The strip proved so popular that National launched Superman into his own self-titled comic book, the first for any superhero, premiering with the cover date summer 1939.

Perry White, a supporting character who had originated on the Superman radio program was introduced into the comic book in issue #7 (October 1940).

[10] A more detailed origin story for Superman was presented in issue #53 (July 1948) to mark the character's tenth anniversary.

[11] Another part of the Superman mythos which had originated on the radio program made its way into the comic books when kryptonite was featured in a story by Bill Finger and Al Plastino.

[15] Julius Schwartz became the title's editor with issue #233 (January 1971)[16] and together with writer Denny O'Neil and artist Curt Swan streamlined the Superman mythos, starting with the elimination of Kryptonite.

The tale was an inspiration for Mark Millar's Superman: Red Son limited series published in 2003.

[23] DC's parent company Warner Communications reinstated the byline for Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster which had been dropped decades earlier,[24][25][26] and the first issue with the restored credit was Superman #301 (August 1976).

[28] The shrunken city of Kandor, which had been introduced in 1958, was restored to normal size in a story by Len Wein and Swan in Superman #338 (August 1979).

[30][31] Superman ran uninterrupted until the mid-1980s, when DC Comics instituted a line-wide relaunch with the 1985 event Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Folding their vast multiverse into a single shared universe, Superman and his supporting cast received a massive overhaul at the hands of writer/artist John Byrne.

One last story, which also marked the end of Schwartz's tenure as editor of the series,[16] was published to give a send-off to the former status quo: Alan Moore's Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?

[36] When the series was relaunched in late 1986 under its new title, the creative team initially was writer Marv Wolfman and artist Jerry Ordway.

[49] His stories included the villain Ruin, the attempted assassination of Lois Lane and a number of Mister Mxyzptlk appearances.

Illustrator Chris Sprouse left the project due to the media attention and some comic book stores announced a boycott.

[53] Superman volume 2 reached issue #226 (April 2006) and was then canceled as part of the linewide "Infinite Crisis" storyline.

This storyline told of Clark Kent attempting to protect Metropolis without his powers until eventually regaining them.

Busiek and Pacheco developed an extended storyline featuring Arion coming into conflict with Superman.

[63] Straczynski and Barrows began a year-long story entitled "Grounded" that sees Superman begin a long walk across the United States to regain the connection with his adopted home that he feels he lost while away on New Krypton.

[64] The series ended with issue #714 (October 2011), prior to DC Comics' The New 52 company wide reboot and relaunch.

[54] DC Comics launched Superman volume 3 with issue #1 in September 2011 (cover dated November 2011), as part of The New 52.

[70] Superman's secret identity as Clark Kent was revealed to the world in a storyline by writer Gene Luen Yang in 2015.

A fifth series under the direction of Brian Michael Bendis was released in July 2018 and ended its run in June 2021 with issue #32.

[79] The series followed the adventures of Jon Kent, the son of Superman and Lois Lane, as he is entrusted with the protection of Earth.

A new ongoing Superman comic book series launched in February 2023 from writer Joshua Williamson and artist Jamal Campbell.