Jerry Siegel

Jerome (Jerry) Siegel (October 17th 1914 - January 28th 1996) is with Joe Shuster the Co-creator of Superman, the first of large the Super-héros born in the pages of a Comic S and one of the most famous characters of fiction of the 20th century.

Wire of immigrants Jewish S Lithuania NS, Siegel was born with Cleveland in the Ohio with the the United States of America, the youngest child among six children. His/her Mitchell father was a painter of signs who had opened his workshop and encouraged the artistic slopes of his son. Tragically, his/her father was killed in his store by a robber when Jerome Siegel was with the college.

Siegel was a fan of Cinéma and Cartoon, in particular of the “pulps” of Science-fiction. It took an active share in what would become fandom while corresponding with other fans of science fiction, of which the young person Jack Williamson. In 1929 it published what could be the first Fanzine of science fiction, Cosmic Stories , realized using a typewriter and promoted in the classifieds of the magazine Science Wonder Stories . It published several small booklets during the few years which followed.

Siegel studied with the college of Glenville and worked there for the weekly magazine of the students, the Torch . He was a student shy person, but acquired a certain fame among his pars for his popular parody of Tarzan, Goober the Mighty . It is in Glenville that it became friendly with his future collaborator Joe Shuster.

Shuster and created Superman to him, being based partly on myths like Hercules and partly on the Romance of Philip Wylie Gladiator (1932). They used the character in short stories and a cartoon in 1932. In 1938 they sold it with cd. Comics, which placed Superman on the cover of their first number of Action Comics in June.

In 1946 the duet essuya of the legal contentions with cd. in connection with the rights on Superman, and after a two year old combat they gave up their claims on the character in exchange of approximately: 200000 $. It continued to write anonymous stories occasionally.

Siegel became artistic director at Ziff-Davis in the years 1950 but left this work shortly after.

In 1968 it worked at Western Publishing where it wrote with Carl Barks the stories of the Castors juniors, then in 1972 at Mondadori Editore for the magazine Italy N Topolino (the local publication Disney).

In 1978, it started again with Shuster its continuations against cd. Comics in connection with the rights on Superman and they gained each one a anuuelle revenue of: 35000 $ for the remainder of their life. Since then, all the Comic S, televised series, Film S and video games putting in scene Superman (in particular the current series Smallville) are obliged to mention the fact that Superman was created by Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster.

In 1986, one proposed in Siegel to write an “imaginary” end with Superman, who would follow the history Crisis one Infinity Earths and the mini-series Man off Steel , who reintroduced Superman. He refused.

Shuster and gained a to him Eisner Award in 1992.

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