Superman's Birthday?

[JulianPerez]

It was an old piece of information given in Julie Schwartz's "Answer Man" letter columns that Superman's birthday was on February 29th - meaning that Superman only had a birthday once every four years! Apparently, this is Superman's equivalent birthday according to the earth calendar; Krypton's calendar was slightly different, with eighteen Kryptonian years for every twenty-five years on Earth. Presumably, Superman also has a Kryptonian date for his birth that he celebrates, just as Jewish children have a birthday in the Hebrew calendar (where one's bar mitzvah is celebrated) and a birthday in the Western calendar.

This date of February 29th was not always his birthday, however. During the Golden Age, Superman's birth on Kryptonopolis was in October, according to ACTION COMICS #149 (1950).

What is even more interesting is the idea that Superman and Clark Kent have different birthdays!

SUPERMAN #249 (1972) by Cary Bates (which is incidentally also the first appearance of Terra-Man), has Superman succumbing to emotional problems that Kryptonians get on their sixth birthday. This date cannot be correct, however, as that would mean that Superman is then celebrating his 24th Birthday instead of the traditional 29 years of age! Assuming Bates made an error here, if he was 29 through most of his hero years, come this 1972 issue, it must mean he is 32, or having celebrated eight birthdays.

Superman gets another birthday in Alan Moore's SUPERMAN ANNUAL #11 (1985) which means that around the time of the Reboot, Superman was around 36 earth years old, and this was his ninth birthday. This annual also brings to mind one of the funniest questions of Earth-1: what DO you buy for Superman, anyway? Not since Bouncing Boy's quest to outdo the other male Legionnaires and search for a present to win the hand of Dream Girl, was there a more brain-rattling gift conudrum!

This slightly revised timeline fits in with the dates we have for Supergirl. Shortly after Kara Zor-El's appearance on earth, she has a birthday party and is stated to be "sixteen." If five years passed from the 1960s to the 1970s, that would mean that Supergirl is 21 Earth-years old in Paul Kupperberg's NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERGIRL and her death in CRISIS, which makes her fashoin model and actress career brief but entirely plausible.

Interestingly, Clark Kent has a different birthday than Superman: According to SUPERMAN #263 (1973), Kent's birthday is June 18th. This was stated as being the date that Superman arrived on Earth, his "Earthday." In ACTION COMICS #241 (1958) it is learned that Superman celebrates the date of his coming to earth as well as his "true" birthday (because apparently every four years doesn't quite cut it). The date at the beginning of #241 is given as June 10, 1958, and that Superman's "Earthday" must have several days leeway from here. This is consistent with the June 18th date that was later given.

(Intriguingly, this is also consistent with the anniversary of Superman in the "real" world, where the first issue of ACTION COMICS appeared on the stands in June 1938!)

In Superboy's sixteenth (or really, fourth) birthday, according to Cary Bates's NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY #1 (1980) it was explained that the Kents placed an extra candle on Superboy's birthday cake in honor of a birthday where he almost was aged by aliens, a reminder of the time he lost.

The only place that we get a YEAR of birth for Superman is in the first "Superman of 2965" story, where it was stated that the original Superman was born in 1920, a suspect date considering that would make Superman's considerably older in his 1960s-1970s appearances. This date also lends significant credence to the theory that the "Superman of 2965" future is the future of Earth-2, not Earth-1, as Earth-1 has the Legion and Earth-2 does not, and also no person seen in the 2965 future (Joker, Batman) does not have equivalents on Earth-1. Also, it should be noted that Earth-2 Superman got married and presumably may have children, whereas Earth-1 Superman never did.

[PatrickG]

Originally Posted by JulianPerez

(Intriguingly, this is also consistent with the anniversary of Superman in the "real" world, where the first issue of ACTION COMICS appeared on the stands in June 1938!)

June 18th is also Kirk Alyn's birthday, if memory serves.

And it's mine too!

[10xPete]

so, if Superman's "earthday" was so long ago, why is he so young still. Shouldn't he be in his 50's atleast. It's funny how comic book characters never age after a certain age. I guess most cartoons do that. Like Bart Simpson, he hasn't aged in over ten years.

[JulianPerez]

Originally Posted by 10xPete

so, if Superman's "earthday" was so long ago, why is he so young still. Shouldn't he be in his 50's atleast. It's funny how comic book characters never age after a certain age. I guess most cartoons do that. Like Bart Simpson, he hasn't aged in over ten years.

In the DC Universe, it's more a question of "compressed time" than "stopped time" as it is for the Simpsons.

