Superman #1 (1939) · 1939
The first solo flight.
Superman leaps above the city in the cover of his first solo title. Follow this celebrated composition through decades of tributes and character swaps.
The origin pointSuperman #1 (1939) · Joe Shuster (figure); Leo O’Mealia (background attribution)
The original cover
Superman #1 (1939)
Superman leaps above the city in the cover of his first solo title. Follow this celebrated composition through decades of tributes and character swaps.
This catalog follows the original cover’s composition across published comics and announced editions. Trade dress, virgin, foil and sketch treatments are described in edition notes. Connecting sets identify their participating issues and panels.
Verified records have source support for the exact cover and target. Partial records retain attribution or edition gaps. Reprints, interior-scene homages, different targets and unresolved references are listed separately below.
Summer 1939 cover date. Native DC Universe Infinite digital master 1213×1650; full original Shuster flying pose and trade dress, clean white areas, no external mat. Digital restoration has black side/bottom text and black 10¢ compared with red text on surviving early physical scans. Disclosed digital presentation, not claimed scan of a particular first-print copy. No local recoloring/upscaling/cropping.
Superman #1 (1939) collection
Browse the lineage
- Homage entries
- 28
- Verified
- 23
- Qualified
- 5
Search by title, artist, publisher, character or edition. Entries may represent an individual panel or a documented connecting set; the count is not a count of unique complete panoramas.
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Research & releases · Reviewed October 22, 2026
New editions and open questions
Searches as of October 22, 2026 found no independently confirmed exact-target future comic release after this date. Reprints, newly painted homages and other Superman cover targets are distinguished.
Undisclosed print quantities, ambiguous credits and conflicting edition dates remain identified as unknown. This catalog can grow as publishers, artists and collectors provide new evidence.
Reprints, interior-scene homages and references (2)
- Adventures of Superman: George Pérez HC Not numbered
George Pérez Action Comics #643 cover reused for a collected edition; counted with that artwork, not as a new homage.
Research source ↗ - Superman: Son of Kal-El Vol. 1 – The Truth HC Not numbered
John Timms Son of Kal-El #1 cover reused for The Truth collection; grouped with the issue rather than counted twice.
Research source ↗
Research changes and source notes
- CL-SUP1-0001: Cover homage
Ambush Bug alone appears in Superman-style costume; June 1985 cover date. GCD on-sale March 5 differs from supplied March 28; day retained as approximate pending contemporary shipping evidence.
- CL-SUP1-0002: Cover homage
Pérez front cover; Brett Breeding is interior inker, not this cover. Direct/newsstand treatments grouped.
- CL-SUP1-0003: Cover homage
Elseworlds Kal-El raised as Bruce Wayne, wearing Batman costume. Standard prestige one-shot, not a trade paperback; November 1993 cover date.
- CL-SUP1-0004: Cover homage
Hyland parody cover; no civilian identity added without exact-edition evidence.
- CL-SUP1-0005: Cover homage
Painted front cover by Jerry Ordway. Joe Bennett draws interiors and a separate variant.
- CL-SUP1-0006: Cover homage
Separate Bennett composition. Supplied 1997 American Entertainment reissue label retained, but underlying art first appeared with the 1996 Image issue; later indicia/retailer details require further verification. Retailer/reissue identification remains qualified; this is why status is Partial.
- CL-SUP1-0007: Cover homage
Lark cover in Elseworlds War of the Worlds; distinct oval framing over Martian invasion cityscape.
- CL-SUP1-0008: Cover homage
Crilley is signed front-cover painter, not the story creators Mike Curtis and Mike Sagara. July 1999 publication; supplied January 1 was placeholder. CCL sale date July14; exactday remains a secondary index claim.
- CL-SUP1-0009: Cover homage
Anderson recreated the Shuster cover for Overstreet #32. Hardcover/softcover same art grouped; guide format disclosed.
