Notes

PREFACE

1 LETTER WRITER: A. L. Luther, “Vigilantes Not Needed,” Cleveland Plain Dealer.

2 “HOW DID YOU”: Author interview with Aaron Smolinski.

3 “THE GODFATHER”: Email to author from Donald Wurzelbacher.

1. GIVING BIRTH

1 HIS TROUBLE BEGAN: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, unpublished memoir, Chapter 1: pages 2–4. This memoir was likely written in stages over the years, with two earlier versions being titled The Story Behind Superman #1 and The Life and Times of Jerry Siegel. While none of the three were published or made public, Jerry did register Creation of a Superhero with the Copyright Office of the United States in 1978, when he was living in Los Angeles. The application was made in his name, along with those of his wife, Joanne, and daughter, Laura. He wrote his autobiography, he said in the preface, because so many people had asked him to “straighten out some misconceptions” about Superman’s creation and “tell the full story.”

2 ON VALENTINE’S DAY: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 1: 6–7.

3 RECESS, TOO: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 1: 7, 18–19.

4 WITH THE REAL: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 1: 9–10.

5 POINTING TO: Author interview with Jerry Fine.

6 HE EVEN TRIED: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 1: 19.

7 IT HAPPENED: Coroner’s report (June 3, 1932), police report (June 3, 1932), and death record (June 4, 1932) on Michel Siegel. The Siegel family, and even the coroner, have raised suspicions that violence was involved in Michel’s death, but there was no evidence of that. While the theft probably induced his heart attack, his death was ruled to be the result of natural causes.

8 “BLISS”: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 1: 2.

9 “LET ME DIE”: Tanakh: Holy Scriptures, 407.

10 SHELLEY REFLECTED: Moskowitz, Emperors of the Infinite, 33.

11 “WHAT IS THE APE”: Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 12.

12 HIS PROTAGONIST: Burroughs, A Princess of Mars.

13 HUGO DANNER: Wylie, Gladiator.

14 KNOWN TO THE: Dent, Man of Bronze.

15 HAVE AS A MODEL: Murray, “The Pulp Connection,” Comic Book Marketplace.

16 AMERICA WAS READIER: Author interview with and emails from Will Murray.

17 EARNED HIM A VISIT: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 1: 13.

18 “MASTER OF DEDUCTION”: Glenville Torch, “Master Sleuth.”

19 PEN NAME: Jerry’s other pseudonyms included Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, Herbert S. Fine, Cleve Jerome, Bernard J. Kenton, Hugh Langley, and Leger (Bails, “Who’s Who of American Comic Books”).

20 GREW UP POOR: Kobler, “Up, Up and Awa-a-y!” Saturday Evening Post.

21 JOE SHUSTER HAD: Mietkiewicz, “Great Krypton!” Toronto Star. Comic scholars argue over whether Joe Shuster adorned his Canadian roots and their role in shaping the Superman story.

22 “HE WAS IN”: Author interview with Jerry Fine.

23 “RHEUMY AND SOFT-FOCUSED”: Author interview with Rosie Shuster.

24 THEIR FIRST BIG: Herbert S. Fine, “The Reign of the Super-Man,” Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization No. 3.

25 “I SEE, NOW”: “The Reign of the Super-Man.”

26 “WAS A GIANT”: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 1: 20.

27 “WITH THE FURY”: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 3: 4.

28 HAL FOSTER: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 3: 6–10.

29 AND HE DIDN’T: There apparently are no surviving copies of that or other early versions of the Superman story.

30 “WHEN I TOLD”: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 3: 7.

31 BEEN DISLOYAL: Others say they, too, were approached by Jerry. Reuben Schrank remembered Jerry asking him to collaborate when both were at Glenville High. While his college plans prevented that, Schrank told his daughter decades later, he did introduce Jerry to an artist he said was “a better cartoonist than I am.” That artist was Joe Shuster, and Schrank was one of several friends who believed he was Jerry and Joe’s matchmaker (material provided by the Schrank family).

32 THEY EXCHANGED: Letter from Jerry Siegel to Russell Keaton, July 12, 1934.

33 KEATON TOLD HIM: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 3: 18.

34 SAYS THE ILLUSTRATOR: Author interview with Denis Kitchen.

35 HIS MOST CONSIDERED: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 3: 18–20. One detail that Jerry could not recall, or at least didn’t include in his memoir, was the date of this restless night of writing. Judging from dates he did specify, it did not happen on a hot summer night as he would later dramatically recount, but at the end of 1934 or the early months of 1935, which in Cleveland probably were chilly and wintery.

36 “THIS WENT ON”: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 1: 18.

37 “I CONCEIVED”: Bishoff and Light, “ ‘Superman’ Grew out of Our Personal Feelings About Life,” Alter Ego No. 56, 6.

38 JERRY BEGGED: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 1: 20.

39 LOIS WAS HARDER: “ ‘Superman’ Grew,” Alter Ego No. 56, 8.

40 JERRY REMEMBERED: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 1: 21. Jerry’s son, Michael, among others, suspected that Joanne made up the modeling story, and that Jerry and Joe played along. Drafts of the earliest comic, with Lois included, already had been drawn by the time the modeling session supposedly happened in 1935, skeptics point out, and Joanne would have been just eighteen then—or twelve, according to the white lie she told about her age on her certificate of marriage to Jerry. And why would she have bothered lying to Jerry about her age if he knew her as early as 1935? But Joanne, Jerry, and Joe insisted until their dying days that the story was true. And it might have been: Joanne could have been hired to help Joe better visualize a character that he already had sketched out and Jerry had written about.

41 “I HAVE A FEELING”: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 1: 23

42 WHEELER-NICHOLSON’S BIOGRAPHY: Author interviews with and emails from Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown; Brown, “He Was Going to Go for the Big Idea,” Alter Ego No. 88, 39–51; and Brown, “Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, Cartoon Character or Real Life Hero,” International Journal of Comic Art 10, No. 2, 242–53.

43 UNLIKE ITS PROGENITORS: Historians point to a long line of “firsts” in the evolution of the modern American comic book, starting with a collection of newspaper strips published in 1897. Over time they shrank to look more like magazines and less like tabloids, soft covers replaced hard and color pages supplanted black-and-white, newsstands began offering the publications for general sale and publishers stopped relying on special orders from companies like Procter & Gamble, and comic books attracted devoted readers who may or may not also have read newspaper comic strips. Benton, Superhero Comics of the Golden Age, 14–20.

44 “DOCTOR OCCULT”: For their “Doctor Occult” stories, Jerry and Joe used the pen names Leger and Reuths, which Jerry said were anagrams of their real names.

45 THE BELL SYNDICATE: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 4: 5.

46 WHEELER-NICHOLSON WROTE: Letter from Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson to Jerry Siegel, October 4, 1935.

47 THIS POSTSCRIPT: Letter from Wheeler-Nicholson to Siegel, May 13, 1936.

48 BUT THE BOYS: Jerry explained in his memoir that he and Joe didn’t get the 15 percent of profits or 50 percent of chain store sales for the first comics they sold to Wheeler-Nicholson. “Joe and I were not sold on Wheeler-Nicholson,” he added, “and hoped to place ‘Superman’ with what we hoped would be a more responsible organization” (Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 4: 7–8).

49 THAT IS WHAT: Douglas Wheeler-Nicholson, “His Goal Was the Graphic Novel,” Alter Ego No. 88, 29.

50 PULSATING STREETS: Jones, Men of Tomorrow, 8.

51 “HE COULD SELL”: Author interview with Jack Adams.

52 HERBIE SIEGEL: Younger workers at DC would speculate over the years on just what Herbie did. Was he Harry’s bodyguard or friend, gofer or babysitter? The truth is that he was all those things. As for Harry’s misdeeds, he testified in April 1939 that he was never convicted of a crime but “I pleaded guilty in General Sessions for publishing magazines and paid a fine.” Detective Comics Against Bruns Publications.

53 JACK LIEBOWITZ WAS: Jack S. Liebowitz, 1993, 1–23. This unpublished memoir consisted of his transcribed responses to a series of questions posed by his daughter, Linda Stillman. One effect of having to share a bed when he was growing, Jack said, was that “when I married I refused to have [a] double bed. I wanted my own bed.”

54 JACK WORKED OUT: Liebowitz memoir, 25–26, 40.

55 PAUL SAMPLINER: He apparently owned 25 percent of Harry Donenfeld’s publishing operation and 75 percent of the distribution company, with Harry owning the remainder of both.

56 WALLET EMPTY: Comics historian Michael Uslan says that in 1973, he saw evidence in the DC archives that the Major received a payment of $19,703, in addition to having his debts canceled (Superman: The Action Comics Archives, Vol. 3, 6). Neither the Major’s family nor DC can find evidence of a payout, although the company acknowledges that many of its files have been lost over the years.

57 ABSOLUTELY, ACCORDING: Liebowitz memoir, 47.

58 HARRY HAD ORCHESTRATED: Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, agreements with Donny Press, Inc., World Color Printing Co., and Photochrome, Inc. Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown, the Major’s granddaughter, is assembling evidence that she says will raise further questions about the bankruptcy’s legitimacy (author interview with Brown).

59 “SHE HATED THEM”: Amash, “His Goal Was,” Alter Ego No. 88, 33.

60 UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 4: 12.

61 LEDGER SYNDICATE: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 4: 13.

62 AS JACK WROTE: Liebowitz memoir, 48.

63 CHARLIE AND JACK: Detective Comics Against Bruns, 131–36.

64 IT WAS THE QUESTION: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 4: 21.

65 A SWINDLE: In fairness to Harry and Jack, most investments for them and other publishers didn’t pay off and theirs was fair within the dealings of the times. Were Jerry and Joe as naïve as the natives who were handed trinkets by the Dutch West India Company? Not entirely, since they spoke the language and were aware of what they were doing. But they were naïve, and desperate to make a sale and a living. So while Harry and Jack had lawyers covering their backs and knew they could drive as hard a bargain as they chose, Jerry and Joe had barely any clout or clue.

66 WERE BUYING NOT: Letter from Donenfeld to Siegel and Shuster, September 22, 1938. There is disagreement among relatives and others familiar with the case as to whether Jerry and Joe sought legal advice before signing that famous contract. Some say the boys did, at the suggestion of Jerry’s mother, and the lawyer said to sign. Others say they got no counsel. In his memoir Jerry writes, with uncharacteristic understatement, “The legal release, which Joe and I signed, caused us much grief later” (Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 4: 25).
    In a comic book world where everything was written concisely, that legal release included one of the longest sentences ever: “In consideration of $130 agreed to be paid me by you, I hereby sell and transfer such work and strip, all goodwill attached thereto and exclusive right to the use of the characters and story, continuity and title of strip contained therein, to you and your assigns to have and hold forever and to be your exclusive property and I agree not to employee said characters or said story in any other strips or sell any like strip or story containing the same characters by their names contained therein or under any other names at any time hereafter to any other person, firm or corporation, or permit the use thereof by said other parties without obtaining your written consent therefor” (release form signed by Siegel and Shuster, March 1, 1938).

68 ARTWORK WAS DESTROYED: While there has been some confusion over what happened to that artwork, Jack Adler says, “Absolutely, it was destroyed.” Adler worked for the engraver of Action No. 1 and later for National Allied Magazines, where it was his job to destroy original art like that. Author interview with Jack Adler.

69 JOSEPH STALIN: Stalin was born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. He adopted the name Stalin, a takeoff on the Russian stal, which means “steel.” He liked the notion that he was a Man of Steel, but the more fitting reference is to the iron fist with which he ruled.

70 “PLEASE CLARK!”: Siegel, Action Comics No. 1.

71 SUPERMAN BUILT ON: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 1: 15 and 5: 7.

72 DOC SAVAGE LENT: Author interview with and emails from Murray; and Murray, “The Pulp Connection.”

73 CASE FOR A CONNECTION: Murray, “Gladiator of Iron, Man of Steel,” Alter Ego No. 37, 3–18.

74 “DID YOU EVER”: Wylie, Gladiator, 46.

75 “USED DIALOGUE”: Letter from Philip Wylie to J. Randolph Cox, January 28, 1970.

