ABSTRACT
Superman stories began appearing almost with the first examples of the genre. Dr. Frankenstein's Creature is intended to be a superior being, and despite a botched execution is nevertheless a sort of superman: smarter, faster, stronger, and bigger than the humans who reject him. Hamilton's protagonist, who undergoes millions of years of evolutionary advancement in a few moments, pays a price for his intellectual advancement with a corresponding physical deterioration, growing thin and shriveled, the outlines of bones visible through its flesh. Van Vogt was Campbell's most reliable producer of superman stories. His superbeings range from telepathic slans of the 1940s to shape-shifting Silkies two decades later. Campbell's promotion of the superman theme and his cheerleading for Hubbard's schemes were both outgrowths of his interest in psychic powers. The Golden Man is everything that the collaborative superman story says he should be: resourceful, ruthless, and masterful.
