape and looked barely read. I'm guessing it's the last DC comic I bought for another 30 or so years.

The Early 1970s: Big changes for Superman and me. Clark takes a gig as TV reporter, I become a college student. Superman is immune to Kryptonite for a year or so, and I spend a comparable period virtually invulnerable to teaching.

1978: Superman The Movie, starring Christopher Reeve, debuts. The film fails to dislodge my loyalty to George Reeves; however, I am forced to admit that the production values in the origin section are a notch or two above Superman On Earth.

1980s through mid-1990s: We'll call these The Wilderness Years. Though I am out of the loop when it happens, Superman's "continuity" - the commonality of his history and relationships that stretch at least tenuously all the way back to 1938 - is brought to an end by DC in 1986. This is in advance of a much ballyhooed re-boot of the character. As with computers, when you re-boot, you're already in some trouble, and things get a lot worse for Supe before they get better. At some point in this period, I find a VHS of a couple of TAOS eps for sale in Borders. I excitedly arrange a showing for a friend's ten year old - now he will experience the REAL Superman! Encountering George Reeves in "The Big Freeze" the kid mutters "Who's the guy with the beer gut?" Bad times.

1997: Confirmed bachelor marries at age 44! My new bride enjoys a TV show called Lois & Clark. What th' - those sound like characters from...hey, it IS about Superman!

1998: Just behind Al Gore, I discover the Internet. There seem to be some Superman related resources. I even find used copies of the long out of print Serial to Cereal for sale - in the $200 to $300 range.

The Dawning of the Millennium: I am fast becoming a full-fledged Superman guy again, and events seem to fire in rapid succession. Some fellow named Jim Nolt has a web site TOTALLY devoted to TAOS and George Reeves!

There I learn one day that Gary Grossman has found a "box" full of mint copies of his Serial tome and is selling them at a fraction of the prices noted above.

(We actually exchange emails!) I also discover a dark, sparsely decorated corner of cyber-space referred to as The Message Board. Men with one name swap tidbits of TAOS esoterica that suggest an encyclopedic knowledge of the series. Many seem in possession of all 104 episodes, a goal I set for myself (and my VCR) as the series has begun to run on TVland. Elsewhere on the web, I decide to check out this "eBay" site I keep hearing about, wondering if a "Superman" search will turn up any hits. Omigosh, comic books - and be still my beating heart - it's the Superman Giant Annual #3 from 1961, the first one I ever owned! Let's see, if I skip lunches for a week…

2003 - 2005: Events continue to cascade. Noel Neill's authorized biography appears. I meet her when her book tour comes East

(let us pause to consider this moment: the lady whom show biz's greatest Superman rescued dozens of times on that tiny TV set when I was four - she who held the hand of George Reeves as he led her to safety week after week - is now shaking MY hand and having her picture taken with ME - just a half century later!). Her biographer/ tour manager, Larry Ward, maintains contact, and the next year we meet for dinner. In '05, I am astounded by an invitation to Ms. Neill's 85th birthday celebration. By now, Carl Glass and I are in coast-to-coast communication, and I am writing spasmodically for his super-themed web site. A thankfully cheap plane ticket lands me in LA, Thanksgiving weekend, for the experience of a lifetime. Carl and Leslie drive me everywhere, and I meet a dozen or two message board stalwarts, TAOS historians, and just plain good ol' fanboys like me. We close down at least one breakfast buffet, terrorize a couple of nice neighborhoods and a cemetery with our George Reeves motor tour, and scrap up a mountain to get good pictures of the observatory we know as "Jor-el's lab". Of the notable celebrities in attendance at Ms. Neill's birthday bash, I am most thrilled to shake the hand of Jack "Jeepers, Mr. Kent!" Larson (see "let us pause to consider").

The Future Looks Bright: There should be no more Wilderness Years for longtime Superman fans. TAOS - in its "entirety" - is on DVD (rooting around the message boards can secure you the few minutes Warner failed to release). DC is five trade paperbacks into The Superman Chronicles, an inexpensive series that purports to reprint every Superman story in chronological order (these do seem to be appearing roughly in real time, so - try to live long and prosper). The controversial 2006 quasi-bio flick, Hollywoodland, sparked renewed interest in George Reeve's career and sensational demise. That year's cinematic Superman offering - Superman Returns - was a general disappointment, but hope springs eternal with the more recent success of films like Marvel's Iron Man and, more importantly, DC's The Dark Knight - evidence that super-hero movies CAN be done well.

