Superman Family

The Superman Family
Cover of The Superman Family #164, the initial issue published under that title. Art by Nick Cardy.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	Bi-monthly #164-207 and monthly #208-222
Format	100 pages (#164-169) 64 pages (#170-176,191-204) 48 pages (#177-181,205-222) 80 pages (#182-190)
Publication date	April/May 1974 - Sept. 1982
Number of issues	59 (#164-222)
Main character(s)	Lois Lane Supergirl Jimmy Olsen Krypto Nightwing and Flamebird Clark Kent Superboy Kal-L and Lois Lane Kent
Creative team
Writer(s)	Leo Dorfman, Elliot S! Maggin, Cary Bates, Gerry Conway, Jack C. Harris, Bob Toomey, J. Aruns, Paul Kupperberg, Tom DeFalco, Scott Edelman, Martin Pasko, Cary Burkett, E. Nelson Bridwell, Bob Rozakis, Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas, Paul Levitz, Tamsyn O'Flynn
Penciller(s)	Kurt Schaffenberger, Art Saaf, John Rosenberger, Curt Swan, Jose Delbo, Bob Brown, John Calnan, Carl Potts, Chic Stone, Win Mortimer, Juan Ortiz, Ken Landgraf, Alan Weiss, Jack Abel, Joe Staton, Arvell Jones, Bob Oksner, John Celardo, Marshall Rogers, Alex Saviuk, Luis Dominguez, George Tuska, Irv Novick
Inker(s)	Kurt Schaffenberger, Vince Colletta, John Rosenberger, Tex Blaisdell, Bob Oksner, Al Milgrom, Joe Orlando, Murphy Anderson, Joe Giella, Romeo Tanghal, Joe Rubinstein, Juan Ortiz, Frank Giacoia, Joe Staton, Marshall Rogers, Don Heck, Frank McLaughlin, Dan Adkins, Frank Chiaramonte, Bob Smith, Dave Hunt, Steve Mitchell, Brett Breeding, Jimmy Janes, Sal Trapani
Letterer(s)	Bill Morse, Morris Waldinger, Debra Schulman, John Workman, Clem Robins, Shelly Leferman, Milton Snapinn, Jean Simek, Mike Stevens, Ben Oda, Karisha Karisha, Gasper, Todd Klein, Albert DeGuzman, John Costanza, Pierre Bernard, Tom Ziuko, Janice Chiang, Adam Kubert, Phil Felix, Anette Kawecki
Colorist(s)	Liz Berube, Mario Sen, Gene D'Angelo, Cory Adams, Jerry Serpe, Adrienne Roy, Anthony Tollin, Bob LeRose, Phil Rachelson, John Drake, Bob Rozakis, D.R. Martin, Tom Ziuko, Tatjana Wood
Editor(s)	E. Nelson Bridwell, Julius Schwartz, Murray Boltinoff, Denny O'Neil

Superman Family was a DC Comics comic book series which ran from 1974 to 1982 featuring stories starring supporting characters in the Superman comics. The term "Superman Family" is often used to refer to the extended cast of characters (especially super-powered ones) of comics books associated with Superman.

Superman Family was an amalgamation of the titles Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, along with the first series of Supergirl. The first issue, #164, took its numbering from Jimmy Olsen, which had reached issue #163 and thus had the most issues published. Lois Lane ended at #137, while the newly-launched Supergirl book had only made it to #10.

Superman Family went through two distinct phases. In its inception the three leads Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, and Supergirl rotated new stories each issue with reprints for the other characters. Superman Family became the first DC Comics 80-page Dollar Comic, consisting of 64 pages of new stories, beginning with issue #182 (March-April 1977). With that issue, the "framing element" was removed from the covers, and the book switched to printing all new material. It became a monthly series in 1981 starting with issue #207.

Other featured series in addition to "Lois Lane" (#s 166,169,172,175,178,181-222), "Supergirl" (#s 165,168,171,174,177,180,182-222), and "Jimmy Olsen" (#s 164,167,170,173,176,179,182-222) included:

• "Superboy" (#182,191-196) — The adventures of the Earth-One Superman as a teenage superhero. This series continued from Adventure Comics #458 and led to the feature leaving the title for its own in 1980, The New Adventures of Superboy.
• "The Private Life of Clark Kent" (#195-199, 201-215) — The adventures of Clark Kent in which he used his powers and skills without becoming Superman. This feature had moved over from Superman after issue #328 of that series.
• "Mr. and Mrs. Superman" (#195-196, 198-199, 201-222) — The adventures of the Earth-Two Superman and his wife, Lois Lane Kent. This feature had moved from Superman after issue #329 of that series.
• "Krypto" (#182-192) — the adventures of Superman's dog with the aid of detective Ed Lacy.
• "Nightwing and Flamebird" (#182-194) — the adventures of the second Nightwing and Flamebird team of heroes (Van-Zee and Ak-Var) in the Bottled City of Kandor.

DC published several other ... Family titles concurrent with Superman Family. These included Batman Family (1975-78), Super-Team Family (1975-1978) and Tarzan Family (1975-76). As a rule, DC's other ... Family titles contained mostly reprints, and featured a higher page count (and higher price) than DC's normal books.

With issue #222 (Sept. 1982), Superman Family series was cancelled to make room for The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl, which briefly featured a Lois Lane back-up series.

External links

• Superman Family at the Grand Comics Database
• Superman Family at the Comic Book DB