1st of an 8-part series.
Welcome to Superman Returns week at Flixens, folks. We decided to hype the movie a little differently. This week we will be producing a series of articles on the Real Heroes of Superman. The idea is to highlight people behind the movie or page and talk about what made them special, and how they ended up shaping the myth and legend of the Man of Steel.
Okay so this is something that is going to be so easy for so many of you to imagine. Think about being a total outsider. Think about being surrounded by people who are not only more privileged than you, but people are of a totally different culture than you. Now imagine not having much of a voice in this world even though you have a crapload of big ideas just right there! If only anyone would listen. And you work on the school newspaper with a cute girl named Lois Lane who won’t even give you the time of day! Yeah it sucks being a geek, nerd, dork or loser. Not that I would know, for sure, but I have heard!
So take all that stuff above and let’s hop into the way-back machine to Cleveland, OH in the 20s and 30s when a teenage Jerry Siegel was struggling with his own feelings of inadequacy in a world that didn’t appreciate his incredible creative brain.
Jerry Siegel was born 92 years ago this year in Cleveland, and his folks were Jewish immigrants from Lithuania. He was the baby in a family of five other children, and by all accounts his parents did everything they could for their kids to give them a normal suburban upbringing. But Jerry was a different kind of kid, and back in the early decades of the 20th century, there weren’t many like him around.
Gawd, nowadays it’s practically cool to be a geek, right? We live in a world with X-Men movies, Matrix movies, G4 television. But I can’t even imagine what people did to get their geek on in the 1920s. I know they had radio programs of people like the Shadow, and there were pulp books with heroes like Tarzan and Conan the Barbarian. And before that you had fantasy writing from luminaries like Jules Verne, Mary Shelly and Bram Stoker, but in 1920 what value was placed on these zany and fantastic works?
One of the many things that makes Jerry Siegel a hero for more than just his part in the creation of Superman was his love of fan culture. Before Superman was even a light in his creator’s eye, Siegel did his best to unite geeks together with one of the world’s first fanzines, Cosmic Stories. Not only did Siegel see the appeal of being a part of a larger group of fanatics, but he could see how this contingent could eventually have a true voice when it came to books, radio, daily funnies, comic books and movies.
But even with this novel idea under his belt, Siegel was still on his own. It wasn’t until 1931 when Siegel met fellow dork and gifted artist Joe Shuster that some of that creativity began to bear fruit. (Let’s get something out of the way right up front. Sure Superman was inspired by a lot of things, but what these guys brought to the table was wholly original, and we shouldn’t lose sight of that.) Both would struggle in this new industry of comic book publishing, and their initial idea about some super man was rejected many times before finally finding success.
Finally Detective Comics, which would soon be known as DC, gave the kids the shot they deserved. Publishers needed a lead story for the first issue of Action Comics, and it was there that Superman was born.
For these two awkward outsiders and every other awkward outsider in the history of awkward outsiders, the story has special meaning. Saved from the doomed planet Krypton by his scientist father, young Kal-El lands on earth as the last survivor of his home world. There he is adopted by a hard working rural couple that raises the boy with good ol’ American values. Surprised by his powers, they instill in their son, Clark, the importance of using his abilities to make the world a better place. In adulthood, Clark Kent becomes an intrepid reporter for a big city newspaper in Metropolis where he meets the girl of his dreams, Lois Lane. When he’s not pounding the pavement looking for the next big scoop, he dons the familiar red and blue tights to protect the world thugs, thieves, murders and your occasion psychopathic megalomaniac openly bent on world domination.
I am totally sure countless words have been written about how to compare Superman’s origin to the immigrant experience. Or how Superman is a stand in for Jesus. Yeah I can see where those people are coming from, but to me it’s a little simpler than that. What Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created was the ultimate escapist fantasy for awkward outsiders everywhere. Superman is all about being an alien in a strange land and having everyone love what you can do. Siegel just wanted to be appreciated for his creativity and passion, and not necessarily the ability to blow out the fires of the sun with a single breath.
Superman was an instant and miraculous hit. And I don’t need to waste your time listing off how his induction into our popular universe forever changed the landscape of pop-literature all over the world. In some weird inversion, while Superman became like the biggest thing in ever, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster kind of ended up with the short end of the Kryptonian crystal. After his initial contract to writer Superman was up, Jerry faced increasing hostility from DC, and even ended up with the worst lawyer in the world in a bid to reclaim his writers to the hero. Eventually Siegel had to practically walk away from the industry he helped shape. It wasn’t until the mid 70s when the comic book collector market became a big deal that people actually started to care, and finally shortly before the release of what I still think of as the greatest comic book movie of all time, Superman: the Movie, did DC finally agreed to give Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster their due. And while most fans would find that amount incalculable, DC decided it was $35K a year and their names slapped on every product, comic, movie or TV show in all of forever.
But despite all of his accomplishments and heartache, what totally sets Siegel apart in my unknowledgeable eyes is the fact that using every ounce of creativity and passion he had, he gave the world its own hero. Yeah I know, Superman can’t really reverse the orbit of the Earth and turn back time. And I know he can’t fly to the moon or freeze Lake Travis with a single breath. I get he’s not real, but that doesn’t mean that what he inspires isn’t. Superman will always be relevant because no matter what the world becomes, we will always need a Big Blue Boy Scout. He may not be around to save us, but with him as our inspiration, we certainly have a better chance of saving ourselves. That’s what Jerome Siegel gave us, and that’s why he’s a true hero.
Tune in tomorrow for Part 2!
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