| Jerry Siegel | |
|---|---|
 Siegel during his service in theU.S. Army, c. 1944 | |
| Born | Jerome Siegel (1914-10-17)October 17, 1914 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | January 28, 1996(1996-01-28) (aged 81) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Area | Writer |
| Pseudonym(s) | Joe Carter,[1] Jerry Ess,[1] Leger[2] |
Notable works | Superman,Action Comics #1 |
| Awards | Inkpot Award (1975)[3] Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame, 1992 Jack Kirby Hall of Fame, 1993 The Bill Finger Award For Excellence in Comic Book Writing, 2005 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Signature | |
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Jerome "Jerry"Siegel (/ˈsiːɡəl/SEE-gəl; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996)[4] was an Americancomic book writer. He was the co-creator ofSuperman, in collaboration with his friendJoe Shuster, published byDC Comics. They also createdDoctor Occult, who was later featured inThe Books of Magic. Siegel and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry'sWill Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and theJack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993. WithBernard Baily, Siegel also co-created the long-running DC characterThe Spectre. Siegel created ten of the earliest members of theLegion of Super-Heroes, one of DC's most popular team books, which is set in the 30th Century. Siegel also used pseudonyms includingJoe Carter andJerry Ess.[1][5]
Siegel was born on October 17, 1914, inCleveland, Ohio, the son ofLithuanian Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York in 1900, having fled antisemitism in their nativeLithuania, then part of theRussian Empire.[6][7][8] His father was born Mikhel Iankel Segalovich and his mother was born Sora Meita Khaikels, but they changed their names to Michael and Sarah Siegel after moving to the US. Jerry was the last of six children (Isabel, Leo, Minerva, Roslyn, and Harry). His father was a tailor and owned a clothing store. On June 2, 1932, Michael was punched hard in the chest by a shoplifter and suffered a fatal heart attack, while Sarah died of a heart attack on August 17, 1941.[6]
Siegel's family moved to the Jewish neighborhood of Glenville in 1928. He attendedGlenville High School in Cleveland. As a sci-fi fan, he created the first sci-fi fanzine in 1929 called Cosmic Stories, containing stories he written and that the pulp magazinesAmazing Stories andScience Wonder Stories rejected when he tried to published his stories by them. At about age 16, while at Glenville, he befriendedJoe Shuster. Siegel described his friendship with the similarly shy and bespectacled Shuster: "When Joe and I first met, it was like the right chemicals coming together."[4] They shared a love of science fiction, adventure fiction, and movies.[citation needed]
Siegel graduated from high school in June 1934.[9]
Unable to afford college,[10] he worked various delivery jobs, all the while courting publishers. In the summer of 1935, still living in Cleveland, he and Shuster began selling comic-book stories toNational Allied Publications, the primary precursor ofDC Comics, in New York.[11]
Siegel and Shuster had been developing the Superman story and character since 1933, hoping to sell it as a syndicated newspaper comic-strip. But after years of fruitless soliciting to the syndicates, Siegel and Shuster agreed to publish Superman in a comic book. In March 1938, they sold all rights to Superman to the comic-book publisher Detective Comics, Inc., another forerunner of DC, for $130 ($2,904 when adjusted for inflation).[12]
Siegel and Shuster later regretted their decision to sell Superman after he became an astonishing success. DC Comics now owned the character and reaped the royalties. Nevertheless, DC Comics retained Siegel and Shuster as the principal writer and artist for the Superman comics, and they were well-paid because they were popular with the readers. For instance, in 1942 they together earned $63,776.46 (equivalent to $1,200,000 in 2024).[13] Siegel bought a house inUniversity Heights and a car.[citation needed]
Siegel was conscripted into theUnited States Army on June 28, 1943. His service number was 35067731.[14] He was trained at Fort George G. Meade, where he was trained as an "Airplane Engine Mechanic, a Film Editor, Motion Picture Cutter, Public Relations Man or Playwright (Motion Picture Writer) or Reporter". He was posted in Honolulu, where he was assigned a writing job at the military newspaperStars and Stripes. He focused mainly on comedy columns. Siegel was discharged on January 21, 1946, at the rank of Technician 4th Grade.[15]
