How To Draw The Superman S

I was about eight when someone showed me how to describe this. Itstarted with two sets of three parallel lines that were joined diagonally left to right, then capped off at the top and bottom with pointy bits. It was a fierce, beautiful "South," and drawing it was addictive.

Soon all my schoolbooks were covered in the "Southward." I never questioned what it meant or where it came from. I just knew I loved it. But it turns out I wasn't the only 1.

I recently googled the "Due south" and discovered that although everyone loves it, no ane knows its origins. Diverse Reddits and discover boards are full of really cornball people without a clue.

It seems the "S" has appeared throughout all of North America, Due south America, Europe, Russia, Asia, and Commonwealth of australia. Some people think it's a 90s matter; others written report seeing it as early as the 1960s. There were theories that it was the symbol of some 80s hair-metal band. Other people thought it was the original emblem for the clothing make Stussy. Others idea it was an incarnation of the Superman logo. No one was sure.

I thought I'd ask the office.

"That's the Superman 'S,'" mused Ben, our in-house graphics guy. I asked him if that meant information technology was actually from Superman, simply he said it wasn't. "No, I recollect it's merely what kids think when they're drawing it. They really only depict it because it's cool."

I got on the phone to DC Comics to notice out if they knew annihilation. Co-ordinate to Benjamin LeClear, who manages the comics library at their studio in Burbank, California, the "S" has nothing to do with Superman.

"It doesn't look like any of the emblems from the sometime Superman Shield logos," he said after rummaging through their drove. "His 'S' has a lot of open space and almost never connects to itself."

LeClear told me he'd go intrigued and, like me, launched his ain mini investigation on the web merely to turn upwards nothing. "I didn't realize what a crazy urban myth and mystery this pointy 'Due south' thing is," he said. "I would love for this to exist Superman-related, merely I don't think it is. Though Superman has the most famous 'Due south' symbol of all time."

"It's the Stussy 'Southward,'" exclaimed Ramona, 1 of our producers. Similar Ben's estimate, she didn't think it was actually an emblem associated with Stussy, but refused to believe it had any other name. "It'due south definitely called the Stussy 'S,'" she said, then drew her own version that wasn't as good as mine.

Pretty much every forum on the web mentions Stussy—the Californian surf/street-wear company founded in the 80s. A lot of people seem convinced the symbol was originally a Stussy logo, so I chosen Stussy.

"No, this is non an original Stussy Logo," stated Emmy Coates, who has worked alongside Shawn Stussy since 1985. "I personally get asked this a lot, but people have been drawing this 'Due south' long before Stussy was established. People accept only assumed information technology was Stussy, and it's sort of spread from there. It'south actually quite amusing."

I finally asked Coates what she thought the symbol looked like. "It looks like Suzuki logo," she replied.

I was tempted to call Suzuki but didn't. I needed to zoom out and accept in the bigger picture, so I got in bear on with an expert in symbols and semiotics: Paul Cobley.

Cobley is a professor in language and media at Middlesex Academy in London. According to him, the theory that it was a hair-metal symbol was also ridiculous—"It'south certainly not the Saxon logo," he said. "Theirs was far more than sharp and had a staff." So he offered the nigh likely yet bland explanation of all. That is, it'due south fun to draw.

"The reason kids go through this is probably because it's a Moebius strip," he said, referring to the sort of looped i-surface shapes Thousand. C. Escher was fond of drawing. "It tin't be drawn continuously, only information technology does have a perpetual flow."

I call back he was onto something. About nine-year-olds can't describe, so when someone hands them a magical recipe to create something fairly cool on demand, that'll become viral. Peculiarly when the shape has the sophisticated, mathematical lineage of a Moebius strip. Yep I'd learned the term ten minutes before, but whatever. Moebius strip.

The "South" isn't a Stussy logo or a Superman emblem or a gift from aliens. I think it's only the most fun always.

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