1930:
Philip Wylie's Gladiator is published. The protagonist is granted super human powers as a newborn by the experiment of an amoral scientist, giving him super strength, speed, and bulletproof skin. He is described as having "the proportionate strength of an ant and the leaping ability of the grasshopper" and bends the bars of his crib. Jerry and Joe have just turned 16 years old.
1931:
The mysterious element
"K-Metal" ("the metal that energizes") and the phrase "The Secret of theK-Metal " first appear in the novella, The Copper-Clad World, by Harl Vincent; published in the September, 1931 issue of Astounding Stories magazine:
Jerry Siegel is about to turn 17 years old when this issue hits the stands.
1933:
Jerry Siegel creates the villainous "Superman" for his pulp tale, The Reign of the Superman, illustrated by Joe Shuster and published in Science Fiction magazine #3:
1934:
Jerry and Joe create the heroic Superman comic strips:
1938:
Action Comics #1 is published and a legend is born.
1940:
Jerry Siegel writes the K-Metal script; the Joe Shuster Studio creates the complete 26 page comic book story. The story as it stands is turned down by DC Comics.
1988:
Buried deep within the secret archives, Professor Mark Waid unearths the lost script:
2003:
The restoration project begins.
2025—
After more than two decades of effort, using a combination of recovered original artwork alongside contemporary pages, the restoration project reveals a complete, full color comic book version of the story:
The The K-Metal from Krypton trilogy, adding a prequel and a sequel to the original Secret of the K-Metal story, begins.
— Audrey Kinlok, 2025
