by Larry Tye
DC is counting on its newest stories to be a gateway not just for new readers but for Hollywood. Warner Bros. has never needed a research and development department when it came to its superheroes; DC Comics has been the best idea mill in the business. Reading a comic is like watching a film frame-by-frame, letting studio executives see how audiences respond to characters and scripts before they commit millions of dollars. It is no accident that one comic book special after another has ended up on the big screen. Doomsday was a 2007 animated adaptation of the 1990s “Death of Superman” story. It also was the first in a series of cartoon movies based on DC heroes that included Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Superman/Batman Apocalypse, and All-Star Superman. What Warner Bros. hopes will be its biggest Superman movie ever is due out in June 2013, with Hollywood heavyweights in charge. Director Zack Snyder’s credits include Watchmen, a superhero drama modeled after the comic book of the same name, and 300, based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel about the Battle of Thermopylae. Creative consultant Christopher Nolan and his wife, Emma Thomas, who is producing the new Superman film, are responsible for rebooting the Batman film franchise and overseeing the science fiction thriller Inception. Picking up the red cape and blue tights (or will it be jeans and a T-shirt?) of Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh will be British actor Henry Cavill, a relatively unknown hunk who played the first Duke of Suffolk on the Showtime series The Tudors. As is the tradition in Superman films, more conventional stars will fill in around Cavill, with Russell Crowe playing Superman’s Kryptonian father and Kevin Costner his Earthbound dad.
And it was no accident that in 2009 DC got its first chief executive whose background was in movies, not publishing, and that DC Comics was subsumed under DC Entertainment, which also has moviemaking, online, and digital publishing arms. The move came just nine days after the Walt Disney Company announced its purchase of Marvel Comics, with all the promise that held for making Spider-Man and other Marvel characters even bigger screen stars. Diane Nelson, the new DC president, had shepherded Harry Potter from the printed page to movie screens, toy stores, home videos, and theme parks. Now, she told DC’s writers and artists, she was determined to do the same for Superman and the rest of DC’s heroes. Her announcement made many old-time comic book fans shudder, but it would have been music to the ears of Jack Liebowitz. The technology may have changed from radio waves to the World Wide Web, and kids are more likely to be reading Superman under the covers using an e-reader with a backlit screen than a flashlight and printed page. But the formula for success is the same one that Jack pioneered a half century earlier: Hire the best writers, artists, and actors; stay true to what made Superman resonate with audiences from day one with Action No. 1; and get his story before as many eyeballs as possible to keep the cash register ringing. Ka-ching.
WILL THE TWENTIETH CENTURY’S longest-lasting hero endure deep into the new century and millennium? That is what fans and pundits are asking as Superman approaches the ripe age of seventy-five, just as they did at his first birthday and his tenth, and at his silver and golden jubilees. He has belied every prediction of his demise and defied the life expectancy for cultural icons and literary properties. We saw what happened when his handlers tried to kill him off: America would not have it. Kids want to be like him, and parents like that because they did, too. Many still do. He has proven tougher and more embedded in our DNA than even Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster dared dream.
Whether he lives on depends in part on those telling his story—in the comic books, on TV, in the movies, and online—and whether they continue cultivating the richness of his character and illuminating his role in a world that never stands still. All signs suggest they will. It depends, too, on the steadfastness of his owners. If he thrived in the hands of a couple of Jewish kids from the ghetto, he should flourish when backed by the muscle of one of the world’s biggest media conglomerates, which would be mad to let its billion-dollar franchise languish. In the end, however, it comes down to us, and whether we remain as besotted by Superman as our parents and grandparents were.
Why wouldn’t we be? Heroes like Doc Savage, Ty Cobb, and even Teddy Roosevelt can become dated, reduced to interesting reflections of their era but not ours. Others, like Sherlock Holmes, Babe Ruth, and Franklin Roosevelt, still resonate, tapping into something primal. Superman defines that archetype. Part of it is the irresistible allure of taking flight. Part of it is the seduction of the love triangle and his secret identity. Part of it is just being ten years old again. The more that flesh-and-blood role models let us down, the more we turn to fictional ones who stay true. With them, and especially with Superman, it is about the possibility—of getting the girl, saving the world (or at least Lois and Jimmy), and having it our way. Our longest-lasting hero will endure as long as we need a champion, which should be until the end of time.
