The story
Jerry Siegel was born in Cleveland in 1914, the youngest of six children of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants who had fled antisemitism in the Russian Empire; his father ran a clothing store. Joe Shuster was born the same year in Toronto to a Jewish family; his father, a tailor, had come from Rotterdam and his mother from Kyiv. The Shusters were so poor that young Joe drew on the blank backs of discarded wallpaper. In 1924 the family moved to Cleveland, where Joe met Jerry at Glenville High School in the city's Jewish neighbourhood. The two shy, bespectacled teenagers shared a love of science fiction and adventure stories and began publishing fanzines together.
They developed Superman from 1933, hoping to sell him as a newspaper comic strip, but syndicates turned them down for years. Finally, in March 1938, they sold all rights to Superman to Detective Comics, Inc. for 130 dollars, paid at 10 dollars a page.
Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1, cover-dated June 1938 and published on 18 April 1938, with Siegel writing and Shuster drawing. The first print run of 200,000 copies sold out, and sales of the series soon approached a million a month. Superman, an orphan from the doomed planet Krypton who grows up as the mild-mannered Clark Kent and uses his powers to protect others, became the archetypal superhero. Some writers have noted parallels with the story of Moses, a baby sent away to escape death and raised in a foreign land.
Although earlier characters arguably fit the definition, it was Superman who popularised the superhero and established its conventions: a costume, a code name, extraordinary abilities and a mission to help others. His success launched the Golden Age of Comic Books and a wave of heroes such as Batman and Captain America. More Superman comic books have been sold than those of any other American superhero, and he was the best-selling comic book character of the 1960s and 1970s.
Siegel and Shuster did not share in most of the profits, and for decades they fought to regain their rights. In 1975, after Siegel spoke to the press, Warner Bros. agreed to pay both men a lifetime annual stipend. They were inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993, and Canada's Joe Shuster Awards carry his name. A copy of Action Comics #1 sold for more than 3.2 million dollars in 2014.
Why it matters
Siegel and Shuster's hero created the template for the superhero, an art form that has inspired generations of readers with stories about using power to protect the weak.
Sources
- Superman Wikipedia
- Jerry Siegel Wikipedia
- Joe Shuster Wikipedia
- Action Comics 1 Wikipedia
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.