Seventy-five years ago, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster ushered an orphan son of Krypton through the fields of Kansas and up, up and away to the height of popular acclaim. These days, you'd be hard pressed to find someone unaware of Superman or his mild-mannered counterpart Clark Kent, but NPR's Glen Weldon knows the character better than most. Thankfully, he's sharing history and insight in the pages of Superman: The Unauthorized Biography. We spoke with the author at length about the best and worst iterations of the storied hero, from comics to radio to film and even the Broadway stage.

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