Except, of course, he was never really gone. He's been there every week, in comic books and on animated TV shows. The "comeback" is aimed at a pop medium with greater cachet than DC Comics or Kids' WB television: It's the silver screen to which "Superman Returns" Wednesday. Chalk the sudden increase in red-caped ubiquity to the many millions spent marketing a summer-movie blockbuster, not to mention the endless tie-ins.
How did one humble character in a basic red cape become popular enough to drive his own industry? Simple. He did it first. As the original superpowered comic book protagonist, the Super Boy Scout sewed up "icon" status from his start in 1938. In retrospect, it seems obvious.
"It's a cliche, but he stands for truth, justice and the American way. He stands for what we expect a hero to be, specifically an American hero," says animator Bruce Timm, who revitalized Kal-El (Superman's Planet Krypton name) for today's kids with "Superman: The Animated Series" and the more recent "Justice League."
If you listen to the buzz in the next couple of weeks, you're likely to hear plenty about the Messiah imagery in the new film. Superman as Christ? Sure, why not? Just keep in mind, he was the brainchild of two geeky Jewish Clevelanders, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. They weren't thinking about Jesus; their imaginations swirled from pulp and early sci-fi, from Zorro and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars yarns. And, perhaps, from one other hero template: The story of Superman's infancy, Timm notes, "is kind of like Moses in outer space. It's the best origin story of any superhero."
Siegel and Shuster certainly added their own smart touches. To begin with, they gave Clark Kent amazing powers. Moreover, says "Men of Tomorrow" author and comic book historian Gerard Jones, "The most clever thing they did was break him down into primary colors and then give him that simple name: Superman. It's so simple, it's almost silly." Every generation from the 1940s through today has had at least one version to fall in love with. At the start were the radio show and the stunning Fleischer Studios cartoon shorts. George Reeves bounded into the '50s; Christopher Reeve made us believe a man could fly in the '70s. Director Bryan Singer's new film restores the Reeve mantle.
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