Joe Shuster
Joe Shuster was born in Toronto, Canada on July 10, 1914. At the age of nine, his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio where he would later meet Jerome Siegel, with whom he would become a creative partner.
In 1932/33 the pair edited & published their own fan magazine covering the new fantasy fiction of the day. The fanzine, aptly titled "Science Fiction" lasted six issues. It was during the time they published Science Fiction that they were exposed to Phillip Wylie's pseudo-science fiction novel "Gladiator", which was destined to be the seminal influence for the Siegel & Shuster creation which itself would become one of the most important fantasy characters of all time. That character, "Superman", would even later be the model for scores of other super powered comic heroes, giving birth to the "Golden Age of Comics" in the late 1930's.
Having first introduced the super character as a villain in their fanzine in a story entitled "the Reign of the Superman", the duo eventually molded him into a comic strip which they had unsuccessfully marketed as early as 1936, during which time they each earned a living by writing (Siegel) and drawing (Shuster) comic stories for DC-National.
Henri Duval, Spy, Radio Squad, Slam Bradley, Federal Men and the more popular Dr. Occult kept them at DC until finally DC editor Sheldon Mayer took a chance & had Superman published as the lead feature in DC's inaugural issue of the now famous "Action Comics". (One story has Max (M.C.) Gaines sending the feature over to Mayer). Superman was an instant hit and less than one year later was promoted to his own book - a first for any super hero!
Unfortunately for the two creators, a common practice at the time of Superman's first appearance was for the publisher to retain all rights to the character. Thusly, they had no financial or copyright interest in Superman, even though they did receive good pay for supplying DC with stories and art throughout the early forties. The Saturday Evening Post reported that the pair had a combined 1940 income of over $75,000!
But this compensation still did not please them, and in 1946 after having tried for years to get DC to let them in on the millions of dollars they were making, they finally decided to sue the comics publishing giant.
They were represented by a New York attorney by the name of Albert Zugsmith, who himself would later go to Hollywood where he became a producer of generally low budget thrillers & hot-rod genre films.
The case was settled in the New York State Supreme Court in 1948 with the creative team receiving the comparatively small settlement of $120,000. That sum was less than the pair would have made supplying stories to DC during the two years that the court case continued.
It was also after this settlement that the Siegel & Shuster byline, which had appeared on every story since 1938, was summarily dropped. As such, other than in a historical or creative context, their names had not appeared in conjunction with Superman, until the 1980's when DC reinstated the byline. Shuster would leave the comics field during the late forties, and Siegel's presence was very limited at best until finally he also left comics.
Many have commented that Shuster's artwork was done in a crude, narrative style (which comic artist Jim Steranko likened to editorial cartooning) which was reminiscent of Milton Caniff's art. Indeed, under his own inks, Shuster was very polished and illustrative, and his style itself became a model for many artists in the comic book industry during the thirties until the art of Lou Fine, Will Eisner, Jack Kirby and the influence of Hal Foster, Caniff & Alex Raymond revolutionized the medium.
Siegel & Shuster would again sue DC in 1978 for royalties from the Superman character, and through the help of then DC publisher in charge Carmine Infantino, and comics artist Neal Adams, as well as public outcry, they received a settlement from DC for $35,00 each per year for the remainder of their lives.
Still a paltry settlement when taking into account the hundreds of millions of dollars that DC made off the character in comics, from movies & radio, toys & other merchandising. Even while DC sued other publishers, like Fawcett & Fox for plagiarizing their flagship hero, they themselves were copying him in their own books (Starman in Adventure Comics being the most obvious). Siegel & Shuster did not profit from these in-house swipes either.
Joe Shuster, nearly blind & very bitter about his treatment from DC died in 1992 just short of his seventy-eighth birthday. Though forgotten by the publisher that should have eulogized him as their savior, he will never be forgotten by the millions of fans worldwide who have read his legendary creation.
Jerry Siegel
Jerome Siegel is one of the most important figures in the development and creation of costumed comic heroes. As co-creator of the most famous of these mythical beings, the immortal Superman, he along with artist Joe Shuster propelled the superhero into the public consciousness, injecting popular American culture with one of the most enduring icons of the twentieth century.
