Golden Age Superman (Kal-L)

from Who's Who:  The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Vol. XXII (December 1986)

As most people probably know, Superman was first introduced in Action Comics #1, cover-dated June 1938 (and first on sale April 18th of that year according to the GCD).



And while many of us don't own a copy of that particular issue, there have been many reproductions in later years, like this Famous First Edition #C-26 version from 1974.


In May of 1939, Superman proved popular enough to also rate his own self-titled comic book:


which also rated the over-sized Famous First Edition treatment in 1979.


Because Superman had his own self-titled book when the Justice Society of America was formed in 1940, he was ineligible for full-time membership in that group.
However, he was considered an "honorary member", and did occasionally get mentioned or show up in a story.

from All Star Comics #7 (October-November 1941)

While I haven't seen any definitive consensus on when the last Golden Age story for Superman was (especially when you throw in the introduction of Superboy in 1945), it would appear the first Silver Age story that clearly used the Golden Age Superman on Earth-Two / Earth-2 was Justic League of America #73 (August 1969)

MajorHoy wrote:While I haven't seen any definitive consensus on when the last Golden Age story for Superman was (especially when you throw in the introduction of Superboy in 1945), it would appear the first Silver Age story that clearly used the Golden Age Superman on Earth-Two / Earth-2 was Justic League of America #73 (August 1969)

He did look identical to the then-current Earth One version in that story, though...

tony ingram wrote:He did look identical to the then-current Earth One version in that story, though...

I think the main noticeable difference was the was the chest "S" was drawn. Earth-2's "S" was a bit thinner for the artwork inside the issue.