S U P E R M A N, Continued.

Another influence was Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs; ERB's Virginian John Carter, from his Mars series, possesses super strength because the Earth is larger than Mars; Siegel created Krypton as being much larger than Earth. As mentioned earlier, many of the motifs from the Doc Savage saga somehow made their way into Superman's creation. The Fortress of Solitude, the designation Man of Steel (Doc was the Man of Bronze because of his skin color), the first name Clark (Clark Savage Jr.), and more incredibly, the name Superman (Doc was advertised as "Superman" in pulp magazines announcing his adventures).

Left: George Reeves in a 1951 feature film, which is included in Warner Home Video's 2005 DVD release of the TV series Adventures of Superman - The Complete First Season. Right: DC Comics' new era of Superman; illustration by Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino.

Siegel and Schuster created Superman's prototype in the early 1930s in an amateur fanzine, but could not sell the concept to newspapers. DC Comics finally introduced the public to The Man of Steel, and there were many spin-offs, such as, World's Finest, a Superman, Batman, Robin team-up, Justice League of America, and Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, to name a few. It was comic book editor Mort Weisinger who gave Superman his time traveling abilities, making it possible for adventures in the past, future, and alternate time-lines. A God-Like figure from another planet, Kal-El becomes one of the greatest Modern Myths in history; Jeff Rovin, in The Encyclopedia of Super Heroes writes: "In the earliest days, we called them 'gods.' Egypt was one of the earliest cultures to chronicle the exploits of superpowered figures."

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