Will Superman fly again

Copyright DC Comics

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A.� Superman, the super-hero who could fly faster than a speeding bullet, has lost his trademark tights and wings.

The all-action hero, who has captivated generations of children and adults, has been grounded. Two Hollywood script writers have decided that anyone who wears pants over his leggings is too uncool, and the red cape and shirt emblazoned with an enormous S will not appeal to today's teenagers.

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A new television series made by Warner Brothers will portray Superman in his high school years dealing with teenage worries and unrequited love.

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Q.� Who will the new Clark Kent be

A.� The writers, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, have turned Clark Kent into a more sedentary hero. Clark Kent wears ordinary clothes and lives an ordinary life.

The series, called Smallville, stars Tom Welling as Clark Kent and Kristin Kreuk as Lois Lane. It depicts Kent's life between leaving the planet Krypton and joining the Daily Planet in Metropolis - alias New York.

In between dealing with everyday life in small-town Kansas, he will deal with strange X-Files-type phenomena, but there will be no evil madmen.

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Q.� It's all a far cry from the original Superman

A.� Taking away his costume is the latest indignity for the action hero, who was created in a comic strip in 1938. In recent years he has been killed off, brought back to life, battled with Batman and forced to marry Lois Lane.

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Q.� Who originally created the idea

A.� The series first appeared in DC Comics at the end of the Thirties. These versions are abridgements of the story written by Joseph Shuster and Jerome Siegel in 1934. The version had originally been prepared in 1934 as a newspaper comic strip and submitted to syndicate after syndicate after rejection. They were rewritten and cut several times, and the strip for DC Comics featured the 'Federal Men' and 'Dr Occult'. In this series Jor-L and the classic red and blue tights also appeared.

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Q.� How did Superman come to Earth

A.� The first version , the comic Action#1, showed the planet Krypton where all the people could run at super speed and leap an eight of a mile. The strip opens with Jor-L running through the streets of Krypton as it is racked with quakes that would lead to its destruction. Jor-L and Lara place their baby son Kal-L into a exploratory racket and launch him into space. The rocket lands on Earth and is found by the Kents. Clark Kent grows up and finds that nothing but a bursting shell can pierce his skin. As an adult, he moves to Metropolis where he gets a job on the Daily Star, working for editor George Taylor. In later versions, this is changed to the Cleveland Evening News, and eventually the Daily Planet.

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By Katharine MacColl