76 “OUR CONCEPT”: ‘ “Superman’ Grew,” Alter Ego No. 56, 7.

2. A HERO FOR HIS TIMES

1 THERE WERE TWO: Detective Comics Against Bruns, 43–46; and author interviews with Adams and Paul Levitz.

2 ALL THE NUMBERS: Detective Comics Against Bruns, 52. Conventional wisdom says that National Comics printed 200,000 copies of Action No. 1, but Jack Liebowitz testified that it was 202,000.

3 RAN A TEST: Detective Comics Against Bruns, 37–38.

4 DRIVE DEMAND: Liebowitz memoir, 48.

5 CONTINUED TO CLIMB: Uslan figures from DC Archives.

6 LIBRARIES GOT: Seldes, “Preliminary Report on Superman,” Esquire; and Sheridan, Classic Comics, 234–35. Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore was the first to use Superman to attract kids in 1940, and the technique spread.

7 ALL-STAR PITCHER: Cramer, The Hero’s Life, 109.

8 FIRST CHARACTER: Detective Dan appeared in 1933, but as a one-shot deal with the character thereafter appearing as the star of the Dan Dunn comic strip.

9 FIRST PRESS RUN: Uslan figures from DC Archives.

10 THERE WERE A DOZEN: Benton, Superhero Comics of the Golden Age, 23.

11 “WE LIKED IT”: Liebowitz memoir, 48.

12 FRED ALLEN’S RADIO: Transcript by author of Allen’s radio show on October 9, 1940; and “Up in the Sky! Look!” Alter Ego No. 26, 29–33. When “Superman” pretended to lift Donenfeld into the air, the publisher pleaded, “I’ve got a weak stomach and any minute I’m going to lose it. Please take me down!”

13 HARRY WOULD WEAR: Jones, Men of Tomorrow, 159.

14 ACTION 1 REFERRED: Siegel, Action Comics No. 1.

15 SUPERMAN NEWSPAPER COMIC: “The Superman is Born,” Superman: The Dailies, 13.

16 ON DAY FIVE: “Krypton Doomed!” Superman: The Dailies, 15.

17 FIVE INSTALLMENTS: “Speeding Towards Earth,” Superman: The Dailies, 17.

18 FIRST SUPERMAN COMIC: Siegel, Superman No. 1.

19 IN ACTION 1: Siegel, Action Comics No. 1.

20 “AN INSTANT AFTER”: “Speeding Towards Earth,” 17.

21 IN SUPERMAN NO. 1: Siegel, Superman No. 1.

22 FIRST SUPERMAN BOOK: Historians have assumed that Joe, Jerry, and their editors merely stuck back pages cut from Action 1 to fill out Superman 1. But in his memoir, Jerry said that “the additional pages were specifically created for use in Superman Magazine no. 1.” Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 6: 3.

23 “ARE YOU SURE”: Siegel, Action Comics No. 1.

24 NO TAKE-OFF: His first flying actually was in the Fleischer cartoons, which first aired in 1941.

25 “MILLION-DOLLAR MARATHON”: Siegel, Action Comics No. 65.

26 “TO FLY”: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 1: 2.

27 WASN’T THE FIRST: Pinpointing who was the first isn’t so simple, historian John Wells says, since the first widely distributed comic book in which the Sub-Mariner took flight, in October 1939, also featured a flying Human Torch. As for Superman, “the transition from leaping to flying was a gradual, organic process with some subsequent backsliding and emphasizing of the leaping along with other stories where Superman HAD to be flying. To my mind, though, Superman was flying (or at least doing a great imitation) by the end of 1939. That’s important because 1940 saw an explosion of flying heroes, including (in rough chronological order) Hawkman, the Spectre, Black Condor, Bulletman, Doctor Fate, and Green Lantern. Captain Marvel was definitively flying by the latter half of 1940, too.” Email to author from John Wells.

28 FOLLOWING THOSE TWISTS: Helping me follow the twists and turns were Fleisher, The Great Superman Book; Greenberger and Pasko, The Essential Superman Encyclopedia; and Wells emails.

29 “WHICH IS THE”: Siegel, “Superman Joins the Circus,” Action Comics No. 7.

30 EXCLAMATION POINT!: That punctuation was at least partly a function of the metal plates used to print the comics back then. “Someone in the printing process could accidentally clean out a period, thinking it was a speck of dust, because it was so small,” explains Levitz, the former DC publisher. Because exclamation points were bigger they were more likely to survive, which meant that early writers were more likely to use them. “Today, with offset printing,” adds Levitz, “that worry is totally irrelevant and there is very little reliance on the exclamation point in comics. It is used more than in the average literature but mostly for melodrama.”

31 “HIS FIGURE ERECTS”: Siegel, “Superman in the Slums,” Action Comics No. 8.

32 “THE BOYS DON’T”: Siegel, “Superman in the Slums.”

33 WORD LIKE “SARDONIC”: Siegel, “The Million-Dollar Marathon,” 172.

34 “TOUGH IS PUTTING”: Siegel, “Superman, Champion of the Oppressed,” Action Comics No. 1.

35 “THE MOTHER’S RIGHT!”: Siegel, “Superman in the Slums,” 42, 52, 54.

36 “IN THE EYES”: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 7: 1.

37 SURPASSED IN POPULARITY: Slater Brown, “The Coming of Superman,” New Republic.

38 “I WROTE, WROTE”: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 7: 2.

39 HE STILL DID: Kobler, “Up, Up and Awa-a-y!”

40 AS TIME WENT: The instructions were laid out in a letter from Liebowitz to Siegel on January 23, 1940, and in letters from Whitney Ellsworth to Siegel on January 22, 1940, November 4, 1940, and February 19, 1941. The “Murray” in Ellsworth’s 1941 letter almost surely is Murray Boltinoff, although he wasn’t believed to have started working at National for another two years.

41 “HOW FOOLISH YOU”: Waid, “K-Metal: The ‘Lost’ Superman Tale,” 13.

42 NO ONE KNOWS: Thomas Andrae argues that it was “editorial quibbles” and the story’s length that killed it (Creators of the Superheroes, 54–55). Will Murray says it is more likely that the profound changes the story proposed were too much, too fast, for a superhero as successful as Superman (“The Kryptonite Crisis,” Alter Ego No. 37).

43 THERE WAS MORE: Again, there was a series of letters from Liebowitz to Siegel—on September 28, 1938, January 23, 1940, and January 29, 1940.

44 IT WAS ENOUGH: Kobler, “Up, Up and Awa-a-y!”

45 “HE LOVED SHIKSAS”: Andrae and Gordon, Funnyman, 79.

46 “AFTERWARDS I SAID”: Author interview with Jerry Robinson.

47 DATING BATMAN AND SUPERMAN: There is an old joke that Superman is the guy girls want to marry, but Batman is the one they want to date.

48 WASHINGTON POST: “Superman Rescues His Creator,” Washington Post.

49 NO SURPRISE THERE: Detective Comics Against Bruns, 79–105; and Andelman, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life, 43–45.

50 “A MONGOLOID”: “ ‘Superman’ Grew,” Alter Ego No. 56, 11.

51 RETIRE THE CAPTAIN: Twenty years after the settlement, DC Comics licensed the rights to Captain Marvel, and in 1973 DC brought him back to life in a comic book called Shazam!

52 OTTO BINDER: Emails to author from science fiction writer Richard Lupoff, who was a friend of Binder’s.

53 “IT IS PERFECTLY CLEAR”: Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster Against National Comics, June 5, 1947, 17.

54 TOLD A JUDGE: Kane told Will Murray that if it hadn’t been for Siegel and Shuster, “I wouldn’t have created Batman nor would there be a comic book industry” (“Mark of the Bat,” Comic Scene Yearbook No. 1).

55 HOW RICH: Kobler, “Up, Up and Awa-a-y!”

56 WHAT IS CLEAR: Jones, Men of Tomorrow, 159–64.

57 “HE WAS MANY”: Author interview with Sonia “Peachy” Donenfeld.

58 JACK REGULARLY REMINDED: Liebowitz memoir, 47.

59 COMBINED CIRCULATION: “Superman’s Dilemma,” Time. The three comic books he starred in back then were Action, Superman, and World’s Finest, which was launched in 1941 and featured Batman along with (and sometimes teaming up with) Superman.

60 ROSE AND THE GIRLS: Author interview with Joan Levy.

61 CARTOON STORY: Siegel, “How Superman Would End the War,” Look.

62 “TO RAP THE”: Uslan, America at War, 27.

63 “AS THE MIGHTIEST”: “Superman’s Dilemma,” Time.

64 “YOU’RE PHYSICALLY”: Untitled comic strips, February 16–19, 1942, Superman in the Forties.

65 THE U.S. MILITARY: “All’s Well in Britain Now—Admiralty Enlists Superman,” Washington Post; and Kobler, “Up, Up and Awa-a-y!”

66 AFTER D DAY: Weisinger, “Here Comes Superman!” accessed at superman-through-the-ages.nu.

67 AT U.S. MILITARY BASES: “Comic Culture,” Time; Robinson, Zap! Pow! Bam! 21; “Superman’s Dilemma,” Time; and “Superman Stymied,” Time.

68 “THE FBI CAME”: Overstreet, The Comic Book Price Guide No. 13 (1983), A-65. Superman editor Mort Weisinger went a step further, as always, saying, “I’d discovered the bomb two years before it was first exploded” (Peterson, “Superman Goes Mod,” Indianapolis Star Magazine).

69 A 1945 DOCUMENT FROM: “Superman and the Atom Bomb,” Harper’s; and “Superman vs. Atom Man—the Prequel—and the Sequel!” Alter Ego No. 98, 13.

70 ALVIN SCHWARTZ: Author interview with Alvin Schwartz; and Schwartz, “The Real Secret of Superman’s Identity,” Annual of the Modern Language Association.

71 IN A 1944 LETTER: Letter from Siegel to Liebowitz, January 1, 1944.

72 IT WAS CALLED: “Introducing ‘SUPER GI,’ ” Midpacifican.

73 GEORGE LOWTHER: He already had experience writing Superman stories on the radio, and would go on to an eclectic and impressive career in print and writing, producing, directing, and even acting on television and radio.

74 MONTHLY SALES: De Haven, Our Hero, 76; “Escapist Paydirt,” Newsweek; Rossen, Superman vs. Hollywood, x; and “Superman Scores,” Business Week.

75 “YOU DID NOT”: Letter from Liebowitz to Siegel, February 3, 1947.

76 POPULARITY FADE: The only three comic book superheroes to survive in the same form and without interruption from the pre–World War II Golden Age until today are Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, although Wonder Woman experienced a brief hiatus in 1986. Aquaman and Green Arrow also still are around, but have come and gone as stars of their own series (Wells emails).

3. A MATTER OF FAITH

1 KAL IS SIMILAR: The Hebrew word for voice is kole and for vessel is kol. Kal itself means “light,” as in weight.

2 KANSAS FARMERS: Just where the Kents lived wasn’t made clear for decades. An early Superman radio show placed them in southeastern Iowa. In the 1950s and 1960s, Metropolis was set on the East Coast, with the Kents seemingly not far away. By the 1970s it had been pinpointed as Maryland. But promotional material for Superman: The Movie talked about Clark having been raised on the plains of Kansas, no matter that the film itself didn’t say that, or that the Kansas scenes were shot in Canada. One influential moviegoer, John Byrne, liked the idea of Clark being from Kansas, and it stuck when Byrne led his reboot of the franchise in 1986. Today it is generally accepted that Clark and his adoptive parents lived in the town of Smallville and that Smallville is in Kansas. Or at least the original Earth-2 Smallville was. On Earth-1, it was back in Maryland (Wells emails; and The Essential Superman Encyclopedia).

3 A 1940 ARTICLE: “Jerry Siegel Attacks!” Das Schwarze Korps.

4 THE JEWISH 100: That is one in a series of books that explore Superman’s Jewish roots. Others include Disguised as Clark Kent, From Krakow to Krypton, Jews and American Comics, and Up, Up, and Oy Vey!

