How did two Cleveland teenagers create Superman?

Superman was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, who met as students at Glenville High School in Cleveland in 1932. They first imagined a villainous "super-man" in 1933, reworked him into a crime-fighting hero, and after years of rejections sold the character to the publisher of Action Comics. His 1938 debut was an instant success and established the superhero genre. [1] [2]

Siegel wrote and self-published science fiction stories, and Shuster often illustrated them. In January 1933 Siegel published "The Reign of the Super-Man," about a homeless man named Bill Dunn who is given mind-reading and mind-control powers by an evil scientist's drug and uses them maliciously until the drug wears off. According to Wikipedia, the pair then turned to comic strips, and newspaper editors told them a successful strip needed to be more sensational than anything on the market. Siegel revived Superman as a hero with superhuman strength and bullet-proof skin, partly because heroic protagonists tended to make more successful strips. [2] [1]

Later versions made him an alien from the planet Krypton. Shuster designed the costume of tights, an "S" emblem, over-shorts and a cape, and the pair made Clark Kent a journalist who pretends to be timid and created Lois Lane. The Conversation adds that Shuster drew on 1930s pop culture, including bodybuilders' outfits, the sprinter Jesse Owens and the actor Johnny Weissmuller. [2] [3]

Siegel and Shuster hoped for a newspaper strip, but syndicates and publishers rejected Superman for years. In early 1938 the McClure syndicate turned him down, and its employee Max Gaines passed the strips to publisher Jack Liebowitz, who asked for thirteen pages for the new anthology Action Comics. The pair accepted $130, about $10 per page, and signed a contract giving the copyright to Detective Comics, Inc., which sources describe as standard practice at the time. [2] [1]

The exact process of the sale is described by The Conversation as not wholly clear. Its account names publisher Harry Donenfeld as the buyer, whereas other sources emphasize Liebowitz, so details differ between accounts. [3] [1]

Action Comics #1 carries a June 1938 cover date, though it was on newsstands earlier; Wikipedia and The Conversation give April 18, 1938. It was a runaway hit, and the NYU Press Keywords entry says its success created a new genre of costumed heroes whose powers come from accident, birth, science or effort. The Smithsonian ties the appeal to a nation emerging from the Great Depression and edging toward war. [4] [2] [3] [5]

Whether he was the first superhero is debated. Wikipedia notes that Ogon Bat, the Phantom, Zorro and Mandrake the Magician arguably fit the definition and came earlier. The view in these sources is that Superman popularized the genre and established its conventions, rather than inventing every element of it. The word "superman" also predates the character; the New York Times used it for figures such as Herbert Hoover and Fu Manchu in 1931 and 1932. [2] [4]