Superman has been running, under one title or another, since 1939. This week, it reaches its gala 700th issue; here’s a little history of its previous anniversary issues.
July 1948: In Superman #53, the “tenth anniversary issue” (ten years and a month since Superman had first appeared in Action Comics #1, at any rate), writer Bill Finger and artists Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye revisit and expand on Superman’s origin. On the radio: Peggy Lee’s “Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me).”
September 1955: Superman–initially a quarterly series, then bimonthly, and by this point published eight times a year–reaches issue #100. The stories on the inside are the usual cheery eight-pagers; one of them is called “Superman–Substitute Teacher.” On the radio: Georgia Gibbs’ “Dance With Me Henry.”
October 1967: Superman #200, by writer Cary Bates and artist Wayne Boring, is an out-of-continuity “imaginary story” (in the words of Alan Moore: “aren’t they all?”). Nothing is particularly anniversary-issue-ish about it. By now, Superman is still published eight times a year, not counting a few bonus 80-page reprint specials. (One of them, the following summer’s Superman #207, has a cover celebrating Kal-El’s thirtieth anniversary in show biz; nothin’ but reprints on the inside, though.) On the radio: the Association’s “Windy.”
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June 1976: The now-monthly Superman celebrates its 300th issue with another “imaginary story,” once again written by Bates (this time with Elliott S! Maggin) and drawn by Curt Swan and Bob Oksner. The plot concerns baby Kal-El landing on Earth just in time for the Bicentennial, narrowly averting a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1990, and returning to the public eye in 2001. On the radio: the Miracles’ “Love Machine.”
October 1984: Superman #400 is a 64-page special with a ton of star-power. Besides a seven-part story written by Maggin and drawn by not-often-Superman-associated artists including Frank Miller, Al Williamson, Marshall Rogers and Wendy Pini, there are a bunch of single-page pin-ups by the likes of Will Eisner, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby and Moebius, and a ten-pager by Jim Steranko–his final narrative comics work to date, if memory serves. On the radio: Prince and the Revolution’s “When Doves Cry.”
May 1995: There’s never been a Superman #500 (or #600), as such: following 1986’s Superman #423, the original series was retitled Adventures of Superman, and John Byrne relaunched Superman with a new #1. Dan Jurgens’ “The Death of Superman” story, which reached its climax with #75, was enormously popular, so for #100 of the new series, he follows it up with “The Death of Clark Kent.” On the radio: Madonna’s “Take a Bow.”
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February 2004: Superman #200, written by Steven T. Seagle and drawn by twelve artists (including Jurgens), follows anniversary-issue traditions by having Superman travel to the future, and by having a portentous title (“The Last Superman Story”). On the radio: OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” This Superman series ended with 2006’s #226; Adventures of Superman changed its title back to Superman as of the following month’s #650.
This week: Superman #700 comes out, with stories by Jurgens, James Robinson and Bernard Chang, and J. Michael Straczynski and Eddy Barrows. We’ll be discussing it in the Comic Book Club on Thursday, so come back and see what we thought.
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