5 JULES FEIFFER: Feiffer, Backing into Forward, 73.

6 FATHER JOHN CUSH: Emails to author from John Cush.

7 “THE WORD BECAME”: Cornell, “Superman/Jesus Similarities Examined,” Los Angeles Times.

8 “SUPERMAN, I’VE”: Friedrich, Austin, and Simpson, “Up, Up and Awaaay!!!” Time.

9 SUPERMAN KNEW: Schwartz, An Unlikely Prophet, 204–5.

10 HE COULD CRAWL: Author interview with and email from Michael Green.

11 IT ALSO IS: Author interview with Geoff Johns.

12 “SUPERMAN IS NOT”: Author interview with Mark Waid.

13 THE GOVERNOR WOULDN’T: Siegel, “Superman Goes to Prison,” Action Comics No. 10.

14 “YEARS AGO”: Waid and Ross, Kingdom Come, 194–95.

15 “I’VE NEVER HAD”: Ramos recently got married—to a “huge Supergirl fan.” The pastor who married them “made mention during the ceremony how Superman made me the man I am,” he says, and “we even had the Superman theme song played at the end of the ceremony (right after they pronounced us husband and wife)” (emails to author from Emilio Ramos, Jr.).

16 “UP UNTIL I”: Author interview with Peter Lupus.

17 “I HAD WHAT”: Author interview with and emails from Tom Maguire.

18 “LET ME GET”: Andrae and Gordon, Funnyman, 17.

19 BY ONE COUNT: Andrae and Gordon, Funnyman, 5.

20 “I WRITE ABOUT”: Andelman, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life, 346.

21 BOTH CHANGES WERE: “I Didn’t Want to Know,” Alter Ego No. 56, 36.

22 BOYHOOD PAIN: Andelman, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life, 113.

23 THEIR NAMES: Fingeroth, Disguised as Clark Kent, 99–100.

24 “I NEVER CONSCIOUSLY”: Author interview with Stan Lee.

25 FEWER NAME CHANGES: Julius Shuster and his family were listed in the 1930 U.S. Census as Schuster, which Rosie Shuster says almost certainly was a mistake by the census taker. “People,” she adds, “just want to put that ‘c’ in there. My epitaph will be—‘no “c” in Shuster’ ” (email to author from Rosie Shuster).

26 CLEVELAND BACK THEN: Vincent, Memoirs of a Life in Community Service; and Rubinstein, Merging Traditions.

27 HOW TO BE FUNNY: The Library of Congress lists Siegel as the sole author, although his address is given as the Siegel-Shuster School of Humor. The book came out in 1938, just after the first Superman story was published in Action Comics.

28 WASN’T ENTIRELY TRUE: Emails from Dwight Decker to author, and Decker, “The Reich Strikes Back,” Alter Ego No. 79.

29 MORE THAN ANYONE: There were other Jewish superheroes over time, although none with nearly the reach of Superman. Gardner Fox’s Sandman, for instance, was half Jewish, but that incarnation of the character, who came to life a year after Superman, faded during the 1940s.

30 “DONENFELD,” HIS: Author interview with Peachy Donenfeld.

4. THE SPEED OF SOUND

1 HE HIRED: Josette Frank, head of the Child Study Association of America, was Maxwell’s primary expert. The strategy was outlined in a May 20, 1946, letter from Mrs. Hugh Grant Straus to the editor of PM magazine (Child Study Association Files, University of Minnesota).

2 “CLAN OF THE FIERY”: Author’s transcript of the radio broadcasts.

3 MAXWELL USED: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 78.

4 BUMP IN THE RATINGS: Whiteside, “Up, Up and Awa-a-y!,” New Republic.

5 “TOLERANCE IS RAMPANT”: “It’s Superflight,” Newsweek.

6 THE ANGLE THAT: Whiteside, “Up, Up and Awa-a-y!”

7 KENNEDY PICKED UP: Kennedy, The Klan Unmasked, 91–94.

8 IT WAS A: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 77–78; and Patton, “Investigation of Stephen J. Dubner & Steven D. Levitt Article,” Florida Times-Union. Dubner and Levitt, in their bestseller Freakonomics, lionized Kennedy, calling him “courageous and resolute and unflappable.” After they learned that Kennedy likely had embellished, the Freakonomics authors questioned his credibility in a New York Times Magazine story entitled “Hoodwinked?” The truth is that Kennedy wasn’t the hero he was painted, nor the villain. He did help expose the Klan and he did enlarge his role—which Dubner and Levitt could have determined by asking researchers familiar with Kennedy’s work or comparing tapes of “Clan of the Fiery Cross” with Kennedy’s claims about the Superman broadcasts. Bids to determine what fact-checking the Freakonomics duo performed were unsuccessful: Levitt referred questions to Dubner, who said he would try to answer, then didn’t. Kennedy was more forthcoming. He said he sent the Klan passwords to Superman producer Maxwell, who apparently didn’t use them, but that syndicated columnist Drew Pearson did. Kennedy, who died in August 2011, was mentioned in at least one Pearson column (May 6, 1947) that talked about leaked Klan passwords.

9 THE VETERANS: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 78–79.

10 “SLAP A JAP”: In an undated comic strip called “Superman Scores Again,” Jerry and Joe showed U.S. troops destroying a Japanese invasion fleet. But they reminded readers that “most Japanese-Americans are loyal citizens. Many are in combat units of our armed forces, and others are working in war factories. According to government statements, not one act of sabotage was perpetrated in Hawaii or [the] territorial U.S. by a Japanese-American.”

11 “WE HAD BEEN”: Whiteside, “Up, Up and Awa-a-y!” Not everyone was clapping. Dorothy Lewis of the National Association of Broadcasters wrote that “while Superman often tries to crusade in civic affairs, he does so at the expense of the dignity of the community. This leads to confusion and lack of faith” (November 13, 1947, letter from Lewis to Josette Frank, Child Study Association Files).
    And while Maxwell led the chorus for more shows on civil rights, he was less broad-minded when it came to portraying America’s wartime enemies to his juvenile listeners. “I am, at the moment, teaching this vast audience to hate. If not to hate individuals, to hate that for which they stand,” he wrote in an April 12, 1943, letter to George Zachary at the Office of War Information. “A german is a Nazi and a Jap is the little yellow man who ‘knifed us in the back at Pearl Harbor.’ ” Zachary was taken aback, and consulted his colleagues for their reactions to Maxwell’s letter. They observed, Zachary wrote, that “the notion that it is necessary to hate our enemies is crude and childish and unreal. It is the invention of frustrated civilians who don’t know anything about war” (April 3, 1943, letter from Zachary to Allen Ducovny, Maxwell’s partner at Superman, Inc. Both letters are in the Child Study Association Files).

12 COLLYER DREW: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 33; and Tollin, Smithsonian Historical Performances: Superman on Radio, 12–13.

13 EVEN THOUGH THEY: “It’s Superflight,” Newsweek.

14 PORTRAYING SUPERMAN: Tollin, Superman on Radio, 14.

15 “THE PRODUCERS”: Jane Hitchcock’s eulogy for her mother, Joan Alexander.

16 THE LAST FOUR: Superman’s motto of “Truth, Justice and the American Way” debuted on August 31, 1942, when his live radio serial debuted on the Mutual Broadcasting System. Prior to that, he fought for “Truth and Justice.” Olga Druce—a writer, actress, and child psychologist—took credit for the famous phrase. There was only a one-word difference between the Mutual Broadcasting prelude and the one that would later be used on the George Reeves television show. On radio, the narrator says, “strange visitor from another world,” while the TV narrator says, “strange visitor from another planet” (email to author from Michael Hayde).

17 “KIDS CAN DETECT”: Tollin, Superman on Radio, 17.

18 “A RAILROAD TRAIN”: Interview with Edward Langley by Brian McKernan, July 9, 1985.

19 SUDDENLY FEEL: Tollin, Smithsonian Historical Performances: Superman vs. Atom Man, 7.

20 “SUCCEED WHERE”: Freeman, The Superman Radio Scripts, 1–43, 199, 203.

21 “UP IN MY ARMS”: Author’s transcript of “Clan of the Fiery Cross.”

22 REASSURE PARENTS: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 63.

23 THERE WERE ACTUALLY: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 115–16.

24 THEY THOUGHT BUILDING: Fleischer, Out of the Inkwell, 105.

25 THE BROTHERS WERE: Dooley and Engle, Superman at Fifty! 64–65; Daniels, DC Comics: Sixty Years, 68–69; Rossen, Superman vs. Hollywood, 7–9; and Cabarga, The Fleischer Story, 174–77.

26 “THE MOVIE CARTOON”: “The New Pictures,” Time.

27 “THE FLEISCHERS SHOW”: Maslin, “Film: Animation Art of the Fleischers,” New York Times.

28 “THESE FILMS”: Maltin, Of Mice and Magic, 122.

29 “SOME 20,000,000”: “The New Pictures,” Time.

30 REACTIONS LIKE: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 47, 58.

31 ONE BIT OF: Younis, “Superman and the Phone Booth,” www.supermanhomepage.com.

32 SHORTS IN FRANCE: France blew hot and cold when it came to Superman’s comic books. Some were published under alternative names and ascribed to French authors during the Nazi occupation. But the postwar French government banned them, either because they were seditious capitalist influences or, as some reports suggest, because it was too much of a stretch to say he could fly. In any case, they were back by the 1960s (Wells emails; and Bart, “Advertising,” New York Times).

33 “IF THEY GUESS”: “Jungle Sam,” Time.

34 “I SAID, ‘WAIT’ ”: Brennan, “Kirk Alyn: Man of Steel,” Washington Post.

35 FIRST ACTOR: Technically, the very first was Ray Middleton, an actor hired to portray Superman at the 1940 World’s Fair in New York.

36 “I VISUALIZED”: Tollin, Smithsonian Historical Performances: Superman with Batman & Robin on Radio, 22.

37 KATZMAN ANNOUNCED: Alyn, A Job for Superman, 6.

38 “I WAS SAVED”: Alyn, A Job for Superman, 18.

39 PRODUCERS ALSO: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 43–44.

40 PARTS OF THE: Schoell, Comic Book Heroes, 23–25.

41 TWO YEARS: Schoell, Comic Book Heroes, 25–28.

42 HE LOVED IT: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 23, 30.

43 BILL FINGER’S TALE: “The Origin of Superman,” Superman No. 53.

44 IT TOOK ANOTHER: Finger, “Superman Returns to Krypton,” Superman No. 61.

45 COMICS TO GIVE: Siegel, “The Archer,” Superman No. 13.

46 WHO WAS THE INSPIRATION: Joanne Siegel, “The True Inspiration for Lois Lane,” supermanhomepage.com; Sherwood, “Superman Still Makes Millions,” Washington Star; and author interview with Lois Amster.

47 WILSON HIRSCHFELD: Emails to author from Dan Hirschfeld, Wilson’s son, and materials supplied by Dan.

48 “NO MAN ON EARTH”: “The Origin of Superman,” 55.

49 ALTHOUGH JOR-EL BECAME: The el became El in the comic book letters columns of the 1960s (Wells emails).

50 “IT WAS NOT”: Lowther, The Adventures of Superman, 24–28.

51 BETTER FIX ON: Waugh, The Comics, 334–49.

52 “I THOUGHT”: “The Archer.”

53 “WHAT SORT”: Siegel, “Europe at War,” Action Comics No. 23.

54 “LET’S TEST”: Cameron, “The Mxyztplk-Susie Alliance,” Superman No. 40.

55 “A CHANGE OF”: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 5: 3.

5. SUPERMAN, INC.

1 “BE A WHOO”: National Comics Publications, Superman-Tim, 1949.

2 THE NEW NAME: The comic book publisher’s name changed often enough that it was difficult to keep track. It started in 1935 as National Allied Magazines, became National Comics Publications in 1946, and switched to National Periodical Publications in 1961. National Periodical Publications merged with Kinney in 1967 to become Kinney National Services, and Kinney National was renamed Warner Communications in 1971, although National Periodical Publications continued to be used to describe the publishing operations. There were other iterations in between, including the holding company called Superman, Inc. Only one title was there from the very first, with Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, and has survived: Detective Comics. It was there on the banner of America’s longest continuously published comic book, was sometimes used to refer to the company as a whole, and was the only name most readers recognized. In 1976 the company let its fans have the final word by adopting an abbreviated version—DC Comics—as its official title (www.dccomicsartists.com; and author interview with Levitz).

