Before Superman was known as the Man of Steel, his creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster called him the Champion of the Oppressed. Because when Superman made his debut in April of 1938 in Action Comics #1, the United States was still in the grip of the Great Depression.

On this episode, Sami and Terry discuss the creative history of Superman, what led America to enter into its longest economic downturn, and why its more difficult for the Last Son of Krypton to perform his kind of heroics from 1938 in today's America.

Sources used in this episode:

DC Finest: Superman; The First Superhero

Supermen!: The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941

Superman: The Persistence of an American Icon - Ian Gordon

Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster - the Creators of Superman- Brad Ricca

The New Mutants: Superheroes and the Radical Imagination of American Comics - Ramzi Fawaz

Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal: 1932-1940 - William E. Leuchtenberg

Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 - David M. Kennedy

New episodes of Comics: An American History are released every other Tuesday! Here's a quick peek at what you can expect on our next episode which comes out on Tuesday, October 27.

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