The Secret of The K-Metal
"The Secret of The K-Metal" is an unpublished Superman story written by Jerry Siegel in 1940 and originally illustrated by the Joe Shuster Studio. National Comics Publications never published the story. Although the comic contained story developments that the publishers may have seen as potentially damaging to the franchise, such as Superman revealing his secret identity to Lois Lane, the reason that the story was never published is ultimately not known. This storyline features the precursor to Kryptonite called "K-Metal" and Lois learning that Clark Kent is Superman.
Like all Superman stories of the 1940s, the adventure originally had no title. The story remained forgotten and unknown from 1941 until 1988, when Jerry Siegel's original script and story outline was rediscovered in deep storage in the DC Comics library by Mark Waid. At that time, Waid and others at DC Comics began to refer to the story with the name "K-Metal."
Restoration
The surviving original story pages were worked on by Wayne Boring, Paul Cassidy, Dan Komisarow, Leo Nowak, John Sikela, and Joe Shuster. Artist Jon Bogdanove contributed two pages of new artwork to the project. The comic is being restored, colored, and published online. The website includes all completed pages. When available, scans of the original artwork are also included. The restoration team is looking for any copies of the missing pages that they can find, and aim to replace any redrawn pages with restorations of originals when available.
Name Reversion
The K-Metal restoration project originally chose the name "The Secret of the K-Metal" in 2003, in reference to the 1931 Pulp adventure that originated the terms "K-Metal" and "the secret of the k-metal." In 2005, the project changed the name to "The K-Metal from Krypton", deferring to the non-official title assigned by Gerard Jones in his 2005 book Men of Tomorrow. This usage may have contributed to the name's subsequent popularity. But after learning of Jones' criminal activities and conviction, the story name was reverted to "The Secret of the K-Metal," while the name "Saga of the K-Metal" was chosen for the project name and website, along with additional chapters they are creating to expand upon the original story.