Creation and conception

Jerry Siegel, writer

Joe Shuster, illustrator

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster met in 1932 while in high school in Cleveland and bonded over
their mutual love of fiction. Siegel aspired to become a writer and Shuster aspired to become an
illustrator. Siegel wrote amateur science fiction stories, which he self-published as a magazine
called Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization. His friend Shuster often
provided illustrations for his work.[3] In January 1933, Siegel published a short story in his
magazine titled "The Reign of the Superman". The titular character is a vagrant named Bill Dunn
who is tricked by an evil scientist into consuming an experimental drug. The drug gives Dunn the
powers of mind-reading, mind-control, and clairvoyance. He uses these powers maliciously for
profit and amusement, but then the drug wears off, leaving him a powerless vagrant again.
Shuster provided illustrations, depicting Dunn as a bald man.[4]

"The Reign of the Superman", short story by Jerry Siegel (January 1933)

Siegel and Shuster shifted to making comic strips, with a focus on adventure and comedy. They
wanted to become syndicated newspaper strip authors, so they showed their ideas to various
newspaper editors. However, the newspaper editors told them that their ideas weren't
sensational enough. If they wanted to make a successful comic strip, it had to be something
more sensational than anything else on the market. This prompted Siegel to revisit Superman as
a comic strip character.[5][6] Siegel modified Superman's powers to make him even more
sensational: Like Bill Dunn, the second prototype of Superman is given powers against his will by
an unscrupulous scientist, but instead of psychic abilities, he acquires superhuman
strength and bullet-proof skin.[7][8] Additionally, this new Superman was a crime-fighting hero
instead of a villain, because Siegel noted that comic strips with heroic protagonists tended to be
more successful.[9] In later years, Siegel once recalled that this Superman wore a "bat-like" cape
in some panels, but typically he and Shuster agreed there was no costume yet, and there is none
apparent in the surviving artwork.[10][11]
Siegel and Shuster showed this second concept of Superman to Consolidated Book Publishers,
based in Chicago.[12][a] In May 1933, Consolidated had published a proto-comic book
titled Detective Dan: Secret Operative 48.[13] It contained all-original stories as opposed to reprints
of newspaper strips, which was a novelty at the time.[14] Siegel and Shuster put together a comic
book in similar format called The Superman. A delegation from Consolidated visited Cleveland
that summer on a business trip, and Siegel and Shuster took the opportunity to present their
work in person.[15][16] Although Consolidated expressed interest, they later pulled out of the comics
business without ever offering a book deal because the sales of Detective Dan were
disappointing.[17][18]

Cover of an unpublished comic book, 1933

Siegel believed publishers kept rejecting them because he and Shuster were young and
unknown, so he looked for an established artist to replace Shuster.[19] When Siegel told Shuster
what he was doing, Shuster reacted by burning their rejected Superman comic, sparing only the
cover. They continued collaborating on other projects, but for the time being Shuster was through
with Superman.[20]
Siegel wrote to numerous artists.[19] The first response came in July 1933 from Leo O'Mealia, who
drew the Fu Manchu strip for the Bell Syndicate.[21][22] In the script that Siegel sent O'Mealia,
Superman's origin story changes: He is a "scientist-adventurer" from the far future, when
humanity has naturally evolved "super powers". Just before the Earth explodes, he escapes in a
time-machine to the modern era, whereupon he immediately begins using his super powers to
fight crime.[23] O'Mealia produced a few strips and showed them to his newspaper syndicate, but
they were rejected. Nothing of Siegel and O'Mealia's collaboration survives, except in Siegel's
memoir.[24]
In June 1934, Siegel found another partner: an artist in Chicago named Russell
Keaton.[25][26] Keaton drew the Buck Rogers and Skyroads comic strips. In the script that Siegel
sent Keaton in June, Superman's origin story further evolved: In the distant future, when Earth is
on the verge of exploding due to "giant cataclysms", the last surviving man sends his three-year-
old son back in time to the year 1935. The time-machine appears on a road where it is
discovered by motorists Sam and Molly Kent. They leave the boy in an orphanage, but the staff
struggle to control him because he has superhuman strength and impenetrable skin. The Kents
adopt the boy and name him Clark, and teach him that he must use his fantastic natural gifts for
the benefit of humanity. In November, Siegel sent Keaton an extension of his script: an
adventure where Superman foils a conspiracy to kidnap a star football player. The extended
script mentions that Clark wears a special "uniform" when assuming the identity of Superman,
but it is not described.[27] Keaton produced two weeks' worth of strips based on Siegel's script. In
November, Keaton showed his strips to a newspaper syndicate, but they were rejected, and he
abandoned the project.[28][29]
Siegel and Shuster reconciled and resumed developing Superman together. The character
became an alien from the planet Krypton. Shuster designed the now-familiar costume: tights with
an "S" on the chest, over-shorts, and a cape.[30][31][32] They made Clark Kent a journalist who
pretends to be timid, and conceived his colleague Lois Lane, who is attracted to the bold and
mighty Superman but does not realize that he and Kent are the same person.[33]

