I know that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster invented Superman, wrote some of the early stories, then sold the character to DC (or their corporate ancestor). I don’t know how long they worked on the character, however.
Which Superman elements were directly created by Siegel and Shuster? I know they created Superman, Clark and Lois.
Luthor? Perry White? Lana? Lori? Krypton? Kryptonite? Fortress of Solitude? Superboy? Flight instead of long leaps? Dunno.
You get the idea. My question isn’t limited to the things I’ve named above. And are there significant things Siegel and Shuster invented that aren’t part of the Superman story anymore? (Can of worms, I know.)
Superman was first published in 1938 and created by Schuster and Siegel a little earlier and they left the book in 1947.
Lessee… They created Krypton, Kryptonite (which for some bizarre reasons first appeared on the radio show and not the comic), Lois Lane, Lex Luthor (who was an amped up clone of the Ultra-Humanite, an early Superman villain who in turn was loosely based on the earliest version of Superman where he was bald, had mental powers and planned to take over the world), Perry White and Superman flying instead of jumping.
Jimmy Olsen was created for the Superman radio show, Superboy was conceived of by editor Jack Schiff and Lana Lang also appeared in that title, and since Siegal and Schuster didn’t do those comics it seem reasonable to assume they didn’t create her either.
Fortress of Solitude is kind of iffy as it didn’t appear by name until 1949. Here’s a history on it. And from that same site, Lori Lamaris wasn’t created until 1959 so she’s not an S&S creation either (actually that whole site gives a pretty good overview of the Superman mythos).
This page lists the credits for Siegel and Shuster, including:
Action#1: Extra-terrestrial origin established, though Krypton was not specifically named. Action#6: Jimmy Olsen (although I think this is wrong and Jimmy’s first appearance was in Superman#13, also written by Seigel) Action#23: Lex Luthor (though the list does not mention this, which is odd) Action#252: Supergirl (though the character was a variant on a magically created and short-lived “Super-Girl” that had appeared in an earlier story by Otto Binder) Superman#7: Perry White
This page documents a lawsuit brought by Siegel’s widow and daughter, successfully regaining control of Siegel’s half of the copyrights on:
Presumably Shuster’s heirs could make a similar claim, but Siegel was the writer of the pair and had more creative control of the concepts. The pair did not invent Kryptonite, though. That was invented for the Superman radio show, though it clearly springs from S&S’s work. Flying (instead of leaping) is also a radio invention (the “whoosing” sound was better than “KaBOING!” I guess). Lana Lang and Lori Lemaris are definitely not S&S creations. A proto-Fortress of Solitude appears as early as 1942 (Superman’s “Mountain Retreat”) and is probably an S&S job, but the Arctic version with the giant key came much later. The first Superboy story (More Fun Comics#101) was not written by Siegel, nor was Superman#53, which greatly expanded on the origin story, including naming Krypton and Supes’ biological parents, Jor-L and Lara.
Trying to sort all this out is tricky, since I can’t find a simple list of the writer/artist credits for every issue of Superman, Action and Adventure Comics.
A possibly apocryphal story has it that Kryptonite was invented for the radio show so Superman could just groan in pain for two weeks worth of shows, allowing voice actor Clayton “Bud” Collyer to go on vacation. An episode list of the old-time radio shows cites George Ludlum as writing episodes featuring Jor-L and Lara as early as 1940. Sorting out exactly who created what is almost dissertation-worthy.
From the DC Comics History I mentioned above, p. 66:
P. 120
So they didn’t give it the name kryptonite but they got everything else, and the book includes a few panels from the unpublished story to back up this claim.
Kryptonite was created by Dorothy Woolfolk, according to the March 2001 issue of Comic Book Artist (P.6). The most popular version of Supergirl was created by Otto Binder in the late 50s (He had created Mary Marvel about 15 years earlier). Morgan Edge, the mildly evil publisher of the Daily Planet, was created in 1970 by Jack Kirby. Legion of Superheroes (the 30th Century superhero club Superboy joined) was created by, I think, Mort Weisenger.
None of this would be important without Siegel and Schuster’s groundwork, of course.
Great thread! What is the significance of the Hebrew-derived names on the planet Krypton? Jor-El, Kal-El,etc.? Knowing that the originators were Jewish, I wonder how much of this found its way into the characters.
Probably because DC never kept records or put credits. When they were reprinting Superman stories in the early 70s, they often would add the artist’s credit (since you could give a good guess due to the style), but never credited the author, partly because they hadn’t kept track.
Through the 70s, though, it appeared that Superman has three main artists: Shuster, Wayne Boring, and Cary Bates, with Kurt Schaffenberger doing things like Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. You can identify the artist based on his style – Shuster was more cartoony, Boring more stylized, and Bates more realistic.
Siegel and Shuster created Luthor, but not Lex Luthor.
Luthor was a single-named villain, until the early 60s, when he was given the first name of “Lex” (I think in the Superboy issue where the source of their antagonism is revealed because Superboy is the one who accidentally makes teen-aged Luthor bald, but I wouldn’t swear to that.)
In any case, the name Lex came in way, way after S&S had left the franchise.
Of course. And I just want to clarify that I’m not attempting to downplay their contributions at all. It looks like they were involved with the title for a lot longer than I’d remembered.
Related question, that’s already been touched on: what are the biggest elements of the Superman story that S&S had no involvement in? Sounds like Lana for sure…but other than that?
S&S were fired from Superman in 1947, so anything after that was dreamed up by others.
I believe the basic mythology – shot as a baby from a rocket, parents Jor-El and Lara – came after S&S left; Brian Ekers’s post seems to confirm this.
The names of Ma and Pa Kent (Martha and Jonathan) came later, since the Superman TV show had their names as “Sarah” and “Eben.” Indeed, most of the Superboy mythos had nothing to do with S&S.
Similarly, Braniac, the Bizarros, Red Kryptonite (and all the other colors), Kandor, Lori Lemaris (and the “LL” motif), and Supergirl all came later.
Not that I wouldn’t be surprised if it was completely overlooked by everyone that a woman created kryptonite, but what exactly does that article say and does it give a source? Just curious.**
That book I referenced above doesn’t give who exactly created the LoSH, but it states that Otto Binder wrote it while Weisinger edited, and this site lists them as co-creators. Also the book claims that Binder and Weisinger were co-creators on Supergirl as well.**
Good point.
I’ve also come to the conclusion that DC shoulda keep better records all those years ago.
Siegel and Shuster created the basic origin mythology, including Jor-El (or Jor-L.) The full origin was first told in 1939. It’s just that it first appeared in a newspaper strip, not in a comic book:
Incidentally, I looked it up: the first appearance of the magical 5th-dimensional prankster Mr. Mxyztplk (spelling later modified to Mxyzptlk) was in Superman #30, 1944, written by Jerry Siegel.
Incidentally, it’s been alleged that Siegel and Shuster partly based Superman (without giving credit) on Philip Wylie’s novel Gladiator, which is actually a pretty good book.