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Lisbeth Barocio Engilsh IV Period IV Ms. Bell 3 September 2013 Super Baby! Everyone dreams of being a super hero, well at least I do. Superman is one of them, even though he might appear real, he is a fictional character. Superman first came out in the 1930s, when he was created by Jo and incredibly was sold for only ten cents each. Who would have known his popularity would bring him to today? This comic book is about Superman also known as Man of Steel, it tells the story of his birth all the way to his self-discovery journey. The History of Comic Books In 1827 the Switzerland Rudolph Topffer started creating comic books. It wasnt until 1842 though, when he publishes his first comic strip in the United States, The Adventures of Obadiah Old Buck. However, in 1895 Yellow Kid was created by Richard Out Cault. Apparently it has been said to be the very first comic strip, because it actually had the outline space on the page, where the characters lines appeared. At first, comic books were called The Funnies, later on the word Comic, made them more popular. And thats how now we know them as Comic Books or strips. Comic strips or comic books were mostly first used for political reasons, mostly to make fun of the government. In 1754, Benjamin Franklin created the first cartoon which was published in the newspaper. It

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was titled Join or Die, and it purpose was to join what it is now called the United States of America. Comic books have always involved people in many ways. Biographical Information on the Artist Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were the creators of Superman. Jerome Siegel, whos short for Jerry Siegel, was born on October 17, 1914, in Cleveland Ohio. Joe Shuster was born couple months before Jerry; he was born on July 10, 1914 Canada. Both of their parents were Jewish immigrants. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster first became friends in Glenville high school, after Joes parents decided to move Arkansas. They meet when they were in high school at the age of sixteen. Jerry worked for the weekly student newspaper, he wrote about the schools events. Jerry was very shy and had no popularity as well as Joe. Jerry and Joe became best friends pretty soon, they were very similar, and had many things in common. Soon they created a great team, and started writing comics together for the school. Soon popularity started rising when his comics were being read and loved at school. Through the following years Jerry and Joe worked together. Eventually they came up with the creation of The Superman, in that time he was a villain. They made The Superman part of short stories, for the newspaper and science fiction stories. Anyway, The Superman was not a hit. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster worked a lot to develop Superman. In 1939 Superman was created for DC comics, and they made it a hit! In 1948, Siegel and Shuster sued DC for the rights to the Superman character. They didnt win the case. Later, before Joe was drafted to war, he handed pages of his first Superboy

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comics. Which he was never compensated. The character Superman had been stole from them too. Joe and Joe, still continue with their career, creating and writing more comics. Jerry and Joes friendship lasted for a long time, thou on July 30, 1992 Joe Shuster died. He had been blind for years already. Later Jerry died too, on January 28, 1996. Even after their death, Superman still remains alive, thanks to them. The History of Superman In 1938 Superman first appeared on the cover of Action Comics. His blue tights and red underpants were based on Victorian-era, which were considering strong men by those who wore them. In the next few few years, Super man appeared with higher boots, which seem to stand a lot more than the top. Some people didnt like that, or just didnt really catch their attention. Eventually Joe Shuster, who was also a lover of fashion, came up with the classy, retro old fashion boots. This would remain for the next seven decades. Time later they were not satisfied with the logo and the cape, so that became their portly for a while. In the 1940s they came up with a new logo and cape for Superman. Again, appearing on Action Comic, which was a cover magazine. By 1945, Supermans design was basically done, it would be kept for the next forty years, and be the second most recognize on earth. And this is how Superman still continues on. Summary of the Book Kripton, which was a planet in the outer space, had a race of people almost exactly like humans, but with ten times advancement in technology and science. Jor-El who is supermans dad, noticed that the planets where collapsing and there was a chance that the city of Kandor

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would explode. Soon he went and talked to the chamber counsel, but no one believed him. Full of frustration he went home, talked with his wife and made a decicion. Jor-Els wife, who was Lara, decided to send their new born to a better place called earth, so they did. Sadly, they send him on a space shuttle. They believed that by sending him, he would bring eventually survive and bring hope. The new born baby landed in a corn farm land in Arkansas. There, a young American couple, Jonathan and Martha Kent who were farmers found him. So they took him home, and soon adopted him as their child, naming him Clark. As Clark grew up he notice he was capable of doing some things others kids his age couldnt, he had amazing sense and was extremely strong. His parents, Jonathan and Martha noticed that as well, which made them revel his identity and where they had found him. As Clark grew to an adult, he decided to go off for a mission. He set off for a journey of self-discovery, he wanted to know his roots and who was he. As Clark got to his destination he learned about his real parents, Joel-El and Lara and the reasons why he was sent to earth which was one of his fathers mission. He also learned that his real name was Kal-El, not Clark. Kal-El decided to continue his fathers mission. He promised him he would use his amazing powers to protect and safe his new home. He now wore a similar outfit to his dad JoelEl. Personal Review

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I really enjoyed taking this opportunity to not just learn about Superman, but about its history too and how and what it took to bring him to life and until the level his writers are right now. It was very interesting. Knowing that Superman is part of comic books, it has also taken part of other things like in the media industry. Thanks to that, now we can see a lot of Superman toys, posters, etc. Which it keeps Superman going on today. Now most of us grow up with super heroes, Superman being one of them. It seems like comic books have always been popular, ever since the seventeen hundreds. Even thou they were mostly use for critics it made in impact. Its very interesting the fact that comic books have been in our world for almost three centuries. It makes them more important and part of our history. Besides comic books being comical, they also import information to people in different ways. Reading this comic book about Superman was fun! I learned a lot of information.

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Work Citied
"Jerry Siegel." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Aug. 2013. Web. 04 Sept. 2013.

http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/comics.htm http://www.superherostuff.com/biographies/supermanbio.html http://www.biography.com/