charlotte writer visits home -- superman’s home that is

In a travel feature titled “At home -- really -- with Superman,” Charlotte Observer writer John Bordsen spends some quality time in the Cleveland home where Superman was born.

“Superman, the story goes, was born on the planet Krypton and sent to Earth in a small rocket by his father when that planet was about to explode. He was actually born in 1933 in a two-story bungalow in a scruffy neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland, probably in the attic.”

The home, in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood, was the residence of the Siegel family, whose son Jerry created most famous superhero. Jerry wrote the story while his neighborhood friend Joe Shuster drew the cartoon. Superman’s inaugural appearance was in Action Comics’ first issue, published in 1938.

“Drawing from Tarzan books and comic strips and Tarzan movie star Johnny Weissmuller, plus Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers and other pop idols, their Superman gradually evolved from a villainous mastermind to a good guy with super powers and a secret identity.”

Read more here.