Alternative versions of Superman establish a new continuity for DC, affecting not only Superman, but all of the DC Comics characters. The versions of Superman from this time period are traditionally divided into three main periods. The first version of Superman began being published by DC Comics in 1938 appearing in "Action Comics" #1. To explain discrepancies in the aging of Superman across several decades, his earliest stories were retroactively portrayed as having taken place on an alternative world called Earth-Two. These stories take place from 1938 until the late 1950s, although the exact dividing line is unclear and some stories happened identically to
The Death of Superman conclusion resulted in the DC Universe—the shared universe that the publisher's comics, including those related to Superman, take place in—being rebooted. Writer/artist John Byrne re-envisioned Superman in his 1986 limited series, "The Man of Steel". The following year, Byrne relaunched "Superman" with a new first issue and the original series was renamed "The Adventures of Superman". In the reboot, Byrne removed various elements of the Superman mythos, like Supergirl, to streamline the character for modern audiences, which also allowed him to reintroduce them in a new way later on. The relaunch was a major success for DC and "The Man