
April 18, 1938

Wenceslas Square, Prague, Czech Republic
At the outset of SUPERMAN WEEK, I wanted to take a look at just why the Man of Steel has endured for 80 years. I enlisted podcaster and documentary filmmaker Anthony Desiato of My Comic Shop History to take a crack at it.
Why Anthony? For one thing, he’s a Superfan of the first magnitude. For another, he’s 20 years younger than me — a potent reminder that Superman’s appeal is timeless and enduring, decade after decade. Not that we really need such a reminder, but it’s still heartening to see.
Character actor Ray Middleton was the first actor to play Superman in public, which he did on July 3, 1940, during the 1939 New York World’s Fair’s “Superman Day.”