This week, Superman Unlimited #1 represents a brand-new era for the Man of Steel. Not just as a significant change to his status quo with the proliferation of Kryptonite through the planet, but as a new ongoing series in a long history of ongoing Superman comics. In the spirit of demonstrating just how truly unlimited Superman can be, we’re taking this chance to give you a tour through every time our Last Son of Krypton has taken charge of an indefinite comic book publication—and just how long each one managed to last under his care.
But first, one small caveat. For the sake of keeping the list under control, we’re focusing only on Superman. This excludes Superboy, even when the name refers to young Clark. We also decided to limit ourselves strictly to solo Superman titles or comics where he’s the central character, so books with shared leads like Trinity and Batman/Superman: World’s Finest don’t make the cut.
1938
Action Comics
In the early years of western comics, it was unheard of for a single character to have their own title. All comics published at the time were in the anthology format, sometimes with one feature leading the pack. Such was the case with Action Comics, which found its first star with Superman in 1938. As Superman’s star rose, other features would become fewer over time, until—with few exceptions since the Bronze Age—it became a title solely dedicated to Superman and his supporting cast. The run of Action Comics would continue uninterrupted through multiple crises and restructuring for 904 issues, up to the radical line-wide revamp of 2011’s New 52.
1939
Superman
Superman’s unprecedented popularity in the field of comics broke him out into National Comics’ first solo series just a year after his debut. Like Action Comics, Superman too began as an anthology title, save that here, all of the stories were about the same character. “Novel length” stories would become more common in the Silver Age, until they were practically standard by the 1970s. Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, this flagship title retired its Pre-Crisis continuity with Alan Moore’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” in 1986’s issue #423.
Superman (Comic Strip)
It’s nearly impossible to oversell just how big a deal Superman was when he first appeared. Toys, film serials and radio programs had to begin development to meet the outcry for more Superman immediately. That included an extension to the nascent comic book medium’s older sister: the newspaper comic strip. Superman would be published as its own daily strip concurrent to National’s book publications from 1939 until 1966, across 300 newspapers. Stories featured here were instrumental in shaping Superman as we know him and his world today, first appearing in the papers before being exported or refined for success to the monthly books.
1978
DC Comics Presents
Following the conversion and success in the 1960s of the long-running The Brave and the Bold anthology into a Batman team-up book where the DC Universe’s more obscure heroes could join forces with the Dark Knight, editor Julius Schwartz resolved to do the same thing with Superman as host in this title. The Superman team-ups ran for just over 100 issues of DC Comics Presents into 1986, including four annuals. Only the mighty Crisis on Infinite Earths could stop it.
1986
Superman
The aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths presented a unique opportunity for DC to reintroduce their stable of heroes for modern audiences. Among the most successful of these efforts was John Byrne’s The Man of Steel, a miniseries which brought new audiences into the fold for a fresh Superman continuity. Capitalizing on Man of Steel’s momentum, Superman was given a brand-new eponymous series starting at issue #1, giving new readers a clearly signposted jumping on point to follow Superman’s continuing, serialized adventures. This second Superman volume would run for 226 issues, until consolidating with its predecessor following Infinite Crisis in 2006.
Adventures of Superman
As a new revamped Superman title took its place, the original Superman series continued its numbering into the Post-Crisis era as Adventures of Superman through issues #424-469 between 1986 and 2006. This allowed three concurrent Superman stories on comic shelves, flirting early on with the idea of inter-title collusion. Why choose from two, or three, or even four separate Superman books, when an ongoing story winding through all of them meant you should read them all?
1991
Superman: The Man of Steel
Sure, three ongoing Superman titles are good. But why not four? Beginning with creative team Louise Simonson and John Bogdanove, Superman: The Man of Steel’s launch ensured that the Superman party would keep on going. Each Superman creative team, while telling their own stories as they could, would pass the baton from one title to another as developing subplots and major story arcs simmered all together. Don’t miss a week of Man of Steel, or you’ll be lost by next week’s Action Comics. It was during this run that the Superman editorial staff invented the “Triangle” notation, an additional number on each Superman comic cover which let readers know how to read all of their Superman comics in sequence. So began the era of Superman at his most soap operatic. This fourth Superman book would run for 134 issues through 2002, when the conclusive end of the Triangle Era deemed it no longer necessary.
