Biographies of fictional characters are rare, however, where comic action heroes are concerned, it is an eminent possibility.
Larry Tye has written a biography of Superman and part of the history of Clark Kent/Superman is also a history of the artistic evolution of the creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Siegel and Shuster, Tye writes, grew creatively along with the popularity of their hero. Starting as a typical fighter for social justice with a hardened body, Superman's "superness" grew with a "steady dreamlike magnification till:
His million-decibel yell had enough intensity and pitch to topple tall buildings. What if a building fell on him? A tickle at most. His nostrils were super-acute. His typing was super-fast. . . . His gaze was intense enough to hypnotize a whole tribe of South American Indians at once. He could converse with a mermaid in her native tongue and beat a checkers expert his first time playing.
