Ali had reportedly allowed his image to be used with one condition: his fictional self would have to discover Superman’s secret identity. (It’s also rumored that he wrote his own dialogue).

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The book was originally scheduled to be published in the fall of 1977, but was pushed back several times, first to the spring of 1978 and finally to the fall of 1978. During the delay, Ali actually lost his title of World Champion, utlimately regaining it in September 1978. The book would later be reprinted in 2010 as a hardcover.

Writer Brad Meltzer noted in the LA Times in 2010 that he felt that the comic was one of the greatest of all time:

It’s time for the eight-year-old me to open that book and ask: Does the interior sizzle match the exterior hype? In the name of good unbiased journalism, let me be honest with you – you’re #$%inA right it did. And it still does. This is Neal Adams in his prime — when no one drew a better angry preacher filled with righteous indignation — and he’s drawing, without question, the greatest angry, righteous preacher of all time.

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Additional reporting by Evan Narcisse.