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
Superman and Lois Lane saves her. From then on, Clark was established as a shy man attracted to Lois, while she was interested in his heroic alter ego, Superman. This remained the status quo in the comics for decades, though Lois did warm up to Clark for the most part; yet their relationship couldn't really advance with Lois left out of Clark's secret and the Clark Kent persona is a disguise. As early as the 1940s, Lois began to suspect that Clark Kent was Superman, the first such story appears in "Superman" #17 (July–August 1942) in a story titled "Man or Superman" by Jerry