Superman co-creator Joe Shuster had been drawing the comic book hero for seven years when he encountered a spitting image of him in real life.
His name was Stanley Weiss, and Shuster asked if he could draw him.
The resulting sketches will be shown on Jan. 27 at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan. The event will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of Superman.
The sketches have been mostly unseen for nearly 70 years.
Weiss died in 1978. His son told The New York Times that Weiss found Shuster's drawings of him "amusing but not a big deal.''
David Weiss said the sketches hung in their house for a while, mainly because of his mother. But he said neither parent "considered it a big deal.''
Copyright AP - Associated Press
