The first appearance of Superman was in Action Comics #1 in 1938. This comic book story gave the world its first look at the now famous blue, red, and yellow uniform of the Man of Steel.
This portion of the cover of Action Comics #1 was the first image of Superman that most people would have seen:
If you look at this version of the symbol, it sort of resembles the pentagonal form that we know today, but it has an awful lot of yellow. One story has it that the chest symbol was supposed to resemble that of a policeman's badge - a shield! You can see the red S on the inside.
However, when you look at panels from the inside of the book, you see something different!
There are two key differences between what you see in this panel and the comic book cover of Action Comics #1:
- The Superman symbol looks like a triangle with one corner pointed directly downward
- The symbol is completely yellow with black outlines
That's quite a change between cover and story! Perhaps there was a coloring mistake...
However, within a year, the Superman logo changed to firmly establish the red S on the inside of the Superman symbol.
So how did the Superman logo eventually change to become the familiar Superman symbol that we know and love?
More on that later...
Other resources:
Superman's Logo, Shield, Symbol and it's History!
Superman Logo
Check out the Superman Symbol website for more great info! You can buy Superman symbol gifts there!
