Who didn't know about Superman, but do u know who created him ? Superman was created sometime during the 1930s by writer Jerry Siegel (1914-1996) and artist Joe Shuster (1914-1992), who both lived in the Glenville neighborhood of Cleveland. Superman’s first appearance in a comic book was in 1938 in Action Comics #1.
Joe moved to Cleveland from Toronto and attended Alexander Hamilton Junior High School. He then went to Glenville High School where Jerry was a student. Both shared an affection for science fiction and pulp magazines and soon contributed to the student newspaper, The Glenville Torch. Soon, Jerry and Joe produced their own science fiction magazine: Science Fiction, a stapled, mimeographed pamphlet containing drawings by Joe and stories by Jerry under various pseudonyms. Only five issues were produced and they are very rare: one copy sold two years ago for $50,000.
At the same time, comic books started appearing on the newsstands and seemed like the perfect vehicle for their ideas. Siegel and Shuster began contributing short comic stories to New Fun Comics. Soon, New Fun and New Adventure Comics were publishing short action stories by Siegel and Shuster such as “Spy,” “Radio Squad,” “Doctor Occult,” “Henri Duval,” and “Slam Bradley” (which was set in Cleveland). Still, their favorite project was something they called “Superman,” which they had been working on versions of for years. First designed as a newspaper comic strip, Jerry sent it to National Comics in New York where it languished in a drawer. But when a publisher couldn’t agree to a good cover for a new magazine called Action Comics, someone pulled out the Superman proposal, showing him lifting a car with one hand. The publisher allegedly called it “ridiculous,” but still decided to put it on the cover. He wrote Siegel and Shuster and asked them if they could put together a 13-pg. story for Action Comics #1.
The boys hurriedly cut and pasted their newspaper strip into comic book form and sent it off. Sometime in the summer, Action Comics hit the newsstands. Sales figures were not as immediate as today, but when Action #4 hit the stands, sales were off the charts. Astounded by this, the publisher is reported to have gone down to his local newsstand and asked a kid, “Why are you reading this one?” pointing to Action Comics. “Because it’s the one that has Superman in it, mister.”
Early years
The revised Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1, June 1938. Siegel and Shuster sold the rights to the company for $130 and a contract to supply the publisher with material. The Saturday Evening Post reported in 1941 that the pair was being paid $75,000 each per year, still a fraction of DC's Superman profits. In 1946, when Siegel and Shuster sued for more money, DC fired them, prompting a legal battle that ended in 1948, when they accepted $200,000 and signed away any further claim to Superman or any character created from him. DC soon took Siegel's and Shuster's names off the byline. Following the huge financial success of Superman in 1978 and news reports of their pauper-like existences, Warner Communications gave Siegel and Shuster lifetime pensions of $35,000 per year and health care benefits. In addition, any media production which includes the Superman character must include the credit, "Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster".
Throughout the decade of Superman's existence, DC sued several competing comic book publishers for introducing superheroes with similar powers. Among these companies were Fox Feature Syndicate for its character Wonderman, and Fawcett Comics for its character Master Man. In 1941, DC filed a lawsuit against Fawcett over the top-selling character of the time whom DC perceived as a Superman clone, Captain Marvel. During the National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications case, Fawcett fought the lawsuit, and continued publishing Captain Marvel, who surpassed Superman and the other superheroes in sales in the mid-1940s. By 1953, the case had been in litigation for twelve years, and in court for five. The case was decided in DC's favor. Fawcett paid DC a fine and ceased publication of all Captain Marvel-related comics. DC would acquire the rights to Captain Marvel in the 1970s and the former rival characters would be presented as allies, with Captain Marvel often serving as the Kryptonian's substitute in emergencies.
1 comment:
thanks supermannya... :-)
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