3 “LOOKS EXACTLY”: Murray, “The Kryptonite Crisis.”

4 “LED TO HER”: Author interview with Jerry Fine.

5 “BELLA WENT”: Letter from Siegel to Liebowitz, November 11, 1946.

6 “I NEVER”: Andrae and Gordon, Funnyman, 53.

7 “PRACTICALLY NONE”: Siegel and Shuster Against National Comics Publications, 1947, 204.

8 “IN LINE”: Letter from Siegel to Shuster, September 18, 1946.

9 THEY DESPAIRED OF: Jones, Men of Tomorrow, 215–16, 228; author interview with Peachy Donenfeld; and “Company Formed,” Middletown Times Herald.

10 IN THE TEN YEARS: Joanne Siegel and Laura Siegel Larson v. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., 2004.

11 SIGNED AN AGREEMENT: Siegel and Shuster Against National Comics Publications, Final Judgment, May 21, 1948, 6.

12 BOB KANE PROVED: There has been endless speculation whether Kane got a better deal than Siegel and Shuster, and if so, why. Some say his deal was comparable but looked more lucrative because he didn’t have to split it in two the way Jerry and Joe did. Others say Kane’s father helped him negotiate better terms, in part by tapping the father’s friendship with Liebowitz, and that Kane used Siegel and Shuster’s lawsuit to get Liebowitz to settle amicably and lucratively with him.

13 LI’L ABNER: Capp, The World of Li’l Abner, 120–26.

14 BELLA SUED: Bella Siegel vs. Jerome Siegel, Petition for Divorce, July 14, 1948.

15 CARTOONISTS SOCIETY: Siegel family lore says that Marlon Brando judged the costumes (Weber, “Joanne Siegel, the Model for Lois Lane, Dies at 93,” New York Times).

16 “JERRY AND I”: Andrae, “Of Supermen and Kids with Dreams,” Nemo No. 2.

17 THE MARRIAGE COULDN’T: Winchell, “ ‘Superman’ Artist Weds a Model,” Syracuse Herald-Journal; Jolan Kovacs and Jerome Siegel’s applications for marriage license, October 13, 1948, and November 3, 1948; and Jolan’s birth certificate. One possible explanation for the dual marriage licenses was that court fees were not paid in Jerry and Bella’s divorce settlement until October 29. Could that mean Jerry was still married to Bella when he married Joanne in October 1948? No, say Ohio matrimonial lawyers, explaining that paying the fees is a technicality and should not have held up his divorce or his remarriage.

18 AFTER HIGH SCHOOL: Handwritten letter from Joanne to unknown recipient, May 25, 1992.

19 “THE URCHIN IN”: Ellison, “It Ain’t Toontown,” Playboy.

20 THAT CELEBRITY LET: Kobler, “Up, Up and Awa-a-y!”

21 SUPERMAN, INC., STARTED: Matetsky, The Adventures of Superman Collecting.

22 “LET SUPERMAN BE”: Daniels, The Golden Age, 48; and Daniels, DC Comics: Sixty Years, 74.

23 IT WORKED: Matetsky, The Adventures of Superman Collecting, 17.

24 “SUPERMAN TURNED”: Matetsky, The Adventures of Superman Collecting, 138.

25 “FOR THE WHOLE UNIVERSE”: Email to author from Vincent Maulandi.

6. THE DEADLY TRUTH

1 ON A COOL: “Boy Kills Self Showing Chum Gun Roulette,” Washington Post. While his mother said he read about Russian roulette in a comic book, police said they were told he had learned about the dangerous revolver gamble in a movie.

2 TWO MONTHS: “ ‘Comics’ Blamed in Death,” New York Times.

3 THE COMMON: Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent, 34, 97, 118.

4 “UNLESS WE”: North, “A National Disgrace,” Chicago Daily News.

5 “WHAT’S WRONG”: Doyle, “What’s Wrong with the ‘Comics’?” Catholic World.

6 “THE SUPERMAN FORMULA”: Legman, Love & Death, 39–40. Similar warnings were coming from Moscow. “The word superman, as is known, comes from the ideological inspirer of the German Fascists, Nietzsche,” charged Korny Chukovsky, a leading writer of children’s books. “Mass fascisization of the children fully corresponds to the perspectives of the present bosses of America” (“Russian Says Comic Books ‘Fascisize’ U.S. Children,” New York Times).

7 “COMIC-BOOK READING”: Crist, “Horror in the Nursery,” Collier’s.

8 YEARS LATER: Nyberg, Seal of Approval, 1–21.

9 “WE ARE”: Crist, “Horror in the Nursery.”

10 “BELIEVING THAT”: “600 Pupils Hold Burial Rites,” Washington Post.

11 A GALLUP POLL: Hajdu, The Ten-Cent Plague, 294.

12 IT WAS EASY: Hajdu, The Ten-Cent Plague, 190.

13 “YOU FIND”: Crist, “Horror in the Nursery.”

14 HE WAS ONE OF FOUR: Hajdu, The Ten-Cent Plague, 149, 264.

15 MAXWELL AND HIS DIRECTOR: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 80.

16 NEVER SERIOUSLY: Whitney Ellsworth heard Alyn’s claim that he was offered the TV role, but said, “It just is not true” (transcript of Grossman interview with Ellsworth). And Noel Neill says, “I found out later that [Alyn] was very, very depressed by not being asked to do Superman on the television show” (author interview with Neill).

17 MAXWELL’S CO-PRODUCER: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 80, 316. Studio releases told a more dramatic story about casting George: “Maxwell was on a vacation when he saw a man taking a sun bath on Southern California’s Muscle Beach. In his sunglasses the man surprisingly resembled Clark Kent.” Glut and Harmon, The Great Television Heroes, 26.

18 “TAKE THE MONEY”: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 82.

19 “WELL, BABE”: Author interview with Phyllis Coates; and Weaver, Science Fiction Stars and Horror Heroes, 22.

20 “I’D NEVER”: Author interview with Coates.

21 “WEAR A SUIT”: Warren, “Superman’s Girl Friday,” TV People.

22 “I MET BOB”: Weaver, Producers and Writers, 20.

23 “MY GOD”: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 128.

24 “WE WENT”: Weaver, Producers and Writers, 21–22.

25 OTHER MONEY-SAVING: Glut and Harmon, The Great Television Heroes, 28–29.

26 ON BUDGET: There were varying recollections of what that budget was. Co-producer Robert Luber said it was $18,500 per episode. Outside producer David Wolper recalled it being $20,000. Jack Liebowitz said the ad agency paid $17,000, Maxwell said he could do it for $14,000, and it ended up costing $28,000. (Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 316; Wolper, Producer, 18; and Liebowitz memoir, 52.)

27 “THAT’S ENOUGH”: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 155.

28 “GEORGE CAME”: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 127.

29 “HE DECKED”: Weaver, Producers and Writers, 24; and Bifulco, Superman on Television, 3.

30 “WHAT IS A MAN”: Noel Neill in Biography TV show, February 9, 2000.

31 THERE WAS A SILK: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 144.

32 “THIS DROVE”: Weaver, Producers and Writers, 25–26.

33 “THIS,” HE: Author interview with Jack Larson.

34 TRADEMARK BOW TIE: Smithsonian officials say the tie is in their collection and that while it isn’t currently on display, it may be soon.

35 SHOW’S SPONSOR: Whitney Ellsworth reportedly said that Kellogg’s wanted Shayne fired and that Ellsworth insisted the actor be retained (Will Murray, “The Driving Force That Really Made DC Great,” Alter Ego No. 98, 17). But Ellsworth told Gary Grossman that “never did either Kellogg or their agency make any suggestion that we not use Shayne or anybody else, in spite of all the talk about the blacklists and everything else” (Grossman interview with Ellsworth).

36 “MONITORED PROGRAMS”: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 180.

37 “TELEVISION HAS”: Wertham, Seduction, 381.

38 WAS AFRAID OF: William H. Young and Nancy K. Young, The 1950s, 42. In those earliest years of television, sponsors routinely engaged in the kind of content control that Kellogg’s did with Superman.

39 “THAT FAVORITE”: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 165.

40 “HEY JIMMY”: Author interview with Larson.

41 “I HAD TO”: Warren, “Superman’s Girl Friday,” TV People.

42 “SO HE WAS”: Liebowitz memoir, 52.

43 WHITNEY ELLSWORTH: He wrote under several pen names, including Fred Whitby and, when he collaborated with Robert Maxwell, Richard Fielding.

44 HE DID: Ellsworth letters to Siegel on February 21, 1940, November 4, 1940, and February 19, 1941.

45 “WE NEVER”: Grossman interview with Ellsworth.

46 “MAXWELL’S FIRST”: Grossman interview with Ellsworth.

47 A RECENT COMIC: “The Menace from the Stars” was published in World’s Finest Comics No. 68, which hit the newsstands just as “Panic in the Sky” was hitting the airwaves. While it is impossible to say for sure which came first, it’s likely that “Panic” was inspired by “Menace.” Comic books then were written as long as six months in advance of the cover date, whereas Jackson Gillis, who wrote “Panic,” said he often gave an idea to his producer at lunch, then sat down and wrote the screenplay almost immediately and not long before its airing. But Gillis also said that the rip-off process was a two-way street, with comic book writers both borrowing from and offering up ideas to the TV screenwriters (Hagen, “From Lassie to Superman: Jackson Gillis,” Comics Interview).

48 “PURE FANTASY”: Author interview with Jackson Gillis.

49 LISTENED CLOSELY: www.tv.com/shows/adventures-of-superman/panic-in-the-sky-90378; and Bifulco, Superman on Television, 75.

50 “I HAD TO”: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 128.

51 “I LOVED”: Author interview with Larson.

52 SHE ALSO WORRIED: Author interview with Coates.

53 “I’VE HAD”: Weaver, Producers and Writers, 24–25.

54 “COMIC BOOKS IN”: Author interview with Neill.

55 NEILL FOUND IT: Author interview with Neill; and Ward, Truth, Justice, & the American Way, 82.

56 DIDN’T LIKE ONE: Ward, Truth, Justice, 73; The Adventures Continue No. 2, 66; and Weaver, Producers and Writers, 27.

57 “JACK, I GOT”: Grossman interview with Ellsworth.

58 THAT SAME KID-FRIENDLY: Hajdu, The Ten-Cent Plague, 326, 329, 800.

59 “MERCENARY MINORITY”: Weisinger, “How They’re Cleaning Up the Comic Books,” Better Homes and Gardens.

60 “THE SAME TYPE”: “Are Comics Fascist?” Time.

61 “EXPRESSIONS HAVING”: Memo from Ellsworth, “Editorial Policy for Superman-DC Publications.”

62 NEWSPAPERS GLOMMED: “Superman Emulation Puts Boy in Hospital,” Washington Post; “Miscellany,” Time; “ ‘Death-Defying’ Leap Kills Boy,” Los Angeles Times.

63 “WE WERE VERY”: Author interview with Jay Emmett.

64 “NO ONE”: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 84.

65 NATIONAL CAPITALIZED: Author interview with Emmett.

66 EMPEROR HIROHITO: Grossman interview with Ellsworth; and “Reeves, Superman of TV, Kills Himself,” Los Angeles Times.

67 $1,000 A WEEK: Grossman interview with Ellsworth.

68 “NOTHING WAS BOTHERING”: Author interview with Gene LeBell.

69 “TO SEE IF”: Ames, “Superman George Reeves and Producers Disagree,” Los Angeles Times.

70 HIS OWN VARIETY: Ward, Truth, Justice, 100–101.

71 “MOTEL OF THE STARS”: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 277.

72 “HERE I AM”: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 275–76.

73 GEORGE HAD ALMOST: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 260.

74 THREE YEARS LATER: “TV Superman Hero Injured in Auto Crash,” Los Angeles Times.

75 HE WAS LOOKING: Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 283.

76 “HE’S PROBABLY”: Transcript of Lee Saylor interview with Leonore Lemmon.

