On this day in 1938, Action Comics #1 was issued, introducing Superman to the public for the first time. If you can do the math, you will see that today is not just the birthday of Superman, but he turns 70 ! ! !Creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster originally had Superman as a bald madman whose telepathic abilities were used to wreck havoc. This form of him appeared in Science Fiction #3 (1933). They re-wrote the character as a hero, with little resemblance to his namesake, later on in 1933 (which I am sure everyone is thankful for). Now all they needed was a publisher. The creators were asked to contribute a feature to National Comics for a new publication they submitted Superman for consideration. Not only did National Comics accept Superman for their new Action Comics series, but they made him the cover! Action Comics was soon followed by a Superman comic book series in 1939.
Superman was born Kal-El on the far-off planet of Krypton. As an infant his parents sent him to Earth moments before the planet was to destruct, leaving him the lone survivor of his planet (or so goes most versions). He was found, adopted, and raised by a 
often romantically linked and even married to. Throughout his childhood and teenage years his superhuman abilities have grown and matured with him. Reaching adulthood he decided to use his powers for the benefit of humanity.
“Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound”
--Jay Morton
The character's supporting cast and powers have slowly expanded and revamped over the years. While his powers have varied, the following tend to be attributed to him: flight, super-strength, super-speed, vision powers (x-ray, heat, telescopic, infra-red), invulnerability to non-magical attacks, self-healing power, super-breath (can freeze and create powerful winds), super-hearing (just a lot of super powers – hence his name, Superman)
Superman forever changed the medium of comic books. It is hard to believe, but before Superman superheroes were uncommon in the comic book genre. Superman was the first comic book superhero, starting off the success of this new fantasy subgenre. Superman’s initial success led to other, similar characters being created (the first to follow was Batman). Today thousands of characters have since been produced and superhero comics are established as the dominant genre in American comic book publishing.
Superman has been adapted to various media outside of comic books. From a radio series in 1940 to numerous animated cartoons to even a play, Superman has been around. It has been a TV series numerous times with most recent in 1993 as Louis & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Smallville in 2001 focusing on Clark
As an American cultural icon, Superman is still seen as being as relevant now as he has been in the seventy years of his existence.
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