FEATURE / COMICS / FLYING HIGH / 75 YEARS OF SUPERMAN
Silver Age Superman /
A Strange Time
As with everything that gains popularity quickly,
the appeal of a popular trope starts to wane and
eventually requires either a refresh or trashing
of that item. Comics were no exception to this
and several characters that were previously
popular started to fade into obscurity because of
irrelevance or just plain lack of interest. Superman
seemed to be the one exception to this though,
mainly because he boasted a pedigree and fan
base that most other superheroes simply couldn't
compete with.
Then along came the Comics Code Authority.
The late 1950's saw the meteoric rise in the
popularity of television and, inevitably, political
correctness. The CCA's mission was to ensure
that children were protected against violence and
sexual themes portrayed within comic books.
This saw a massive change in content for most
heroes, most significantly Batman, but Superman
rapidly adopted a Sci-Fi feel because of the everincreasing popularity of B-movie aliens, nuclear
incidents and such.
He also developed an ant head because of
exposure to Red Kryptonite (in Action Comics
#296). Go figure. Oh, and Superman's identity got
revealed by a dragon burning off his clothing. Twice.
It was a great time.
Fighting a Legend /
The Bronze Age
The 1960's had ended, predicating a time of
revolution, civil unrest and fear. The United States
had just embarked on a war with Vietnam, John
F. Kennedy was assassinated and a man had been
to the moon and back. Films and literature were
starting to see a shift in narrative that saw far
more serious and hard-edged tones, leaving the
wholesome CCA-regulated superheroes feeling
rather dull. Marvel however and specifically Stan
Lee were making rapid waves in the comic world
with the introduction of The X-Men, Spider-Man
and the Fantastic Four, comics featuring poignant,
strong and relatable characters that reflected true
social issues and concerns. DC needed to make
rapid adjustments to its stable of characters to
keep up with the paradigm shift, having suffered
drastically from overtly kitsch themes and
unintentionally camped up heroes brought about
by the CCA's mollycoddling.
A truly memorable (if somewhat silly) feature
of this time was Superman's iconic fight against
the legendary boxer, Muhammed Ali in 1978's
Superman vs. Muhammed Ali. (Spoiler Alert /
Ali wins, then helps Superman to defeat an alien
incursion. True story.)
Suddenly far more powerful villains like
Darkseid were also introduced into the Super-verse
to pose a genuine threat to Superman. By 1985, DC
completely rebooted Superman, casting out much
of his original origins and character traits in favour
of a new, more flawed hero.
LEFT: Superman #164 (vol. 1) featured a showdown between
Lex Luthor and Superman on a planet with a Red Sun,
stripping Superman of his powers and allowing the two to
fight each other on even ground. Superman won.