And this was still before Superman! As Siegel and Shuster continued their work for the comics they still continued to try to get Superman in the newspapers. Within a few years, the boys were splitting $300 a month during a time when the Depression was still on. Occult, Spy, Slam Bradley and more were written and drawn over the next three years. By 1935, Major Malcom Wheeler-Nicholson, the founder and boss of what would become DC Comics, already had signed the creative pair to a contract that turned into multiple contracts for other heroes they wrote and drew for the many comics that DC was putting out. But by this time they had already created Superman as a daily adventure comic strip a la, Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.
First off, due to Siegel and Shuster’s overenthusiastic plunge into the world of fanzines, (a mimeographed early form of fan magazine) their schoolwork suffered and they both graduated from high school mere months before their 20th birthdays. 27 and 88), as well as the Gerard Jones book “Men of Tomorrow” and the research I did on my own when contributing to the book “Superman at Fifty.” Hopefully, one will get not just a story of tragedy and triumph over the next few pieces, but one of a long, agonizing roller coaster ride to which many factors contributed.
These are some of the facts and tales that I have unearthed from interviewing artists connected to Superman in the past, interviews and statements from comic book historical magazine Alter Ego (specifically Nos. That’s right, I said first stint, as there was more than one period of employment, as well as more than one lawsuit. Here is just a small part of their story, a part that relays that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were not that young or that broke during their first stint at DC Comics. In effect that is what happened, but there is much more to the story.
Everyone has heard the story of how two Cleveland teenagers sold the rights to one of the greatest fictional characters of all time and how, after a lawsuit that they lost, they suffered for their innocence the rest of their lives. He writes the blog Comics: Don’t Get Me Started, which is part of The News-Herald’s Community Media Lab. Look for parts two and three on upcoming Sundays in Sidetracks before the release June 14 of the new Superman movie, “Man of Steel.” Chris Lambert is a lifelong comic book collector and author. Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series on the history of Superman’s creators, Clevelanders Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, in honor of the character’s 75th anniversary.
0 kommentar(er)
