It may have been just a coincidence. Comics didn't have the relevancy they now have in 1946-7 when KMK was written. Everyone knew who Superman was ("This is a job for.....Superman") but the smaller details would have been known by jids, not necessarily adults. The kids grew up with a memory of the comics they read and the intelligencia came to embrace comics several decades later.
May have just been a coincidence.
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699