77 FORENSIC DETAILS: Author interviews with Craig Harvey, chief coroner investigator, Los Angeles County, and Dr. Eugene Mark, pathologist, Massachusetts General Hospital.

78 RESEARCHERS WHO: Author interviews with Jim Beaver, Chuck Harter, Hayde, and Jan Alan Henderson

79 “ONLY LEM”: Thomas, The Man to See, 145.

80 TONI VISITED: Author interview with Larson.

81 PUBLIC RELATIONS MAN: Edward Lozzi says Toni kept George’s clothes in a bedroom in her mansion that became a shrine to him. “Her deathbed confession was totally the opposite of what she had been telling me,” Lozzi says. “She was blaming it all on Leonore Lemmon.” Author interview with Lozzi.

82 GEORGE’S YOUNG: Grossman, Superman: Serial to Cereal, 102; and Hayde, Flights of Fantasy, 272.

83 NO ONE WILL: Author interviews with Beaver, Harter, Harvey, Hayde, Henderson, and Eugene Mark.

7. IMAGINE THIS

1 STORY LIKE THIS: “Mr. and Mrs. Clark (SUPERMAN) Kent!” Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane.

2 ACTION ON TV: The airwaves were dominated then by Westerns like Bonanza and Wagon Train and personality-driven comedies like Red Skelton’s and Andy Griffith’s.

3 “EVERYONE KNOWS”: Weisinger, “I Flew with Superman,” Parade.

4 HE “GLOWED”: Joyce Kaffel, “Digging up Superman,” Alter Ego No. 98.

5 EIGHT DIFFERENT: The eight were Action Comics, Superman, World’s Finest, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane, Adventure Comics, Justice League of America, and Superboy.

6 “MY GREATEST”: Will Murray, “Superman’s Editor Mort Weisinger,” The Krypton Companion, 12.

7 “HERE LIES”: Jones, Men of Tomorrow, 131.

8 “I HAD TO”: Author interview with Adler. Jim Shooter says Weisinger called him a “fucking retard who couldn’t spell.” But his family was poor, Shooter adds, and the work Weisinger gave him “saved our house and kept us alive. That was the two sides of Mort” (author interview with Shooter). Others say that various DC staffers were so frustrated with Weisinger that they tried to toss him out the window, although with steel mesh surrounding the frame he wouldn’t have gone very far.

9 “I’LL TELL”: Michael Eury, “Neal Adams Interview,” The Krypton Companion, 101.

10 “MORT KEPT IT”: Author interview with Carmine Infantino.

11 CURT SWAN: Zeno, Curt Swan: A Life in Comics, 173, 734–75.

12 “DO YOU NEED”: Pachter, “A Rare Interview with Superman’s Godfather,” Amazing Heroes No. 41, 33. After he was fired from DC, Boring worked on several newspaper strips, then took a part-time job as a security guard.

13 STEERED CLEAR: There were exceptions, like the imaginary story in 1963—“The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue”—in which the hero got Khrushchev to dump all his missiles into the sea and Fidel Castro to free all his political prisoners. And in 1969, Mort sent Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Superman to Vietnam in a story entitled “The Soldier of Steel!” It was written by DC’s war comics whiz, Robert Kanigher, and illustrated by longtime war artist Joe Kubert.

14 “CALLED HIM”: Schelly, Words of Wonder, 39, 142; and Lupoff email.

15 “THE MOST COMPETENT”: Murray, “Superman’s Editor Mort Weisinger,” 13.

16 “WHAT I FIND”: Letter from Siegel to Liebowitz, July 13, 1946.

17 WEISINGER MET: Murray, “Superman’s Editor Mort Weisinger,” 14. 166 “WHEN PEOPLE”: Lillian, “Mort Weisinger: The Man Who Wouldn’t Be Superman,” Amazing World of DC Comics.

18 “ANY TIME WE”: Murray, “Superman’s Editor Mort Weisinger,” 17.

19 “DID YOU GET”: Weisinger, “I Flew with Superman.”

20 AN “INVESTIGATION”: Weisinger, “How They’re Cleaning Up the Comic Books,” Better Homes and Gardens.

21 “I WANTED”: Author interview with Lee.

22 “DONE CORRECTLY”: Author interview with Shooter.

23 BATMAN TUMBLED: Evanier, Beerbohm, and Schwartz, “There’s a Lot of Myth Out There!” Alter Ego No. 26, 23; and author interview with Infantino.

24 FINALLY, AS HE REPORTED: In another version, Mort said he had the economic security to quit DC after Columbia Pictures paid him $250,000 for his novel The Contest. How did he feel about leaving Superman after all that time? “I guess my baby has grown up,” Mort said, “and doesn’t need daddy any more” (Peterson, “Superman Goes Mod”).

25 CARMINE INFANTINO: Author interview with Infantino. Julie Schwartz’s version is that “every year or so Mort would tell our boss Jack Liebowitz that he wanted to retire, and Jack (he always wanted us to call him Jack) would talk him out of it. Then one day in 1970, (surprise! surprise!) he accepted the resignation since he himself was leaving DC” (Schwartz and Thomsen, Man of Two Worlds, 131).

26 THE MOST EMOTIONAL: Siegel, “Superman’s Return to Krypton!” Superman No. 141.

27 TENTH-LEVEL: Lex Luthor would amp up Brainiac’s intellect from level ten to twelve.

28 “ANYTHING SUPERMAN”: Siegel, “The Bizarro Invasion of Earth!” Superman No. 169.

29 THE ENEMY: Waid, “Red Kryptonite,” Amazing Heroes No. 41, 44–45.

30 IN ITS ANNUAL: Bart, “Advertising: Superman Faces New Hurdles,” New York Times.

31 SOCIAL SECURITY: That number was issued to a real person, Giobatta Baiocchi, who was born in 1887 and whose relatives say they don’t know of any connection he might have had to Superman.

32 BEFORE EXECUTING: Eddy Zeno, “A Fond Remembrance of Mort Weisinger by His Son,” The Krypton Companion, 17.

33 COMIC STRIP DREAMS: Those dreams lasted from 1949 to 1952, with Clark waking just as he was about to tell Lois he was Superman. The story was dreamed up by Whitney Ellsworth, who started to write it, but then got distracted, and Alvin Schwartz claims he wrote nearly all of it.

34 “YOU’RE NOT”: Newman and Benton, It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman: The New Musical Comedy.

35 “A CHILL”: Holiday and Harter, Superman on Broadway, 18.

36 THE FIRST TEST: Schier, “ ‘Superman’ Needs a Quick Course in Muscle Building,” Philadelphia Bulletin; and Murdock, “ ‘Superman’ Lands in Town,” Philadelphia Daily News.

37 IT’S A BIRD OPENED: “Paper Cutups,” Time; Coe, “Not Peter Pan, It’s ‘Superman,’ ” Washington Post; Nadel, “ ‘Superman,’ Airy, Merry,” New York World-Telegram and Sun; and Kauffmann, “ ‘It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane …’ ” New York Times.

38 “THEY SAID, ‘MY’ ”: Author interview with Hal Prince.

39 EVERYONE HAD: Author interviews with Prince, Charles Strouse, and Robert Benton.

40 “I DON’T THINK”: Author interview with Bob Holiday.

41 SUPERMAN WAS: Shabecoff, “Look! Up in the Air!” New York Times; and Weisinger, “Superman and His Friends Around the World,” Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen No. 113.

42 STUPOR-MAN: Not to be confused with Mad magazine’s Superduperman.

43 “WHEN SUPERMAN”: Feiffer, The Great Comic Book Heroes, 17.

44 “THEY LOVED IT”: Thomas, “Superman Teaches School,” Magazine Digest.

45 “I COULDN’T READ”: Author interview with Ron Massengill.

46 TWO OF HIS BEST: The two writers were Bill Finger and E. Nelson Bridwell. “Superman’s Mission for President Kennedy,” Superman No. 170.

47 WHEN THE NEW: “Superman Meets Kennedy on Vigor,” New York Times.

48 “WE’RE WAITING”: Weisinger, “I Flew with Superman.”

49 IT WAS NOT: The Essential Superman Encyclopedia, 151–52.

50 COMPLIANT PARTNER: Sampliner served on the boards of the Anti-Defamation League, the New York City Anti-Crime Commission, and the New York State Commission Against Discrimination. He stayed on as an owner of DC Comics until 1967, and in 1969 he was named chairman of the board of Independent, the distribution company (Kleefeld, “Paul Sampliner,” kleefeldoncomics.blogspot.com).

51 AS EARLY AS: Liebowitz memoir, 55–56.

52 HE NEVER KNEW: Others, including Jack Adams, say the accident happened after the company went public.

53 “WE ALL SAID”: Author interview with Peachy Donenfeld.

54 HAVING A CHAUFFEUR: Liebowitz memoir, 56, 62.

55 “WE DIDN’T WANT”: Liebowitz memoir, 51.

56 “TURNED TO ME”: Barr, “The Madame and the Girls,” Words & Pictures No. 5, 5.

57 “THEY WERE THE”: Barr, “The Madame and the Girls,” 10.

58 WAS DESPERATE: Knutzen, “Man of Steel Splinters an American Dream,” Los Angeles Times.

59 “I WAS THE OLDEST”: Knutzen, “Man of Steel Splinters an American Dream.”

60 IT LOOKED WORSE: Author interview with Neal Adams.

61 THE BEST MEASURE: Yoe, Secret Identity: The Fetish Identity of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster.

62 “PORNOGRAPHY, UNADULTERATED”: City of New York v. Kingsley Books, Supreme Court of New York.

63 WHY DID JOE: Author interviews with Robinson and Craig Yoe.

64 “I SPENT ALL”: Liebowitz memoir, 57. He could, of course, have brought his daughters into the business, but that was unthinkable to an old-school father like him.

65 SO HE HIRED: Liebowitz memoir, 57.

66 STEVE ROSS: Bruck, Master of the Game, 129–33.

67 EMMETT SAID: Author interview with Emmett.

8. BELIEVING A MAN CAN FLY

1 “WHY DON’T WE”: Author interview with Ilya Salkind.

2 HIS LAWYER: Author interview with Tom Pollock.

3 OWN BIG FILMS: Curiously, Warner Bros. was willing to make a movie about Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, but not about Superman, the caped hero who had borrowed from Doc, then left him in the dust.

4 “IT WASN’T”: Author interview with Terry Semel.

5 MORE THAN A: Petrou, The Making of Superman the Movie, 21.

6 BOUNCED OR DELAYED: The Salkinds’ producer and money man, Pierre Spengler, concedes, “there were times of extreme cash flow difficulties.” But he adds that “everybody got paid in full” (emails to author from Spengler).

7 GROSS SALES: That is money received by the distributor(s) of the film, in this case mainly Warner Bros. It includes about half of box office receipts along with the distributor’s share of proceeds from television, VHS/DVD, and other offshoots.

8 EVERYONE WHO READ: Author interviews with Salkind, Tom Mankiewicz, Richard Donner, and Infantino. Infantino says the Puzo script was “the worst thing you ever saw in your life.” Transcripts of meetings with Puzo show Infantino and others trying to tone down the script’s sexuality and beef up its fealty to Superman and his forty-year history.

9 NEXT UP: Author interviews with Leslie Newman and Robert Benton.

10 AGREEMENT BETWEEN NATIONAL: Agreement with Alex and Ilya Salkind, November 6, 1974.

11 NEEDED A DIRECTOR: Author interview with Ilya Salkind.

12 PENDING ARREST: The warrant had to do with Brando’s role in the film Last Tango in Paris. His interest in Superman was piqued by an old girlfriend.

13 IT ACTUALLY: Author interviews with and emails from Spengler and Pollock.

14 A LINEUP: Petrou, The Making of Superman the Movie, 36–37.

15 PREP SCHOOL: Christopher said that his poet-professor father, upon hearing his son was playing Superman, assumed he meant George Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman. Frank Reeve, the father, says that is “a great line” apparently dreamed up by Christopher and his buddy, comedian Robin Williams. “Later,” Frank adds, “it became a line said so often he [Christopher] came to believe it.” Frank says he watched all his son’s movies except those Christopher asked him not to. “I found Superman 1 delightful and enthusiastically said so.” (Emails from Frank Reeve to author.)

