In a smart move, Jor-El foresaw the cataclysmic end of his homeland coming, swaddled his baby boy up in a bullet-proof comforter and launched him in a rocketship into outer space, out of harm’s way. In a particularly stupid move, however, Jor-El aimed the ship at Earth, evidently not having done his research into relocation. Despite appearing human, young Kal-El possessed powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. He found out quickly (as mentioned) that he was faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive. Early on he discovered he could leap tall buildings in a single bound and bend steel in his bare hands.

Being an illegal alien, he found it necessary to create a false identity, that of a mild-mannered reporter and using the alias of Clark Kent, he managed to secure himself gainful employment with a great metropolitan newspaper. These days most illegal aliens create false identities in order to ensure they get regular welfare cheques, but we won’t get into that.

It is interesting to note with Kal-El, that, in comparison to his uncanny superhuman powers, he is somewhat lacking in imagination. His one and only method of concealing his true self to others is to don a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles. Presumably the investigative reporting staff of The Daily Planet is similarly unencumbered by imagination, as Clark’s keen disguise has had them hoodwinked for over sixty years now. Not what I would call Sixty Minutes staff material. More like the National Enquirer.

So Kal-El/Clark/Superman did what he did best, living out his life fighting a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way (whatever that means). Nobody else but Kal-El’s adoptive mother and the dim-witted ace reporter that he secretly lusts after, Lois Lane , have a clue that Clark Kent and Superman, strange visitor from another planet are one and the same person. His mom knows, and Miss Lane only suspects.

True to time honoured tradition, the modern myth of Superman was eventually translated to the lively art of cinema, first in a series of very well drawn animated cartoon movies produced by the Fleischer studios, the guys who had previously breathed life into Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor Man. The big fella next showed up on screens in the form of a cliff-hanger serial, wherein Kal-El was portrayed rather uncomfortably by a former dancer in Busby Berkeley musicals by the name of Kirk Alyn, who looked about as at home in the blue leotard and red suede boots as a man wearing spats at an Iowa picnic. His portrayal of Clark Kent was admirable, though, a take-charge, go-getter in a snap brim fedora who opted for wire rims instead of bulky tortoise-shell frames on his cheaters.

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The special effects in this low-budget offering had me scratching my head and wondering to myself, “Hang on, am I really not supposed to notice that everytime Superman is about to fly, the actor playing him runs behind something and comes out the other side as a cartoon?” Up, up and away. When he landed they pulled the same trick in reverse. It must have been state of the art FX for the 1940s.