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Joe Shuster was born in Toronto, Canada on July 10,1914. At the age of nine, his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio where he wouldlater meetJerome Siegel, with whom hewould become a creative partner.

In 1932/33 the pair edited & published their ownfan magazine covering the new fantasy fiction of the day. The fanzine, aptlytitled "Science Fiction" lasted six issues. It was during the time theypublished Science Fiction that they were exposed to Phillip Wylie'spseudo-science fiction novel "Gladiator", which was destined to be the seminalinfluence for the Siegel & Shuster creation which itself would become oneof the most important fantasy characters of all time. That character,"Superman", would even later be the model for scores of other super poweredcomic heroes, giving birth to the "Golden Age of Comics" in the late1930's.

Having first introduced the super character as a villain intheir fanzine in a story entitled "the Reign of the Superman", the duoeventually molded him into a comic strip which they had unsuccessfully marketedas early as 1936, during which time they each earned a living by writing(Siegel) and drawing (Shuster) comic stories for DC-National.

Henri Duval, Spy, Radio Squad, Slam Bradley, Federal Men andthe more popular Dr. Occult kept them at DC until finally DC editor SheldonMayer took a chance & had Superman published as the lead feature in DC'sinaugural issue of the now famous "Action Comics". (One story has Max (M.C.)Gaines sending the feature over to Mayer). Superman was an instant hit and lessthan one year later was promoted to his own book - a first for any superhero!

Read Superman's Originhere and check out some of Joe Shuster's artwork.

Unfortunately for the two creators, a common practiceat the time of Superman's first appearance was for the publisher to retain allrights to the character. Thusly, they had no financial or copyright interest inSuperman, even though they did receive good pay for supplying DC with storiesand art throughout the early forties. The Saturday Evening Post reported thatthe pair had a combined 1940 income of over $75,000!

But this compensation still did not please them, and in1946 after having tried for years to get DC to let them in on the millions ofdollars they were making, they finally decided to sue the comics publishinggiant.

They were represented by a New York attorney by thename of Albert Zugsmith, who himself would later go to Hollywood where hebecame a producer of generally low budget thrillers & hot-rod genrefilms.

The case was settled in the New York State SupremeCourt in 1948 with the creative team receiving the comparatively smallsettlement of $120,000. That sum was less than the pair would have madesupplying stories to DC during the two years that the court casecontinued.

It was also after this settlement that the Siegel & Shuster byline, which had appeared on every story since 1938, was summarily dropped. As such, other than in a historical or creative context, their names had not appeared in conjunction with Superman, until the 1980's when DC reinstated the byline. Shuster would leave the comics field during the late forties, and Siegel's presence was very limited at best until finally he also left comics.

Many have commented that Shuster's artwork was done in acrude, narrative style (which comic artist Jim Steranko likened to editorialcartooning) which was reminiscent of Milton Caniff's art. Indeed, under his owninks, Shuster was very polished and illustrative, and his style itself became amodel for many artists in the comic book industry during the thirties until theart of Lou Fine, Will Eisner, Jack Kirby and the influence of Hal Foster,Caniff & Alex Raymond revolutionized the medium.

Siegel & Shuster would again sue DC in 1978 for royaltiesfrom the Superman character, and through the help of then DC publisher incharge Carmine Infantino, and comics artist Neal Adams, as well as publicoutcry from the comics hobby, they received a settlement from DC for $35,00each per year for the remainder of their lives.

Still a paltry settlement when taking into account thehundreds of millions of dollars that DC made off the character in comics, frommovies & radio, toys & other merchandising. Even while DC sued otherpublishers, like Fawcett & Fox for plagiarizing their flagship hero, theythemselves were copying him in their own books (Starman in Adventure Comicsbeing the most obvious). Siegel & Shuster did not profit from thesein-house swipes either.

Joe Shuster, nearly blind & very bitter about his treatmentfrom DC died July 30, 1992 just short of his seventy-eighth birthday. Thoughforgotten by the publisher that should have eulogized him as their savior, hewill never be forgotten by the millions of fans worldwide who have read hislegendary creation.

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This site created & maintained by Graffix Multimedia©1992-2006This is theth page view on this website since1994.

This site created & maintained by Graffix Multimedia©1992-2006
This is theth page view on this website since1994.