1995
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow
So, here’s the problem with organizing your publishing calendar so that there’s a new Superman book every single week. The four main Superman books are going to cover you most of the time. But if you do the math, that only accounts for 48 out of 52 weeks of the year. Are you really going to let a week go by without another installment of Superman on the shelf? That’s where Superman: The Man of Tomorrow came in—a quarterly title designed to fill the gap on those pesky fifth Wednesdays. The Triangle Era stopgap series ran for fifteen issues, doing its part to keep Superman in comic shops every week of the year through 1999.
1996
Superman Adventures
Here’s something a lot of Superman fans won’t tell you: Superman Adventures is secretly one of the greatest ongoing Superman books of all time. Featuring some of the greatest work in the legendary careers of Scott McCloud, Mark Evanier and Mark Millar, this book containing some of the most platonically ideal Superman stories ever made is often overlooked for one reason: it’s a tie-in to Superman: The Animated Series. But as the series itself presented one of the most idealized forms of Superman we’ve ever seen, the only surprise should be how well this series managed to capture the spirit of the show that inspired it. You’d be hard pressed to find a better time with 66 issues, outlasting even the show itself with a run into 2002.
2006
Superman
Following 2006’s Infinite Crisis, the Superman title which bore the standard through the Triangle Era and beyond was brought to an end and Adventures of Superman became Superman once more. Taking the book from issue #650 to #714 with the New 52, this era on the Superman title featured runs from Kurt Busiek, James Robinson and J. Michael Straczynski.
2007
Superman Confidential
The DC “Classified” and “Confidential” lines of the early 2000s were, of sorts, an ongoing expansion of the “Secret Files” concept that featured untold chapters in the subject’s past. Superman Confidential debuted in 2007 and ran for fourteen issues, featuring story arcs like a new origin for Kryptonite by Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale.
2011
Superman
That brings us to the New 52 and its renumbered Superman. This high collared, red brief-eschewing incarnation of Superman carried a new title for, appropriately, 52 issues. Over five years, Superman left the Daily Planet to become an independent journalist, had his identity exposed by Lois Lane, fought against Vandal Savage for the Fortress of Solitude and died.
Action Comics
As before, Action Comics continued running as the older sister title to Superman, though it too was renumbered for the first time. The first third of the series, under Grant Morrison, established the early years of this new Man of Steel. It’s here too that writer Greg Pak began developing a romance between Lana Lang and John Henry Irons, which is just now culminating in a wedding. 2011’s Action Comics also ran for 52 issues.
2012
Superman Family Adventures
One of the ongoing titles in DC’s all ages line, Art Baltazar and Franco’s signature style series is notable in particular for giving Superman his mom back, as Lara Lor-Van survives Krypton in this kid-friendly continuity to become the new Superwoman. Superman Family Adventures ran for twelve issues, before continuing in spirit as a wider scoped Super Powers miniseries.
Smallville Season 11
For fans of Smallville who spent years wishing they could see Tom Welling’s Clark Kent take off as Superman, Smallville Season 11 was a dream come true. It was also one of the flagship titles in DC’s “Digital First” line, an experimental imprint which gave readers new digital comics every day of the week before eventually collecting them in print. Continuing right where the show left off, Season 11, freed from the budget constraints of its televised predecessor, was free to do all the things Smallville wanted to but couldn’t. Season 11 ran continuously for 69 issues, followed by 56 more issues in miniseries format.
Superman Beyond
Another part of the Digital First line was a series of Batman Beyond titles, ostensibly set in the same continuity as the 2000 animated series. One of these titles, Superman Beyond, focused on the life of an older Man of tempered Steel re-engaging with his humanity after the loss of Lois and the events of show. The series ran for twenty weekly issues written by JT Krul, until continuing onward with Justice League Beyond.
2013
Adventures of Superman
This third and final Superman-focused entry in the Digital First line might also be its best. For 51 issues, this new edition of Adventures of Superman featured rotating all-star creative teams, each telling a small, self-contained Superman story free of baggage or continuity that could be appreciated on its own terms. Some of the most inventive Superman stories of the era can be found in this run. We encourage you to load this one up on your phone through DC UNIVERSE INFINITE and read a Superman comic you’ve probably never seen before.
