''The Superman Family'' is an

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

series published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

from 1974 to 1982 featuring supporting characters in the ''Superman'' comics. The term "Superman Family" is often used to refer to the extended cast of characters of comics books associated with Superman. A similarly titled series, ''Superman Family Adventures'', was published in 2012.

Publication history

''The Superman Family'' was an amalgamation of the titles ''

Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane ''Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane'' is an American comic book series published monthly by DC Comics. The series focusing on the adventures of Lois Lane began publication with a March/April 1958 cover date and ended its run in September/October ...

'', ''

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from September–October 1954 until March 1974, spanning a total of 163 issues. Featuring the adventures of Superman supporting character Jimmy Olsen, it conta ...

'', and ''

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...

''. The first issue, #164, took its numbering from ''Jimmy Olsen'', which had reached issue #163 and thus had the most issues published. ''Lois Lane'' ended at #137, while the newly launched ''Supergirl'' book had only made it to #9 at the time. A 10th and final issue of ''Supergirl'' was published five months after ''The Superman Family''s launch. ''The Superman Family'' went through two distinct phases. In its inception the three leads

Jimmy Olsen Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Olsen is most often portrayed as a young photojournalist working for the ''Daily Planet''. He is close friends with Lois Lane and Superman, Clark Kent ...

Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning ...

, and

rotated new stories each issue with reprints for the other characters. The first six issues (#164–169) of the series were in the 100 Page Super Spectacular format and

Nick Cardy Nicholas Viscardi (October 20, 1920 – November 3, 2013), known professionally as Nick Cardy and Nick Cardi, was an American comics artist best known for his DC Comics work on Aquaman, the Teen Titans and other major characters. Cardy was induct ...

was the cover artist. Changes were made in the setting of Supergirl's adventures during the character's run in the title. She moved to Florida to join the faculty at the New Athens Experimental School in issue #165. In an "imaginary story" set in a possible future in issue #200, Supergirl, now known as Super''woman'', is depicted as being the

Governor of Florida The governor of Florida is the head of government of the U.S. state of Florida. The Governor (United States), governor is the head of the Government of Florida#Executive branch, executive branch of the government of Florida and is the comman ...

in her secret identity of Linda Danvers. She leaves Florida and relocates to New York City to become a soap opera actress in issue #208. After the cancellation of ''

Super-Team Family ''Super-Team Family'' is a comic book anthology series published by DC Comics from 1975 to 1978 that lasted for 15 issues. It included a mix of original and reprinted stories. Publication history ''Super-Team Family'' began publication with an O ...

'', a Supergirl/

Doom Patrol Doom Patrol is a superhero team from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in ''My Greatest Adventure'' #80 (June 1963), and was created by writers Arnold Drake and Bob Haney, along with artist Bruno Premiani. Doom Patrol has appear ...

team-up originally scheduled to appear in that title was published in ''The Superman Family'' #191–193. Supergirl battled the Enchantress in issues #204–205 and teamed with the

Legion of Super-Heroes The Legion of Super-Heroes is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino, the Legion is a group of superpowered beings living in the 30th and 31st centuries of t ...

in issue #207. ''The Superman Family'' became the first DC Comics series in the 80-page Dollar Comic format, consisting of 64 pages of new stories, beginning with issue #182 (March–April 1977). With that issue, the "framing element" was removed from the covers, and the book switched to printing all-new material. It became a monthly series in 1981, starting with issue #207.

Featured series

* ''

'' - the adventures of Lois Lane, where she regularly battled criminals (#166, 169, 172, 175, 178, 181–222). * ''

'' - the adventures of Supergirl (#165, 168, 171, 174, 177, 180, 182–222). * ''

'' - the adventures of Jimmy Olsen (#164, 167, 170, 173, 176, 179, 182–222). * ''

Superboy Superboy is an identity used by several fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. These characters have been featured in several eponymous comic series, in addition to ''Adventure Comics'' and other series ...

'' - the adventures of the

Earth-One Earth-One (also Earth-1) is a name given to two fictional universes (the Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis versions of the same universe) that have appeared in American comic book stories published by DC Comics. The first Earth-One was given its name i ...

Superman as a teenage superhero. This series continued from ''

Adventure Comics ''Adventure Comics'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1938 to 1983 and revived from 2009 to 2011. In its first era, the series ran for 503 issues (472 of those after the title changed from ''New Adventure Comics''), ...