Closer to home, web sites like this one connect the world with tons of nostalgia, resources, and fan-produced literature, not to mention The Latest Developments.

If you've read this far, you and I probably share similar relationships with the Man of Steel. But I don't doubt I've missed landmarks - Smallville, the radio and cartoon series of the 1940s, Kirk Alyn's serials, the Superboy TV show, various animated series, and the multiple Infinite Crises of the comic books come easily to mind - that hold significance for you. I'd be glad for you to share your experience of Superman touchstones by posting a comment on the Superman discussion board at http://thecaveboard.yuku.com/forums/4/t/SUPERMAN.html

Oh, and Superman -

A question lurks among Superman fans of both the television and comic book persuasions, one I've been aware of since shortly after I learned to read. It continues to be asked in various shapes and sizes, but it always boils down to this: why isn't The Adventures of Superman TV series more like Superman comics? I can remember a letter in an issue of Jimmy Olsen dating back to elementary school, inquiring of the editor why TV's Jimmy doesn't make use of his Superman signal watch. Cut to the next century and an internet discussion board poster is wondering why Luthor never appears in TAOS.

Answers and speculation abound, and we can discuss those another day. But for now, let's note that the question almost always involves why the TV show doesn't conform to the comic books. This suggests that many if not most fans take the tales of the comics to be the definitive guide to all things Superman. Brainiac, Bizarro, Superboy, Fortress of Solitude, Red Kryptonite - all important parts of the Silver Age comics continuity, all "missing" from the TV series.

But what if the The Adventures of Superman WAS the standard bearer? And for that matter, what makes it not? Many of us a certain age were exposed to the TV series first-before we could even read a comic book-and, in fact, some among us not only consider George Reeves the definitive Superman, they view his adventures as Superman's true story.

While I am firmly ensconced in the comic book camp, I find this concept fascinating. Having seen so many listings and analyses of the elements and events of the comics' Silver Age, I wonder what a similar take on our beloved TV series would look like: "The Story of Superman's Life" - not as told in Superman #146, but cataloged from The Adventures of Superman. We could find a wealth of clues in that famous opening narrative -

Superman, strange visitor from another planet

The planet was Krypton, whence he was launched as an infant by his parents, Jor-el and Lara, moments before the planet self-destructed - as forecast by Jor-el himself. But Superman seems hardly a visitor; raised on Earth from infancy, he is a part of the fabric of the great city of Metropolis, giving every indication that it will remain his permanent home. And throughout The Adventures, he is revealed as not very 'strange' at all, but compassionate and just, faithful and funny.

who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.

Those powers include the ability to fly and move at very high speeds, super-human strength, nearly complete invulnerability, X-ray vision, super hearing, and super breath. Later in The Adventures, Superman develops the ability to divide his molecules and become two separate entities, though each hero's powers are weakened by half. Around this same time, he also learns to pass through solid walls while they remain in tact.

Superman is not totally impervious to pain and injury, however. Kryptonite - radioactive remnants of his home planet, which has also been successfully synthesized on Earth - can weaken and sicken him, likely to the point of death. His super powers have been suspended by exposure to extreme cold, and he has suffered temporary amnesia following a collision with a kryptonite-laden asteroid in outer space. That event may help explain Superman's seeming preference for Earth's atmosphere in all subsequent Adventures.

.

...and who, disguised as Clark Kent -

Baby Kal-el, the sole survivor of Krypton, made a fiery landing in his rocket on Earth on April 10, 1926. He was discovered by farmer Eben Kent and his wife Sarah, who decided on the spot to execute a "paperless" adoption of the infant they would come to name Clark. Of the unfolding years in which the boy grew and discovered his amazing powers, we have but one glimpse - occurring on the day Sarah decided to confide in 12-year-old Clark what little she knew of his origins. Whether he went on to serve in the military in the Second World War, pursue higher education, or work anywhere besides the family farm through his early twenties we do not know. But soon after Eben Kent's sudden death in 1951 - 25 years to the day after pulling his son-to-be from a burning rocket, Clark bade his mother goodbye and boarded a bus for Metropolis. Among his suitcased belongings was a costume Sarah Kent had crafted from his baby blankets, which-like Clark-had survived the conflagration of the rocket landing unscathed.

mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper -

Upon arrival in Metropolis, Kent secured a newspaper job by scooping all comers on the debut of his alter ego, Superman. From his beginnings as an eager beaver newbie at The Daily Planet, Kent builds solid reporter credentials, eventually establishing some professional distance from his more tenured colleagues. He takes his work seriously, and through the course of The Adventures demonstrates a growing tendency to call on the full resources of Superman only as a last resort. "Mild-mannered"? His weak-sister routine is but a part of his trick bag-and not overly convincing, typically employed only to clear the decks for a Super-appearance. Kent on occasion makes his own show of force without benefit of cape or contrivance. Well-networked as a reporter and enjoying a collegial relationship with his editor, Kent's status is not hurt by his willingness to let it be known that he can at times "contact" Superman. Even as the "mortal man" he only pretends to be, Clark Kent represents a valuable asset to his employer

fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice,

When Superman battles the baddies, the end result never varies. In only a few instances in The Adventures does a vanquished foe appear who thinks he has a shot at vengeance; this is as close as we come to seeing the same bad guy twice. What makes the battle never-ending, however, is the seemingly inexhaustible supply of miscreants who persist in thinking they know the way to get by the Man of Steel in his own backyard. As one might expect, these are not the brightest candles in the chandelier. Superman took on a major sweep of organized crime in Metropolis early in his career and the message since has been largely heeded: smart crooks steer clear of Superman country.

and the American way.

- including, but not limited to: tolerance of those who seem different or come from strange places; care and compassion for the weak and disenfranchised; special attention to the needs of children; and a loyal and sacrificial spirit - risking his career for the lives of his friends, and his own life for the survival of his adopted planet.

A final bit of narration asserts that

"Superman" is based on the original character appearing in Superman magazine.

Certainly on a basic level, that is true. But much of what I've noted above is at variance with the comic book Superman so many of us knew as kids. And that's not a bad thing. From one large hero came two diverging journeys: a quite fantastical one, populated by multiple Kryptonians, regular travels through space and time, and a hero at best marginally interested in his earthly persona; and another path a bit more familiar to us earthlings - grounded in friendships, the daily grind, and an intuitive sense of the right thing to do.

January 2010

Written in 2006, the following piece shares some common ideas with - and serves as a kind of jumping off point for - "TAOS as Canon" that appears above. Elsewhere on TAC are a number of articles recalling Superman's adventures in the comics, but here's one that looks at the connection between comic books and TV sets. I hope you enjoy:

I can't believe how engaged by life my four year old is. He already has a girl friend in his pre-school class, and she is playing him like a violin! My own memories of that age-about as far back as I can reach-have a hazy, embryonic feel to them. One of the few scenes I can still lock in is our first television set materializing in the living room. Here were my dad and big brother having a seemingly well-informed discussion of how to best adjust the reception on this strange new appliance. Where had they learned this stuff? (in my brother's case, during hours in front of the neighbors' TV, ultimately shaming my folks into keeping up with the Jones' or actually the Brooks'.)

Fast forward a few months to 1957: still four, still no girlfriend, but an active relationship with the 5:00 afternoon adventure block on the tube: Cisco Kid, Sir Lancelot, Hopalong Cassidy, and The Adventures of Superman. I'm lucky I can remember the names of those first three, but the Superman episodes I caught near the end of its first run were the start of an enduring relationship.

I barely knew the alphabet when TAOS went off the air. But by the summer of 1960, I considered myself a good reader and-with a bike, a neighborhood drugstore, and 15 cents of allowance at my disposal-I was once again enjoying the adventures of the original character appearing in Superman Magazine.

Then in perhaps 1962, the TV series kicked back in via local syndication, serving as a catalyst for both great jubilation back then and my getting around to a point in this millennium. Namely: the existence of a disconnect, a dichotomy, if you will, between Superman's TV world and the one he inhabited in those great Silver Age comic books of the Sixties. While both versions prominently featured Lois, Jimmy, and Perry, nowhere in TV's earthbound cast of somewhat dim baddies and befuddled scientists would you find the comics' Brainiac, Supergirl, a leaner keener Luthor, and an ever sharpening focus on the planet Krypton and its growing band of survivors.