Jerome Siegel was born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 17, 1914. An avid reader with a great interest in science fiction & fantasy, he published his own fanzine in 1929 called Cosmic Stories, a "hectographic" booklet with stories written by himself. It is recognized as the first sci-fi fanzine, and it was just a prelude to future accomplishments. He published several other booklets over the next few years.
In 1931 he met and befriended Joe Shuster, whose family had moved to Cleveland from Canada. They became fast friends, in part due to Joe's interest in science fiction novels and also because Joe was a competent artist and Jerry loved his work.
In 1932, the pair put out another fanzine called Science Fiction. Filled with fantastic stories, later day fan celebrity Forrest Ackerman wrote for it. In the third issue a story entitled "Reign of the Superman" appeared, with a villainous super-being. Later the character was converted to a hero and the seminal creation of the most popular comic character in history.
Inspired in part by Philip Wylie's novel "Gladiator", and in part by the Samson & Hercules legends, the redesigned "Superman" was put together in comic strip form as early as 1932, and then as a comic book in 1933. Unfortunately, when the comic book was rejected, Shuster destroyed the artwork. Fortunately, Siegel had rescued the cover art.
In 1935, the pair tried again to sell Superman to several comic book publishers, including DC. Once more their idea was rejected, but they did secure work at DC comics doing another feature they created, Dr. Occult, who made his first appearance in New Fun #6 cover dated October 1935.
They continued to do Dr. Occult and some other DC characters through the next couple of years, all the while working on the Superman feature that they wanted to sell so bad.
Finally the big break came. In 1938, as they tried to peddle the character to DC again they wound up in the office of Max Gaines, the publisher of the All American label. Max wasn't interested in Superman, but Sheldon Mayer was starting a new title at sister company DC and needed a cover feature, so he sent the pair over to the office with their hero tucked under their arms and Sheldon decided to take a shot with the Superman, giving him the cover of the first issue of Action Comics dated June 1938.
Superman was a smash hit with issues of Action selling out at the newsstands every month. Other companies, trying to cash in on the craze created by Superman tried to emulate the character to varying degrees. Some were successful, some were not. Some companies were even sued by DC for copying the Superman, even while DC itself copied the character without remuneration to Siegel & Shuster. But by 1941, the Saturday Evening Post reported the pair as making upwards of $75,000 each per year. They had certainly hit the bigtime.
But by 1946 it was not enough. DC was making millions of dollars on the character the two created, but they were still only making near one hundred thousand each. They sued DC over the rights to the character, to whom they had signed off all rights in 1938. Represented by attorney Albert Zugsmith (who later went to Hollywood to produce 50's B-movies), they would remain involved in a protracted legal battle with DC that would also keep them from being employed by the company, and that would also drain their finances until finally in 1948, they decided to take a settlement from DC of around two hundred thousand dollars, and only for royalties to the Superboy character that DC had created on it's own, without the duo. In addition, the creative team that was largely responsible for the proliferation of comic book culture had to sign away any further claim to Superman, or any character created there from.
It would also signal the virtual end of their mutual careers. Shuster would leave comics while Siegel continued to write scripts for different publishers and become the comic art director for the Ziff-Davis company in the 1950's.
From then on however the pair's byline was removed from DC's Superman logo. The team would receive screen credit for creating Superman only in film versions of the character and on the tv show. But they had essentially become two forgotten creators, outside of the small circle of people who collected comic books.
Siegel moved to Los Angeles and became a recluse. With the advent of comic collecting becoming a national hobby, and the proliferation of comic conventions starting in 1968, Siegel & Shuster again regained the public eye and in 1975, the two once again sued DC for royalties to Superman. Though they courts deemed that DC was not bound to any remuneration toward the pair, DC did decide (with prodding from publisher/editor Carmine Infantino) to give them $35,000 each a year for the rest of their lives. Though in some ways generous, it seems a paltry sum compared to the tens of millions (maybe hundreds of millions) made by DC since 1938.
Jerry Siegel is without question one of the most important figures in comic history. His contribution, in the form of a myth who flies, is probably the greatest contribution by any single individual in the history of the comics.
He passed away on January 28th, 1996, in Los Angeles. But he will live on forever beneath the red cape of Superman.
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Superman created by Jerry Seigel & Joe Shuster.
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