Actually, if you buy the Cary Bates theory in SUPERMAN #249 (1976) where Superman is celebrating his sixth birthday, that would make him 24 years old! One possible explanation for this is that Superman celebrates his birthday when it comes up in the Krypton Calendar, not the earth calendar, where 18 Kryptonian years = 25 earth years. In other words, a Kryptonian year is 1.38 of an Earth year.

Thus, multiplying six times four times 1.38, we get a number of 33.12 Earth years old, which is a more reasonable estimate for Superman's age, and very close to the 32 that I gave above as speculation.

On the other hand, maybe Bates was right. Maybe Superman, come #249 *IS* really 24 earth years old. After all, both Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh were both 24 at the time of their casting. If this is literally true it means that, assuming Clark Kent took a four year college course (which we know he did, according to the college romance wit Lori Lemaris) this means that the entire Silver Age, from 1960-1972. took only two years.

Apart from that, however, there is another problem: Superman's aging doesn't coincide with other DC heroes. When Earth-1 Superman began his career, Dick Grayson was around ten, but in comics contemporary to 1972 issues, Dick Grayson was an adolescent of at least fifteen or sixteen. Two years pass for Superman, but more for Dick?

Thus, this leads me to suspect that while generally Superman celebrates his birthday according to the Earth calendar (hence the consistent February 29th date), the one he celebrated in SUPERMAN #249 (1976) was his "sixth birthday" according to the Krypton Calendar.

[JulianPerez]

Recently, THIS website was brought to my attention:

http://www.geocities.com/the_time_tr...0/calendar.htm

It contains the reprinted dates from the 1976 SUPER DC CALENDAR, most of whose information was collected by an immaculate record-keeper, E. Nelson Bridwell.

Did you know June 30th is the anniversary of Krypto's arrival on earth? Whew!

Also, it should be noted that Supergirl's birthday is on September 22, the same as Babs Gordon. This is astrologically significant, because those born on September 22/23 share the characteristics of both Virgos and Libras. This absolutely can't be a coincidence.

Also, note that according to ACTION COMICS #305, Supergirl celebrates the birthday of her alter-ego, Linda Danvers, on the same day she arrived on earth: May 18th.

[abiallan]

hi

thanks for that link...

i was very much gained by that...

i hope u ill update the new things as soon as possible...

thanks in advance too

[Mat001]

Mind you, this was all done in the Pre-Crisis era. Before the concept of compressed time was thought of, really. I believe it's been said that Post Crisis, Clark's birthday was in November, which is the day he was found by the Kents. I can't recall which day specifically, but I'm very sure it was November. It was just before a strong blizzard hit. Post-"Infinite Crisis", the blizzard aspect was removed, but it hasn't been said what month it was.

[KoopaTroopa7]

The birth of the character Superman was in 1938, however as for Clark Kent i believe his birthday is June 18th 1964. Inform me if im wrong i think it says something like this in Superman #263.

[Ontir]

I thought Superman's birthday was Leap Day, February 29th.

[Mat001]

Pre-Crisis, it was. It was an explaination that pre-dates compressed storytelling. Post-Crisis, his birthday is not February 29th.

[lawman]

Originally Posted by Mat001

Mind you, this was all done in the Pre-Crisis era. Before the concept of compressed time was thought of, really. I believe it's been said that Post Crisis, Clark's birthday was in November, which is the day he was found by the Kents. I can't recall which day specifically, but I'm very sure it was November.

December, actually. It was stated in S:MOS Annual #4 (1995), a "Year One" story by Louise Simonson.

Post-"Infinite Crisis", the blizzard aspect was removed, but it hasn't been said what month it was.

Where? When? I haven't seen any recent story so much as refer to Millennium, much less retcon it.

[KoopaTroopa7]

There are two different birthdays that he celebrates, the before crisis and after crisis the real question is which one is most important to him?

[nathan3011]

If supermans birthday is the 29th February does that not mean that he just moves his birthday to the 28th in the 3 years that there is not 29th February?

This would seem more logical than Landlords Insurance he only has 1 birthday every 4 years argument that someone put forward!

[Mat001]

Originally Posted by lawman

Where? When? I haven't seen any recent story so much as refer to Millennium, much less retcon it.

Superman Annual #13, the back-up story where the Kents go on a picnic. Jonathan and Martha talk about what had been their best day ever and it was when they found Clark. It shows his arrival on Earth. It was not snowy, nor even cold out. Booster Gold #3 also confirmed that.

[celticguy]

this sucks nobody has my birthday.


sucks