"The First, and Greatest Superhero"

"On the surface, 'The Big Blue Boy Scout' might seem boring compared with the colorful cast of the X-Men or the dark detective work of Batman. His seeming invulnerability, too, makes him less interesting to many readers. But Superman, for all his imperviousness, is only physically invulnerable. His sense of duty to everyone around him (and his sheer power) mean that failures hit him that much harder; he cannot save everybody or solve every problem, but he represents a yearning to do just that. Many comic writers have long argued that Clark Kent is the true expression of the character, and Superman is the identity he dons—the opposite of most superheroes. He is able to serve the people because, fundamentally, he is one of us. 'Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely.' So too, Superman."

Jibran Khan at National Review celebrates Superman's eightieth birthday.