APPROVED COMICS #2 and the final collaboration between Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

Virtually everybody who is a fan of comic books knows the story of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the young creators who came up with a character that became world-famous and changed the destiny of the entire industry, Superman, but who largely didn't get to profit from their own innovation. Most recountings of their story … Continue reading APPROVED COMICS #2 and the final collaboration between Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster →

The Second Slam Bradley Story

In the early pre-Superman days of comic books, the medium was trying to figure itself out. The young and often ill-trained creators who toiled in the early comic books were mostly talented novices with a desire to tell stories in pictures and put some food on the table. Accordingly, much of the common wisdom of … Continue reading The Second Slam Bradley Story →

The Predecessors of Superman: Federal Men

By 1936, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster had begun to contribute stories and features to the small line of comic books published by Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, a firm that eventually would grow into becoming DC Comics. While they'd had no success in getting anybody to bite on their sensational brainchild Superman, the pair paid the … Continue reading The Predecessors of Superman: Federal Men →

The Predecessors of Superman: Dr. Occult/Dr. Mystic

All throughout the years during which they were trying in vain to locate a buyer for their grand opus character Superman, partners Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster paid the bills by working on a variety of other features, primarily for National Allied Publications/Detective Comics Inc. Thee included such features as Slam Bradley, Spy, Radio Men,/Calling … Continue reading The Predecessors of Superman: Dr. Occult/Dr. Mystic →

Comic Creators in the Wild 12

It's been a while since we dropped one of these on you. So here are more photographs taken over the years depicting practitioners of the medium, both editorial and creators. As usual, there's a lot of Stan Lee. One of the earliest photographs that survives of Jakob Kurtzburg, who would come to be called Jack … Continue reading Comic Creators in the Wild 12 →

The Second Superman Story

Pretty much everyone knows the story by now. Having conceived of their adventure strip about an indestructible, super-strong crusader for justice in the early 1930s, creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (and sometimes other, different artists) spent the next five or six years trying to find a buyer for what they felt confident was a … Continue reading The Second Superman Story →

The Seldom-Seen Jerry Siegel & Russell Keaton SUPERMAN samples

The legend surrounding the origins of Superman has been codified into a sort of simplistic myth-version over the years, the story of two young friends who had a world-beater of an idea, pursued it over the course of half a decade, facing rejection and ridicule along the way, only for it to turn out to … Continue reading The Seldom-Seen Jerry Siegel & Russell Keaton SUPERMAN samples →

BHOC: FAMOUS 1st EDITION #C-61

The marketing build-up to the premiere of SUPERMAN THE MOVIE was gathering speed, and one of the benefits of it was this, the final FAMOUS 1st EDITION that DC produced during the 1970s (though they'd bring the format back to a limited degree in recent years.) These were Treasury Edition sized reproductions of the most … Continue reading BHOC: FAMOUS 1st EDITION #C-61 →

Forgotten Masterpiece: FUNNYMAN #1

The basics are a familiar story to anybody who studies the history of comics. Young creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster sell the rights to their creation Superman to what would become DC/National Comics. As their ten-year contract to produce the strip was reaching its end and fearing that National wouldn't re-up it, the pair … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: FUNNYMAN #1 →

SUPERMAN: MATINEE IDOL Times Three

One of the hugest steps forward for the growing popularity of the Man of Steel in his earliest years and the event that represents the apex of the Superman fad which opened the floodgates to dozens of similar costumed champions in the pages of dozens of comic books was the arrival of Superman on the … Continue reading SUPERMAN: MATINEE IDOL Times Three →