Superman was first conceived as a supervillain, using his telepathic powers to wreak havoc on earth. When that idea failed to sell, creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster decided that he should fight for the forces of good and social justice. That idea worked better, and when Action Comics #1 debuted, with Superman headlining the collection of stories, the man of steel was freeing an unjustly-convicted woman and tackling corruption in the government. Following up on their success, the dynamic duo decided to make a Superman daily comic strip.

On this day, January 16, 1939, the first newspaper Superman comic strip appears. At first reprising the story laid out in the comic book, the strip later introduced many of the iconic features we associate with Superman today.

Reading between the panels of the comic book you could tell Superman was an alien, but it was the  strip that laid out his origins – the planet Krypton – and his name Kal-L. Likewise, the strip introduced the bald arch-villain Lex Luthor and the first instance of Clark Kent changing clothes into Superman in a telephone booth.