- CL-SUP1-0010: Cover homage
McGuinness/Vines/Grant front cover. WildStorm/DC issue; protagonist Lord Majestros, not Superman.
- CL-SUP1-0011: Cover homage
Ross painted cover credited separately from Amancio/Austin interiors. Twisting pose evokes the original without oval trade dress.
- CL-SUP1-0012: Cover homage
Kerschl exact cover. Other background portraits include a woman and supporting figures not all securely identified; follow-up remains.
- CL-SUP1-0013: Cover homage
GCD exact retailer-preview edition credits signed ToneR and WD, correcting erroneous Retailer Preview artist placeholder and some web summaries that name an interior contributor.
- CL-SUP1-0014: Cover homage
All three title heroes shown within the vertical composition. Looser flying-hero homage rather than exact oval restaging.
- CL-SUP1-0015: Cover homage
Retailer-exclusive Galvan cover reportedly 500 copies. Supplied 2009 Dynamite reprint, not the original 2006 WildStorm first printing.
- CL-SUP1-0016: Cover homage
DC 75th anniversary variant marks the publisher anniversary, not Superman’s 75th. Confirmed Cassaday cover; supplied 1:25 treatment retained.
- CL-SUP1-0017: Cover homage
Promotional tie-in to Electric Man film, published by Dugbus; printed June 1937 is fictional comic-era trade dress, not actual publication year. Exact day and production credits remain partially documented.
- CL-SUP1-0018: Cover homage
Scribblenauts stylized Superman, not inferred Maxwell: exact cover is a caped S-emblem avatar. Jon Katz spelling from edition index.
- CL-SUP1-0019: Cover homage
Flying-squirrel costume. Main figure is Doreen Green; no Superman figure on cover.
- CL-SUP1-0020: Cover homage
Exact Guedes variant, separate from Ken Lashley cover A.
- CL-SUP1-0021: Cover homage
Yellow/purple costumed Collapser in Shuster pose. Full credits identify Kyriazis; identity supported by story premise and visible protagonist.
- CL-SUP1-0022: Reference / related edition
George Pérez Action Comics #643 cover reused for a collected edition; counted with that artwork, not as a new homage.
- CL-SUP1-0023: Cover homage
Steven Butler Homage edition listed 500; full color production credits not independently verified. Supplied art and edition confirmed against reference list.
- CL-SUP1-0024: Cover homage
DC explicitly identifies Superman #1 cover homage. Jon Kent, not Clark. Virgin/foil/later print treatments of this same composition group under one artwork.
- CL-SUP1-0025: Reference / related edition
John Timms Son of Kal-El #1 cover reused for The Truth collection; grouped with the issue rather than counted twice.
- CL-SUP1-0026: Cover homage
MBartist newspaper edition cover B: artist shop states 1,500. Grayscale palette is an intentional treatment, not age/yellowing. Color edition uses same underlying art.
- CL-SUP1-0027: Cover homage
Distributor text explicitly calls Cover D a Superman homage. Visible luminous airborne Sereno; supporting silhouettes require further identification.
- CL-SUP1-0028: Cover homage
Official Alex Ross Art/DC facsimile comic with newly painted tribute front cover; artist shop confirms complete original interiors and advertisements. A trade-dress and B virgin treatments grouped as one new artwork. Debut month supported by July SDCC2025 announcement; some indexes list September26 distribution, so exact universal on-sale day not asserted.
- CL-SUP1-0029: Cover homage
Masked Jake Gold flies above 1900 New York in the Shuster pose. Distributor names both cover contributors; Marcus appears as Jimeneze in distributor record and Jimenez at retailer. Trade/virgin same composition grouped.
- CL-SUP1-0030: Cover homage
Buttercup fills the oval over a city in Superman #1 pose; cover explicitly signed After Joe Shuster. Cover D trade and 1:15 virgin artwork grouped; other Powerpuff girls do not appear on this exact cover.
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