2016
Action Comics
After five years, DC Universe: Rebirth brought an end to the New 52 rebrand—and two titles, Detective and Action Comics, reclaimed their legacy numbering, adding the 52 issues which had elapsed in their absence to their total. The old girl from 1938 is still moving along today, with the forthcoming issue #1087 heralding a return to Smallville with Clark’s history as the original Superboy restored.
Superman
The Rebirth era also brought us a brand-new beloved Superman series by Patrick Gleason and Peter J. Tomasi: the “family farm” era of Clark and Lois raising a young Jon Kent to be the new Superboy in his father’s footsteps. Representing a wholesome period double-shipped to get four years’ worth of comics in only two, this era is perhaps the most influential in transforming the public image of Superman into a father figure, culminating with The CW’s Superman & Lois.
2018
Superman
BENDIS IS COMING! Such was the heraldry throughout DC Comics being published at the time, marking the arrival at DC of one of comics’ most legendary writers, until this point mostly associated with our marvelous competition. In addition to launching the Wonder Comics imprint and masterminding a Legion of Super-Heroes relaunch, Bendis would write both Action Comics and a new Superman title for nearly three years, over 32 issues until 2021. The biggest story of the time: Superman’s exposure of his identity as Clark Kent to the public at large. (How that genie was put back in the bottle, if you don’t know it, is a story for another time.)
Superman Giant
While mostly an anthology of reprinted classic Superman stories, Superman Giant makes this list as an ongoing for a couple of good reasons. First, each issue included completely original material, like the critically beloved Superman: Up in the Sky, later collected as its own miniseries. Second, for its ambitious position as part of a line exclusively sold to Walmart stores in a campaign to reach comics out to new markets. The project came to an end in 2020 after nineteen issues, but gave us one of the best Superman stories in recent memory.
2020
Superman: Man of Tomorrow
While a great deal of this anthology series was comprised of original comics which first ran in the Superman Giant, 2020’s Superman: Man of Tomorrow was one of a few workhorse digital titles during an unprecedented time in pandemic-related supply shortages when publishers were finding it more difficult than ever to distribute comics traditionally. Today, Man of Tomorrow still stands as a fun twenty-issue collection of baggage-free Superman stories, including an often-overlooked gem of a run by Robert Venditti.
2023
Superman
From 2021 to 2023, the Superman ongoing title belonged to his son, Jon Kent, who starred in eighteen issues of Superman: Son of Kal-El. Since then, one of the most exciting books in DC’s current lineup has been the ongoing Joshua Williamson-penned Superman title, now more than two years into a genre-spanning story of redemption for Superman’s classic foes and an unprecedented level of collaboration with Lex Luthor and his rebranded “Supercorp.” We’ve seen a lost Czarnian city, a new spectral horse-riding vigilante, a substantial turn for Lois Lane as Superwoman, the romance of Silver Banshee and Jimmy Olsen—and there’s still much more to come.
2024
Absolute Superman
As the third title in DC’s smash hit Absolute line, Absolute Superman takes the Last Son of Krypton back to his roots as a champion of the oppressed fighting modern problems, from corporate exploitation to the encroachment of AI replacing human thought. Currently going at seven issues and counting, this fresh take on Superman is unique and separate from Superman as we know him elsewhere, and yet represents a piece of the whole.
2025
Superman Unlimited
Which brings us to our newest Superman ongoing. Like the Superman title of seven years ago, Superman Unlimited represents a big swing from a legendary writer whose reputation precedes him at other publishers. Like Bendis, Dan Slott also has big plans to shake Superman up while honoring his scope and grandiosity. The world is looking up now, which makes the sky the limit. Let’s see how far this man can fly.
Superman Unlimited #1 by Dan Slott, Rafael Albuquerque and Marcelo Maiolo is now available in print and as a digital comic book.
Alex Jaffe is the author of our monthly "Ask the Question" column and writes about TV, movies, comics and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @AlexJaffe and find him in the DC Official Discord server as HubCityQuestion.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Alex Jaffe and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
