'The Reign of the Superman' (Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization #3, January 1933).ĭuring the Great Depression, Siegel and Shuster tried to make a living as authors of science fiction novels, but none of their stories found a publisher.

Although Shuster attended the Cleveland School of Art for a while, he later claimed that movies had a far greater impact on the composition and design of his visual narratives than this formal art training. Right from the start, Siegel was scriptwriter, and Shuster provided illustrations. One of their earliest collaborative efforts was 'Goober the Mighty' (1931), a Tarzan parody. Shuster and Siegel had their first cartooning experience at their local school paper, the Glenville Torch. Unable to afford drawing supplies, Shuster made his drawings on either brown wrapping paper or the back of wallpaper. Segar and the 1930s Fleischer Brothers animated cartoons. They found inspiration in Dick Calkins' 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century', and Harold Foster's 'Tarzan', as well as 'Popeye' from the 'Thimble Theater' comic strips by E.C. Both were huge fans of the science fiction stories that appeared in magazines like Amazing Stories and Weird Tales, and wanted to make their own comics. When Shuster's family moved to Cleveland in 1924, they sent their son to Glenville High School, where he met Siegel for the first time. Shuster, the son of a tailor with Dutch-Ukrainian roots, was born in Toronto, Canada. Siegel was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of a sign painter who immigrated from Russia. Jerome 'Jerry' Siegel and Joe Shuster were both born in 1914 and are of Jewish descent. The duo was directly responsible for turning DC Comics into one of the major comics companies in the world, yet in later years had to fight in court to receive recognition, credit and royalties for their creation. An entire industry was built around comic books about humanitarian crusaders with superhuman powers, most of them taking elements from tropes pioneered by Siegel and Shuster. Superman not only became one of the most iconic comic characters of all time, he spawned an entirely new and quintessential American genre, superhero comics. Laying the foundations for Superman's entire mythos, they gave him an origin story, a home city – Metropolis – and introduced characters still used in 'Superman' comics today, including Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Jor-El, and Lex Luthor. Launched in Adventure Comics issue #1, Siegel was the feature's first scriptwriter and Shuster was the artist.

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were the creators of Superman, the 'Man of Steel' whose 1938 appearance marked the beginning of a long tradition of caped superheroes in American comics. Panels from the first story of 'Superman' (Action Comics #1, June 1938), with a later colorization.

Jerry siegel and artist joe shuster