16 “LIKE THE GUY”: Dangaard, “Reeve Flies to the Rescue of ‘Superman,’ ” Los Angeles Times.

17 “SHE LITERALLY”: Author interview with Donner.

18 “I’M MANIC”: Petrou, The Making of Superman the Movie, 48.

19 “IT’S AS SIMPLE”: Author interview with Donner. Christopher Reeve, in his 1978 film, was the first Superman to explain for himself that he was fighting for “truth, justice and the American way,” to which Lois, with characteristic sarcasm, replies, “You’ll wind up fighting almost every elected official in this country.”

20 “THIS PICTURE IS”: Anderson, “It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Movie!” New York Times.

21 THE SOLUTION CAME: Author interviews with Zoran Perisic and Donner.

22 HIS OWN CAPERS: Spengler says Reeve would have liked to do all of his own stunts but “I had to stop him at times for security and/or insurance reasons” (Spengler email).

23 “HOW COULD A”: Reeve, Still Me, 192.

24 “WE SHOVED”: Author interview with Dave Prowse.

25 WAS SO OUTRAGED: Rossen, Superman vs. Hollywood, 90.

26 BEING TYPECAST: Sean Connery, who played James Bond in seven films, told Reeve not to worry. If the first film isn’t good, he said, there won’t be more. If you do a low-budget film next, it might hit big by the time Superman airs. And if the producers or studio give you trouble, “get a good lawyer and sue the bastards” (Davis, “Marketing the Man of Steel!” Maclean’s).

27 “FOR GOD’S SAKE”: Transcript, Studio 360, “American Icons” series.

28 MANKIEWICZ EXPANDED: Author interview with Mankiewicz.

29 “I HAD TO PRETEND”: Author interview with Margot Kidder.

30 “SUPERMAN WAS THE”: Author interview with John Williams.

31 LAST-MINUTE GLITCH: Author interviews with Donner, Semel, and Ilya Salkind; author interview with and emails from Pollock; and Blue and Delugach, “ ‘Superman’: Rare Look at Film Finances,” Los Angeles Times. Semel says that Warner Bros. sent a plane to Europe and managed to get a copy of the negative from Technicolor, the film storage people. “We called Alex in London to say, ‘Oh, by the way, the negative is here, in Burbank, we’re printing—we started printing last night—maybe we’ll see you at the premiere, maybe we won’t,’ ” recalls Semel. Tom Pollock has a different take on what happened more than thirty years ago: “Technicolor denied it, and in any case, had they [Warner Bros.] used it, it would have opened them up to lawsuits, as well as Technicolor. The letters of credit were contingent on DELIVERY by FilmExport, not by theft by Warners.”

32 CONFOUNDING NO-SHOW: “ ‘Superman’: Rare Look at Film Finances.”

33 “IT WAS EXACTLY”: Author interview with Jenette Kahn.

34 REVIEWERS OFFERED: Kroll, “Superman to the Rescue,” Newsweek; Ebert, “Superman,” Chicago Sun-Times; Kael, “The Current Cinema,” New Yorker; and Canby, “Screen: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Movie,” New York Times.

35 AND PEKING: The Peking Evening News said that Superman is not really a savior but “a narcotic which the capitalist class gives itself to cast off its serious crises.” There were no problems anywhere else in China and all this happened in 1985, when China finally was catching up with old movies from America (Mann, “ ‘Superman’ Shanghaied in Peking Screen Test,” Los Angeles Times).

36 “I TOOK MY”: Hoover, “What Women See in Man of Steel,” Los Angeles Times.

37 THE MOVIE WAS MEANT: Author interview with Mankiewicz.

38 “I GOT MAJOR”: Author interview with Donner.

39 $55 MILLION: Spengler says that “the aggregate cost of the first two movies was $109 million. The split would be approximately 75 for the first and 34 for the second” (Spengler email).

40 FILED THEIR OWN LAWSUITS: Tom Pollock says it wasn’t just Alex who was targeted in the lawsuits, but “everybody under the sun. Alex, Ilya, Pierre [Spengler], all of Alex’s companies, Credit Lyonnais Bank, Warner Brothers, etc etc etc.” (email from Pollock).

41 PRODUCTION FIGURES: That matters because the percentage payouts to Puzo, Donner, and the others specified that they were a share of the profits left after Alex recovered his production costs. No postproduction profits, no payouts.

42 “EVERYONE GOT PAID”: Author interview with Pollock. He says that Warner made more than $100 million, with Spengler adding that it was “considerably more.” Credit Lyonnais, one of Alex’s banks, “made the next most,” says Pollock, and DC Comics got 5 percent of the gross. Spengler adds in an email that DC got “7.5% domestic or 5% worldwide, which ever is greater.”

43 BIG BANG THEORY: Schwartz and Thomsen, Man of Two Worlds, 15. If Julie had asked Jerry for his response to Big Bang, the Superman creator likely would have pointed out that he already had a magazine by and for fans, Cosmic Stories, which predated not only Mort and Julie’s fanzine but Jerry’s own Science Fiction.

44 “WAS MERELY”: O’Neil, Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore, 189.

45 YOUNG PEOPLE: Schwartz and Thomsen, Man of Two Worlds, 134.

46 “I AM CURIOUS”: Kanigher, “I Am Curious (Black)!” Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane No. 106.

47 “THAT’S THE”: Pasko, “The Master Mesmerizer of Metropolis!” Superman No. 330.

48 “SUPERMAN DIRECTED”: Author interview with Alvin Schwartz.

49 “THE FAMOUS BLUE”: Baker, “Sad Feet in the Sky,” New York Times.

50 HE ACTUALLY PROPOSED: Author interview with Kahn.

51 MUHAMMAD ALI: It was bad karma: By the time the book came out, Ali had been dethroned as boxing champ by Leon Spinks.

52 PRICE HIKES: The price rise was even steeper if you start in 1969, when a DC comic book sold for twelve cents, and go until 1981, when it was fifty cents. The number of pages fluctuated, often rising as the price did.

53 “DREW A HUMUNGOUS”: Email to author from Levitz.

54 “TOTALLY REAL”: Email to author from Luis Augusto.

55 MOVIE-RELATED: Harmetz, “The Marketing of Superman and His Paraphernalia,” New York Times; Levin, “ ‘Protect Children Act’ Aims to Ban Cigarette Deals,” Los Angeles Times; Scivally, Superman on Film, Television, Radio and Broadway, 95; and author interview with Kidder.

56 ADVERTISING HELPED: Gabilliet, Of Comics and Men, 134–37.

57 AS A WRITER: Much of his writing for Marvel was under the pseudonym Joe Carter.

58 “JERRY SIEGEL”: Siegel, “Superman’s Originator Puts ‘Curse’ on Superman Movie,” archives.tcj.com.

59 THE PRESS: Sherwood, “Superman Still Makes Millions, but Not His Creators,” Washington Star; Breasted, “Superman’s Creators, Nearly Destitute, Invoke His Spirit,” New York Times; and Vidal, “Mild-Mannered Cartoonists Go to Aid of Superman’s Creators,” New York Times.

60 ORCHESTRATING THE PUBLICITY: Author interviews with Neal Adams and Irwin Hasen.

61 “WE WERE ABOUT”: Author interview with Emmett.

62 ROSE SUBSTANTIALLY: In 1979, Jerry and Joe each got a check for $15,000 in recognition of the success of Superman: The Movie. The next year their annual payments jumped to $30,000. In 1981, after the release of Superman II, the pensions rose again, to $60,000, and they each got onetime bonuses of $50,000 that year and $25,000 the next. After Joanne Siegel made her first formal request for additional money in 1988, the annual payouts were increased to $80,000, with a cost-of-living inflator.

63 “JOE AND I”: Siegel, Creation of a Superhero, 7: 5.

64 DECEMBER 1976: Most references to their marriage say it was in 1975, but public records make clear it was December 24, 1976, in Del Mar, California. Wedding pictures show each with a flower pinned to their breast, him wearing a suit and slightly raised shoes, her in a full-length gown standing before their three-tiered wedding cake. Joe was sixty-two then, Judith fifty-nine. Their handwritten notes invited guests to a reception at the Atlantis Restaurant in Mission Bay, an oceanfront oasis at the mouth of the San Diego River.

65 THE ATTRACTIVE: Certificate of Registry of Marriage, Joseph Michael Shuster and Judith Ray Calpini; and Request and Declaration for Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage, Joseph Michael Shuster vs. Judith Ray Calpini.

66 “HAS MEANT A”: “Follow-up on the News,” New York Times.

9. BACK TO THE FUTURE

1 “MORE AGGRESSIVE”: Parrott, “For Clark Kent, Wimpery Is Out,” Los Angeles Times.

2 “YOU CAN’T DO”: Melvin, “Cartoonists Explain Superman’s New Image to His Fans,” New York Times.

3 “HE USED TO”: Akers, “Bring Back the REAL Superman,” Washington Post.

4 “IF REAGAN HAS”: Kempley, “Superman: The Ramboization of the Comics’ Man of Stale,” Washington Post.

5 SUPERMAN’S HEAD: Psychologists and psychiatrists have suggested that Superman is the classic schizoid personality, although even they have trouble deciding whether Clark or Superman is the primary identity.

6 RENAMED ADVENTURES: Adventures of Superman picked up the numbering from the old Superman comic book, and a new Superman was launched with a new number one. Superman and Adventures of Superman were published concurrently from 1986 through the spring of 2006, when Adventures was killed and Superman reclaimed its numbering.

7 “WE WRITE AS”: “Dear DC Comics,” New York Times.

8 “EXCORIATED”: Email to author from John Byrne.

9 “THE COMIC BOOK HERO”: “Bring Back the REAL Superman.”

10 “MORE BELIEVABLE”: “Cartoonists Explain Superman’s New Image to His Fans.”

11 “DOUBLE-CROSSED”: Byrne email.

12 SUPERMAN’S NUMBERS: Miller, “Superman Sales,” blog.comichron.com.

13 THE PUBLISHER STOPPED: DC stopped making public its circulation figures when it stopped mailing its comic books second class, a discount privilege that carried with it the reporting requirement.

14 ADULTIFICATION: Friedrich, Austin, and Simpson, “Up, Up and Awaaay!!!” Time.

15 A SURVEY: Eichenwald, “Grown-ups Gather at the Comic Book Stand,” New York Times.

16 FULL REFUND: The black market for comics listed as destroyed was so effective that, in 1974, it was estimated that as few as a quarter of all printed comic books were actually placed for sale at retailers. Many if not most of the rest presumably were sold illicitly, then listed as destroyed so wholesalers and distributors could profit a second time by claiming a credit from publishers (Of Comics and Men, 141).

17 COUNTERINTUITIVE NAMES: Julie Schwartz later acknowledged having made a “horrible mistake” by naming the older planet Earth-2 and the younger one Earth-1. “If we knew 30 years later we’d be asked these questions,” he said laughing, “we’d have paid more attention” (Schwartz, “Dawn of the Silver Age,” Comics Scene Spectacular No. 6).

18 AMONG MILLIONS: Wolfman said his rule was “not to kill any hero who was created before I was born” (Wolfman, Crisis on Infinite Earths, 7).

19 “WHATEVER HAPPENED”: Moore, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow.

20 SCHWARTZ’S GOODBYE: Julie was on the cover of Whatever Happened—with Batman, Wonder Women, and others—waving goodbye to his Man of Tomorrow.

21 “GENIUS”: It was safe to call Jerry that in the 1980s, with Jack Liebowitz no longer in charge, but wouldn’t have been in the 1960s. Author interview with Mark Evanier.

22 KRYPTONIAN PAST: Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 1.

23 BIRTHING MATRIX: One could even argue (and fans did) that, having been hatched in outer space or upon arriving on Earth, Superman wasn’t an alien at all but an Earthling, an American, and a Kansan.

24 MARGOT KIDDER: She says her role model for a strong-willed Lois was feminist Gloria Steinem. Author interview with Kidder.

