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 was killed off by Doomsday in "Superman" #75 (Jan. 1993). After a year of mourning, searching and resurrecting in "The Death and Return of Superman" storyline, Superman returned to the land of the living and the arms of Lois Lane. However, because Clark and Lois on the television series met as strangers when the show debuted in September 1993. DC Comics launched a series of stories designed to keep them apart in the comics, including a broken engagement arc. When Clark and Lois on the television series finally married in October 1996, so did their comic book counterpart in the