NEW YORK (NYTimes) - Superman is 80 years old today (April 18) and DC Entertainment will publish Action Comics No. 1,000. The issue has racked over half a million pre-orders and touts the return of a well-known motif of the superhero's costume, his red trunks.

The near-invincible flying alien, created by the writer Jerry Siegel and the artist Joe Shuster, was introduced on April 18, 1938, in Action Comics No. 1. The Man Of Steel struck a chord with readers and, faster than a speeding bullet, he became a multimedia sensation, with his adventures chronicled on radio, stage, film and television, and his image on a kaleidoscope of merchandise and collectibles.