Action Comics No. 196
date: label: Date made
content: 1959-10
name: label: publisher
content: National Comics Publications, Inc.
label: maker
content: National Comics Publications, Inc.
label: maker
content: Action Comics
notes: label: Description
content: <i>Action Comics No. 257</i> features the Superman story "The Reporter of Steel," written by Otto Binder and pencilled by Wayne Boring. The cover art, done by Curt Swan, features Superman in his Clark Kent alias and the villain,Lex Luthor.
label: Description
content: The comic also contains the Congo Bill story "The Man-Ape Skin Diver!" and "The Three Magic WIshes!" starring Supergirl.
label: Description
content: The character of Superman first flew into action in 1938. The costumed superhero was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two Jewish teenagers from Cleveland Ohio, who used, among other things, classical mythology and the era's popular science fiction and adventure writing for inspiration.
label: Description
content: With his debut in Action Comics #1, Superman became an instant sensation with audiences, inspired by the "Man of Tomorrow's" virtue and heroics at time when the Nation was slowly emerging from the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression and moving closer to World War.
label: Description
content: Born on the doomed planet Krypton, Superman was sent to Earth as a child, where our world's yellow sun granted him extraordinary powers such as flight, super-strength, near-invulnerability, as well as other extraordinary abilities including heat and X-Ray vision. As an adult living in the city of Metropolis, the alien, born Kal-El, protects his identity by assuming the persona of Clark Kent, a "mild-mannered" journalist.
label: Description
content: Fighting for "Truth and Justice," Superman birthed a cultural fascination with superheroes, and has become one of the most recognizable and influential fictional characters in history. In addition to comic books, the character has been explored in all forms of media, including radio, television, and film, and has been used to promote a variety of successful consumer products, educational initiatives and public service campaigns.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: Subject
content: Superman
label: Subject
content: Comics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1988.3095.31
label: catalog number
content: 1988.3095.31
label: nonaccession number
content: 1988.3095
label: catalog number
content: .31
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Book, Comic
label: Object Name
content: comic book
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 in x 6 1/2 in; 25.4 cm x 16.51 cm