(electronic music)
- Happy Birthday!
Now either it's not your birthday and you're very
confused why I shouted that, or it is your birthday
and you're very confused about how I've suddenly
become a sorcerer.
Well, you read the title of this video and the only
confusion is about why I'm continuing this bit for
so long without getting to the topic of this video.
2016 is a leap year which means that we'll be
getting that extra day at the end of February.
Coincidentally, February 29th is also Superman's
birthday, at least in some content areas, it's
all over the place; if it wasn't, I wouldn't
have to make a video about it.
(fast rock music)
Many websites will claim that certain comics
have placed Superman's birthday all around
the calendar, from February to June to December
and more, but I'm here to tell you that sometimes
websites lie to you, it's kind of a theme of a few
videos we've done around here.
For example, some blogs and Wiki entries will
write that Action Comics number 149 explains
that Superman's birthday is sometime in October.
This is simply not true.
The story does feature a sequence that revolves
around the Man of Steel receiving birthday gifts,
so many in fact that the sheer weight of them all
threatens to collapse a building.
But nowhere in the story does it mention anything
about the month of October or any specific date
for that matter.
More than likely people have pulled that info from
the cover, which does say Oct right there.
But cover dates usually lie, they say the comic
was printed months after it actually was.
It's a tactic to so it'll appear new and fresh
to any customers.
Take a look at these Superman Christmas comics
which were all cover-dated in February.
Are you telling me that Christmas in this universe
doesn't take place in December?
Seems like a stretch to me.
So Superman's October birthday is probably wrong.
Action Comics number 241 is often cited as stating
that Superman celebrates his birthday on the
anniversary of the day when his rocket crash-landed
on Earth and that date is June 10th.
This also probably wrong.
To their credit, this story does feature an
actual date inside the comic, or at least on
the cover page, which you know has been known
to be a little facetious in the early days of comics.
Well, let's give it the benefit of the doubt and
assume that it is true.
So June 10th looks like when this story takes
place and it does end with Batman surprising
Superman with a birthday celebration, but we're
missing a lot of context here.
First, that cover page where Superman is writing
in his diary reads that he's about to do a dangerous
experiment so he switches to writing in Kryptonese
to keep the whole process a secret.
What is this experiment, you ask?
Why Superman is studying kryptonite to see if he
can overcome its deadly effects on him.
So we can infer from this that the cover page was
supposed to take place before the story, right?
He wrote about the experiment before doing
the experiment, and later we see him updating
his diary in Kryptonese.
Everything good so far? Good.
Because here's the important part.
During this story we see at least two full days
pass since he started his experiment, at least
two days since June 10th was when Batman
surprised Supes with a birthday party.
So, if anything, Superman's birthday, aka the
anniversary of the day he crash-landed on
the planet, was June 12th, but again this is not
explicitly stated, don't quote me on this as a fact,
it's pure speculation.
More than likely it could be that more than a few
days passed during this story.
Another one of Superman's birthdays is June 18th,
which was written about in Superman number 263.
This story here is super weird; apparently
Kryptonians are unable to express sadness.
They can be sad but they can't outwardly show it
so ancient Kryptonians drank a serum that
gathered all their sad energy
and their bodies would cry it out every six years,
which makes every sixth birthday just a real downer.
This story really isn't consistent with Superman.
He cries like all the time (wailing).
I think it's also measured in Kryptonian years,
not Earth years, which is probably an important
distinction but we don't have time for that.
Either way this story did definitely give us a date
on which Clark Kent celebrates his birthday.
June 18th, anniversary of the date baby Kal-El's
rocket crashed into Earth and was found by a
kindly couple, the 10th, a date which has
since become their adopted son's birthday.
Interestingly, June 18th was also Bud Collyer's
birthday, the voice of the big blue boy scout in
the Adventures of Superman radio program.
Probably not a coincidence but how did we go
from June 18th to February 29th?
Reportedly it started as a joke among the folks
at DC to explain why Superman never seems
to age, he's just aging at a quarter of the rate
as the rest of us do because he only has a
birthday every four years.
Again, this explanation was not meant to be
serious in any way but it eventually, at least
in part, became the canon.
A strange calendar that DC sold featuring
birthdays and other special occasions all laid out
in a nice neat timeline showed three interesting
tidbits of relevant information.
Number one, June 16th is when Krypton was destroyed.
Number two, June 18th was when baby Kal-El
landed on Earth.
And number three, Hawkman and Hawkgirl were
married on Valentines' Day, adorable!
Oh, and Superman's birthday was officially
set to February 29th.
This would be further established in the
wonderful Superman Annual number 11 where
Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman would
celebrate the Man of Steel's birthday on leap day.
This date was even referenced in an article in
Time Magazine when Superman was celebrating
the 50th anniversary of his big debut.
Action Comics number 655 kind of references
this date a bit as well but they're a little more
sly about the whole thing.
There's a backup insert laid out like a photo
album from Clark's childhood.
At the very top we see a newspaper clipping
that tells the story about how Jonathan and
Martha Kent gave birth to a baby boy
on or about February 28th,
saying they're not exactly certain of the date.
This seems to completely throw the June
birthday idea out of the window but it also seems
to be poking fun at the fact that DC can't seem
to keep things straight, which is only emphasized
further by the fact that yet another Superman
birthday was given in Superman Secret Origin.
This time it was stated to be December 1st,
once again a date Ma and Pa Kent picked for
Clark because that's when his spaceship
crash-landed on their farm in this story.
It's probably not worth mentioning since
it's not in the main continuity but Max Landis's
American Alien Comics seem to point to the
idea that baby Clark arrived on Earth on April 18th.
We see an insurance claim about a fire on the Kent
farm for that date, surrounded by a bunch of other
documents regarding his arrival.
Purely speculation again but I know someone
would've mentioned it if I didn't.
I would say that's basically everything you need
to know about Superman's birthday but there
are a lot more things involving the TV shows
and even the Kryptonian calendar system that
makes this whole thing just a lot more
confusing than it should be, especially for this
simple little tie-in video.
If you want further information, further reading,
I'll leave an article that goes into much more
detail about this in the description below,
right below that Like button.
And in honor of Superman's birthday, here is
a playlist full of videos on the Man of Steel that
you can binge watch, click right here or go into
the description to learn more about his powers,
his history, or how his disguise works, and
much, much more.
And make sure you use that big, sexy Subscribe
button so you don't miss out on all the new videos
we make for you every week that explore the
history, science, arts, and philosophy behind
your favorite comic book superheros.
My name is Scott, reminding you to read
between the panels.
See ya.