'' #458 and led to the feature leaving the title for its own in 1980, '' The New Adventures of Superboy'' (#182, 191–198). * ''The Private Life of Clark Kent'' - the adventures of

Clark Kent Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

in which he used his powers and skills without becoming Superman. This feature had moved over from ''

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

'' after issue #328 of that series (#182, 191-197, 199-215). After the cancellation of ''The Superman Family'', it returned to ''Superman'' for two more appearances in issues #371 and 373. * ''Mr. and Mrs. Superman'' - the adventures of the

Earth-Two Earth-Two (also Earth 2) is a setting for stories (a "fictional universe") appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. First appearing in ''The Flash'' #123 (1961), Earth-Two was created to explain differences between the original ...

and his wife, Lois Lane Kent. This feature had also moved over from ''Superman'' after issue #329 (#195-196, 198-199, 201-222). * ''

Krypto Krypto, also known as Krypto the Superdog, is a superhero dog appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the character Superman. In most continuities, Krypto is Superman's pet dog, usually depicted as a ...

'' - the adventures of Superman's dog with the aid of detective Ed Lacy (#182–192). * ''

Nightwing Nightwing is a superhero alias used by multiple characters in American comic books published by DC Comics. The most prominent bearer is Dick Grayson, the original Robin, who adopts the Nightwing identity to assert his independence from Batman. ...

and

Flamebird Flamebird is the name used by six different fictional comic book characters who have appeared in books published by DC Comics, specifically from the ''Superman'' and ''Batman'' mythos. The primary character to use the Flamebird name is Bette Kane ...

'' - the adventures of the second Nightwing and Flamebird team of heroes (Van-Zee and Ak-Var) in the bottle city of Kandor (#183–194). DC published several other ''... Family'' titles concurrently with ''The Superman Family''. These included ''

Batman Family ''Batman Family'' is an American comic book anthology series published by DC Comics which ran from 1975 to 1978, primarily featuring stories starring supporting characters to the superhero Batman. An eight-issue miniseries called ''Batman: Famil ...

'' (1975–78), ''Super-Team Family'' (1975–78) and '' Tarzan Family'' (1975–76). As a rule, DC's other ''... Family'' titles contained mostly reprints and featured a higher page count and a higher price than DC's other titles. With issue #222 (September 1982), ''The Superman Family'' was cancelled and replaced with ''The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl'', which briefly featured a "Lois Lane" backup series.

''Superman Family Adventures''

In 2012, DC launched a new series titled ''Superman Family Adventures'' written by

Art Baltazar Arthee "Art" Baltazar (born 1968) is an American comics artist and writer who currently works for DC Comics. Career Art Baltazar started making comic books with his self-published comic book, ''The Cray-Baby Adventures''. Since then he has cr ...

and

Franco Aureliani Franco Aureliani is an American comic book writer/artist, best known for writing the DC Comics series '' Tiny Titans'', for which he won two Eisner Awards in 2009 and 2011. ''Tiny Titans'' also won a Harvey award in 2011. He was also nominated ...

and drawn by Baltazar. Baltazar and Aureliani were the winners of the 2011

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

in the category "Best Publication for Kids" for their work on the ''

Tiny Titans ''Tiny Titans'' is a comic book series by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani.2009 Eisner Award winners< ...

'' title for DC. Fuzzy the Krypto Mouse, a character who appeared in a single story in ''

'' #65 (June 1958), inspired a similar character created by Baltazar for ''Superman Family Adventures''. ''Superman Family Adventures'' ended with issue #12.

Collected editions

* ''

Showcase Presents ''Showcase Presents'' is a line (comics), line of black-and-white paperback books that were published by DC Comics (from 2005 - 2016) at an average rate of two per month. Much like Marvel Comics' ''Essential Marvel'' volumes, each book usually incl ...

: Batgirl Vol. 1'' includes the Supergirl story from ''The Superman Family'' #171, 520 pages, July 2007, * ''Superman: The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen'' includes the Jimmy Olsen story from ''The Superman Family'' #173, 192 pages, July 2007, * ''Superman: The Adventures of Nightwing and Flamebird'' collects the Jimmy Olsen story from ''The Superman Family'' #173 and the Nightwing and Flamebird stories from ''The Superman Family'' #183–194, 144 pages, October 2009, * ''Superman: The World of Krypton'' includes the ''World of Krypton'' story from ''The Superman Family'' #182, 240 pages, March 2008, * ''Deadman Book Three'' includes the Lois Lane story from ''The Superman Family'' #183, 176 pages, December 2012, * ''Superman: Bottle City of Kandor'' includes the Nightwing and Flamebird story from ''The Superman Family'' #194, 200 pages, October 2007,

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Superman Family 1974 comics debuts 1982 comics endings 2012 comics debuts 2013 comics endings Comics anthologies Comics by Gerry Conway Comics by Marv Wolfman Comics by Paul Kupperberg Comics by Paul Levitz Comics by Roy Thomas Defunct American comics Superhero comics Superman titles Superman spinoff titles de:Superman (Comicserien)#Superman Family