No wonder they think it's ancient history

So, the interwebs reminded me today (yeah, like it was in my calendar and I forgot to check) that it is the 75th Anniversary of the first appearance of Superman in Action Comics #1, April 18, 1938.

First of all, let's hear it for Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who as boys created a legend and who as men got what many consider to be way too little reward.

The check for which Seigel & Shuster signed away the rights to Superman.   (courtesy Illustration Art)

What came to mind today on this Diamond Jubilee, perhaps because I have had students reading excerpts from Gerard Jones's Men of Tomorrow and Michael Chabon's Kavalier and Clay, is some historical context.

• The first appearance of Superman is closer in time to the surrender at Appomattox and the end of the Civil War than it is to today.

• The first appearance of Superman is closer in time to the first controlled flight in Europe than it is to the first manned moon landing.

The Man of Tomorrow has seen a lot of yesterdays come and go. I can't imagine what his centennial will be like.