During his military service inHawaii, Siegel learned from his friend Shuster that DC Comics had published a story featuring a child version of Superman called "Superboy", which was based on a story that Siegel had submitted to DC Comics, but which DC Comics had not bought. Because DC Comics never bought the copyright to Superboy from Siegel, Siegel sued DC Comics for the rights. A second claim they had was that DC had cheated them out of royalties from the Superman radio show and the merchandise. Siegel and Shuster simultaneously sued for the rights to Superman as well. At the conclusion of the trial, Siegel and Shuster agreed to relinquish the copyrights of both Superman and Superboy in exchange for a settlement of just over $94,000 (equivalent to $1,200,000 in 2024). Siegel's 1948 divorce papers suggest he was left with $29,000 after paying his court fees but prior to settling his divorce.[16][17]
After the war, Siegel moved to New York.[18] Between 1937 and 1947 (i.e., during the span of their contract), Siegel and Shuster had together earned more than $400,000 (roughly equivalent to $7,700,000 in 2024) while working at DC Comics.[19][20][13]
After leaving DC Comics in late 1947, Siegel and Shuster created the comedic superheroFunnyman, which proved unsuccessful. This was their last collaboration. Siegel then took freelance writing jobs. Some of them include the newspaper stripTallulah,Lars of Mars, andG.I. Joe. The publisherZiff-Davis hired him as a comic-book editor in 1951, butits comics division closed after less than a year in business.[6] Siegel never found steady work, and fell upon hard times. By 1959, he and his family were living in a one-bedroom apartment inGreat Neck, Long Island, and struggling to pay their bills.[21]
Siegel returned to DC Comics in 1959 at the prompting of his second wife.[6] Although he did write some Superman stories, he no longer had any creative control, but instead answered to the direction of the editorMort Weisinger. During this time, he wrote extensively about the team theLegion of Super-Heroes, adding many enduring characters to its cast. Siegel's contributions during this time are difficult to determine because DC Comics did not generally give creator bylines. His last work for DC was the lead story inAdventure Comics #341 (February 1966).[22] DC Comics ceased giving him work in 1966, when the company learned Siegel and Shuster were planning a second lawsuit to reclaim the copyright to Superman.[21] He lost that lawsuit.[23]
Siegel again fell into hard financial times after this second dismissal, as he was unable to find regular writing work. For a period of seven years, he worked as a typist in the mailroom for the Los Angeles Public Utilities Commission, later telling an employee newsletter "[w]ith all the troubles and prolonged litigation I have had over, I just wanted to hide out."[24] In 1975, upon hearing thatWarner Bros. was producing a Superman film, Siegel alerted the press to his condition. In response, Warner Bros, agreed to give Siegel and Shuster a lifetime stipend of $20,000 a year (later increased to $30,000) in exchange for not contesting ownership of the copyright to Superman.[6]
After leaving DC Comics, Siegel wroteThe Spider for the British comicLion, published byFleetway Publications.[25] His episodes were published from January 1966 to February 1969.
Siegel wrote for his school's weekly newspaper,The Glenville Torch. One of his known works for that newspaper wasGoober the Mighty, a parody of Tarzan. Joseph Shuster provided illustrations for some of Siegel's Goober stories. This was their first known collaboration as writer and artist.[6]
Siegel also self-published a fanzine calledScience Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization. In the third issue of this fanzine, he published a short story titled "The Reign of the Superman" under the pseudonym "Herbert S. Fine". The story is about a vagrant named Bill Dunn who gains vast psychic powers after taking an experimental drug. Dunn then calls himself "the Superman" and proceeds to use his powers maliciously.[26]
In 1933, Siegel and Shuster began making amateur comic strips together. They self-published their work in a fanzine titledPopular Comics.[27]
Siegel and Shuster began working for DC Comics (then known asNational Allied Publications)[a] in 1935. Siegel's writing career there was interrupted in June 1943 when he was conscripted into the Army, though he continued to receive credit for stories written by ghostwriters.[28] After his discharge, he sued DC Comics for the rights to Superman and Superboy, and was consequently given no more freelance work from the publisher.[29] In 1959, he returned to DC as a writer, and was dropped again in 1967 when he again attempted to take back the copyright to Superman.[30]
During his first tenure at DC Comics (1935–1943), Siegel created the following characters:
During his second tenure at DC Comics (1959–1966), Siegel created several characters relating to the Legion of Super-Heroes, including membersBouncing Boy,Brainiac 5,Triplicate Girl,Invisible Kid,Matter-Eater Lad,Phantom Girl, andChameleon Boy; and enemies Cosmic King, Lightning Lord, and Saturn Queen, who are part of theLegion of Super-Villains.
