The bronze statues of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and Siegel’s wife, Joanne Siegel, who was the inspiration for Lois Lane.It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman Day!

That’s right—April 18 has been declared Superman Day by Cleveland City Council, permanently enshrining the Man of Steel in the city’s municipal calendar. Council passed the resolution during its Monday, April 6 committee meeting.

The move follows years of investment by the City of Cleveland in celebrating the legacy of Superman, who was created in 1938 by two Glenville High School students, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

The nonprofit Siegel and Shuster Society, created to celebrate the legacy of the superhero, has recently pushed for the creation of Superman license plates, helped create a Superman exhibit at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, and raised funds for a $1.4 million Superman Plaza at St. Clair and Ontario downtown next to the Huntington Convention Center.

The creation of Superman Day—the day the first Action Comics #1 that featured Superman was published in 1938—is the nonprofit’s latest effort to put Cleveland on the map as Superman’s hometown.

In introducing the legislation, Ward 4 Cleveland City Council member Kris Harsh said, “The Siegel and Shuster Society have worked tirelessly to promote Cleveland as the birthplace of Superman, one of the most recognizable and beloved characters in popular culture throughout the world, and an enduring symbol of truth, justice and the American Way.”

Cover of Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.Added Ward 9 City Council member Kevin Conwell of Glenville, “Superman was a Tarblooder, right there on Kimberlee!” In the statement, Conwell was referencing Glenville High School’s Tarblooders and the fact that Jerry Siegel grew up on Kimberlee Avenue in Glenville.

Gary Kaplan, cousin of Siegel, regaled City Council with Superman’s origin story. He related how in 1933 his mother would frequently visit her cousin Jerry Siegel on Kimberlee Avenue. Even when Siegel was 14 years old, Kaplan recalled, he was already pretending that he had X-ray vision to see through walls and claimed he could fly by jumping off stairs.

When Siegel came up with the idea for Superman, he hooked up with the teenage Joe Shuster as a possible illustrator.

“It was like two chemicals coming together to create magic,” related Kaplan.

Even though the two superhero-creating buddies were rejected countless times, they never gave up on their vision. Finally, in 1938, their idea was accepted. It came out in Action Comics and quickly became a worldwide sensation.

“They didn’t understand what a superhero was because this was the first one,” explained Kaplan. “Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster didn’t just create Superman; they created a genre—they created the superhero genre. Now you can see Superman all over the world, but very few people know he was created in Cleveland, Ohio.”

Superman Day is the latest effort by the Siegel and Shuster Society to change that.

Want to join the action? Get the details on the first annual Superman luncheon the society is hosting on the new holiday in Cleveland this Saturday, April 18.