Jerry Siegel

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Jerry Siegel

Jerry Siegel in 1976. Photo by Alan Light.
Born: October 17, 1914
Died: January 28, 1996
United States
Occupation: Creator, Superman

Jerome (Jerry) Siegel a.k.a. Joe Carter (October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) was the co-creator of Superman, the first of the great comic book superheroes and one of the most recognizable fictional characters of the 20th century.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

The son of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania, Siegel was the youngest of six children. His father Mitchell was a sign painter who opened a haberdashery and encouraged his son's artistic inclinations. Tragically, Mitchell Siegel was shot and killed in his store by a thief when Jerry Siegel was still in junior high school.

Siegel was a fan of movies, comic strips, and, especially, science fiction pulp magazines. He became active in what would become known as fandom, corresponding with other science fiction fans, including the young future author Jack Williamson. In 1929, Siegel published what may have been the first SF fanzine, Cosmic Stories, which he produced with a manual typewriter and advertised in the classified section of Science Wonder Stories. He published several other booklets over the next few years.

Siegel attended Glenville High School and worked for its weekly student newspaper, The Torch. He was a shy, not particularly popular student, but he achieved a bit of fame among his peers for his popular Tarzan parody, "Goober the Mighty". At Glenville he befriended his later collaborator, Joe Shuster. The writer-artist team broke into comics with Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's landmark More Fun Comics, debuting with the musketeer swashbuckler "Henri Duval" and the supernatural-crimefighter strip "Dr. Occult" in More Fun #6 (Oct. 1935).

[edit] Superman

Siegel and Shuster created Superman. They used an early version of the character in short stories and in a 1933 comic-strip proposal. In 1938, after that proposal had languished among others at More Fun Comics — published by National Allied Publications, the primary precursor of DC Comics — editor Vin Sullivan chose it as the cover feature for National's Action Comics #1 (June 1938). The following year, Siegel & Shuster initiated the syndicated Superman comic strip.

In 1946, Siegel and Shuster, nearing the end of their 10-year contract to produce Superman stories, sued National over rights to the characters. After a two-year fight, they were awarded the rights to Superboy, which they sold back to National for about $100,000.[citation needed] That severed their relationship with DC for a decade. In 1947, the team had rejoined editor Sullivan, by now the founder and publisher of the comic-book company Magazine Enterprises; there they created the short-lived comical crime-fighter Funnyman. Siegel went on to become comics art director for publisher Ziff-Davis in the early 1950s, and later returned to DC to write uncredited Superman stories in 1959. When he sued DC over the Superman rights again in 1967, his relationship with the hero he had co-created was again severed.

Siegel's later work would appear in Marvel Comics, where under the pseudonym "Joe Carter" he scripted the "Human Torch" feature in Strange Tales #112-113 (Sept.-Oct. 1963), introducing the teenaged Torch's high school girlfriend, Doris Evans; and, under his own name, a backup feature starring the X-Men member the Angel, which ran in Marvel Tales and Ka-Zar. Siegel wrote as well during this time for Archie Comics, where he created campy versions of existing superheroes in Archie's Mighty Comics line; Charlton Comics, where he created a few superheroes; and even England's Lion, where he scripted The Spider. In 1968, he worked for Western Publishing, for which he wrote (along with Carl Barks) stories in the Junior Woodchucks comic book. In 1972, he worked for Mondadori Editore on the Italian comic book Topolino, the local Disney publication.

[edit] Siegel & Shuster v. Time Warner

Siegel in 1975 launched a public-relations campaign to protest DC Comics' treatment of him and Shuster; ultimately Warner Communications, DC's parent company, awarded Siegel and Shuster $35,000 a year each for the rest of their lives and guaranteed that all comics, TV episodes (which would eventually include the popular Smallville show), films, and (later) video games starring Superman would be required to credit Superman was "created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster."

In 1986, Siegel was invited by DC Comics' editor Julius Schwartz to write an "imaginary" final story for Superman, following the pivotal Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline and the miniseries The Man of Steel, which reintroduced Superman. Siegel declined, and the story was instead given to writer Alan Moore, and published in September 1986 in two parts entitled Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? (the story was published in Superman #423 and Action Comics #583).

Siegel died in 1996. In 2005, he was posthumously awarded the Bill Finger Award For Excellence In Comic Book Writing. He was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993.

[edit] Posthumous Superman Lawsuits

On April 16, 1999 Siegel's wife and daughter secured half of all rights to "each and every work (in any medium whatsoever, whenever created) that includes or embodies any character, story element, or indicia reasonably associated with Superman or the Superman stories, such as, without limitation, Superman, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Superboy, Supergirl, Lana Lang, Lex Luthor, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Ma and Pa Kent, Steel, the planet Krypton, Kryptonite, Metropolis, Smallville, or the Daily Planet."[1][2]

Superboy is currently the subject of a legal battle between Time Warner, the owner of DC Comics and the estate of Jerry Siegel. The Siegels argue that the character of "Superboy" was an independent contractor at the time of the original Superboy pitch, and DC wasn't interested. After returning from World War II, Siegel found that DC published a Superboy story using ideas from his original pitch.

Federal judge Ronald S. W. Lew issued a summary judgment ruling that the Siegel heirs had the right to revoke their copyright assignment to Superboy and had successfully reclaimed the rights as of November 17, 2004. Warner Bros. replied that it "respectfully disagrees" with the ruling and will appeal.

[edit] References

Jones, Gerard, Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book (Basic Books 2004)

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:


Superman
Creators: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Characters: Superman (Clark Kent) • Lois Lane • Jimmy Olsen • Perry White • Jor-El • Ma Kent • Pa Kent • Lana Lang • Steel • Supergirl • Superboy (Kon-El) • Krypto
Villains: Lex Luthor • Bizarro • Brainiac • Cyborg Superman • Darkseid • Doomsday • Eradicator • General Zod • Metallo • Mongul • Mr. Mxyzptlk • Parasite • Toyman • Ultra-Humanite • Intergang • Phantom Zone villains
Locations:

Daily Planet • Fortress of Solitude • Krypton • Metropolis • Smallville
Storylines: Relationship of Clark Kent and Lois Lane • Alternate versions of Superman • Publications • Superman in popular culture
Miscellanea: Kryptonite • Powers • Symbol
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