Acknowledgments
WE KNEW HIS FACE WOULD tell us whether he liked the book idea or hated it, probably in the first fifteen seconds. So my agent, Jill Kneerim, and I decided to make our pitch in person to editor Will Murphy, without even hinting at the topic. We took the train from Boston to New York and marched over to Random House’s offices. “Will, I want to tell the story of the longest-lasting American hero of the last century,” I announced bluntly. “Who do you think it is?” A shadow of skepticism appeared, but Will played along. He made half a dozen guesses—politicians, sports stars, literary luminaries—all of them wrong. Then Jill carefully positioned on his desk a picture of Christopher Reeve’s Superman in the classic red-and-blue uniform.
A smile spread across Will’s face well before my fifteen seconds were up. Then he started asking the same exacting questions Jill had. What new could there possibly be to say about the planet’s best-known superhero? What credentials did I have to tell his story? Why did the world, which already had two hundred books about the comics and their leading man, need two hundred and one?
Their refusal to accept anything on faith is part of what I like about Jill and Will. The other part is their willingness to listen, then to get as fired up as I do. There are endless books on Superman, I explained, but most are sociological surveys or picture books, or deal exclusively with the comics, TV shows, or some other limited aspect of his expansive, multimedia career. None is a full-fledged account that approaches him as if he were human, which he is to tens of millions of fans who have followed his loves and deaths, reinventions, resurrections, and redemptions. The fact that he is ethereal lets us fill in our image of Superman from our own imaginations. Our longest-lasting champion, I said, offers a singular lens into our deep-rooted fears and our enduring hopes.
They were sold. Jill, who knows as little about Superman as she did about my last subject, Satchel Paige, helped me flesh out my ideas, pored over my manuscript, and held my hand. Will didn’t know much about baseball when he did a crackerjack job editing and advocating for Satchel, but he is crazy about comics and has helped make my story worthy of his passion.
The Superman idea came from the same place so many good things do for me, my wife, Lisa, and she was the first to go at my manuscript with a red pencil and sharp intellect. I enlisted two kinds of readers. First were the experts, and I had the best: Paul Levitz, the longtime boss and guiding light at DC Comics; Superman writer Mark Waid, who doesn’t just know more than anyone about the superhero but cares more; and Michael Hayde, whose own book demonstrates his nuanced understanding of Superman on the radio and TV. My other readers were old friends: Tom Maguire, whose blend of humor and serious-mindedness gives counterculturalism a good name, and Lou Ureneck, a seasoned newspaper editor and journalism professor who writes inspired memoirs. Even as she was finishing her own book, Sally Jacobs found the time to help me find the words I needed. Claudia Kalb did the same even as she was making a career change.
Two last words on readers: Evan Camfield. Production editors don’t come any better. He caught errors of fact and context, fine-tuned prose, and made what often is an exasperating process a p
leasure. Two more Random House people to whom I am grateful: designer Chris Zucker, whose creative flair is here for you to see, and publicist David Moench, who is passionate about Superman and selling books.
Every city I visited and every issue I probed turned up questions and gaps. I filled them in with help from hundreds of authors, experts, and friends, all of whom I list in the bibliography and am grateful to. Those I went back to more than I had the right are Cary Bates, Rick Bowers, Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown, Mike Carlin, Richard Donner, Jay Emmett, Danny Fingeroth, Gary Grossman, David Hyde, Jenette Kahn, Jack Larson, Brian McKernan, John Jackson Miller, Will Murray, Denny O’Neil, Jerry Ordway, Tom Pollock, Louise Simonson, Michael Uslan, and, last and most especially, John Wells.