25 “IT’S A COLLECTIVE”: Author interview with Levitz.

26 GOT INTO TROUBLE: Author interviews with Waid, Elliot Maggin, and Len Wein.

27 “I ADMIRE”: Mamet, Some Freaks, 179.

28 BIRTHDAY PARTIES: www.capedwonder.com/dc-70. Superman’s birthday, we were told as far back as 1968, was February 29. That device—having a birthday on a leap day that occurs once in four years—also was used by Orphan Annie’s handlers to playfully explain why the cartoon character aged so slowly (Wells emails).

29 BOOK OF ESSAYS: Dooley and Engle, Superman at Fifty! 12, 115, 170.

30 CLARK KISSED LOIS: Leslie Newman says she and her writing partner and husband, David, “snuck in our own love story there. When we wrote the scene we both had tears going down our faces.” Author interview with Newman.

31 “MY FEELING”: Author interview with Donner.

32 “DICK DONNER SAID”: Author interview with Ilya Salkind.

33 “THE MIND BOGGLES”: Mann, “ ‘Superman’ Sequel: Flying in the Soup,” Los Angeles Times.

34 “IF I THINK”: “Margot Lois Lane Kidder,” People.

35 “TO MAKE [DONNER]”: Soderbergh and Lester, Getting Away with It, 124–25.

36 PAID TWICE: Yule, The Man Who “Framed” the Beatles, 305. Ilya Salkind says Warner Bros. kicked in only on the third film, but Spengler says the studio boosted Lester’s salary for the second and third (author interview with Ilya Salkind and Spengler emails).

37 “DECIDED NOT”: Soderbergh and Lester, Getting Away with It, 125. It would have cost them $1 million to use any of the Brando footage for Superman II, a cost no one wanted to pay.

38 “UNCONTROLLABLE DESPAIR”: Soderbergh and Lester, Getting Away with It, 130–31.

39 VILLAINESS URSA: Author interview with Sarah Douglas.

40 MEMORABLE LINES: Leslie Newman says, “We never wrote that and there’s no way on Earth that line would have gotten by DC Comics.”

41 COSTS COULD MOUNT: Schoell, Comic Book Heroes of the Screen, 45.

42 MARKETING STRATEGY: Harmetz, “The Marketing of Superman and His Paraphernalia,” New York Times.

43 “BARELY BROKE”: Author interview with Ilya Salkind.

44 “CRITICS WERE SPLIT”: Schickel, “Flying High,” Time; Maslin, “ ‘Superman II’ Is Full of Tricks,” New York Times; Boyum, “One-Dimensional Flights of Fancy,” Wall Street Journal; Arnold, “ ‘Superman II’: The Plot Weakens,” Washington Post; and Gasser, “Superman, What Happened to You?” Los Angeles Times.

45 “IT WAS MAINLY”: Author interview with Ilya Salkind.

46 “THE WHOLE GOOD”: Author interview with Newman.

47 SUPERMAN III AS A WHOLE: Maslin, “ ‘Superman III’; Reeve Joined by Pryor,” New York Times; Kempley, “Number III Is Not So Super, Man,” Washington Post; Reeve, Still Me, 192; and Pryor, Pryor Convictions and Other Life Sentences, 205.

48 ADDED $1 MILLION: Author interview with Ilya Salkind.

49 “MAKING MONEY”: Author interview with Ilya Salkind. Pollock, Alex Salkind’s lawyer, says that “overall, Alex made a lot of money.… None of us know the real numbers. I doubt that anyone but Alex knew the real numbers” (Pollock emails).

50 “I’M JUST OPTIMIST”: Reagan, The Reagan Diaries, 158–59. Ilya Salkind says President Reagan told him the movie “was ‘very nice.’ I don’t know if he even saw the film” (author interview with Ilya Salkind).

51 NUCLEAR WEAPONS: Reeve’s mother, real-world journalist Barbara Johnson, helped found the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament.

52 “I THOUGHT”: Reeve, Still Me, 218.

53 “ONE OF THE”: Kempley, “It’s Recurred! It’s a Pain!” Washington Post.

54 “CHINTZY”: Maslin, “ ‘Superman IV: Quest for Peace,’ ” New York Times.

55 “SUPERGIRL WAS HUGE”: Author interview with Ilya Salkind.

56 “I JUST WANTED”: Author interview with John Haymes Newton. Newton was replaced after the first season for what the media said was at least one, and perhaps all, of these reasons: The producers weren’t taken with his performance, he asked for a pay raise his bosses didn’t think he deserved, and he was facing a charge of drunk driving. Newton says he disputed the drunk driving charge and got it dropped, and he regrets that he left the show.

57 “HE WAS”: Author interview with Stacy Haiduk.

58 BERKOWITZ’S MIND: Author interview with Stan Berkowitz.

59 FOR PRODUCER JULIA: Author interview with Julia Pistor.

60 “THIS IS A”: Brennan, “A Family Feud,” Los Angeles Times.

61 LOOKING BACK: Author interview with Ilya Salkind.

62 HE HAD A: Author interview with Gae Exton.

63 HAIRLINE YOUTHFUL: His problem was less age-related and more a result of his alopecia areata, which caused the loss of clumps of otherwise healthy hair. He also suffered from mastocytosis, a skin disease that produces lesions and intense itching (email to author from Benjamin Reeve).

64 “BY THE TIME”: Author interview with Benjamin Reeve.

65 “MOSTLY A”: Reeve, Still Me, 199.

66 HIS FATHER: Frank Reeve emails.

67 “WHEN I WAS”: Author interview with Smolinski.

68 “WHAT I’M SUGGESTING”: Letter from Joanne Siegel to Steven J. Ross, February 16, 1988.

10. TILL DEATH DO US PART

1 IT STARTED: Recollections of the summit and its aftermath were based on author interviews with and emails from Cary Bates, Jon Bogdanove, Mike Carlin, K. C. Carlson, Chris Duffy, Dan Jurgens, Jenette Kahn, Karl Kesel, Jerry Ordway, Frank Pittarese, Louise Simonson, and Martha Thomases.

2 COULD TAKE YEARS: Some Superman writers worried that, given the quick turnover rate in the comic book business, they would be gone by the time the momentous wedding happened.

3 “NEVER SAY”: McTernan, “Superman to Die Saving Metropolis,” Cleveland Plain Dealer.

4 “HOW DARE”: Author interview with Kahn.

5 DURACELL BATTERIES: Elliott, “Always a Place for Superman,” New York Times.

6 KILLING HIM: Jurgens, Ordway, et al., The Death of Superman.

7 THE CLIMAX: The average number of panels per page was six, although Marvel artists had been making a splash with fewer pages and more single panels (Wells emails).

8 “COPIES IN”: “Superman Death Issue to Go to Second Printing,” Wall Street Journal.

9 “GO ON THE”: “Look! It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s Curtains for the Man of Steel,” New York Times.

10 “SUPERMAN,” HE: Rich, “Term Limit for the Man of Steel,” New York Times.

11 MORE HEADS OF STATE: Stern, The Death and Life of Superman, 174.

12 “GOD? ’S ME”: World Without a Superman, 46.

13 MONTHS OFF: To satisfy fans and DC bean counters, the company published a series of other comics during that downtime, including Legacy of Superman No. 1.

14 “IF THIS MANY”: Carlin email.

15 “NOW,” HE: Zinn, “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane—It’s a Resurrection,” Business Week.

16 “THAT BECAME”: Author interview with Kahn.

17 “HE SAID”: Sangiacomo, “Superman Creator, Siegel, 81, Is Dead,” Cleveland Plain Dealer.

18 INTERESTED IN LOIS: Jenette Kahn, the power behind the scenes, says her first treatment for the TV show was entitled “Lois Lane’s Daily Planet.” She also says she decided not to have her hero fly because the limited special effects available back then would have made it look “cheesy.”

19 “I DIDN’T WANT”: Author interview with Deborah Joy LeVine.

20 ADVERTISING MONEY: Gordon, “Superman on the Set,” Quality Popular Television, 149.

21 NETWORK PURPOSEFULLY: Gordon, “Superman on the Set,” 151.

22 EARTH-2: In his 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman carried this Earth-2 couple to an alternate dimension, where they could carry on without getting in the way of the Earth-1 couple and the newly simplified DC universe.

23 ISSUE CALLED: Superman writers and artists past and present, “The Wedding Album,” Superman: The Wedding Album No. 1.

24 MOONLIGHTING EFFECT: Gordon, “Superman on the Set,” 149–50; Flint and Snierson, “ ‘Clark’ Canned,” Entertainment Weekly; and author interview with Kahn.

25 “I WAS THAT”: Hatcher, Burnt Toast and Other Philosophies of Life, 191.

26 CAIN HAD LESS: “Dean Cain,” People; Perigard, “Raising Cain,” Boston Herald; and Jacobs, “Citizen Cain,” Entertainment Weekly.

27 “SUPERMAN: THE ESCAPE”: Wharton, “ ‘Superman’ Ride Still Grounded,” Los Angeles Times. The Escape tied for the world’s fastest ride with Tower of Terror II at Dreamworld Theme Park in Australia.

28 “IN VIRTUAL”: Herz, “It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! (And It Wobbles?),” New York Times.

29 GUEST STARRING: Dooley and Engle, Superman at Fifty! 182; www.seinfeldscripts.com; and “Seinfeld Meets a Really ‘Super’ Salesman,” New York Times. The American Express commercials—“A Uniform Used to Mean Something” and “Hindsight Is 20/20”—each lasted four minutes.

30 “HE IS A CITIZEN”: “To the Rescue: Superman’s Big Mission in Bosnia,” Time for Kids.

31 THE FIRST BOOK: Levitz, 75 Years of DC Comics, 574.

32 “COMIC ART” AUCTIONS: Lyne, “The Executive Life,” New York Times; and “2 Comic Books Auctioned for $100,000,” New York Times.

33 “A BATTLER FOR”: Kingdom Come, 210.

34 THE REAL AIM: Author interviews with Waid and Maggin.

35 FOR HIM, THOUGH: Author interview with Jeph Loeb.

36 “I DON’T WANT”: Email to author from Chris Clow.

37 JO JO KAMINSKI: Author interview with Ordway.

38 NAMES OF GIRLS: Author interview with Maggin.

39 SUCH STORIES WERE: Wells emails.

40 WHITE AND: Around this time, DC was collaborating with the new Milestone Media to distribute multicultural comic books featuring black superheroes like Hardware and Static.

41 “STEEL WAS”: Author interviews with and emails from Simonson, Christopher Priest, and Kahn.

42 “USED TO WATCH”: Gates, “A Big Brother from Another Planet,” New York Times.

43 “THERE WAS SOMETHING”: Author interview with Al Roker.

44 SHAQUILLE O’NEAL: Mead, “A Man-Child in Lotusland,” The New Yorker.

45 THREE-PART SERIES: Superman: The Man of Steel No. 81; and author interview with Bogdanove.

46 MIXED BALANCE SHEET: Jensen, “Dead Superman May Revive DC Comics,” Advertising Age; Lev, “Reaching Beyond the Ghouls and Gore for Major Payoffs,” New York Times; Rhoades, A Complete History of American Comic Books, 129; Gabilliet, Of Comics and Men, 151; and Chang, “SPLAAAAAAAT!,” Los Angeles Times.

47 GALLUP POLL: Hugick, “Public to DC Comics: Resurrect Superman!” The Gallup Poll News Service.

48 IT WASN’T JUST: Emails to author from Bill Necessary, Wurzelbacher, and Ken Cholette.

49 JOE HAD BEEN: Mietkiewicz, “Great Krypton!” Toronto Star.

50 “I WAS SHOCKED”: Letter from Jean Shuster Peavy to Marty Payson, August 21, 1992.

51 “THIS IS CALLED”: Reeve, Still Me, 15.

52 “ ‘WHAT IS A HERO?’ ”: Reeve, Still Me, 267.

53 “SHE WAS FRIGHTENED”: “Margot Kidder Is Hospitalized for Psychiatric Observation,” New York Times.

54 “IT’S THE FIRST”: Author interview with Kidder.