This impacted a lot of fans my age. If we saw any Superman TV in first run, we were little more than toddlers-way too young for comic books. And by the time we were old enough to begin devouring Superman, Action, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and World's Finest on our own terms, TAOS was appearing as syndicated reruns-with the earliest episodes looking downright old! Of course for most of us, the excitement of Superman on TV and the stellar performances of George Reeves and company initially trumped any concern with continuity.

Ahh, "continuity" -I learned that word, like so many others, in the comics, when a writer to Superman's Metropolis Mailbag gave voice to a question likely troubling many a nine year old: In the TV show, why doesn't Jimmy Olsen use his Superman signal watch? Came the reply from (Ed.): The TV series was filmed before Jimmy received his signal watch. The episodes are based on an earlier continuity.

Wow. A short answer that spoke volumes. But there's more, much more that ol' (Ed.) didn't say, and which took me decades to discover. For example, he didn't say that he, Mort Weisinger, had been the story editor for the TV show! And that part of his gig was ensuring that there WAS a good bit of continuity twixt the series and the comics. And that if you came to DC's offices on Lexington Avenue and scoured their back issues (allegedly, that was allowed Back in The Day), you'd find in the ones that ran concurrently with the TV show SCADS of stories with video counterparts.

A couple of these are currently available in DC's trade paperback Superman in the Fifties. And they happen to be the comic book renditions of two of the finest TV episodes. "The Menace from the Stars", from the January 1954 issue of World's Finest, is obviously the four color companion to the great "Panic in the Sky". Even more apparent are the similarities of the March 1955 Superman tale "The Girl Who Didn't Believe in Superman" and the 1954 season finale "Around the World with Superman".

Considered a favorite episode featuring an endearing and unique performance by George Reeves (he visits a blind girl in his Superman persona, changing out only from his glasses, not his Daily Planet civvies), "Around the World" unfortunately gets the silly treatment in the comics. It's a gimmick story, penned by the author of many a Batman-gimmicky yarn, Bill Finger. The hook here is that try as he might, Superman can't convince young Alice of his super powers. What plays out warmly and

"Menace" and "Panic" kick off identically-Supe suffers amnesia after knocking an earth-threatening asteroid off course-but while "Panic" relies on a swell amnesiac performance by George Reeves (with great support from the Planet gang), "Menace" (author unknown) spins an intricate detective story in which our clueless hero tries to solve the riddle of Superman with only a costume to go on. As evidence of his powers begins to mount, Supe decides that it's all coming from the suit - and that this missing Superman fellow must have been a friend who left HIM the tights and cape for safe keeping. The super-powered costume is a theory merely hinted at on TV, but one expanded to good effect in the comic book as Supe tentatively tackles one super-feat after another. His cluelessness is quite convincing, and his somewhat clumsy efforts to "do what Superman would have done" are touching. His amnesia hangs on a lot longer in this telling - even after the final confrontation with the asteroid - right up till the last two panels. By then, Supe's willingness to get on with life with nothing but his suit and a blank slate has earned our admiration.

When I first discovered these stories, I assumed they were a rare find: comic tales of Superman that were covered on TV (or vice versa). That, in fact, was the original premise of this piece. But in conversations with Lou Koza and Carl Glass, a few more titles were recalled. That prompted me to break one of my own rules and research my topic. Lo and behold, there in one of Jim Nolt's online archives (1998) was a list of twenty five adventures appearing in both media! I guess you're never too old (or too late) to learn. I do wonder how it would have been: old enough to read those comic books and watch the TV versions play out during Superman's first run. Anyone out there qualify?

Resources: "The Girl Who Didn't Believe in Superman" and "The Menace from the Stars" are reprinted in DC's trade paperback Superman in the Fifties. The list of comic book/TV stories as listed on TAC is here: http://www.jimnolt.com/tacjr_025.htm And - a fun comic style version of TV's "Panic in the Sky" created by fellow Richmonder Nightwing can be enjoyed at http://supermanfan.nu/adventures/panic/panic_in_the_sky.htm

Lou (March 19, 2011)   

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