Concept art c. 1934/1935

In June 1935 Siegel and Shuster finally found work with National Allied Publications, a comic
magazine publishing company in New York owned by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson.[34] Wheeler-
Nicholson published two of their strips in New Fun Comics #6 (1935): "Henri Duval" and "Doctor
Occult".[35] Siegel and Shuster also showed him Superman, and asked him to market Superman
to the newspapers on their behalf.[36] In October, Wheeler-Nicholson offered to publish Superman
in one of his own magazines.[37] Siegel and Shuster refused his offer because Wheeler-Nicholson
had demonstrated himself to be an irresponsible businessman. He had been slow to respond to
their letters and hadn't paid them for their work in New Fun Comics #6. They chose to keep
marketing Superman to newspaper syndicates themselves.[38][39] Despite the erratic pay, Siegel
and Shuster kept working for Wheeler-Nicholson because he was the only publisher who was
buying their work, and over the years they produced other adventure strips for his magazines.[40]
Wheeler-Nicholson's financial difficulties continued to mount. In 1936, he formed a joint
corporation with Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz called Detective Comics, Inc., in order to
release his third magazine, titled Detective Comics. Siegel and Shuster produced stories
for Detective Comics too, such as "Slam Bradley". Wheeler-Nicholson fell into deep debt to
Donenfeld and Liebowitz, and in early January 1938, Donenfeld and Liebowitz petitioned
Wheeler-Nicholson's company into bankruptcy and seized it.[3][41]
In early December 1937, Siegel visited Liebowitz in New York, and Liebowtiz asked Siegel to
produce some comics for an upcoming comic anthology magazine called Action
Comics.[42][43] Siegel proposed some new stories, but not Superman. Siegel and Shuster were, at
the time, negotiating a deal with the McClure Newspaper Syndicate for Superman. In early
January 1938, Siegel had a three-way telephone conversation with Liebowitz and an employee
of McClure named Max Gaines. Gaines informed Siegel that McClure had rejected Superman,
and asked if he could forward their Superman strips to Liebowitz so that Liebowitz could consider
them for Action Comics. Siegel agreed.[44] Liebowitz and his colleagues were impressed by the
strips, and they asked Siegel and Shuster to develop the strips into 13 pages for Action
Comics.[45] Having grown tired of rejections, Siegel and Shuster accepted the offer.[46][47] Siegel
and Shuster submitted their work in late February and were paid $130 (AFI $2,314) for their work
($10 per page).[48] In early March they signed a contract (at Liebowitz's request) in which they
released the copyright for Superman to Detective Comics, Inc. This was normal practice in the
business, and Siegel and Shuster had given away the copyrights to their previous works as
well.[49]
The duo's revised version of Superman appeared in the first issue of Action Comics, which was
published on April 18, 1938. The issue was a huge success thanks to Superman’s feature.[1][50][51]

Influences
Siegel and Shuster read pulp science-fiction and adventure magazines, and many stories
featured characters with fantastical abilities such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and superhuman
strength. An influence was John Carter of Mars, a character from the novels by Edgar Rice
Burroughs. John Carter is a human who is transported to Mars, where the lower gravity makes
him stronger than the natives and allows him to leap great distances.[52][53] Another influence
was Philip Wylie's 1930 novel Gladiator, featuring a protagonist named Hugo Danner who had
similar powers.[54][55]
Superman's stance and devil-may-care attitude was influenced by the characters of Douglas
Fairbanks, who starred in adventure films such as The Mark of Zorro and Robin Hood.[56] The
name of Superman's home city, Metropolis, was taken from the 1927 film of the same
name.[57] Popeye cartoons were also an influence.[57]

Douglas Fairbanks (left) and Harold Lloyd (right) influenced the look of Superman and Clark Kent,
respectively.

Clark Kent's harmless facade and dual identity was inspired by the protagonists of such movies
as Don Diego de la Vega in The Mark of Zorro and Sir Percy Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Siegel thought this would make for interesting dramatic contrast and good humor.[58][59] Another
inspiration was slapstick comedian Harold Lloyd. The archetypal Lloyd character was a gentle
man who finds himself abused by bullies but later in the story snaps and fights back furiously.[60]
Kent is a journalist because Siegel often imagined himself becoming one after leaving school.
The love triangle between Lois Lane, Clark, and Superman was inspired by Siegel's own
awkwardness with girls.[61]
The pair collected comic strips in their youth, with a favorite being Winsor McCay's
fantastical Little Nemo.[57] Shuster remarked on the artists which played an important part in the
development of his own style: "Alex Raymond and Burne Hogarth were my idols – also Milt
Caniff, Hal Foster, and Roy Crane."[57] Shuster taught himself to draw by tracing over the art in
the strips and magazines they collected.[3]
As a boy, Shuster was interested in fitness culture[62] and a fan of strongmen such as Siegmund
Breitbart and Joseph Greenstein. He collected fitness magazines and manuals and used their
photographs as visual references for his art.[3]
The visual design of Superman came from multiple influences. The tight-fitting suit and shorts
were inspired by the costumes of wrestlers, boxers, and strongmen. In early concept art, Shuster
gave Superman laced sandals like those of strongmen and classical heroes, but these were
eventually changed to red boots.[63] The costumes of Douglas Fairbanks were also an
influence.[64] The emblem on his chest may have been inspired by the uniforms of athletic teams.
Many pulp action heroes such as swashbucklers wore capes. Superman's face was based
on Johnny Weissmuller with touches derived from the comic-strip character Dick Tracy and from
the work of cartoonist Roy Crane.[65]
The word "superman" was commonly used in the 1920s and 1930s to describe men of great
ability, most often athletes and politicians.[66] It occasionally appeared in pulp fiction stories as
well, such as "The Superman of Dr. Jukes".[67] It is unclear whether Siegel and Shuster were
influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of the Übermensch; they never acknowledged as
much.[68]