55 “THE FACT THAT”: Ordway emails.

56 “THERE WAS AN”: Author interview with Levitz.

57 “MORT WEISINGER”: Author interview with Evanier.

58 KEPT A SEAT: Nash, “Jack Liebowitz, Comics Publisher, Dies at 100,” New York Times.

11. TIGHTS AND FIGHTS

1 “WE MADE NO”: Author interview with Al Gough.

2 “WE WERE VERY”: Author interview with Ken Horton.

3 “JUST THE RIGHT”: Carson, “Small Comforts,” Esquire.

4 “I LOVE IT”: Hiatt, “Lex-Man,” Entertainment Weekly.

5 JONES LEFT: He was arrested in 2009 by the Drug Enforcement Administration on trafficking charges, pled guilty in 2010, and the next year was sentenced to a year in prison.

6 BROADER AND DEEPER: Scivally, Superman on Film, 151–52.

7 “WE WERE WINKING”: Author interview with Gough.

8 “ ‘SMALLVILLE’ IS ONE”: Hinson, “Getting to the Heart of a Hero,” New York Times.

9 “SEEING THE SUPERMAN”: Carson, “Small Comforts.”

10 “FINALLY, CLARK”: Jensen, “Shows of Strength,” Entertainment Weekly.

11 A RECORD: The cost would have been even higher if the studio hadn’t received nearly $20 million in tax credits in Australia, where most of the filming was done, and if it hadn’t canceled plans for a $20 million construction of Metropolis intended to be used afterward as a theme park. It reportedly cost $50 just to grow an ear of corn for the film. Jensen, “Greatest American Hero?” Entertainment Weekly.

12 “A MODERN BLENDING”: Lewellen expert testimony, Siegel and Larson v. Warner Bros. Entertainment.

13 REMAINS OF KRYPTON: The next year, real-life scientists in Serbia found a new mineral whose chemistry matched the material described in the movie (Gustines, “Bad News for Superman,” New York Times).

14 “I GAVE MYSELF”: Swanson, “Super Troupers,” Premiere.

15 “I CAN’T TELL”: Bowles, “ ‘Superman’ Torch Is Passed,” USA Today.

16 “OUR GEORGE”: Rhodes, “The Continuing Adventures,” New York Times.

17 WATCH HIM FLY: Grove, “Singer Was Man of Steel,” Hollywood Reporter.

18 AT A COST: Swanson, “Super Troupers.”

19 “WRITING A STORY”: Author interview with Michael Dougherty.

20 “MY GRANDMOTHER”: Singer, Dougherty, and Harris, Superman Returns: The Complete Shooting Script, 23.

21 “IT’S INDESCRIBABLE”: Author interview with Dougherty.

22 “I WAS PRACTICALLY”: Author interview with John Ottman.

23 “SUPERHEROES—LET’S”: Duralde, “How Gay Is Superman?” Advocate.

24 “MOST HETEROSEXUAL”: Jensen, “Greatest American Hero?”

25 TOO GLOBAL: That debate over whether Superman is all-American or all-world has surfaced repeatedly over the decades. Superman himself answered it best in 1961 when, in response to being enrolled as an honorary citizen of all the member countries of the United Nations, he said: “What an honor! But of course my main loyalty will always be to the United States, where I grew up!” (Superman No. 146).

26 “WARNER BROTHERS”: “Superman and the Culture War,” billoreilly.com.

27 “THERE’S NO REASON”: Lundegaard, “Truth, Justice and (Fill in the Blank),” New York Times.

28 MISHAPS: Swanson, “Super Troupers.”

29 “AT ONE POINT”: Author interview with Bryan Singer.

30 “THEY’RE VERY IMPORTANT”: Singer, Dougherty, and Harris, Superman Returns: The Complete Shooting Script, 10, 13.

31 “SUPERMAN RETURNS”: Author interview with Singer.

32 “EARLIER VERSIONS”: Corliss, “The Gospel of Superman,” Time.

33 “STAYED VERY MUCH”: Author interview with Donner.

34 “OFFERS NOT SO”: Lane, “Kryptology,” The New Yorker.

35 “FIDELITY IS ONE”: D’Angelo, “Man, Yes; Super, Not Really,” Las Vegas Weekly.

36 “LEADEN”: Dargis, “Superman Is Back,” New York Times.

37 PRODUCTION COSTS: Warner Bros. said it suffered a net loss of $81 million on Superman Returns (Siegel and Larson v. Warner Bros. Entertainment).

38 “WAS A VERY”: Eller, “Picture This,” Los Angeles Times.

39 CASHED IN: Johannes, “Superman Soars,” Promo Magazine; Rossen, Superman vs. Hollywood, 290; and Holson, “More Than Ever, Hollywood Studios Are Relying on the Foreign Box Office,” New York Times.

40 “WE WERE STABBED”: Joanne Siegel letter to Richard D. Parsons, May 9, 2002.

41 LEGAL FILING: DC Comics v. Pacific Pictures Corporation, 2010 (complaint, response, counter-complaint and response, press release); Cieply and Barnes, “Warner Brothers Sues ‘Superman’ Lawyer,” New York Times; and Cieply, “Lawyer Battles Back Against DC Comics in Superman Dispute,” New York Times.

42 CEASE-AND-DESIST: The letter, from a Florida attorney claiming he represented Joanne and Laura, told Lois Amster to stop claiming she was the model for Lois Lane. But “she never claimed that,” says Amster’s son, Paul Rothschild. “After my brother sent him a lawyer’s letter, we haven’t heard from him since,” Rothschild adds. “We don’t know what his point was unless it was related to their suit against DC Comics” (author interview with and emails from Rothschild).

43 PRELIMINARY RULINGS: Siegel and Larson v. Warner Bros. Entertainment.

44 EVEN AS: Siegel and Larson v. Warner Bros. Entertainment.

45 “THE WHOLE PURPOSE”: Author interview with Marc Toberoff.

46 END THE SUPERMAN: The concern is that once the Shuster heirs enter the case, DC and Warner Bros. would face such uncertainty over their rights and their profits that they would no longer produce Superman movies, TV shows, or even comic books. Arguing against that is the presumption that Toberoff and his clients, short of trying to produce their own movies or other products—and worrying whether that would violate Warner’s remaining rights to the character, scaring off any other studios or publishers that might have been interested—would want to reach a settlement to ensure that the Superman franchise they were getting a share of continues to earn money. The problem would come if both sides presume they can either stare down the other or win in a knock-down, drag-out battle through the courts.

47 “THE NOTION THAT”: Author interview with Toberoff.

48 TOBEROFF ALSO TRIED: Siegel and Larson v. Warner Bros. Entertainment; and email from Don Bulson, Michael Siegel’s lawyer in Cleveland. “Michael was interested in settlement, but the settlement discussions with DC Comics/Time Warner were controlled by Joanne and Laura as they owned a 75% interest,” Bulson wrote. “This remained the same after the settlement discussions with DC Comics/Time Warner stalled.”

49 STOPPED PAYING: Bella filed suit in Cleveland for nonpayment of child support, and the judge agreed that Jerry should pay up. Because Jerry was living in New York, the Ohio judge sent the petition on to the authorities in New York State (Bella Siegel vs. Jerome Siegel, “Judge’s Journal Entry”). Michael Siegel said Jerry never did pay the child support he and Bella were due and that Jerry “broke all contact with me” after he and Bella were divorced (Michael Siegel emails to Mark Waid, 2005).

50 MICHAEL BECAME: Michael told Waid that he owned a business, apparently plumbing supply, got a college education, and had lived in places other than greater Cleveland. He sent Waid parts of Jerry’s will showing that Jerry left everything to his wife, Joanne, and if she wasn’t alive to his daughter, Laura, and her offspring. “If they all die and anything is left,” Michael wrote, “I can have that if I am still alive.” Michael added that it was ironic that Jerry, who made his living from comic books sold to children, treated his own son so poorly. “Why,” Michael asked, “did he ignore me for almost my entire life?” (Michael Siegel emails to Waid).

51 NATIVE SON: Joe also got a commemorative plaque designating the street where he lived Joe Shuster Lane, with Lois Lane connecting Jerry’s street to Joe’s. Joanne never was able to get the permanent memorial for Jerry that she wanted in Cleveland and to which she promised to donate his typewriter, scripts, glasses, and half of his ashes. Cleveland fans are working on a Superman exhibit for the airport there and hoping to unveil Superman license plates. They and others also raised $110,000 to restore Jerry’s house, and they set up a Siegel and Shuster Society (Sangiacomo, “Superman Creator’s Widow Seeks Memorial,” Cleveland Plain Dealer; Sangiacomo, “Joanne Siegel Dies,” Cleveland Plain Dealer; author interview with Jamie Reigle).

52 JERRY’S WILL: The irony of Michael Siegel’s death is that his half sister, Laura—someone he never had any relationship with and was jealous of—inherits his estate, because he had no will and she is his closest living relative (Probate Court documents, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 2006). The estate was valued at $250,000—but that didn’t include Michael’s share of whatever settlement there is in the lawsuit against DC Comics, which would likely be worth millions.

53 WARREN PEARY WILL: Warren is the executor of Joe Shuster’s estate, and it is in that capacity that he is trying to reclaim the copyright to Superman. The sole beneficiary of that estate, however, is Warren’s mother, Jean Shuster Peavy, who suffered a severe stroke in recent years and has other health issues.

54 CONTINUED TO SAG: “DC Comics Month-to-Month Sales,” www.comicsbeat.com; and “Superman Sales Figures.”

55 REMAINING AUDIENCE: Gabilliet, Of Comics and Men, 208, 357. Just how much a part of the culture comic books have been is suggested by the fact that, over the last seventy years, more than 150,000 individual issues have been published in America.

56 IN THE PHILIPPINES: Gayle, “Obsessed Superman Fan Has Cosmetic Surgery to Look Like His Hero,” dailymail.co.uk.

57 COLLECTORS STILL: Sanchez, “Superman Comic Saves Family Home from Foreclosure,” abcnews.go.com; and “Rare Superman Comic Sells for Record $2.16M US,” cbc.ca.

58 FAT PRICES: Hake, Official Price Guide to Pop Culture Memorabilia.

59 WORLD AND OURSELVES: It was easier to contemplate Superman as a Russian after we had won the Cold War.

60 CENTRAL PARK AND: This is a paraphrase of Denny O’Neil’s quip that Gotham is Manhattan below 14th Street at 3 A.M., November 28, in a cold year. Metropolis is Manhattan between 14th and 110th streets on the brightest, sunniest July day of the year.
    Actor Michael Caine says Superman is how America sees itself, Batman is how the rest of the world sees us.

62 CARY BATES: At twenty years, Bates is the longest-serving Superman writer, versus seventeen for Jerry Siegel and sixteen for Alvin Schwartz. Bates actually reached twenty-two years if we count his earliest year selling DC story ideas for Superman, and his most recent Superman story—“The Last Family of Krypton”—in 2010. The longest-lasting artist, hands-down, was Curt Swan, at thirty-eight years.

63 RENOUNCE HIS AMERICAN: Action 900, which unleashed a firestorm of criticism when Superman said he planned to renounce his citizenship, was actually a story about his affirming his global connections, the way he had been almost since the beginning. It also was about his standing shoulder-to-shoulder with human rights demonstrators in a repressive Iran and, by extension, the rest of the Middle East and the planet. And while he might have been distancing himself from the American government, it is unlikely he would ever move away from the American people (“The Incident,” Action Comics No. 900). Goyer, the writer of this comic book, also is the screenwriter for the new Superman movie due out in 2013.

64 “HOLD FAST TO”: Hughes, Collected Poems, 32.

65 COMICS WAS SUBSUMED: Familiar figures remain in charge of key divisions, with chief creative officer Geoff Johns running the comic-books-to-movies operation, and co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee in charge of comic books. Here is what today’s corporate ladder looks like: Time Warner, Inc., is up top. Warner Bros. Entertainment is one of its divisions, along with Time, Turner Broadcasting, and Home Box Office. Under Warner is DC Entertainment, under that is DC Comics, and helping hold it (and everything else) up is Superman.