Action Comics #1
A mysterious strongman in a blue costume with a flowing red cape lifts a car over his head on the cover, establishing the visual language of superhero comics in a single image. Inside, Clark Kent — an alien orphan raised in Kansas — uses his god-like powers to fight corrupt politicians and wife beaters in Depression-era America. The character was an immediate hit, establishing the anthology superhero comic as a new mass-market form.
Action Comics #1 launched the superhero genre and established the template for virtually all subsequent American comics, from the dual identity to the moral mission to the flashy visual design. An original copy sold for $3.25 million in 2014, making it the most valuable comic book in existence. Its influence extends beyond comics into film, television, and the cultural archetype of the caped hero.
Siegel and Shuster — both Jewish teenagers from Cleveland — created Superman during the Great Depression as a fantasy of immigrant empowerment and physical invincibility in a world of economic misery and rising fascism. The character's "immigrant who becomes American" narrative resonated with the millions of Jewish and European immigrants who were the primary readership of pulp fiction.