I hired a stream of student researchers, in Boston, Cleveland, Washington, and Los Angeles, to help with library searches, courthouse and schoolhouse searches, and other inquiries. The ones who stayed the longest were Nick Catoni, Michael Goldsmith, Tim Lewis, Chris McElwain, Maryrose Mesa, Elliot Schwartz, and Josh Willis. The ever-deft Katie Donelan was my in-house, go- to person at Random House. I also had two in-home experts on comics and kids, Alec and Marina. Jim Cahill kept my computers running and me online. Thanks, finally, to my parents, Dot and Mauray, for letting Superman into your house and my heart, which was no small thing in the 1950s.
A couple of notes on style: I quote people I interviewed in the present tense, and use the past tense with those whose words came from earlier writings and recordings. My endnotes generally are abridged listings of sources, with the full references in the bibliography.
Appendix
SUPERMAN (KAL-EL): CURRICULUM VITAE
• Permanent: 344 Clinton Street, Apt. 3-B, Metropolis, USA
• Getaway: Fortress of Solitude, North Pole
Personal
• Parents: Lara Lor-Van and Jor-El (birth); Martha and Jonathan Kent (adoptive); Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (creative); Jack Liebowitz and Harry Donenfeld (mercantile)
• Hometowns: Kryptonopolis (Krypton); Smallville, Kansas (USA, Earth)
• Planetary homes: Earth-2 (as Kal-L, 1938 on); Earth-1 (as Kal-El, mid-1950s on)
• Girlfriends/wives: Lana Lang, Lois Lane, Lori Lemaris, Wonder Woman, Lyla Lerrol, Sally Selwyn, Maxima
• Best friends: Pete Ross, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Inspector Henderson, Chloe Sullivan, Batman, Krypto
• Nemeses: Ultra-Humanite, Lex Luthor, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Brainiac, General Zod, Myrtle Beech (aka the Wedding Destroyer)
• Aliases: Clark Kent, Man of Steel, Last Son of Krypton, Big Blue, Supes
• Age: Over 29
• Social Security No.: 092-09-6616
Education
• Smallville High School (yearbook: “highest grades—boy most likely to become famous”)
• Metropolis University (journalism major; cheerleader football team; fraternity pledge; Bachelor of Arts with honors)
Work Experience
• Daily Star and Daily Planet (Metropolis): Police reporter, war correspondent, advice-to-the-lovelorn editor, Bombay correspondent, editor-in-chief
• WGBS-TV (Galaxy Broadcasting): Reporter and news anchor
• Newstime magazine: Publisher
Publications
• The Golden Throne
• The Janus Contract
• Under a Yellow Sun
• The Confessions of Superman
• I Superman
• The Krypton Chronicles
Special Skills
• Flight (like a bird)
• X-ray vision (can see through buildings)
• Super-strength (can squeeze coal into diamonds)
• Immune to aging (no hair loss, graying, wrinkles, or paunch)
• Super-hearing (can hear an ant’s footfall)
• Super-breath (can blow out a celestial star)
• Photographic memory (can digest a 300-page book in seconds)
Vulnerabilities
• Kryptonite (green, red, gold, black, red-green, red-gold)
• Virus X
• Magic
• Unbending moral code
Other Media Training
• Comic books (1938–present)
• Comic strips (1939–1966)
• Radio (1940–1951)
• Cartoons (1941–present)
• Novels (1942–present)
• Movie serials (1948–1950)
• Television (1952–2011)
• Feature films (1978–present)
Professional organizations
• Justice Society of America
• Justice League of America
• Atlas Club
• Strong Man Club
• Round Table Club
• Metropolis Press Club
• Club of Heroes
• Legion of Super-Heroes
Languages
• Kryptonese, English, Atlantean, Interlac, Romance languages, Russian
Honors
• Honorary citizen of all United Nations member countries
• Ambassador for Physical Fitness under President John F. Kennedy
References
• Perry White, Daily Planet
• Morgan Edge, Galaxy Broadcasting
• Colin Thornton, Newstime
• Batman, Gotham City
• Supergirl (Linda Lee, Kara Zor-El)
• Diane Nelson, president, DC Comics
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).