Before Superman

The weird and wonderful stories of the ancestors of today s comic-book and cinematic superheroes. Superhumans humans who ve evolved into creatures stronger, smarter, and more gifted than we have any reason to be first showed up in science-fictional narratives during the genre s emergent Radium Age. Originally published between 1902 and 1928, the stories and excerpts anthologized in this volume by Joshua Glenn feature the likes of Marie Corelli s Young Diana, who, having been rendered super-alluring via a rejuvenation experiment, seeks revenge on a sexist society; Thomas Dunbar, one of the first lab-created superhumans; Zoo and Yva, superwomen who contemplate the extermination of us mere mortals, thanks to George Bernard Shaw and H. Rider Haggard; and Alfred Jarry s Andre Marcueil, a scientist who develops a super-sexual capacity. Hugo Gernsback gives us Ralph 124C 41+, a benevolent super-genius inventor who dwells atop a New York skyscraper. M.P. Shiel tells the story of Hannibal Lepsius, a homeschooled prodigy turned amoral tech-bro; and Karel ?apek gives us Rudy Marek, an inventor who, having developed super powers, wonders whether civilization will survive his latest invention. Thea von Harbou s genius scientist, Rotwang, is even less conscientious in his scheming; as is Arthur Conan Doyle's ever-irascible Professor Challenger, here in one of his final outings. Finally, Jean de La Hire s Nyctalope, a popular French super-powered crimefighter character, makes an appearance; and so does Edgar Rice Burroughs s Tarzan of the Apes though reduced to miniature size.