Creation
The first Superman character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster was not a hero, but rather a villain. Their short story "The Reign of the Super-Man" concerned a bald-headed villain, somewhat reminiscent of Flash Gordon's Ming the Merciless, bent on dominating the world. The story did not sell, forcing the two to reposition their character on the right side of the law. In 1935, their Superman story was again rejected by newspaper syndicates wanting to avoid lawsuits, who recognized the character as being a slightly altered Hugo Danner, the lead character from Philip Wylie's 1930 novel Gladiator. An upstart publishing company, DC Comics printed another of their creations, Dr. Occult, who made his first appearance in New Fun Comics #6, October 1935. DC decided to take a chance with Superman, figuring if any lawsuits were filed, they would just drop the feature.
Shuster met Siegel at Cleveland's Glenville High School. Both shared an affection for science fiction and pulp magazines and soon contributed to the student newspaper, The Glenville Torch. Soon, Siegel and Shuster produced their own science fiction magazine, Science Fiction, a stapled, mimeographed pamphlet containing drawings by Shuster and stories by Siegel under various pseudonyms. Only five issues were produced and they are very rare: one copy sold two years ago for $50,000.
At the same time, comic books started appearing on the newsstands and seemed like the perfect vehicle for their ideas. Siegel and Shuster began contributing short comic stories to New Fun Comics. Soon, New Fun and New Adventure Comics were publishing short action stories by Siegel and Shuster such as "Spy", "Radio Squad", "Doctor Occult", "Henri Duval", and "Slam Bradley", which was set in Cleveland. Still, their favorite project was something they called "Superman", which they had been working on versions of for years. First designed as a newspaper comic strip, Siegel sent it to National Comics in New York where it languished in a drawer. When a publisher had difficulty deciding on an appropriate cover for a new magazine called Action Comics, someone pulled out the Superman proposal, showing him lifting a car with his hands. The publisher allegedly called it "ridiculous", but still decided to put it on the cover. He wrote Siegel and Shuster and asked them if they could put together a 13-page story for Action Comics #1.
Siegel and Shuster hurriedly cut and pasted their newspaper strip into comic book form and sent it off. In the summer, Action Comics hit the newsstands. Sales figures were not as immediate as today, but when Action #4 hit the stands, sales were off the charts. Astounded by this, the publisher is reported to have gone down to his local newsstand and asked a kid, “Why are you reading this one?” pointing to Action Comics. "Because it's the one that has Superman in it, mister."
Read more about this topic: History Of Superman
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