During his second tenure as writer at DC Comics, Siegel did not receive any byline for his stories, which was the normal policy of DC Comics at the time.[31]
Siegel and Shuster conceivedFunnyman, a clownish superhero, while they were still working for DC Comics. They anticipated a decline in the popularity of conventional superheroes, and thought a comedy hybrid character would have sustainable appeal. Unlike other characters they created, Siegel and Shuster were determined to retain the copyright to Funnyman. This was unacceptable to DC Comics, so they instead made a deal withMagazine Enterprises, a comic-book publishing company owned byVin Sullivan. The seriesFunnyman lasted six issues, and a subsequent newspaper strip also was unsuccessful.[32] It was the last collaboration of Siegel and Shuster. By this time, Shuster's vision had deteriorated to the point he could not work.[33]
Siegel first worked for Marvel in 1963, under the pseudonym "Joe Carter". With Stan Lee, he co-created the villainPlantman (Strange Tales #113). He also scripted the "Human Torch" feature inStrange 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 theX-Men memberAngel, which ran inMarvel Tales andKa-Zar.[34] According to then-Marvel editor-in-chiefStan Lee, Siegel "was down on his luck" and in ill health at the time, so he gave him a job at Marvel as a proofreader, during which time Siegel wrote the Angel story.[35]
Siegel worked for Archie Comics in 1966, on series includingThe Fly,The Mighty Crusaders,The Web, andSteel Sterling, all starring characters revived from the 1940s. Archie canceled its superhero line later that year, and Siegel was let go.[36]
Siegel became the main writer onThe Spider a Britishcomic booksupervillain/superhero that appeared in anthology bookLion between 26 June 1965 and 26 April 1969[37] and was reprinted inVulcan. Siegel took over the writing of the character with his third adventure, and would write the bulk of his adventures. His first work on the character was published in the 8 January 1966 issue, the start of the serial "The Spider v Doctor Mysterioso".[38][39] He also created and wroteGadgetman and Gimmick-Kid.
When Siegel served in the Army (1943–1946), he was posted in Honolulu, Hawaii and wrote forStars and Stripes,Midpacifican, andYank, the Army Weekly, all military publications written by soldiers. InStars and Stripes, he had a small humor column titled "Take a Break wit T/5 Jerry Siegel". InMidpacifican, he wrote the comic stripSuper Sam, in which an Army private gains superpowers after receiving a blood transfusion from Superman. This was not authorized by DC Comics.[citation needed]
In 1956, Siegel created two superheroes forCharlton Comics:Mr. Muscles andNature Boy. The seriesMr. Muscles ran two issues, andNature Boy three.[40]
In 1968, he worked forWestern Publishing, for which he wrote (along withCarl Barks) stories in theJunior Woodchucks comic book.
He subsequently worked for the Italian comicTopolino published byMondadori Editore (the ItalianDisney comics licensee) from 1972 to 1979.[41][42] He was listed in the mastheads of the period as a scriptwriter ("soggettista e sceneggiatore").
In the 1980s, he worked withVal Mayerik on the feature "The Starling", which appeared in the comic bookDestroyer Duck. A projected series,The Starling, about a woman struggling to raise her half-alien, shapeshifting son after his deadbeat alien father abandoned them, went unfinished due to Siegel's death in 1996.[6] Also in the 1980s, Siegel wrote for the comics publisherAardvark-Vanaheim.[43]
Siegel remained somewhat active inscience fiction fandom after starting work for DC. He attendedChicon, the 19402nd World Science Fiction Convention, and appeared in the convention'smasquerade asClark Kent.[44]
Siegel married Bella Lifshitz on June 10, 1939. She was a Jewish woman from his neighborhood of Glenville. With Bella, he had a son named Michael (January 27, 1944 – January 17, 2006).[6] The couple divorced in 1948.[45]
In November 1948, Siegel marriedJoanne Carter.[6] She and Siegel first met in January 1935, when she worked with his colleagueJoe Shuster as the model forLois Lane. They reacquainted at a costume ball in New York on April 1, 1948.[46] On March 1, 1951, Joanne gave birth to their daughter, Laura.[6] The couple settled onLong Island, before moving toCalifornia in 1968.[18] Siegel and Joanne remained married until his death in 1996.[47]
Siegel died on January 28, 1996, of aheart attack.[48] He had been suffering from cardiac disease for years, and had abypass operation.[citation needed]
By 1940 the publisher began to be identified as DC Comics, after a circular logo appearing on its covers. Officially the initials stood for "Detective Comics," after a circular logo appearing on its covers. Officially the initials stood for "Detective Comics"..."
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