History
See also History of Superman, Silver Age and Bronze Age
In the mid-1950s, following the decline of superhero comics after World War II and the end of the Golden Age of comics, the editors at DC decided to revive some of their Golden Age superheroes with completely new origins and backstories. Starting with the Flash in Showcase #4 in 1956, new versions of DC's former heroes were gradually introduced as completely separate characters with no connection to previous incarnations. This concept eventually became canonized with the introduction of DC's multiverse in 1960s DC Comics.
With the introduction of DC's multiverse, it was retroactively declared that the version of Superman published between 1938 and the early 1950s lived on Earth-Two, while comics featuring Superman published since approximately the mid-1950s took place on Earth-One. This was confirmed by the introduction of the Earth-Two Superman in Justice League of America #73 (August 1969). However, since Superman was one of several DC characters continuously published throughout the 1950s, there isn't a clear dividing line between the Earth-One and Earth-Two versions' appearances. Several stories published before the mid-1950s took place on Earth-One, such as Superman (volume 1) #78 from September–October 1952, the first appearance of the adult Lana Lang in Superman comics. Also, any Superman stories published before the mid-1950s that featured or mentioned Superboy also took place exclusively on Earth-One, as the Earth-Two Superman, per the earliest Superman comics, never had a Superboy career. The Earth-One Superman's first appearance (in a flash-forward) in a Superboy story was in Superboy (volume 1) #1 (March–April 1949).
This version of Superman remained in publication through 1986. After the 1985-86 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Earth-One Superman was written out of continuity with the 1986 John Byrne miniseries The Man of Steel. However, the Earth-One Superman was given a send-off in the final, noncanonical-to-Earth-One "imaginary" story Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? in Superman (volume 1) #423 (September 1986) and Action Comics #583 (September 1986).
Read more about this topic: Superman (Earth-One)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)