Every superhero comic is a work of fiction but when a classic Superman story revealed Clark Kent’s secret identity to the world, editors at DC Comics had to create the label “Imaginary Stories” just to assure readers that the meta-misadventure didn’t really happen.
The invention of Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster laid the foundation for the entire future of the superhero industry. The character was so wildly popular that DC Comics created a Supermen of America fan club and licensed Superman-branded newspaper strips, toys, novels, puzzles, coloring books, and even bubble gum. In 1941, Paramount and Fleischer Studio launched a two-year partnership to produce a series of 17 animated Superman cartoons. The first Superman cartoon titled “The Mad Scientist” was released to theaters nationwide on September 26, 1941. Superman’s creators were asked to promote the feature by writing a sequel to the cartoon adventure in an issue of Action Comics.
The promotional story titled "Superman, Matinee Idol" appeared in Superman #19, written by Jerry Siegel and illustrated by John Sikela, with an unexpected meta-twist. The story focused on a date between Lois Lane and Clark Kent that involved actually watching the premiere of the second Superman cartoon. The cartoon’s copyright notice name-drops Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and the opening credits even display an ment for Action Comics and Superman magazines. Clark makes a fool of himself as he desperately tries to distract Lois from any scene that clearly reveals Superman’s secret identity. Astonishingly, Clark remains unphased by the reality that his secret is still being broadcast to everyone else in the world.
Lois Lane Almost Learned Superman's Secret Identity From A Cartoon
This level of provocative meta-storytelling was years ahead of its time. Therefore, the following issue simply ignored the shocking implications of already infamously messy DC Comics continuity.
Most of the DC Comics Imaginary Stories were reclassified as events that actually occurred on parallel Earths according to the Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium, written by Robert Greenberger. However, the "Superman, Matinee Idol" story was a notable exception. Even by modern standards, the first official Imaginary Story is too bizarre to imagine it could’ve actually happened in any universe. Clark Kent’s closely guarded secret has been exposed on numerous occasions, but the meta-method of a Superman cartoon took things a step too far and DC Comics had to literally rewrite history.
