Happy Birthday To An American Pop Culture Icon

Today is the birthday of the very first (and some would argue, greatest) superhero of all: Superman.

While the first appearance of Superman is celebrated on April 18th, the day in 1938 that Action Comics #1 was released, February 29 is the date used as Superman's birthday in the comic books.

The reason for the selection of February 29th was a bit of an in - joke on the part of the editors who picked it back in the 60s: since February 29th only comes around every 4 years, this explains why Superman stays so young! Of course, the real reason is that a Kryptonian ages at a much slower rate than we mere mortals do.

Superman has been around in comics and just about every other form of media for 78 years now, and has become in that time an inspiration to people of all ages.

Everyone knows Superman's story, and everyone knows that Superman is the ultimate hero, who does the right thing because it's the right thing to do.

That may sound simplistic, but just imagine how different our world would be if we all tried to do the same. Happy birthday, Superman!