Origins of Superman
In 1935, Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Their first attempt at the Super-man was a man meets a mad scientist and he gives him the power of telepathy. He used this to take over the world. Superman was first cast as a villain in the comic "The Reign of the Super-Man". The first few years as Superman as a villain weren't very good. He was rejected by the public. When Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster realized this, they took a new approach toward the villainous king. Instead of the Superman being a super-villain, they made him be the symbol of hope to the world. In 1938, Action Comics #1 made it to the shelf.
Siegel and Shuster met at Cleveland's Glenville High School. They both loved science fiction and pulp magazines and that soon made them both want to join their school newspaper, The Glenville Torch (in the Superman stories, in high school, Clark wrote for his school newspaper, The Torch). Not long afterward, Siegel and Shuster created their own science fiction magazine, Science Fiction. It was a stapled, mimeographed pamphlet that had stories created by Siegel and the fantastic drawings by Shuster. They only created five Science Fiction magazines, and they are very hard to come by. Just a few years ago, one of them was sold for $50,000!
About this time, comic books started to become known to the public. But there were no superheroes and caped-crusaders. They were detective comics, Dick Tracy, Slam Bradly, stuff like that. But Siegel and Shuster wanted a different approach on comics. They wanted to make it more exciting for the readers. So they decided to go with an alien named Clark Kent. They named Clark Kent after the actors Clark Gable and Kent Taylor. At the time, the idea of an alien saving the world seemed stupid. Everyone was used to the detective comics and the idea of aliens from other planets sent to Earth to protect it was kind of a stretch. But Siegel and Shuster thought it was the best idea for a comic book ever. And they were right.
To read more, click here.
Siegel and Shuster met at Cleveland's Glenville High School. They both loved science fiction and pulp magazines and that soon made them both want to join their school newspaper, The Glenville Torch (in the Superman stories, in high school, Clark wrote for his school newspaper, The Torch). Not long afterward, Siegel and Shuster created their own science fiction magazine, Science Fiction. It was a stapled, mimeographed pamphlet that had stories created by Siegel and the fantastic drawings by Shuster. They only created five Science Fiction magazines, and they are very hard to come by. Just a few years ago, one of them was sold for $50,000!
About this time, comic books started to become known to the public. But there were no superheroes and caped-crusaders. They were detective comics, Dick Tracy, Slam Bradly, stuff like that. But Siegel and Shuster wanted a different approach on comics. They wanted to make it more exciting for the readers. So they decided to go with an alien named Clark Kent. They named Clark Kent after the actors Clark Gable and Kent Taylor. At the time, the idea of an alien saving the world seemed stupid. Everyone was used to the detective comics and the idea of aliens from other planets sent to Earth to protect it was kind of a stretch. But Siegel and Shuster thought it was the best idea for a comic book ever. And they were right.
To read more, click here.
"I had to produce a complete page - or two or three - in one day. I took a lot of pride in my work, and I hated to do a mediocre job. Evidently, some of the writers enjoyed my work best of all for that very reason."
-Joe Shuster
Source - http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/joe_shuster.html#MkrU9HYrXIJvWSPb.99